Our First Day and....

Happy Birthday to Mary!

We had our first day of school yesterday. And my blogging has now substantially, but not unexpectedly decreased. This first week is always tricky. We have to figure out what will work again. What kind of schedule or routine will best fit our needs this year. It is a stressful time for a little while, but also an exciting and beautiful one. We are meeting new people and learning new things. The girls were really getting bored by those last couple of weeks of summer break, so it was time.





So, our first day......


We started late this year, due to all of our illnesses over the summer. I've never started this late before, but each year you have to do what works. We began on Monday, Sept. 8th.......the Blessed Mother's Birthday. I thought that was a rather nice day to begin, and really fit, because I call upon her intercession many, many times throughout the school year (and throughout each day) to help me to be a patient and gentle mother to my children.






We began with the Rosary. (Perfect time for me to make my plea to Mary for the upcoming school year,.....or even just the first day.) The girls then took a look in there school bins where their books are kept. I had a surprise for each of them.





I picked these school boxes up at a local store. They have the flocked designs for the kids to color in themselves! (The above picture shows them partially colored.) Each one seemed to fit one of my girls and I filled it with some new school supplies and other little goodies.
I had a little box for Evan, too, but it wasn't the same type. He still loved it, though, with all it's goodies~stickers, crayons, and Veggie Tales Fruit Snacks.



The girls worked on coloring theirs throughout the day, when they had some spare time (probably waiting their turn for my help with a problem).





Right after lunch, Taylor had her first day of Creative Writing Class through a local homeschool co-op. We are friends with the teacher (who is certified and also a homeschool mom in our Friday co-ops). She's wonderful. The class is for 7th and 8th graders. Taylor knew a couple of girls in the class. There are only 7 children taking this course, but there are several in the building taking many different classes. It is basically run like a school (7th -12th grades). There's even a study hall in case there is a gap in between classes you are taking. Taylor is only signed up for one, but we might put her in another one starting Monday. She loved it! She's so good at this kind of thing and really enjoys it.





Later, we had our Teatime for the Blessed Mother. During the previous week, I filled our Teatime Basket with all the things we would need.





We had white cake to signify Mary's purity and Taylor put a heart on it with sprinkles and candles. We sang, too, of course, then the girls blew out the candles.

We had the fruit teas that are a favorite around here, and used our Blessed Mother Napkin Rings that we made during a Teatime last year. I also read to the girls about Mary's nativity. Then we said this prayer together:
Lord God,
the day of our salvation dawned when the Blessed Virgin gave birth to your Son. As we celebrate her nativity, grant us your grace and your peace. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Then we did a little craft with a holy card. I let each girl pick her favorite image of Mary, from the ones I had on hand. They glued it onto blue paper. I also took this opportunity to do a drawing lesson with Sky and Alexa. We used a Catholic How to Draw book and learned how to draw a rose.
They took their time and did pretty good!
They glued their roses on the paper for Mary and decorated it with stickers. Simple, I know, but they enjoyed it.
I plan to put these into Liturgical Year Notebooks.

Well, that's the overview of our first day of school. I'd say it went pretty well overall. Have a wonderful night!
TTFN
~Tina