Shopping for School

School starts for Jordan in about 2 weeks.  2 weeks from this Tuesday, specifically.  He's very excited and so am I.  I've been a little sentimental since Spring.  During those rare, quiet moments when I'd be getting lunch ready and the boys would be sitting quietly at the table and the couch, working away, I'd think to myself, "Well, it won't be like this for much longer.  We won't have days like this anymore".  And get a little teary-eyed.  And then, like a snap, the tranquility would end and the fighting would begin and I'd think, "Yup.  Thank goodness it won't be like this for long!".

Ha ha!

In all seriousness, I will miss Jordan like crazy.  Not just him, but the idea of all of us being together.  I'm so happy for him, though.  God answered our prayers and he was accepted into his first choice of schools.  I heard there was only 1 spot open for 3rd grade, so we were all nervous.  I do worry about him adjusting to a "classroom".  I won't say a "typical classroom" because when we visited his soon-to-be class, it didn't seem like a typical classroom at all.  God bless Charlotte Mason and her techniques!  Still, there will be rules and schedules to follow, and Jordan's accustomed to kind of doing his own thing.  I think he'll manage and I also have high hopes that he will thrive in his new adventure. 

Now, on to the main point of this post:  shopping for school supplies.  One of the many things I love about homeschooling is that there is no mad rush to buy supplies.  We school year-round, so we always just replenished our supplies when we needed to.  No mad rush to fight the crowds at Target and Wal-Mart and Office Depot on the Tax Free Weekend.

Jordan's new teacher emailed her school supply list last week and I was pleasantly surprised.  Jordan has never been to school before, but Shaun was in public school for three years.  One of the things that stands out in my memory from his time there is the giant enormity of the back to school supply lists.  I mean, really.  So much stuff!  So expensive!  Thankfully, my mom always helped with our back-to-school shopping.  She helped me this year, too, even though our list wasn't nearly as extensive and long as I was anticipating.  

The kids and I went to Target yesterday and just got it all done.  I let Jordan pick out the things that mattered...his backpack (a Star Wars one that makes noise...really hope this won't be a problem, but it was the only way I could talk him out of the 40 dollar backpack that only cost 40 dollars because of the headphones that came with it), the color of his pencil box, etc.  Then I sent him to the toy aisle with Shaun so I could finish in peace.  Violet and I found everything on the list except for a Prang water color set (I had never heard of these and had to Google it!), a sketch pad, and a nice set of colored pencils.  We'll visit Michael's tomorrow and then the list will be complete.  

Even though the list was short and the Back-to-School aisle at Target wasn't crowded at all, I still felt that crazy rush...darting around trying to find everything on the list in the order in which it appeared to that I wouldn't forget anything.  Thank goodness I was only shopping for one.  I can't even imagine.  Shaun will need some supplies for co-op this year, but not until September.  We'll deal with that later!

All in all, shopping for school supplies was a pleasant experience.  Now let's just see how I hold up on the first day of school.