First Classroom Day . . .

No, despite yesterdays post and now this, I won't be bombarding you with day after day of memory and internet hogging posts filled with pictures, but I couldn't miss my traditional “First Day of Homeschool” post, and I know many of you who know us enjoy sharing this day with us. Actually, yesterday was just the first day of classroom time—we’ve had a pretty amazing, educational summer (see our zoo trip to see one thing we did) and we are more and more seeing why some people call it home educating instead of home schooling. The education never really stops just because you aren’t in the classroom, and we are finding that it is much more of a lifestyle (and full of life skills) than the set number of days or curriculum you can tend to try and compare yourself to if you try and just do "school," only at home. (For those of you new to my blog, I am in no way implying anything against the wonderful teachers and parents and staff at public schools. We treasure the love shown at our local school, have many staff members at our fellowship, and volunteer at it coaching softball.)

The day began with the girls dressed in “baking” clothes and taking lead in measuring out and making up a batch of peanut butter cookies to bless a neighbor with who gave us some veggies, and to take to youth group. Then, after a recess (and Dad sneaking in a cup of coffee with Mom), the girls surprised Mom and changed into some pretty dresses and got to see the classroom and all the surprises it holds. As class began, of course, the Shofar was blown off of the upper deck, and the day and year were prayed for. May the Holy Spirit anoint the year and us for the trust of raising our children! I invite you to share a bit in our day, if you are interested, through some of the pictures I’ve included (they are each worth a thousand words, after all). You should be able to click on each picture to enlarge it, and then hit the back arrow to return to the post (at least that works in FireFox). God bless you, and thanks for being a part of our lives.   —Erick

Eager to start!

Momma/Teacher & her girls.

Baking, and tasting, and . . .

Exciting learning ahead!

A trip to the Grand Canyon . . . at least a poster of it.

Momma even gets a gift!

Science table with microscope, tree rings, Saber Tooth Tiger
tooth cast, fossilized dinosaur bone, obsidian, an old 3 1/2"
disc and a new DVD (do you know that it would take a
stack of those discs as high as 14 Abigials on top of
each other to equal the storage on two DVDs?), and more.

Teacher loves her girls (and "principal" loves
his girls, all three, too!)!