An Announcement and Egg Hunt Pictures

Let me preface this by saying that we've made a rather huge decision for our family.  A few months ago, we started talking about school for Jack.  Our kids usually homeschool for elementary and junior high and go off to private school for high school.  (6 of our 9 have also gone to classroom schools for kindergarten because I kinda sorta hate teaching reading.)

We had some concerns about Jack being able to attend the school that the older kids attend.  They're very driven by test scores, and Jack does not test well.  A friend of mine put her kids into a much smaller private school, and has had nothing but great things to say about it.  She calls it the next best thing to homeschooling, and says that with the small class sizes and flexible teachers, they really cater to the needs of each child (she has a child who is working ahead of her grade level in some areas there).  This sounded like it might be a better fit for Jack.

Once we finally made the decision that he would go to school next year, I started wondering if it might be a good idea to send Katie, too.  Katie is afraid of getting anything wrong, and I get frustrated sometimes when trying to get her to answer a question.  While we're making it work, I think it would be beneficial to our relationship if I could just be Mom and have someone else be Teacher.

I could continue to homeschool Hannah.  And I'm sure we'd have a wonderful time together.  But she misses having friends at school.  She attended our neighborhood school K-2, and she likes school.

So the long and the short of it is...  All the kids will be in classroom school in the fall.  Brianna and Eli will continue at their school, and Jack, Hannah, and Katie will start at the smaller school.  In an effort to start to get to know the school and the kids that go there, Paul and I took Hannah and Katie to their egg hunt.

I just love this picture as the girls wait for the signal to go gather up all those eggs!

And they're off!

This new season for our family will be different, and I'm sure it will take some getting used to, but I'm kind of excited about it.

I've never been able to be a "room mother" type mom, due to homeschooling, having younger kids at home, and Paul's work schedule, so I'm looking forward to being able to get involved at the school.

I think the coming school year will bring about huge changes in the kids, too, mostly Jack, who is just edging into teenager-hood.  He and Katie have never been to school, so the adjustment period may be a challenge for them.  I'm pretty sure Hannah will rock the transition like she has everything else that's come her way.

Look at all those eggs!

My girls usually get run over at egg hunts, so it was nice that this one had a large number of eggs and a small number of children!

The empty plastic eggs were then exchanged for tickets, and the tickets were taken to tables where they could be used to buy candy, bubbles, plastic jewelry, and other trinkets.

The girls got the chance to try out their new school playground.

I think Katie missed the idea of how to go down the fire pole.

I love them so much!  And as much as I've loved having them here at home with me, I'm looking forward to picking them up from school and hearing all about the new things they learn without me, too.

Isn't she beautiful?  I think it will be good for Katie to have peers who don't shriek when something doesn't go their way, so she can figure out some different coping skills.

Impersonating a small family

I'm planning to really savor this summer and enjoy hanging out with all my kids (who still live at home) while I have that opportunity.


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