Prepping for the year ahead

So it's that time of year again. Okay, so the expected next sentence is "It's back to school time!" But we home school. So there's no school to go back to. But there is curriculum to look at, and possibly to buy. There are lessons to plan, and a new routine to establish. Not that home schooling is going to take a huge chunk out of our day. Our son is going to be 5 later this year, and our daughter will be 2 in a month. We might do half an hour of actual structured lessons a day. Maybe. I have the language study curriculum, and some science and social skills books. We have some math, too. I want to get some better bible study material, and from there we'll be pretty much all set. Oh, and some spelling, too.

The trick won't be doing it all. It will be not doing it all too quickly. LOL I was looking at the Math U See Primer and we could easily do an entire week's worth of lessons in a day. Our son could tear through that book by Christmas! We'll be learning a new skill. Pacing ourselves.

Another skill we'll be building will be housekeeping. I've read many times that one of the biggest struggles for home schoolers is keeping the house tidy. Now, I'll freely admit, that is a struggle for me anyway. Since before we had kids. But I learned something the other day. The kids and I can completely tidy the livingroom/computer area in 15 minutes, including dusting and Swiffer vacuuming, which our son loves to do. So it's more a matter of getting the house clean and then keeping it that way. Maybe we'll make a chart for each day. so that we can stay on task.

Another challenge for me is outdoor time. I am not a huge fan of going outside, unless the weather is perfect (not hot, not cold, not raining). Kids have no such demands. They want to play outside regardless, especially in the rain, as it turns out! So this will stretch me. But that's no bad thing. I could use more exercise myself.

Another thing I'm doing is reading encouraging blogs and articles, like this one. It keeps me mindful that we've been called to do this, and that we can do it.

And now it's time to get the Little Miss dressed for the day. Jammies at 10am is fine, but at some point getting dressed is a good thing. I'm not a PJs all day kind of person.