Preparing For Another Year

It looms on the horizon. 

Our start date. 

I had one picked out, but after reconsidering,

have delayed a week. 

Currently, we aim to begin our 2010-11 year in about three weeks. 

With a week of travel planned, only two weeks remain to prepare. 

Our curriculum is chosen, ordered, delivered, unpacked, and shelved. 

I've skimmed most of the materials,

but still need to check out a few details and write out some lesson plans. 

I don't begin the year with 180 days of lesson plans written in stone. 

Generally, I start the year with a plan of how we'll proceed for the first 6 weeks.  We begin lessons, and alter plans when necessary. 

Periodically, I check our progress through the books and change our pace if necessary. 

By February, I usually think we are way behind, only to discover we are too far ahead

and will be finishing our lessons before May.  Then, we happily readjust our schedule
and enjoy a slower paced spring.

Each new year presents its own challenges and triumphs. 

Our schedule varies slightly from one year to the next as we evaluate what out of the house activities work and what don't.  We prefer to have the bulk of our time spent at home, and chose activities accordingly. 

One change we plan to implement this year is to follow a more structured approach to our school days by adapting a one room school house routine. 

All of our children will participate
 in academic lessons, which means
I'll be teaching PK through seventh grade. 
I hope to share specific curriculum choices
in an upcoming post.

Meanwhile, I'm preparing

the back room (our school room)

for the upcoming year. 

A reorganization of materials/resources

and a possible rearrangement of furniture

top my to get done list.

For the remainder of this week, I'll be posting specifically about homeschooling.

Topics include educational choices, methods, resources, and family reactions.

I'll be sharing from our experience.  I'm not an expert.

Next week, I'll return to my usual variety of postings.



~ Dorie