First Day of School

Sydney's first day of school was 2 weeks ago, and we all had a great morning! We go every Monday morning to supplement our homeschool. Here she is with her new backpack.















The Chandler Crew!













I love that our whole family can be so active in our homeschool and our classical school. Ethan really enjoys being in Sydney's classroom even though he has to sit on the sidelines and just watch and listen. Consequently, he is learning quite a bit! I have spent some time in the nursery with Reid when he's not napping, but some of the other moms with young kids and I will rotate nursery shifts so we can each spend as much time as possible in our children's classrooms.


Below are Sydney and her good friend Abigail. Believe it or not, Sydney is several months older than Abigail! Sydney is in the 10th percentile for height, and Abigail is tall for her age, so they almost look a year apart!















The photo below is Sydney's class. There are 8 students total, but only 4 are pictured here.

















Every week the students have to do presentations, which is just like show and tell at this age. Like her mom, she enjoys speaking in front of groups.



After class time, all the families eat lunch together, which has been a great way to get to know other moms homeschooling classically. (Our Monday morning Foundations program is for elementary aged students, but Classical Conversations goes all the up through high school.) The kids love to play after eating and we come home ready for naps! :-)

Sydney's School Uniform

Sydney came downstairs in this outfit one morning last week and announced she was dressed in her school uniform! The polo and vest are Ethan's, but they do look pretty cute on her! If she were attending public school, today would be her first day of kindergarden. Wow...it's really hard to imagine what this day would be like if we had sent her to school.



Today has just been a normal day in our house. A lot of people are asking when we are starting school and what we'll be doing. I've been teaching Sydney to read all summer, and she's doing a good job. Teaching reading is pretty easy with a good program, and I'm really proud of her progress. We started math two weeks ago and handwriting last week.



On September 8, we'll begin Classical Conversations. Sydney will be in a class of 8 other kindergardeners and will receive instruction from a tutor in the areas of science, history, art, music, Latin, and some grammar. I will reinforce those subjects throughout the following week and continue to do all of her instruction in reading, math, and writing. I will get to take part in class with her, and Ethan and Reid will be there with us too. I'm so excited about our whole family taking part in this!


Grammy & Papa came this weekend and outfitted the kids with some clothes for fall and their soccer gear. Here are S&E excited about their new cozy jammies! They also treated us to dinner at Bonefish Grill- yum!