Back To School: 18th Edition

Well. Our summer came and went like a flash!

I began our 18th year of homeschooling on Tuesday. Thankfully, I had Julie here to help me with the fun, cute, and yummy special back to school snacks!

These are the adorable sugar cookies Julie made!

I did some simple decorating to make the first day of school special. No one (including me!) was really ready for school to begin again, so I was hoping that some fun decorations and special snacks would make the inevitable a little more bearable. 

 I reused this banner I found on the Target bargain aisles last year.

 I stayed up too late sewing seven cloth napkins and a table runner out of this fun school fabric. (I actually just cut and serged the edges.) I only had enough fabric to make seven napkins, but that worked out ok since I have only two students this year! Julie and I ate breakfast with Leah and Small Sam, and seven napkins were still enough when we all ate together at suppertime. (Jimmy, Me, Julie, Big Sam, Clay Leah, and Small Sam)

 My fiesta dishes matched the colors in the fabric perfectly!

I created 10 clues for our annual back to school treasure hunt. It gets harder and harder to think of new places to hide clues each year. I think I had some repeats this year, but maybe Leah and Sam were too young when I first used them to remember. 

The last clue led them to their school desks where I had their "treasures" displayed.

(It gets harder to be creative with the treasures each year too!)

 Sam's desk

Leah's desk

 Leah's treasures.....

new notebooks, a folder, pencils and lead, candy, and these super cute pretzel pencils lovingly made by Julie

Sam's treasures were the same---just different colors.

For the first day, we did only a Bible lesson, math, and science. I spent a good bit of time reviewing their daily checklists and what would be expected of them in each subject. I decided to ease them into a full day of school this year.  Yesterday and today we did only Bible, math, and science. Then we are off until next Wednesday, because some of our family will be attending a wedding in Virginia, and then Jimmy is off for a couple more days after that. When we start back next Wednesday, I plan to add English (reading and composition) and Sam's Sonlight. Then on the following Monday, August 13, they will begin doing their complete daily checklist of subjects. 

 Leah's Checklist

Sam's Checklist

The number beside each subject indicates the number of days each week they are to work on each subject. For most subjects they will complete one lesson per day. I asked Leah to set a timer when she is working in algebra, biology and literature for 45 minutes, and just stop after that. 

We started our school year earlier than normal because Julie is expecting her baby girl in about 5 weeks. I wanted to get as much school done before the baby comes.

Happy Back to School!