Public School Started Today so we Honored the Occasion by Having School Outdoors :)

 Our holiday weekend was cold, rainy and windy.  This morning of course was beautiful and sunny.  And it was coincidentally the first day for public schoolers.  (We started a couple weeks ago).  So, in honor of the occasion, we had our school outside today, at the big picnic table on the deck, with an amazing clear-sky view of the mountains.  Life is good :)

 Our very artistic ten year old is working his way through an in-depth art curriculum this year.  He's working on Nature Journaling by Barry Stebbing at the moment.  There are 47 lessons in this one, and then we will begin working on the more in-depth drawing course which is intended to be a 3-year curriculum.  He was working on drawing trees this morning, learning about shadows and shading techniques.  How can you draw a tree inside?  Ha.  Good excuse to go out and observe the real thing after watching the video.

 The five year old is working on writing his letters.

The three year old is doing the same thing as his 5 year old brother.  I will try to keep them together for as much stuff as I can (obviously making adjustments wherever needed).  The five year old has autism and is considerably behind, and the three year old is sharp as a tack, so for the most part, they are able to work pretty well together.

 I mean seriously people, How can you not take school outside when you have a view like this???

 I found these handwriting sheets on Pinterest.  They go along with the story David Goes to School by David Shannon.  He also wrote No, David! which happens to be one of my five year old's favorite books. He was thrilled to see the pages with David on them, and it helped hold his interest.

 The sun was getting pretty intense, so we had to pull out the sunglasses.  Who says you can't look cool while doing school? :)

 Now this part absolutely kills me, but we have agreed to let our five year old attend public school for a couple hours four afternoons a week.  I know this doesn't seem like much to most of you, but this is our 17th year of homeschooling, and this just goes against everything about who we are.  But the five year old has autism, and we live in a very small town with no other options for therapeutic services.  So to the school it is.  This is actually less time each week than we sent him to his specialized preschool last year, so I think we'll be okay.

 Apparently the most interesting part of his day was getting to ride the bus home.  It's the only thing he would even talk about.

 No offense to teachers or public school people.  My sister in law is a teacher and I respect her greatly.  It's just that it's not for us.  So, we'll give this a try for now, but if it's not what we want, I'm confident I can do as good a job at home.  (Again, no disrespect intended.)

 Later this afternoon the ten year old had a football scrimmage.  I had to laugh - the high school team was just finishing their practice, and the whole sideline of the track was lined with computers.  The school district supplies them for every student.  And there they all were, just lined up...

 The kids do some interesting stretches before the game.  It's good, but it sure looks funny.

 Our son is the second tallest on the team.  Not sure what happened to the tall one.  The kids on the team range from 3rd grade through 5th grade, and ours (#75) is a 5th grader.  He's not tall, but he's not short either... until he stands next to the center :)

 Most of the boys wear long socks.  It didn't occur to me that he didn't really have any until I saw him on the field ... in ski socks... as in super-cold-weather-keep-your-feet-from-getting-frostbite-socks.  Yeah.  Those are gonna smell amazing after the game.  But hey, they are long, and they do have a bit of orange on them, so I see his logic...

 This is his assistant coach.  This guy is one of the most encouraging people I've ever seen in kids sports.  He had the same coach and assistant coach last year, and we were thrilled to see him with them again.  I love the shirt. It says, "Here I am.  What are your other 2 wishes?"  LOL

 The team did really well.  There are four teams all together - orange, green, black and white.  They played a series of plays against each team, taking turns on offense and defense, and starting at the 30 yard line.  The coaches would come in and scoot kids over, move them where they wanted and run the play.  It was a great way for the kids to see their plays in action.

 The three year old thought it was too hot and wanted to get out of the sun.  So I told him to sit still and I would shade him.  And believe it or not, he DID have a nap today.  But all the same, he nearly fell asleep on the ground.

 Toward the end I caught him sitting here spitting - as in making car noises.  Whatever you call that.  But basically, he was over it and really tired.

 The five year old on the other hand, wouldn't even come out to the field.  He just stayed by the gate.  Too many people, and too much out of the ordinary.  He stayed right there for over an hour.

 The head coach is on the left in the green shirt.

He came up with some great plays.  It should be a good year.  They beat all the teams in the scrimmage, and look promising.  There is only one team I'm really worried about, but it's mostly because of one player.  And when they switch to 11-man ball at the end of the season (where the 4th and 5th graders play against a couple of other towns) that kid will make a great impact.  It's gonna be a good season :)

 Not to be outdone, the three year old found himself a helmet when we got home. It's a little worse for the wear - missing the face mask, and also on backwards, but it was a football kind of night. :)  He was riding his bike while I finished up dinner.