Up Coming Homeschool Year

We are taking about 2 months off from school when all is said and done.  We had so much travel time in the fall last year that summer is cut a little short to make up some time.  Plus, where we live it is so darn hot in July and August, there isn't much else to do so we might as well do school and take extra days off when the weather is beautiful in the fall.

During the two months, I am trying to reevaluate and set goals and make some very loose plans.  One thing I am certain of, is that schooling at home needs to be flexible.  It is part of the reason we homeschool.  We want to be able to serve others and take advantage of opportunities as they come up.  I am hoping to "train" myself and the kids to be open to God's plan everyday.  Not just our own.

In the late spring, an educational opportunity came up for us.  It was a great program and offered a ton of benefits.  But, it also had a few downsides.  I stewed and stewed and talked and researched and stewed some more about what I needed to do for school in the up coming year.  One of the downsides of participating in the opportunity, I felt, was that it took away my flexibility as a homeschooler.

Finally I got smart and gave all my info to hubby and had him give me his two cents.  In one sentence he told me what I already knew.  But it was good to hear from someone else.  When I laid out what our coming up year would look like and then told him the benefits and what I felt the draw backs to be, he simply stated that if we participated in this new program it "sounds like you are taking the home out of homeschooling."

And in a one phrase he was right.  It was what I already knew in my heart for us.  It would have taken away a lot of the reasons we started to homeschool in the first place.   So, once that hurdle was over taken, I was free to start contemplating what we were going to do for the following year.

For the most part, we will continue on with what we were doing in the spring.  We had finished some of our books in late winter so I had already started on new subjects then.  Subjects such as Latin and Writing. We will continue on with Book Club.  This year we are focusing on our state history on the first half of the year and then missionary biographies and Old Testament history using historical fiction books for the second.

One opportunity I am adding for Nature Girl is a Socratic Book Discussion group.  I have gathered together several families and have picked about a half dozen books that the kids will read independently.  They will gather together once a month and with the help of a facilitator, go through a book discussion using the Socratic method.  I am excited about it.  And it is another form of learning that I am being introduced to as well!

I am taking our "downtime" this summer to work on the habit of obedience and really getting our daily chores down to a science.  One of the things that I know I needed to change for the up coming busy year was that our daily responsibilities need to be done without reminding and without nagging.  We do the same things day in and day out.  At this point in the game, there really should be no reason for constant reminders.

Immediate obedience is huge for me as well.  First and foremost, we all have the responsibility to be obedient.  Me to God and my husband and the kids to God and me and daddy.  Daddy needs to obey his bosses etc. etc. etc.  So, when daddy and I were talking about the need for immediate, cheerful obedience in the house, I explained that with four kids doing 10 different things through out the day, I really did not have the physical, mental and emotional energy to repeat myself numerous times to get stuff done.  It is exhausting not to mention frustrating.

Inadvertently we have trained the exact opposite of immediate, cheerful obedience.  So, retraining is hard.  But, we have a well thought out, prayed over plan and are going to move forward.  It will take time, no doubt. But, the benefits of cheerful, heartfelt, immediate obedience is a habit that will serve each of the kids well as they grow older and assume more responsibility and become more independent.

We have also taken the time to do big chores around the house.  Wipe down walls and base boards, clean the porch, sort out closets and drawers, catch up on neglected chores.  But, we have had some fun too.  The kids have hung out with friends, watched movies, taken piano and harmony classes and gone swimming.  The big girls are doing a ballet camp and I will have a post on that.  We are going to visit Grandma so that will be fun.

Just another wonderful thing about homeschooling, we don't have to cram all of our fun into a summer.  We have done some fun things but we have work to do as well.  We also know, that just because we start back to school doesn't mean other exciting and fun things won't happen throughout the whole school year.

It may seem different to most, but, after seven years of homeschooling, it is a way of life for us.  Although, I do love summer and the relaxation it brings  . . .