A bit late with this week's post...
We officially started school on Tuesday of this week. I took the first couple of days to really get Big Boy transitioned to having to sit still and listen. I still have lots of activities where he gets to wiggle, but there are also going to be times this year where he just needs to listen to me read material that is a bit longer than he's used to.
Also, with the major room redo I did I really wanted to take time to get both Big Girl and Big Boy used to the new set up. Even though Big Girl has been doing this for 6 years, it was still an adjustment to bring in her brother on many of her subjects.
The first thing we discussed was our schedule. You can read more about that in my
Day in the Life post.
Next, I showed them all the new things that have made their way onto our classroom walls before covering my new behavior management system. The rules posted here are just some of our normal house rules, but they are all issues where one or more of the kids struggle. I thought having the posted might help be a reminder for them.
Our second day was pretty laid back as well. Wednesdays will be our "test days" rather than learning days. This is because Wednesdays are also our errands days. I didn't want to completely cancel school on these days, so I thought is was a perfect built in shortened day.
Big Girl and I took some time to set some goals for the year. This is the first year we've done this, but I felt it was important for both learning self-evaluation and to give us something to aim for beyond "learn our times tables".
Thursday and Friday were our first two full learning days. The older two kids did great! Baby Boy had trouble with the transition. He did NOT like being in his own area even with him being both in sight and having new special toys for school time only. I'm still working on getting some toddler school activities together to keep him entertained. Friday was better than Thursday, though, so I think once we get a couple of more days under our belt, he'll do just fine.
Overall, it was a good starting week. I'm pleased to see how well the first few days have gone and excited to see how our year continues to go using the new things I've put into place. I hope it is a successful year and I can use a similar setup for next year when Baby Boy most likely starts preschool!
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