To be honest, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. As Dennis left for work on the morning of our very first day of homeschool, he leaned over and thanked me for being willing to teach our girls at home. It was a choice we made together and we were in it together. But the reality was that it was me + Adi, with Millie along for the ride for a couple of years.

At 9:45, I texted Dennis.

"Day 1. We hate it."

We had made it almost an hour. Millie, our 2 year-old was still trying to figure out when we were "leaving" to go to school and Adi, our brand new 1st grade homeschooler was telling me, "I thought this was going to be fun. THIS is not what I pictured in my head."

Now what?

Dennis texted back, in his ever so calm way, "I'm sorry. It's a completely new thing for all three of you." He didn't try to solve it or rescue us, and the support was nice.

I scrambled…FUN. She needs fun, with an extra sprinkle of enchantment. If homeschool was going to work, we needed something to make it more enticing on the first day, and to carry us through the days that didn't quite seem so magical.

You see, a few things we know about our firstborn: she LOVES to create and give gifts, she loves surprises, and she LOOOOOVES anything that even remotely resembles a party. So, it was time to turn homeschool into our own personal party. More on that later.

I texted Dennis.

"Tonight I need to go to the store. I need decorations. I need fun homeschool supplies."

I needed to go buy a little bit of fun, festivity, and enchantment.

Maybe it was as much for me as it was for her. School supply shopping is therapeutic, right? Seriously, I see school supplies out and they make me happy. A new year, a new notebook, and new package of pens. Only this time, it was new classroom decorations, a new white-erase board, colorful markers, stickers, note pads, and some classroom games.

My school-supply shopping had now morphed from me being a student for many, many years (I love school), to being the teacher. The teacher who would guide our newly-minted first grader in her reading skills, teach her math, history, science, and anything else she was interested in. But for now, I was going to be the teacher with the fun room. Because, for some reason, that seemed like it would help.

So, if you are wondering, the day turned around. We laughed. We made it. We finished our "memory board" and headed downstairs for art. I happened to have a cool art project in mind that she had never seen or heard of before and it was a hit. Totally old-school, I did this when I was in elementary school, but the classic art project won. It redeemed the day. She begged to take it to Gia & Poppa's house to show it off and told them alllll about what an amazing day she had.

In the end, Day 1 was a success.

We schooled.

At home.

And, somewhere along the way, we learned that some creativity and fun just might carry us through.