first day

So what did the first day of a brand-new school year look like in our house?

Well, it started slowly… 

with 

a sleep in (by a boy)

a cuddle with a kitten (by a girl)

and some breakfast.

And then…

the day revved right up. 

With some storywriting by my girl

and illustrations drawn on Paintbrush

and a replica of Mittens the Kitten 

made by my girl with pipecleaners

and many photos taken by my girl for a book she's planning

by which time a slow-waking, book-reading, breakfast munching boy and his very busy sister 

were ready to do some

Maths.

In the form of Life of Fred for my boy

and chatting about numbers for my girl

as well as a few good rounds of Zeus on the Loose for all of us.

The Maths left the kids a little bit wide-eyed and panicky at first. My boy who'd been learning a'plenty the past two months, thought he'd forgotten EVERYTHING about fractions. 

He (who's nearly done with Life of Fred: Fractions) tried the Bridge, panicked, and put himself back 14 whole chapters to revise. Then he took himself to bed. Then he brought himself back to his desk and wept a little. 

And I said, Hey. I think it's going to be okay. You've had a big break and you're feeling rusty. I totally know what that feels like. Wanna do this together? 

Well, the first couple of questions were like starting an engine which hasn't been turned over in a while.

The next few questions had him going, "Oh, yeah, that's right, I remember!"

And then…he was flying. 

I sat with him and we did two Bridges, to confirm he was running well, no engine trouble—all was checked and okay. At the end, he beamed. 

My girl thought the world was ending, just a little, when I asked about numbers bigger than 170.  But we just talked about them, talked our way up to 300 to see how the numbers traveled and how that felt. And we noticed that numbers bigger than 100 don't actually grow two heads then bite yours off. Kind of a relief! 

Zeus on the Loose was fun. Just that. 

Then it was time for 

ASTROMONDAY!

and space journals had to get title pages

and stickers on the front.

And we asked ourselves:  What IS Space? 

And the kids wrote their ideas down and we looked through some books and they wrote some more and we discovered that

Space and the Universe are actually just a little bit different. Who'd've thunk it? :)

And then all the delicious space books from the library had to be pored over for a long while!

THEN

it was time for lunch 

and  

time to swim.

Because it's super HOT here! Summer has come in with a beautiful bang! 

I love love love summer, even the baking days. 

Everyone else in my family sweats and says, "I can't wait for winter." 

I just take in the heat like a snake on a rock. Try to store it up for the cold months ahead. 

We did laps,

we played,

and my girl ate an apple beside the pool side as my boy and I frolicked.

And

THEN?

Well, we went to the library of course!

To research for this week's Fun Writing Challenge 

It was already 3.30 and I said, "Are you sure you want to do this now?"

"YES!" said the kids. "OF COURSE!" said the kids.

The writing challenge is this:

"If you could live anywhere other than Australia, where would you live and why? Do some research and write down some interesting information."

Well, that turned, via my enthusiastic kids, into: 

"I'm going to research Country X, write up my notes in a special notebook that I'll cover and when I'm done with this country, I'm going to do another one!"

Which means "This week's Fun Writing Challenge," may take us an indefinite, glorious, open-ended amount of time. Just as we like it. :)

So we went to the library and I introduced the kids to the Reference Section. The kids picked a country and they bent their heads over their notebooks and they wrote things down, right then and there. My girl is doing the U.K. and my boy, who is addicted to all things Italian, is doing—you guessed it—Italy!

And they were so happy.

… 

Oh,

you thought we were done?

That's crazytalk! Because

THEN

we zipped off to my son's first band practice

where he saw some great friends

and played timpani and the tom-toms 

and 

while my girl and I waited 

there was doodling on the grass with friends

and flying of paper aeroplanes with cats drawn all over them.

AND then,

we went home…

to cuddle kitten and cat, and feed the dog and draw some more, 

and read more and more about space on the couch

and have dinner.

Then a boy and his dad walked the dog  

as the sun set and the crickets and cicadas and buzzy things began to sing

and my girl drew

and I played with a kitten.

And

then…?

It was the end of a first day and an always day. 

A day the kids leapt at with both hands and 

with their whole

hearts.

A day they could dream about as they slept. 

Good night, all. Happy dreams!