Back to school

 I have some other things I want to post, but this is what ended up on here tonight.  The others hopefully will get posted soon!

Tonight I found this--

http://thepioneerwoman.com/blog/2010/09/ten-important-things-ive-learned-about-blogging/

I really liked it.
It expressed my feelings on blogging very well.
Hmmm, then what is my problem?
My blog has gotten so stale I didn't even want to go visit it myself I guess.

Anyway, I hate it that I've gotten so behind again

I can hardly believe it's the end of summer.  School started the 17th of Aug, and as far as activity that marks the end of it for me!

Kara's first day of school--starting middle school.  The 6th graders went a day ahead of the other grades.

First day of school for Kaela--going in to 4th grade.  No, we didn't get the door re-painted this summer :(

We love our  school!  We've felt so fortunate to be able to choose where to go, and have the opportunity to attend a very small school in the country. This is where we put the kids when we went into public from homeschooling, and it's been wonderful. We're happy we can continue to opt in since we've moved too.

Ready...or Not!

Today was the first day of school for Kara & Kaela and Relyssa.
(Morgen & Meshayla will start later)
The "little girls" were quite anxious. I don't know how many times Kaela told me to be sure & set my alarm so she could get up at 6:00. She even offered to set the alarm for me. Never mind that they don't leave until 7:30, they have their clothes laid out the night before and they eat breakfast at school. It takes them about all of 5 minutes to get ready. No telling these girls twice! I'd bought some basic school supplies, so this morning they went thru them and filled their school boxes & got out their back packs (Their ones from last year were still good, so didn't have to buy new ones! WOOHOO!)


The tradional first day of school picture. My babies! *sniffle*!! Kaela's going off to 3rd grade, and Kara off to 5th grade, her last year in grade school!! (another *sniffle*) Like another blogging friend mentioned, they should still be 3 & 5....not those grades!!




Now this daughter is a different story....*rolls eyes*
I tried to make her happy by reminding her that this was the first of the last days of school. It didn't help, she still rolled her eyes.
"WHY do we always have to take a picture, I hate school, It doesn't amuse me, (whatever we said), it's not a happy day,...........O.K.....Just PRETEND like you're a nice girl, o.k.?
*BROTHER*!!
Here's our Take 4, one is barely decent. O.K. Relyssa, you're done, this was the last time. THAT SHOULD MAKE YOU HAPPY! You're a SENIOR! AND you only have 1 semester left!!!





Oh yeah, and someday you're going to hate it that you had that kind of posture in pictures, trust me! :D

Alice in Wonderland Musical Production

The middle school swing choir put on Alice in Wonderland. This is Meshayla's first time on-stage experience. They did a great job!

14 of 52

The kids spring school concert

Back to school day

Meshayla & Relyssa...grumpy about having to have the annual back to school photo taken...(by all means, DON'T smile!) I was quite shocked when I put these two girls together and saw how much Meshayla has grown! She's caught up with Relyssa!
As an 8th grader now, this is Meshayla's last year in Middle school. Relyssa is a Junior.
My younger 3 were all up and ready long before it was time to leave, at least they are still excited about school. That does make life easier.
Kara, now a 4th grader, & Morgen a 5th grader are in the same room, and Kaela goes into the "middle room" as a 2nd grader. This is Morgen's last year in our little grade school.



I can't hardly believe it's another school year already! I have quite mixed emotions going on this morning..."Oh no!~ summer's over, and it just began.." "Yea!~...Fall is my favorite time of year" (The down side to that is, that fall turns into winter)
"Yea!~ The kids are out of the house and gone all day & I can get back to routines"..."OH my, ...I HATE dealing with school government, policies, school related problems, homework, daily school runs, kids grumpiness in "having to go to school", morning grumpiness in getting them up, ready & out the door"...... Compromise. Since I'm not ready to homeschool again, I have to deal with it. Maybe someday again, I loved those years & hated to give it up, but life changes & this is the way it is for now.

Kaela's school birthday

***
At our little school they celebrate everyone's birthday by inviting any family members to come and have lunch with them. Kaela's birthday isn't till July, but they designate a day during the school year to celebrate the summer birthdays, so no one gets left out! Leon has always done this before, but today he is out of town, so the honor fell to me. They have a separate table set up for the birthday child, siblings & guests, and after everyone's done eating they all sing happy birthday. I stuck around a bit afterwards to watch the kids. Before they go outside for noon recess, the younger kids all sit on the floor and wait while the older (4th & 5th) grade boys mop up the floor & fold & put away the tables. Kaela also got to be helper today, by holding the door for the clean-up crew. Here's a few scenes from my hour at school with the kids.
**As a side note here, "Our" little school is one that was formally a Class 1 school. In other words, one of those schools "THEY" did away with, deeming them unnecessary expenses, among other things. Some of the highlights of this school were: (some have remained because of long term teachers & attending families)
*children all saying grace together before noon meal *Children responsible for chores around the school...as you saw in the pictures, also taking out the trash, cleaning chalk boards, room duty chores. Things we did back in the 60's & 70's when I was in grade school.
*All grades have recess together, and all the kids in different grades get along.
* Teacher ratio in each grade is 1-6, although we have 2 grades per room, 3 teachers.
*Parents volunteered their time for clean-up, & yard mowing.
I could go on and on about this one, it's a huge rant! The expense it's caused the school district here on just consolidating this school is huge. I can't imagine what it was state wide. They hired at least 4 more "employees"...after all, if a teacher is teaching the "3 R's", then surely she can't teach P.E. too!! (or do any office work, ect) oh yes, as these students defiantly needed the services of a guidance councilor! O.K...I'll stop. We still choose to opt out of district to go to this school because of the many advantages we feel like a small school offers, despite what we've lost!



***

School program- 1st graders

As I mentioned earlier, my camera is not working, I did manage to get one picture on it of Kaela's 1st grade class. Not good quality, but after years of taking pictures, I realize that usually a bad picture is better than none at all. The school puts on a great program every year, the teachers and kids work really hard from right after Thanksgiving. It lasts an hour, and all the kids have speaking parts, costumes, although usually very simple and sing quite a few songs. If I can figure out the phone camera thing, I'll post more later.