In Which School Gets Harder and I Am Organized

**If you are here from the blog hop...welcome! This post includes my daughters' first day of school pictures as we traditionally take them. Here are some pictures from past years also.**

Today was our first day of school!

Second grade...

And (gulp) sixth grade...

We always measure them on the first day of school and this child is 5' 1''.  Hello? Eleven years old!

2011--the gap in their heights seems to be getting bigger

2008--yep. I was right. 

 There were some little treats on their table this morning.

Cute right? Thank you Pinterest!

Found some "Back to School" cookies at W-mart too!

After a few back to school activities, Sweetheart retired to the living room to do her independent work.

While Little Bit and I reviewed some math...

Little Bit thoroughly enjoyed her day. When I said it was time for History, her face just fell. Last year she sat through the entirety of The Mystery of History Volume 3, which is by no means as "friendly" as volume 1 and she had grown to not look forward to History very much. Starting off with the Renaissance and Reformation may not be the best plan.
Anyway, she was pleasantly surprised with her Sonlight History. And boy did she love sitting on the couch by me, coloring while I read to her. Wish I had a picture of that, but...I was busy reading. We also read on my bed today and she ate it up.

Sweetheart, on the other hand, was surprised by how much work she had! She didn't complain, but she was working hard! Sitting in the living room may not work. Tomorrow she's going to try somewhere else.

Work spread all around...

The main thing was the timing of the schedule did not work out. Sweetheart took longer, Little Bit was just as expected....so we just rolled with it. Things got done out of order, but they got done. It was no big deal. That's why our schedule is put up with sticky tac!

So, even though Sweetheart is supposed to do Zoology more independently this year, we did it together today and enjoyed it. I'm thinking we may just do it together--it's the only subject they would do together this year and I think I should cherish the times they can do things together. 

We're studying Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day. Last year we studied Flying Creatures of the 5th Day. So, we reviewed the order of creation, highlighting that 5th day. We ended up with a timeline with Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 on small index cards, and day 5 on big blue construction paper. Those circles are a flannel board set we have of creation.

I was very pleased with today. It's going to be a lot of work, but we were prepared and the girls worked hard. I LOVE, LOVE , LOVE the weekly assignment sheets from Sonlight and the fact that I have the first 6 weeks basically ready. Of course there will be some Sunday prep, but I feel ready for the next 6 weeks anyway.

It was a good day and it will be, I hope, a really good  year!