First Day of School

Actually today was our second day back at it--we did some schoolwork on Monday too--mostly because I have been so anxious to see how it was going to work with two kids. The big hit so far is Latin, surprisingly. Maya keeps asking to do more, and calling her brothers Simonus and Jonus. I'm not jinxing myself by assuming that this eager, willing-to-work mindset is going to stick with us for the whole quarter, but I'll take it for now. Jonah seems to have matured a lot since the last time we were trying to crank on schoolwork--he is able to sit and do something for a short period of time without being an exasperating attention-whore (that was always Maya's cue to do some drifting, creative-ish project that had nothing to do with school). Since Jonah is in 1st grade now, he is adding a few subjects--not just math, reading, science and handwriting, but also grammar, spelling and history. Maya is adding Latin and a formal writing program. Of course both kids also are theoretically doing Spanish and Art, but, well, those are the ones that we tend to not get to.
Which is why Maya started a new Art class today--I am so excited about it--several of her friends are in it, and it looks to be just great.
Today we made a trip to the Department of Education to pick up Metrocards--some hardworking homeschool mom lobbied hard to get these a few years ago for homeschoolers, and I am so grateful for it. Free Metrocards that work during school hours...and I am especially appreciative since I now have two kids tall enough to pay for subway and bus rides.
In the next couple of weeks all the other school-related activities start--Central Park zoo classes, NYU Children's Chorus, soccer teams, Urban Park Ranger classes, violin, poetry writing and book club for Maya and a reading group for Jonah. Also the usual field trips and excursions to theater and NY sites...It looks like a lot of fun, and we feel so lucky to be able to homeschool here in this amazing place.