First Day of School

The day arrived for our oldest two to head off to school to start another school year. This year is a turning point for our family as half the kiddos are gone during the day, but it is also giving me a renewed chance to enjoy our little ones and the preschool years.

Caroline is going into 3rd grade! Her teacher this year is Mrs. Moore. She has several classmates that have been in her class in previous years, but also several new names on the class roster. We went to school the day before to find her classroom. It is the farthest classroom in the entire school!! Mrs. Moore was there and Caroline was excited to meet her.

Jonathan will be in 1st grade. It doesn't seem possible!! I know I will not miss taking him to school every day, but I sure will miss him since he'll be gone all day! His teacher this year is Mrs. Carter. She is not the same teacher we had for Caroline for 1st grade, but she seems to be a good fit for Jonathan and his personality/learning style. There were lots of new names on the class roster, so Jonathan will get to make lots of new friends this year!

Elizabeth is going to be getting some extra special time with me this year as we are going to be following a pre-school homeschool curriculum. We are going to homeschool Kindergarten for the younger two as there has been a change to the Kindergarten program in our school district. They are no longer offering 1/2 day classes, although they will allow you to take your child for only the morning. For us, we feel part of the reason I stay home is to be with our kiddos and teach them. They are still so little at 5 years old to be away for a full day situation. Also, we attend BSF which I feel is more important for them. As we've been through the half-day program for 2 kiddos already, we know what is required/expected. I've also got a good relationship with the teachers and they've offered their support. It's exciting to spend some extra time with the younger two as I sometimes feel they kinda got thrown in for the ride and don't always get the same amount of attention as the older two did when we just had two kiddos.

Of course, we had to have a picture of all 4 kiddos with their backpacks.

We love our bus driver! Since we live so close to the school, our kiddos are nearly the last ones on in the mornings! Mrs. Roesler is great and well trained! She doesn't leave the kiddos in the afternoon unless she sees me. I will never forget when Caroline was in kindergarten and I'd taken a nap since Matthew was a newborn. Mrs. Roesler came and knocked on the door to make sure someone was home! She also called one time to check on Caroline when she was sick for several days. So thankful for a caring bus driver transporting our precious cargo!

It was an exciting time when it was finally time for the bus to bring our kiddos home! Elizabeth has stopped taking naps so we are able to get her school time in while Matthew is still napping. Elizabeth is definitely a "Mama's gurl"!!

Everyone was excited when the big yellow bus dropped off the kiddos!! They both had a great first day, but we were glad to have them home.

After we'd heard all about their first day, had dinner and went for our celebratory first day of school ice cream tradition, we also had to do the traditional first day of school picture by the school sign. We are very thankful for a good public school! We may be partial, but feel that our school is the best in the district! This year, I'm starting an afterschool Bible Club with the children. It's very exciting to have full support of the principal and to find out there are many teachers and staff who are Christians!

We seem to be off to a good start as we begin another year at Douglas MacArthur Elementary.