Kate Gosselin sent all eight of her little Gosselin (and some of them not too little any more) children back to school this week and shared a back-to-school photo of them all with her fans. All the Gosselin children are shown wearing their school uniforms (yes, they all attend a rather expensive private school in Pennsylvania) and every one of them is smiling. Even the family dog is part of the picture.

“Happy 1st/2nd day of school! And, Shoka joined pic without being asked and stole the show with his smile. #byebyestrepthroat,” Kate Gosselin captioned her photo that she posted online via Twitter.

The photo was shared on Thursday, even though the first day of school was Wednesday. So why the one-day delay? Kate wanted to be sure all eight of the kids could appear in the shot, and daughter Leah was home sick on Wednesday.

'Twas the first day of school today but why no traditional 'front porch photo' w bookbags&lunch boxes? Bc Leah is home sick on 1st day!

— Kate Gosselin (@Kateplusmy8) August 27, 2014

Happy 1st/2nd day of school! And, Shoka joined pic w/o being asked-&stole the show w his smile! #ByeByeStrepThroat pic.twitter.com/CmmcgXLOZk

— Kate Gosselin (@Kateplusmy8) August 29, 2014

Kate Gosselin and her eight offspring will soon have even more to smile about, too. They will return to TV for more Kate Plus 8 TLC specials, scheduled to start airing in December.

How much coercing to you suppose Kate Gosselin had to do to get all eight of her children to smile for that back-to-school photo? Do you think she had to do any to get them to feign excitement for their return to TLC as well?