How Do You Spell "First Day of Homeschool?"

Let me answer that title question for you:

D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R

Disaster.
We decided to start on Labor Day.  Tim was home, we had no plans, the kids kept asking how much longer until we start, so I thought, Hey, why not?  It's as good a time as any.
I started to freak out as we went downstairs.  Caleb was a mess.  Zeke was a mess.  Tim was locking himself in bathrooms to clean them for me, good husband that he is.  Noah compared everything we did to how he did things in the public school.  Ellie wanted to learn but was distracted by her crying brothers.
Almost an hour later we moved outside for a change or scenery.
A half hour later, I was holding Zeke outside the bathroom, crying (me, not Zeke) and telling Tim that I was going to quit.
Noah was outside, crying, after asking if he could go back to "real school" the next day.
Ellie, soft heart that she has hidden under all that stubbornness, wrapped her arms around me to comfort me.  She really is a blessing and I am reminded of that in unexpected moments.
Thank God Tim had the day off because he took over the kids for the rest of the afternoon.  I, however, opened the blog, Confessions of a Homeschooler, and remained on there for the following five hours.  I nailed down our problem pretty quickly.
One of the beautiful things about homeschooling is that you can tailor it to your family's needs.  I had been told by many families to not have any expectations and to be flexible.  I took it a bit too literally and went in pretty much unprepared, thinking I could just open the books and follow the directions. 
This may work for some families, but I found out quickly it does not work for ours.  I like routine and schedules, my kids do as well.  We are flexible and we love a lazy day where plans pop up along the way, but during the week we like to know what's going on.  The more I read the Confessions website, the more ideas I came across, and the more I accomplished, especially the idea of Work Boxes.  Since I don't have boxes, though, we use Work Folders and this is the favorite part of the kids' day.  They LOVE them!

Enter Day 2:
How do you spell the second day of homeschool?

S-U-C-C-E-S-S

Success.  Halfway through the morning, Noah made the comment, "Hey, I think I really like homeschooling."

 Using play-dough to try to create Adam and Eve.  We had to remember to "remove" Adam's rib to craft Eve out of it.

Me, too, Noah.  Me, too.

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen."  -Ephesians 3: 20-21