Skyler's 1st Day of School!

So Skyler started his first week of 1st Grade this last week & he's LOVING it!  I'm SO glad that he still thinks school is COOL, because there's already some kids his age that were dreading going back...  Our biggest adventure with his schooling this year is that he's now going to a new Charter School in our area called "Voyage Academy."  When it was first announced & everyone in the neighborhood was talking about it, I wasn't really sure WHAT I thought about Charter Schools, but after going to parent meetings & doing a little research, I learned that not all Charter Schools are the same...

There's one Charter School around here who's focus is on ART & another who's focus is HISTORY.  And while both of those are great subjects to study, I'm not sure that they are subjects that need any EXTRA emphasis than any other.  So what intrigued me about THIS Charter School was that it's emphasis is not a certain subject, but a different way of teaching called "Expeditionary Learning."  And the more I've learned about it, the more I like it...  Basically, it focuses on more hands on learning & teaches more of the WHY we need to know things in the real world.  I also really LOVE his new principal (some people switched to the Charter School JUST because of the principal!) & I'm learning to also enjoy the concept of uniforms, although there's obviously several pros & cons.  Overall though, what really helped us make our decision about whether we should send Skyler to the Charter School or not though, was by praying about it & feeling that indeed, this is what was best for OUR family's needs.  We certainly don't have any problems with Public Schools or anything like that, but we felt like this would give Skyler the best schooling we could for right now.  And so far so good!  We're excited to see what else this year will bring for him!

I was worried that the girls would really miss Skyler this week once he was off at school all day, but they actually have become even BETTER friends with each other in the meantime!  Kimberly has really seemed to enjoy her new role as the LEADER, instead of just the follower & always has SOME great idea for her & Bailey to go off & play :)  It's actually pretty cute to see how much they love each other, which is AWESOME, because Miss Kimberly still has another 2 years before starting school herself!  So yay for sisters close enough in age to be good friends!!!