First week of school: Part 1

First week of school, or so I'm told.

A few weeks ago I decided it would be fun to celebrate our little homeschool in a different way. I realized that since school always starts the day after Labor Day here, that it always starts on a Tuesday which happens to be Toddler Tuesday at the Mall of America.  On Toddler Tuesday wristbands for rides are half off and kids eat free at many restaurants (with each adult meal of course), and.....everyone else's kids are in school.

Score.

As the day approached I became nervous as Demand kept talking about how we always have fun gifts that day and Happy kept talking about being a 1st grader.  Eek. Would they be ok not doing school?

They seemed fine.

We got some wrist bands for the amusement park and rode rides till we were sore; at least I was. Some of those rides are intense!  We met up with my sister-in-law and some of her littles who needed some fun as well.

Time went way too fast and before we knew it we had been there five hours, and it was well past nap time.  We ended with some gelato (most of which was free) before heading over to Grandmas house.  My sister in law was going to watch the kiddos while Mr. Sloth and I ran to a counter top distributor because (hangs head, sighs) we are remodeling our kitchen.

That. Is. Another. Post.

Here are the kids on the school bus....I'm sorry the Diego bus ride at the Mall.

We finally headed home ten hours after we left. Needless to say Rooster and King were beside themselves.

Here's King at the mall during our lunch break. I extremely offended him when I went to the bathroom for thirty seconds. The selfies were me trying to show him how awful he looked.

Afterschool, snack anyone? Free ice cream? Yes, please!

Actually, everyone was beside themselves. Demand was really off. After a week or more with cousins and a fun day at the mall she said she needed a break and wanted to do school on Wednesday instead of something fun.  O......K......

Happy was excited for school too. He couldn't stop talking about starting 1st grade.  (We did most of Kindergarten last year so I guess we move forward even though he's only five.)

So Wednesday we started school. Ready or not.  I was not.  I spent an hour panicking Tuesday night when the only Math book I could find for Demand was a first grade book, and it wasn't done. Did we not finish first grade math? Are we that far behind?? Then I realized it was a book I bought for Happy and that Demand was much further along. Whew.

It was a very casual day as I still have some preparing to do.  I know what you're thinking. Didn't you buy all their books back in May? What else is there to do? Well there is copying, cutting, organizing, planning, etc... But I put my 'keep calm and homeschool' hat on, grabbed some books and did stuff.

I then went through the five stages of homeschooling grief.

1) Denial: The summer isn't over. We're not really schooling yet, just reading some books and writing some letters and numbers.

2) Anger: Why can't children stop asking me for things for thirty seconds so I can teach ten minutes of math??

3)Bargaining: If you leave us alone you can watch Mickey Mouse later.

4) Depression: Does she remember anything from last year? Am I ruining her education?

5) Acceptance: "I can't wait to do more school tomorrow."  I have not ruined our relationship nor their education in one day.

Then I see the cuteness that is this guy,

 and remember why it's all worth it.