First day of School Sept 2, 2008

Here are all the kiddos ready for their first day back to school. Our district out here starts the day after Labor Day, so they are some of the last kids to start the new school year.

Brittney is in the 5th grade this year. If, by some horrible freak of nature we're still here come Fall 2009, this will be Brittney's last year in elementary school. Sixth Grade is in Middle School in this district. If we're in Arizona by then (as we hope) then she'll have one more year in elementary school before Jr. High. I can hardly believe how grown up she is. I'll have to have Art take a pic of me and Brittney so you can see how tall she's getting. She's the same size and weight I was in 7th and 8th grade. (not that I'm a tall person or anything, it's just proof that she'll be passing me up before too long!)

Josh is in the 3rd grade this year with Ms. Kolley who was Brittney's 3rd grade teacher. We love Ms. Kolley. She is the GATE teacher for the 3rd grade and was a wonderful teacher for Brittney, so we expect great things from Josh this year. He's off to a great start by finishing all his work in class so he hasn't had any homework except his required 30 mins of reading.

Joseph is in the 1st grade this year and is happy to be going all day again like Josh and Brittney. In AZ last year, he was in full-day kindergarten. When we moved back to CA they only have half-day, so it was kinda like going back to preschool for the second half of the year for him. He has recess the same time as Josh, and Josh even allows Joseph to play with him! He has lots of friends that he left behind when we moved to AZ that he gets to play with now that he's back at our home school.

Elise is in preschool again this year and is participating in the "typical peer" program with the special needs class. I chose to have her do this preschool program full-time since its 1) free to me (another one of those programs paid for by the taxpayers of CA), 2) 5 days a week from 9am-1pm, and 3)we don't know when or if we'll be moving. Last year I forfeited my registration fee for the preschool that all my other kids attended out here when we moved to AZ. I didn't want a repeat and I appreciate not having to pay tuition for preschool right now. She's with the same teacher she was with last school year when we returned to CA and Elise LOVES being a "teacher" in her class. It's nice having all the kids at the same school again!