School Days
Tomorrow we start school. It will be our 13th year of homeschooling and Lincoln's senior year. Unbelievable. That's really all I can say about that.
When we finish school in May I always spend several days or so cleaning out our school room. I have to force myself to do this because once we're officially done, I'm ready just to close the school room doors and go to the pool. But I know that if I get it all cleaned out and sorted then when school starts in August I'll be glad it's done. So in May I throw out old papers, file away papers that I want to keep, and sort through books and curriculum. I put the books we've just finished in the top cabinets or in containers and I put our books for the following year away in the shelves. Our state homeschool convention takes place during the first weekend in May so I also organize all our new books that I've bought. I clean up my school files on the computer and organize the cabinets that have gotten messy over the school year. When this is finished I feel like I can finally start my summer.
Cleaning out the school room:
Ready for school:
Sitting at my desk I get to gaze at Anne Marie and she gazes right back at me:
During summer break I also like to read the literature books we'll be using for the following year and also read through some of our history material. I've found that if I can get ahead on my reading that my school year goes much smoother. I really enjoy our summer breaks and after a long school year I always look forward to "being lazy" for a while. But I do try and spend time each week in the summer doing a little something for our next school year so when August rolls around I'm not frantically getting ready.
When August does arrive the kids and I get the school folders ready and we go buy a few school supplies that we need. I work on typing out assignment sheets for the first few weeks of school and I type out our weekly schedule with all our activities on it -- ballet, football, work, church, etc. I also look over all the books and make sure I have everything we need. I'm a planner anyway, but after 12 years of homeschooling, I've found that even just a little planning and organizing ahead of time makes the beginning of the school year run smoothly.
So, our school room is ready. The books are laid out and the kid's each have their assignment sheets on their desks. Tonight we did some end of summer sparklers and in the morning we'll have cinnamon rolls and the kids will have treats by their places at the breakfast table. Lincoln might be too old for "first day of school treats" but he'll get them anyway. His last ones.
So here we go. Another year of homeschooling!
When we finish school in May I always spend several days or so cleaning out our school room. I have to force myself to do this because once we're officially done, I'm ready just to close the school room doors and go to the pool. But I know that if I get it all cleaned out and sorted then when school starts in August I'll be glad it's done. So in May I throw out old papers, file away papers that I want to keep, and sort through books and curriculum. I put the books we've just finished in the top cabinets or in containers and I put our books for the following year away in the shelves. Our state homeschool convention takes place during the first weekend in May so I also organize all our new books that I've bought. I clean up my school files on the computer and organize the cabinets that have gotten messy over the school year. When this is finished I feel like I can finally start my summer.
Cleaning out the school room:
Ready for school:
Sitting at my desk I get to gaze at Anne Marie and she gazes right back at me:
During summer break I also like to read the literature books we'll be using for the following year and also read through some of our history material. I've found that if I can get ahead on my reading that my school year goes much smoother. I really enjoy our summer breaks and after a long school year I always look forward to "being lazy" for a while. But I do try and spend time each week in the summer doing a little something for our next school year so when August rolls around I'm not frantically getting ready.
When August does arrive the kids and I get the school folders ready and we go buy a few school supplies that we need. I work on typing out assignment sheets for the first few weeks of school and I type out our weekly schedule with all our activities on it -- ballet, football, work, church, etc. I also look over all the books and make sure I have everything we need. I'm a planner anyway, but after 12 years of homeschooling, I've found that even just a little planning and organizing ahead of time makes the beginning of the school year run smoothly.
So, our school room is ready. The books are laid out and the kid's each have their assignment sheets on their desks. Tonight we did some end of summer sparklers and in the morning we'll have cinnamon rolls and the kids will have treats by their places at the breakfast table. Lincoln might be too old for "first day of school treats" but he'll get them anyway. His last ones.
So here we go. Another year of homeschooling!
