First Grade

Ten years ago this month we moved into our home in Simpsonville, SC.

It's good for me to look back at the photos and remember all the little things about our simple life when the twins were 6. The hard things were saying goodbye to all they knew: their house, school, church, Oklahoma landscape and climate, and Sooner football. But the new good things were a schedule that was less busy, fun times together during our school day, and much more time with Dad. A new thing for our family was that John now had a day off since he wasn't part of a school structure. His day off was Monday, so we enjoyed day trips to explore the area as a family.

When we arrived, we had no idea what the local public schools were like or what we could afford if we found a Christian school nearby, so we decided to homeschool. We had already purchased their workbooks because they had been enrolled in First Grade at Harvest Hills Christian School. So we brought those workbooks with us, and I bought the teacher manuals with the money that we had been given as a moving gift.

I had homeschooled the twins when they were 4, so I understood the need for a schedule and good curriculum. Thankfully, at this young age, there is a lot of variety in the subjects, so our school days had a nice rhythm. The curriculum I was using, BJU Press, was excellent and fun. I loved how the lessons all intertwined with each other! I'm so thankful that their former First Grade teacher, Kelly, had all the workbook papers organized for me, so all I had to do was find the next day's pages to keep on track with their work. The days were full, since I was still unpacking and trying to keep up with the schedule of our new church family.

Our school room was the basement bonus room, which was ideal since we had a door that led out to the driveway. As soon as I said, "Recess!" the boys went right to the driveway to play with their little cars, or to the back yard to jump in the leaves, swing on the swing set, and play in the sandbox.

After schoolwork was done, we would sometimes take a walk down to the Reedy River, which is the western border of our neighborhood. We discovered a nice area that we nicknamed "Calm Water Way." We enjoyed picnics, swimming on hot days, and playing in the sand. Since it was autumn and we had moved from Oklahoma to South Carolina, it was our first time in a long time seeing large swaths of color in the trees, taking long walks in the woods, smelling wet wood after a shower, walking through crunchy leaves, raking, and jumping into big piles of leaves.

We often heard from Oklahoma friends as they missed us and we missed them. In the photo the boys are putting together Lego Pilgrims sent from Ron and Marsha Smith, their adopted OK grandparents. We also received many cards, letters, phone calls, and even visits from a few that were able to travel that far. 

It's strange to think back on how it was an extremely painful but exciting time in our life. It took me a while but I realized I can have pain and joy in the same heart space.