School Pictures

The Wright gang is finishing its third week of school.  Minds are waking back up after a summer of relative ease, pens are rolling much more smoothly over the blue lined pages, and numbers are "carrying" with a bit more purpose now.  

School begins each year with a familiar sighting. . .

The arrival of our new school books.  This year, we were blessed  to be able to borrow the bulk of Cole and Meg's books from another home schooling family who uses the same curriculum that we do for history and geography and science.  Yippee! 

We opened our boxes and the school year began with its potential heavy in the air.

Meg was really skeptical about that Blood and Guts book, but it has been a great one so far.  Our science this year is Human Anatomy and Physiology (I just got a crinkle in my stomach typing that out...I hope it's easier than it sounds!)

We've got a new student this year.  Kate will proudly tell you that she's in "Pre-K"--she won't proudly tell you that her mother is her Pre-K teacher.  She hopes you won't ask her that because she wants you to think that she's big stuff and somehow having your MOM teach you how to read is soooo yesterday.

The book Kate's nose is in is called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons .  I found it in a book warehouse in South Carolina about 7 years ago and paid $4.00 for it.  The page pictured above is about as exciting as the book gets.  Cole and Meg learned to read out of that book.  Meg used to call it "my beautiful book".  My sisters have each taught at least one child from that very book.  We dated and wrote each child's name on the lessons that were completed.  It's a much more beautiful book these days with all of that history and hard work recorded in its pages. 

Kate doesn't think it a beautiful book, she thinks of it as something-I-have-to-do-to-get-gum.  When praising her for a good job on her "reading lesson" a few days ago, she grinned at me and said, "I can't wait 'til I graduate."

Every now and then the Pre-K teacher takes a break, steps aside, and lets Dora the Explorer take over for a bit.  Dora is way smarter than the Pre-K teacher because she can speak two languages and she knows her Left from her Right.  I know this because I used to watch Dora with Meg when she was little.  Dora  was able to do what no other before her had accomplished -- she taught me Left from Right (I really would like to type "just kidding" here, but it'd be a big ole' lie). 

The only drawback Kate sees with having "computer Dora"  for her teacher is that Dora can't truly appreciate the care with which Kate has assembled her ensemble for the day.   

The Pre-K teacher appreciates all of the work her student invests in her daily outfits.  Who wouldn't get a real kick out of a 4 year old who shows up for school in a pink satin tutu?

(Continued tomorrow--unless too much Human Anatomy and Physiology has my head spinning!)