First week of School

Well, I have a lot of catching up to do on the blog.  It's now the first week of September and the kids have started school again.  And this year, Ciara is back in school full-time.  After our brief experiment with full time homeschooling and then the rest of the year part-time homeschooling, it feels a bit strange to not have any kids at home during the day.

The first day of school was Sept. 1st, earlier than last year.  Most kids in Catalunya will not start school until Sept. 14th or 15th.  I was nervous, especially for Ciara and Nathan.  Ciara because she is starting middle-school (grade 6) and Nathan because he is starting HIGH SCHOOL (grade 9).  It's crazy to think that I am now the mother of a high school student!

Well it seems that I had nothing to worry about.  Ciara was super excited to go back to school.  I was so impressed with the way she prepared her backpack and chose her outfit and everything.  Bob gave all the kids a blessing on Monday night.  It is amazing how each of them has matured over this past year.

And the first day of school was great.  Everyone came home happy with their new teachers and classmates.  It seems like everything is back to normal with kids from the neighbourhood stopping by every afternoon.  Ciara and Nathan are back doing judo and of course next week Cole will start soccer practices again which he is really looking forward to and Rylan will continue with flag football.   And this year Nathan will start seminary!!!  We are still not sure if he will be doing early morning seminary or after school.  There are only 3 other kids in seminary in our ward.  One of them does it at home every morning with his mother, the other two will do it with one of the other wards that meet in our building.  We are hoping that Nathan will be able to do early morning, although it will be hard for me, as I'm not a morning person :(

Also, Ciara on her own decided to try-out for the cheerleading squad on Friday.  Tomorrow will be the last day of try-outs and then she will find out if she makes the team.  She has been practicing faithfully all weekend.  I really hope that she does her best tomorrow at the try-outs and doesn't get nervous.

After my brief experience last year homeschooling Ciara full-time and then the rest of the year homeschooling part-time, it feels a bit strange to not have any kids at home during the day.  But, my friend Manju, who is also from Canada, will be homeschooling her son Asvin this year.  He is in grade 6 and doing a British Columbia curriculum.  Fortunately for them, the BC government supports homeschooling parents.  Gives them all the curriculum and books, provides them with a teacher to Skype with every 2 weeks and even a grant to buy other materials they might need.

So I have offered to help Manju by doing a writing class with Asvin every week.  I just remember that when I was homeschooling Ciara full-time I really appreciated all the extra help I got from other teachers and parents.  It will be good for me too, because I enjoy being involved with homeschooling.

As this may be our last year here in Spain, I hope that the kids have a good school experience and we will of course try to use all of their holidays in order to explore more of Spain and other parts of Europe.