Tomorrow we start. I feel like I’m holding my breath as I scramble around spending precious minutes getting everything settled or prepared. After that, hours of my day will be carved out and devoted to teaching my kids and exploring and learning with them. I home school and this year I have a 4th grader, kindergartner, and 2 year old. We’ll be dealing with last years troubles and triumphs again for my 8 year old. My 4 year old will be learning to read. He is super excited about that and teaching a child to read is hands down my favorite thing to teach! My 2 year old will need to be occupied, loved, and not left out. I’m excited and terrified. This mix will be a challenge and I feel a little speech forming in my mind about what I want to say to them tomorrow before we crack open the first book.
It may go something like this:
“This year we will be putting ourselves to work with a very great goal. We are going to learn so much and I want you to keep your eyes wide, your minds ready, and your hands willing!
What I put in front of you at the beginning of the year will seem familiar, so tackle it with excitement. These are the foundation building blocks for what we’ll learn this year. Refresh it in your mind and then we’ll move on to learning more. You will really be challenged this year and by the end we’ll be learning things you’ve never heard of. It will be like a sailor in uncharted waters but some amazing adventures can happen there!
Whether you are learning to read, improving your writing, or using numbers in a way that you never have before, work hard at it. I know you can succeed, because I have seen that each of you is smart and loves learning.”
Now I’m going to get super corny and make them a little poster that will be on the wall for a while. My kids love this kind of thing and I hope it will get them all pumped up.
Complete your work
be Accurate
do your work Neatly
be Creative
keep a good Attitude
Tackle the challenges
Be a CAN CAT. Yes, very corny. Do you think it will work? Don’t answer that… I’m really just hoping it will get us through the first week. It’s gotta be better than, “Here we go again,” and a look of pure fear. Haha. Happy back to school!
Yay! I wish you could come do all those things for my household. Maybe its not too late, but I find my son’s eyes glaze over if I talk to long. And you made me laugh! Thanks for this!