First Day of School!

Ready or not, here we come!  Senior year!

Eli is in High School!

Colin is in 7th grade!

If Alison were typing this, she would like to point out that this is my last year to take pictures of all 3 of my kids on the first day of school :( But happy official decade of homeschooling to us!  

We get bonus points for starting school when we did.  Schools here don't start for another month, which means all of our friends are still in summer when we're starting up work.  Our motivation is to be done in May (like normal people) instead of crazy end of June.

I thought it would be fun to kick off our day with homemade donuts and Uno.

This is what happens when you try to take a picture of a 7th grader.

We got the ball rolling on our work and then Alison and I went to the store to turn in our change.  It was very fitting for this day.  You see, we've had this bag of coins since day 1 of homeschooling.  Alison says she doesn't remember not having this bag of coins in our school room and there have been countless times it's been brought out for math throughout the years.  It's definitely sat for a few years and all of the kids are officially out of Saxon math, so it was time to say goodbye.  First day of Senior year is a good time to do that.  We've made estimates how much money was actually in the bag over the years and I was actually surprised to find it held $20.  

Later in the day, the boys and I walked to get gelato and then visited Alison at work.

Truth be told, I was a little nervous starting up school, simply because this summer was not the most refreshing.  But I was so thankful when the books were opened and lessons began, because I really do love homeschooling these kids and I still absolutely love our days together.  Even with eye rolls and not so cheery faces all the time, I love my job and I'm so thankful that I get to do it.