First Day of School

I don't think I was entirely ready for school to start.  It's always about trade-offs.  I very much love not having to wake up very early in the morning to get kids ready.  I love that my boys, or two of them at least, could get themselves up and make their own breakfast.  It was really nice.  On the other hand, I enjoyed having time to myself after they were gone.  Although this was alleviated somewhat during the summer now that Nathaniel is old enough to watch his brothers for a little while.  So, the pluses of going back to school weren't quite as high.

But who cares what I think.  School started anyway.

 Although I only did it the one day, I got up in time to see Nathaniel off to school.  One benefit to being behind in blogging is that I can talk a little bit about how he's doing in school.  He seems to enjoy 8th grade much more than 7th.  Even though school will always be school, he seems happier this year which makes Jaaromy and I worry a little less.  So that's nice.  Last year he had the benefit of having a friend who was a 9th grader help him navigate Jr. High.  He was in his car pool, the Quest program, and Granite Youth with him so he was always there to make sure he remembered things.  This year he has pretty much had to figure it all out himself with varying results, but I think he's starting to get the hang of it.

Brigham was very sleepy the first morning of school and so I didn't have time to get a picture of him all ready to go on the first day.  So I took this one of him while he ate his breakfast.

Then I tried again the next day.  He's so cute and he loves school.  He's still in the autistic class at his school, but his teacher thinks he could be mainstreamed soon.  He's doing really well.

Here's Jonathan on his first day.  After thinking about it all summer(although I've been thinking about it in general for much longer) I decided to homeschool him.  It's just too easy for him to get distracted.  He had a great teacher last year, but he was still falling behind.  I've always hated homework, but I forced myself to do it with him because it was the only one-on-one instruction he was getting all day.  I just don't have time to re-teach him everything he was supposed to learn during the day, especially not in the early evening to evening hours.  So I decided that it would be better to do it myself.  I was 90% sure I was going to do it last Spring.  During the Summer I was worried that I would chicken out and not do it, it's a big decision.  But as the first day of school got closer, I reached the point where the idea of sending him back to school was harder for me than the idea of teaching him myself.  That's when I knew that it was going to happen for sure.  I found a curriculum online that I really liked, and even though it was expensive, I'm really happy with how it is going.  About two days into it I was surprised at what I was feeling.  I assumed that it would be hard but worth it, that's why I was doing it after all.  But I was surprised when I felt...satisfaction.  I was having fun.  I don't know the exact words to describe it.  But it felt good.  As a Mom, I am the one responsible for his education.  Even if I decide that my kids will go to public school, it's still my responsibility.  If for any reason I feel like it's not what is best for my kids, it's my job to make sure that they get the education they need.  I know that this is what is best for Jonathan right now.  I don't know how long I'll do it.  Maybe it will be a year, maybe it will be longer.  But I will always do what is best for my children, even if it falls outside the "expected" pattern.

So, we've fallen in to a routine.  One frustrating thing about Brigham's schedule is that the bus comes to get him at 8:10 in the morning.  Almost a full hour before school starts!  At first I considered taking him myself so he could get a little extra sleep, but then I decided to do it anyway and it has worked out well.  This way I have a little more time in the morning for myself before it's time to start Jonathan's lessons.

The night before school started Jaaromy gave them all father's blessings.  After the boys' blessings he gave me one too.  My main concern was that I wouldn't have time to do all the things I need/want to do during the day.  I was told in my blessing that I would still have time to do everything I needed and that has certainly been the case.  I'm definitely busy, but I believe I have been blessed with the strength to handle it.  When I have day after day of barely fitting everything in but I don't feel overwhelmed, I know I'm being blessed and I'm so thankful for that.

This is going to be a good year, I think.