Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Homeschooling: It's almost that time again!

It's been a crazy week here in the Crafting Sanity household. Maternity leave is officially over, and this mama is both sad and excited to be back to work. Being back to work means a new routine for our family, new "duty" sharing for Mom and Dad, and the knowledge that some things are going to fade into the background while we acclimate to our life in this new phase.

We're also coming up on the beginning of the school year. Chloe (4.5) is starting Kindergarten this year! As a mom, I'm very excited and proud. As a homeschooling AND working-out-of-the-home mom, I'll admit - I'm terrified! It's such an awesome responsibility to teach my children. I do believe that there is no teacher in the world more qualified to teach them, but I do struggle with the thought that I may not be able to do the task justice while I'm also working out of the home.

Thank goodness we're still in the earliest years of school where learning is mostly play. This makes my job miles easier. But, there is still some work to be done. Here's how we're going to do it:

Three Words: PLANNING, PLANNING, PLANNING

Starting this week, I'll be beginning to plan out our school year. We do year-round schooling: school in the months of September-October-November, January-February-March, and May-June-July with the remaining months of December, April and August for free time, family time, vacations and holidays. So, this month I'll concentrate on outlining our goals for the year. Once I know what we have in mind for our year, I'll plan for our fall quarter.

Because I do work out of the home, it's important for us to have a flexible schedule. My work schedule and days off are never the same from week to week, so our school week can't look the same either. I rarely plan our week's assignments out to the day. Instead, I just list the assignments and activities that we need to get to for a given week, and then we just chip away at that list, doing a little bit everyday. Some weeks we won't get to everything, other weeks we'll finish up early, and most weeks will fit right in the middle. The important thing is to have a plan that's neither too flexible or too rigid in order for us to feel like we have the freedom to have fun while we learn.

I'm just getting started with this year's planning, but as the month progresses, I'm hoping to share what our plans look like.

Next week: Our Homeschool Notebook, and what we put in it.

2 comments:

  1. I work in the home (child care provider) and I'm starting to have to plan homeschooling my oldest around daycare hours. Otherwise it's too chaotic. Like you, I'm thankful we're still early in the game (pre-k). It does make things easier. You're more organized than I am though. I usually do my planning week by week on Saturdays. lol

    New follower from DS.
    Mama Dani

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad to have you following, Danielle!

    ReplyDelete