Photo library and the cloud.

I just got a new iPad (5th Generation) that I am setting up from scratch. How do I get the all photos in my photo library on my mac to it quickly without putting them on the cloud which seems to be taking forever ( i have a lot of photos? I also want to keep them on my mac..... Photo sharing is on on my computer so now I seem to be stuck, can't stop it without losing what has already been downloaded from the mac to the cloud at least that's what I think might happen. I just want to keep the photos on my mac and just export them to the new iPad easily. Thanks!