Back to school……..and new territory for us!

We’ve had some BIG news in our house this past month….BIG changes for this “only ever homeschooled” family. Our oldest daughter started high school. As in at THE local high school, and not the “co-op” classes she was taking last year with all her homeschool friends. And she’s definitely not at home anymore. It’s been a huge transition for our family, but one that I’ve had complete peace about since God brought this all about. These plans have been in the works since last January, and I’ve felt His leading every step of the way. Did I mention this is completely new territory for us?

Her first day

So when I say she’s definitely not at home anymore, I mean she’s gone 10 hours a day…..EVERYDAY!! The first couple weeks the house seemed so quiet, so different and very bizarre. I mean she’s 14 1/2….that’s A LOT of years of togetherness. Thankfully we started out slowly. The first week she was only there 7 1/2 hours….the typical school day. But she was excited to start running with the cross country team, and now with practice everyday…..we pick her up at 5pm instead of 2:40pm. That seemed to make a big difference to me….and to her. It makes for a VERY long day, but she really likes cross country and comes home refreshed and energized and ready to tackle her homework instead of dragging and tired. Exercise is always a good thing, right?

In other BIG news, we have our last Kindergartener coming up through the ranks. My “baby” is now 5 1/2, and she was SUPER EXCITED to start school. If you look closely you’ll see that I’ve used that banner for my other two…just changing the numbers of the year lol. My middle girl is now in 5th grade, and is excited to “not” be taking any local “co-op” classes this year (last year she took art and english/writing with homeschool friends). She enjoyed it, but she told me she was really looking forward to being home with me and the little one. 😉 Talk about making my heart feel good!!

So on their first day of school (which was 1 week after my oldest started so we could get used to the transition), I took them to a local hot spot known for amazing doughnuts. It was our first time, and the girls were in heaven. We ended up with a dozen to take home so we had plenty to share with my teen. I didn’t want her feeling left out. She’s mentioned how tired she is, and it’s so strange to see her headed for bed at 8:30 or 8:45 when she can’t keep her eyes open anymore while attempting working ahead in her classes. She’s definitely amazed at how busy and full her life is with academics.

She mentioned there is a lot less “socializing” at the high school compared to last year (at the co-op)….she only has 5 minutes between classes and all they do there is work, work, work. And then she brings home homework and works some more. Most of her evenings and weekends are filled with homework, projects, essays and studying. Though “homeschooling” high schoolers spend a good portion of their day doing school work, they don’t have any “homework” for the nights and weekends. Unless they are dual-enrolled, which is a great way to knock out some college credits for free.

Kindergarten and 5th grade are going well….we’ve gotten into a nice routine, and I love how their excitement for learning feeds into each other! I’m sure having them both at home has helped me ease into being a “school” mom. That role is a bit strange for me…I used to be a teacher in the public schools before coming home when pregnant with my middle daughter (2002), and since then I’ve always been a homeschool mom. Now I have a new role to learn. It’s been fun for me, my teen, really the whole family.

I’m interested to hear from other homeschool families that have gone this route. How did it change your family dynamic? For the better or worse? Pros/cons? Was it all your homeschool child expected? My daughter came home her first day and was like, “that was school?” She was underwhelmed as I think she’d built it up in her mind over the course of her lifetime. Not that school is a bad thing, but just different than she expected it to be. She is however enjoying the challenge.

I wasn’t quite sure I was going to share this here, but it’s a huge part of our life and I really can’t imagine keeping it all to myself. I love sharing recipes with you guys, but I miss more of my personal posts and pictures. That’s what keeps me visiting so many interesting blogs….I love reading about your life! So thoughts on that? Would you like to see more of these types of posts? They wouldn’t be instead of my weekly recipes….it would be “extra.” Please share with me. I want to hear from you. 😉

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