The Simple Life at Home

As summer winds down and fall picks up, I find myself looking forward to getting back into a routine again. In the same way that I anticipate summer for it's very lack of routine, I now find myself craving it. It's funny how the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, isn't it? I suppose it's just that everything is good in moderation.

We haven't formally started school yet; then again, we never formally stopped school over the summer. But, come Monday, we'll jump in with both feet, starting full-time school. This week, I'm focusing on getting "life" in order - cleaning, laundry, streamlining, etc. Then Hubby decided he'd like to make a visit down to Key West on Saturday. We haven't been in years and the kids have never gone. I think what triggered it was some game show question about the southernmost state. Which is technically Hawaii, but Key West has the southernmost point in the continental U.S., which apparently made him decide we need to go. Then we'll spend the rest of the nice, long weekend relaxing.

So now I find myself immersed in making plans and schedules and resolutions, like I do at the start of every school year. I promise myself that this year will be different; that I'll magically have been transformed into someone who actually sticks to the plans and schedules and resolutions. Then real life knocks and I fall back into my old habits.

I'm still thinking through all this, but so far what I do know is that this year's curricula is, naturally, our most challenging yet. As I've looked through the reading assignments, I'm wondering how my kids will slog through some of it. We'll be doing Sonlight's Core 6, which is the first year of a two-year World History course. I'm going to continue having the kids do most of their work on their own, but I realize that there are some subjects that will work better done as a group, small though it will be! Those subjects are:

• Bible reading, memorization and study


• History


• Read Alouds


• Dictation


• Spelling


• Grammar


• Poetry

That leaves the kids with managing their time to cover these subjects:

• Vocabulary


• Readers


• Science


• Math


• Creative Writing


• Current Events


• Arabic

Of those, 3 (science, math and Arabic) are computer programs that they can work through on their own. I'll be available for help for everything, but I really would like them to be responsible for their own scheduling.

Within the next few days, I'll be putting together some more thoughts as I prepare to enter a new school year - on the atmosphere I'd like to create, on taking care of myself and my family, and on our educational goals. I think without having a destination in mind, you'll never get where you are going. So even if I don't succeed at ALL of what I'm aiming at, I'll probably still be better off than if I didn't make a plan at all, right?