Homeschool Diaries: A New Year

While I've been seeing "back to school" pictures and posts on Facebook, I am suddenly compelled to face my children's own "back to school" status in a week.

But our "back to school" is different of course.

While most kids will be filing onto buses next Monday, mine will be filing into the kitchen, then the den, then the "school room."

I've been busy the past several weeks in the director role of Classical Conversations. I've been making sure all is in place for our community to start again this year.

And now this week I am focusing on what needs to get done for our beginning of the year here at home.

I'm excited that Grant is eager to get back to our calendar time and enthusiastic about his new Kumon math workbook.

And it's always a plus when Hannah says, "we need to get back to my letters," also known as our reading time.

This year Hannah will be delving into a real math curriculum, Saxon. As well as continuing with "The Writing Road to Reading."

I plan to start our day with the calendar while we eat, followed by our morning devotions. Then we'll break and do our morning chores (for me this will be getting the laundry running, getting ready, making the bed and for the kids, getting dressed, teeth brushed, beds made, room tidied). Afterwards we'll do our math for thirty minutes followed by thirty minutes of review time for Classical Conversations. Then it's lunch time followed by play time while I clean up. Before Kate's nap we'll have our read aloud time. Have I ever mentioned that Kate LOVES to read? During Kate's nap Hannah will do her reading/writing for thirty minutes or so. I plan to work on Grant's letter/sound recognition also during this time and I am still working on what that will look like.

And that's it.

That's my school plan for 2012-2013. It's simple. It's doable. The beauty of homeschooling is that so much more can get done in a smaller amount of time than in a traditional school...less kids, less behavior problems, less questions to answer. It's a treat coming from a previous public school teacher who taught 23 kids.

And of course, every Tuesday we'll be joining other homeschool families at our Classical Conversations community. It's a fun time for the kids to be in a "classroom" and see their friends.

So, here we go....let another year of homeschooling begin!