Schultute - 1st day of 1st Grade

Schultute are German and it's the special package you get on the first day of first grade.  They stuff theirs with school supplies and candy.  We stuffed ours with maps and snacks.

I got this idea from Wondertime magazine which is no longer being published.  The small cutting instructions are theirs.

First I painted a sheet of white poster board in a way I thought he'd like.  I used another blank sheet as a template following the magazine's instructions.

We homeschooled last year, but this first day of first grade feels more like our intro to homeschooling.  Our school district has a lottery for their magnet and fundamental (read better) public schools.  Last year we didn't get anything in the lottery and decided to homeschool until first grade when there's eligibility for the county gifted school.  This year we made the lottery for the gifted school but decided against going.  It was a hard decision as there's no guarantee  we would make the lottery in any future grades however, the school is a ways away.  It would 3 hours of round trip travel every day.  The school is only 18 miles away but with driving to the bus stop, waiting for the bus, doing the bus route, getting to school and then reversing the process it would be an extremely long day for a 6 year old, who is not very mature for a 6 year old at that.

Not having the option to see friends during the week, do sports or any extra activities for older Toad as well as younger because of the long  schedule made the decision to homeschool an easy one for us.  We really appreciate the flexibility that homeschooling offers.

 It's going to be a great year!