Back to school

I think sometimes my best laid plans don't always go as planned.
Even though I planned on having all of the girls at home this year it didn't quite happen that way.
At the last moment we were offered a 'good deal' at the school. So Katie and Hannah went back on Wednesday to St. Thomas. I'm not sure if I'm happy with this set up quite yet. But we're going to give it a try and see what happens with it.

A picture of Hannah and Katie on the first day of school ( August 24,2011). It was a really windy day that day.

So for now its Marilyn and Maggie at home. Marilyn is nursing a growth plate fracture that happened when she was walking Belle, her cousin's dog, at Grammy's house. It couldn't have happened at the most worst time because she signed up for cheerleading. The nice part is she's still able to participate by sitting and doing the arm motions to the cheers. Tim took her to get a boot so that it will help her be able to get around better. I'll post a picture of the broken ankle girl later on when she gets home.

As for Maggie. Maggie isn't quite understanding why she can't go to school like Katie and Hannah can. Its hard to explain to a 5yr old why. I really try to tell her that its because mommy wants to spend more time with her. I don't want or need to remind her that the real reason is because the school isn't equipt for Maggie. She doesn't need to be reminded she isn't like all the kids. So I'm trying to make our lemonade with the lemons we have and make this fun for her.

I will say next year though we just won't be going through all this hassle. The girls do fine no matter where I put them and honestly home is better for them anyways. It doesn't seem natural to me to send my kids away. It never felt natural to me when I worked in daycare all those many years ago when Marilyn and Katie were little. I used to take them with me but it just didn't feel right to me. It still doesn't.
Sometimes I wonder how I'll be when the girls are all grown up and gone off to college. Really, what will I do with myself? I've tried things like going out , doing stuff. But I have a very difficult time feeling good about it when I enjoy being around and being with my girls.

Anyways, thought I would end this blog with a picture of Maggie and her little spot I'm setting up. I'm not done with it. But its a start. Don't mind the table. Its old and needs to be sanded down and refinished again. I think this will be my next project before the snow flies around here.
We spent yesterday decorating a file box for her to stack her Christian Light Light Units (workbooks) in. She really loves her reading and Math. Amazingly enough even though she just turned 5 she is doing really well with the 1st grade (100) level work. Right now she is working on her Learning to Read, which she already knows how to read, so we kind of quickly work through that part But it has lots of other stuff in the workbooks that is very age appropriate for her. Like visual discrimination, making patterns on a dot grid, the phonics practice, and handwriting. So we just are going to work through it quickly and I'll let her lead the way as to what she is capable of. Maggie is a smart little peanut for sure.
If you'd like to share pictures of your school room. Leave a link in our comments. I love seeing other school room pictures. I'm always looking for good ideas.