first day of school

Tatum's first day of school was September 5th. She started Kindergarten this year and she's going to school at home. :) That didn't stop us from doing a first day of school photo shoot. And of course I took a million pictures in the hopes that I'd get one decent one and then ended up being unable to choose just one.

Just a little excited about school. :)

Declan had to join in, of course.

Homeschooling this year is something I had been considering since at least January. But as usual, I struggled to make a decision and kept putting it off. There were lots of factors involved, the main one being that there is only full day kindergarten in our area. That seems like a lot more school than necessary for a five year old. Honestly, if there was a half day program available to us I probably wouldn't have even considered doing anything else. It's not like homeschooling has always been my dream or even my plan. Anyway, I liked the idea of Tatum being home for another year. Another year to strengthen our family relationships, strengthen her core beliefs and moral compass, allow her to play and be a kid with less structure, and one more year to be less influenced by the outside world and more influenced by home and family. At this point the plan is to homeschool just this year and she'll start first grade in the public schools next fall. I'm not ruling anything out, but that is the plan.

So far it is going really great! I love being a part of her learning and watching her excitement and hunger for it. I love watching her and Declan playing together and I'm so grateful they get so much time to do so. And honestly I think it's made me a better mom. I think I'm just naturally lazy and take the path of the least resistance and homeschooling has made me be more intentional with our time as a family and my time in general and I think I can see a difference in all of us. We are happier. I try to remember all these things when I have to tell people (which happens more often than I ever realized it would!) our decision and feel the need to defend it.

Anyway, happy first day of school Tatum!