The First Day of School

We (the boys and I) agreed that we would ease into school this year.  Start with a couple of subjects and add a new one every few days.  This was a great plan!  We'll start with the subjects we rarely finish (like math) so that we have a head start on those.  Yay!  It's going to be a great school year!

And then.....

One is going to camp and one will be gone with a friend.  My husband and I sign up to help out at the church's booth at the county fair.  Okay, time to shift some plans.  I need some one-on-one time with Ben as he learns the dialectic ropes for Tapestry of Grace, our humanities curriculum plan.

So, today is the first day of school here.  We are just doing math and non-Tapestry Language Arts.  And I have tears.  Really?  The first day I've asked you to do any school work in 2 months and I get tears?  And on math review stuff?  Do you really not remember this?  The morning progresses and nothing seems to be happening "as planned".  The bug man was to come at 10 am and came closer to 11.  I was supposed to be going on my weekly prayer walk and didn't make it 'cause I was waiting for said bug man. 

So I finally get all the boys through all their school work...and I say "Let's go to McDonalds to celebrate the first day of school!"  And guess what:  McDonalds is under construction.  They were probably still open but I didn't want to mess with lunch-time crowds in a construction zone.  So I drive to the next closest McD's (less than 5 miles down the road) and it's under construction, too!

So here's what I learned: I can't plan for everything everyday.  Sure, I'm a planner/organizer and that is not going to change.  I like to have a plan.  I just need to embrace (or try to enjoy) days like this when nothing really goes how I had planned at all.

The good news?  The King is still on His throne; I am still His child.

What summer means to the home schooling mother....

First, you can regain some composure because I'm actually updating my blog.  Even I re-read my goals for 2011 and, while I'm doing great with my prayer time and Bible reading, the other two haven't gone anywhere!  So I will attempt again......as school will be starting soon............blogging on a nearly weekly basis......maybe.

So, what have I been doing this summer?

• enjoying a change of pace and lack of a schedule
• teaching a few (very few) summer piano lessons
• playing with my kids and their friends
• letting the house get messier than normal and then
• going on sporadic cleaning sprees
• reading Harry Potter as a family (we are on #5 and my husband does wonderful voices!--but more on that with another post)
• getting ready to start another school year

Yes, that's right.  Part of summer for a home schooling mother is getting ready for the next year.  I'm actually quite organized at this...not that I realized that until other moms pointed it out!  I keep track of curriculum I want to use and ideas I come across all year long so I can essentially put together my IHIP's (NY required paperwork) by mid-May. Not that I send them in until the school district requests it, which they haven't yet.  I watch for sales and jump on the ones that are the best.  I make a spending plan to spread out cost of the next school year over a few months rather than all at once.  And then I buy....and packages come....and I sort things out....and pre-read....it is really wonderful!

I've learned not to micro-plan.  I try to find a good rhythm for our week and schedule time each day to spend with each child one-on-one.  I map out how to get through the grammar lessons (which is about 3 lessons per week) and science (which is one unit per week) and try to wrap my head around Latin Road to English Grammar (our first attempt--I'll have to get back to you on that!).  And then I excitedly wait to try it and find out how it all works.

It's a New Year!

for school, that is. New York home school years run July 1 through June 30, so we have "started" our second year of school at home. I actually heard Ezra say that home school is "so awesome". That really made my day!

Plans are well underway for next year (we'll start mid-August), but right now we're enjoying summer. Maybe too much summer--it's hot, hot, hot!

So disregard that I didn't finish posting through last school year...and get ready for new things as we start kindergarten, work on potty training, and journey between ancient and modern history. Who knows what we'll find along our way!