A Day in June: School Days

A long time ago, I recorded what a day looked liked and blogged about it. 

Now, it is one of my very favorite posts to look back at. I remember those routines, contemplate how they have changed and savor those special moments that seemed so mundane at the time, but were so fleeting.

So, before the end of Jack's first year of school came to an end, I wanted to document it.

Here is our day on June 6th, 2014.

Fridays are favorite days in our household. Friday is Pizza Day at school. Jack stays for recess and pizza lunch with his friends. It is his very favorite day at school, followed closely by Show and Tell on Mondays. This Friday was a bit different, as they were celebrating the summer birthdays, so Jack and another little friend were going to celebrate their birthdays with cupcakes, fruit and a special Birthday interview.

I made the cupcakes late that Thursday night but was going to get up early to frost them.

 However, Macy was fussy throughout the night and I overslept my alarm. I woke up 20 minutes before Jack was suppose to leave for school. (My saint of a husband gets up with the boys, gets Jack ready for school and takes him every day. This allows me to get a bit more sleep) 

So, first thing first....blue frosting.

Quickly followed by a cup of coffee. Teething, non sleeping babies are no joke.

 I was able to get them frosted in time and the handsome kindergartener was on his way!

However, the baby was not happy about all that cupcake frosting. After destroying all her brothers' toys, she was ready to nurse. I was not ready. She doesn't like waiting. Obviously.

BUT, a freshly fed baby is a happy baby. She played with medieval weaponry while her brother played with his legos and his leap pad. I wanted to have a picture of my cute Colin, but he prefers to not wear clothes and I didn't think that the internet needed a pic of Thomas the Train undies.

Baby was ready for her morning nap and I get to sneak in some cuddles, as this is the only time she is still.

Colin and I had some lunch as Macy napped and we got ready to go pick Jack up from school.

The pick up team. I love my mornings with Colin. He talks and talks to me and tells me everything he sees on our way to the school.

 

Macy is the star at school. The kids love to surround her and talk to her. Somewhere in that swarms of little bodies is Macy in her carseat. The kids are so good with her and love to talk to her every day.

Once we are home, the boys get to watch one episode of Octonauts. Colin is checking the facts with an animal book. It helps Jack unwind from school and than it is off the play for the boys. They usually are pretending they are some sort of marine animal that they see on the show.

 While the boys are playing, Macy gets her lunch. Sweet potatoes today, her favorite!

 After another round of play time, it is time for Macy's afternoon nap. I may or may not snuggle with her well after she is asleep.

Afternoon quiet time sometimes involves quiet reading in separate rooms, but today the boys begged to make a big bed on the floor and watch a movie. I agreed and the movie of choice was Elf.

  While Macy sleeps and the boys' have their quiet time, I work out. One of the many things that I love about Fit2b is that I can work out with my laptop, in the same room with the boys, keeping an eye on everything and still getting in a solid 30-45 minute work out.

Late into the afternoon the baby wakes up, the movie ends and I start to make some dinner. Ryan comes home and we  eat. Tonight, we decided to take a walk after dinner. Jack needs to practice riding his bike more, so that he can try to get his training wheels off.

After the walk, it is bed time for the boys. Teeth are brushed, stories are read, prayers are said and it is off to bed for them.

Night time is wild time for Macy. It is like she has to burn up all her energy before bed. She scoots all over the place, tearing into the boys toys. Here, she has pulled the bin off the shelf and happily threw out every single toy, as fast as she could.

Our quiet evening ended with the finishing of Season 1 of Downton Abbey. I know that I am behind the times, but I am slowly making my way through the series. Bed time for mom usually does not come soon enough.

And that is our day in June.

(To see more of the day in... series, click the label below)

Museum

One of the biggest blessing that came from our move to the Detroit Metro area is finding Jack's school. It is a wonderful, small co-op school that insists on heavy parental involvement, the only one of it's kind in the state of Michigan. It has been running for 40 years and has a very unique teaching system that I just adore.

One of the things that the whole school participate in is a called Museum. The school bases a lot of it's ideals off of Jean Piaget's style of learning. So, each student will pick a subject that they are interested in and would like to study and they do a complete research project and presentation about it. It can be anything that they are interested in, no matter what they are studying in school at the moment. Pre-K through 8th graders all participate.

The day of Museum, all of the kids will either present their studies or sit by their presentations and answer questions, like the kindergarteners did.

Jack chose to study Fire Safety.

He is my old soul, and wanted to learn how to be safe, how to get out of fires, and so forth.

He created his board on his own, he did all the paper mache on his firetruck and painted it. He created his own survey, asked his classmates and the elementary students and than created a chart.

His question?

"Do you think a house fire is more than 100 degrees?"

The majority voted yes, fyi.

He than researched and found out that house fires reach up to 15,000 degrees.

All of the kids did such a great job. There are 10 students in Jack's kindergarten class and the topics varied from Fire Safety to Dinosaurs, Lemonade Stands to Octonauts the Disney Jr. cartoon.

Math, reading and writing were all involved in their projects. They had to go to the library to get books to support their project.

Not too shabby for Kindergartners.

Ryan made sure that Jack had at least 10 books. He wanted to make sure his works cited was complete and accurate ;)

It was such a great way for the kids to be able to learn about what they are interested in, all the while learning how to present, create and process information.

The Kindergarten room  was bustling!

Jack was very serious about his topic. He wanted to make sure that people know how to Stop. Drop. And Roll.

 

We just adore Jack's teacher, Miss Venee. She has helped him come out of his shell, while not forcing him into activities till he is ready.

Here he is talking with her.

He just adores her, as do we.

I feel so blessed to be able to send him to school each day, and be excited to hear about what he is learning.

I didn't think I would ever feel confident and o.k with his schooling being done by strangers, but I have not had one moments doubt.

Jack is perfectly placed, and they let him flourish in his own way.

It was a fun afternoon, full of learning and knowledge. The kids were SO proud of their work and the parents were excited to learn from everyone.

I look forward to going again next year. Jack will be in 1st grade and will have to do an actual presentation before his peers and the parents. I wonder what his topic will be next year?