First Day of School!

Benjamin has returned to school and there's a mixture of emotions going on at our house.  I'm happy for him and worried about him.  I am glad to have one less person to deal with during the day and sad that I don't have my buddy around.  He's happy to be with friends his own age and learning new things.  He's frustrated that he's "always being rushed!"  He says that they have so much writing to do and it's such a rush to finish. (Writing is his least favorite subject.)  He says that lunch is a rush and recess wasn't long enough.  Ah, the carefree pace of home school is gone and he's feeling it. I'm sure he'll adjust soon, though.  In Kindergarten he was always left with too much time to complete the simple assignments, and then last year he was the only student at home, so everything was at his pace.  Now he's in an accelerated program full of very bright kids.  It's going to take time to get used to it.  He likes his teacher, though, and he likes the classroom, his new locker (about which he's very excited), and many of the other kids.  So over all, he's excited about school.

Bella is happy because in her words, "Now I have Christian all to myself."  If today was any indication that means, "I get to torment Christian without distractions and lead him into all sorts of mischief."  She was a menace!  She stole Christians toys more times than I can count.  She poured baking soda all over the laundry  room floor.  She emptied all my red and blue paint into a large cup and then mixed in all my craft glitter to make "sparkle purple paint" which he proceeded to paint all over herself and Christian and then the backyard toys as they went out and played dripping in paint.  She sharpened all her crayons and dumped the shavings into the bathroom sink, mixed them with hot soapy water to make a "soup," and then unstopped the sink and ran all the shavings down the drain, leaving a plugged drain and a sink full of melted crayon smears.  Hopefully she will also adjust to the new routine and things will settle down for all of us.

Benjamin said his favorite part of the classroom is a bed where the "student of the week" gets to sit and read and do their assignments, rather than at their desk.

My other kids were big fans of it too.

Christian starts preschool next week.  We'll see how that goes!  I have a feeling he'll love it, but not before he cries hysterically for a while.  My cute little mama's boy.