New School Year Traditions~

We have been easing back into the school year slowly. I never plan our year, I just let it "unfold" and keep the hearth book basket filled. Every year about this time I have some traditions, though.

The first is to feel guilty that I haven't done enough (whatever that is) and like I'm running out of time with my kids. Next, I make a long list of everything I want them to learn, think they should work on and what I think they "should" be doing. I then start pouring over book lists, curriculum websites and homeschooling blogs and forums trying to find the one thing that will instantly make my kids either understand math, become better writers or magically be able to spell. Then the day will arrive that I announce, "Today is the day." And with some grumbles and moans from some and excitement from others, everyone gathers together and....we have a terrible day. It never fails. Then I get frustrated, the kids get a bad attitude and then we have our second tradition. The traditional, "You are so lucky to homeschool-you don't know how good you have it- you better adjust your attitude or I'm sending you to sit at a desk all day" speech. Sigh. It's never a pretty moment.

Well this year I've started early. It's not even Labor Day and I have already had the guilt, obsessed over gaps in my children's education, been filled with self doubt that I have done a terrible job of educating my children and had The Speech complete with copying dictionary definitions of words such as Obedience and Respect.

It's been a stressful summer.

Now that I have all of that out of the way, I can get on with things.

And while I'm busy *not* making lesson plans, I will remember how my kids spent their summer "break".

M-9 read the entire summer. Stacks and stack of books. All the Mrs. Pigglewiggle series, E.B. White, Beatrix Potter (with me until she decided I wasn't keeping a fast enough pace, then on her own), Clyde Robert Bulla books, Laura Ingalls Wilder and Scott O'Dell, countless Childhood of Famous Americans and other biographies of great heroes and heroines.

P-11 learned to drive a riding mower and now mows the field and uses a weed wacker skillfully, built muscle doing manly farm jobs and home repair, read some new books and re-read old favorites and continues to listen to classic G.A. Henty books on mp3 every. single. night. And is on track to finish reading the Book of Mormon on his own in 90 days or less.

C-13 assembled furniture, changed locks, replaced faucets and other handyman jobs that needed done in both houses, read and studied and narrated every diagram in The Way Things Work and took math books to bed just for fun reading. He also grew leaps and bounds in leadership skills as he fulfilled church and scout duties.

L-15 created a yearbook for our commonwealth school completely on her own, had it printed and distributed faster than any year before, completely remodeled her new room, painted walls and furniture, is on track to finish reading the Book of Mormon in 30 days, created a timeline book, and read a bunch.

Yes, the boys spent too much time playing Minecraft on the computer and reading Calvin and Hobbes and Peanuts comics, M-9 had more moody days than not and L-15 slept till noon on a regular basis, but they're darn good kids that are bright and creative and hard working. They make good choices and have an innocence and sweetness about them that stand out to people.

Did I mention that I finished organizing my book cases in the living room? I culled two boxes of books from the shelves, put them on the dining room table before a big homeschool meeting, and gave people grocery bags as they walked in and told them they had to fill them up. :) Well, I wasn't that pushy, but almost.
Only a few books were left when it was all said and done, and I now have tidy book shelves with only books that are classics for our family.

(Written last Sat. night at 11:30 while waiting for L-15 to get home from a dance.)