We have successfully completed our 1st two days of planned learning.  Planned learning is now my new favorite word.  I have grown tired of my overuse of the word homeschool.

I feel that we are off to a better start than we were last year.  If things didn't go as planned or the kids weren't understanding, I would get low grade frustrated.  Nothing crazy, just sighs and eye rolling.  I told Ray that I needed him to pray along with me.  (which he has been fervently praying)  God has delivered!  Our attitudes are much better!  I want to share an excerpt from a book God used to reveal to me an area that I was not up to par in. 

It's so hard to see our pride sometimes - especially when we sacrifice so much for our families, and our goals are for their own good.  Look a little deeper, however, and see if there are some mixed motives driving you.

During your school day when you react impatiently toward your kids, ask yourself why.  Whose agenda was interrupted?  Who was offended?  Whose time was encroached upon?  Whose tranquility was shattered?  Whose goals weren't reached?  Whose schedule was derailed?  Whose expectations weren't met?  Have you ever thought,  "I'm sick of their attitudes and waste of time.  I have better things to do with my time!"  Let me ask:  can you think of a higher, holier calling or a better way to steward 'your' time than to joyfully and patiently train your children?

       -take from Homeschool Supermom ...Not! by Susan Kemmerer p.36


I realized that I had all these set plans and ideas of how school was going to be and look and feel.  When these plans were thwarted, I became frustrated.  Through my frustration, I somehow amazingly made my kids and my homeschool life miserable.  Good thing I read that chapter last week, huh!!  I'm going to blame it on God's perfect timing. :)  So, to keep it short, I am holding my attitude accountable instead of excusing it on unruly children.  Then we all can REACT less.  I am thankful that I realized I was fueling the problem before getting fed up and placing them back in public school.  Just being real here.

SO BACK TO THE FUN STUFF!
Again, we are using My Father's World - Exploring Countries and Cultures.  I think the only area we deviate from that plan is that we continue to use Abeka math.  We use lots of supplemental type materials, but I will cover these as the year goes on.  (example: etiquette factory, lifepac drawing basics, a reason for handwriting, Sonlight readers for reading comprehension, stossel in the classroom, learning our history, etc)

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We have been super flexible in our time schedule because I totally forgot I was providing childcare for the neighbor girl this week.  Normally, we would be learning in the morning but the girls are outside playing.  Yesterday, we did social studies and science before bed.

I went ahead and printed out the DAILY LESSON PLAN from Homeschool tracker basic.  I intended to just use the daily plan as a cheat sheet on Monday but quickly realized I like using it VERY much!  So, I am going to use them regularly so that I am less tied to the computer schedule for guidance.  I placed them in a handy dandy notebook, separated by child.  Not recording the work complete that day will require me to make an extra step for each lesson to enter the correct completion date rather than it automatically entering the current date.  So, I will need to be diligent if I want to avoid that inconvenience.

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Another tidbit I wanted to share is that I save all the workbook material the kids complete until the end of the year.  I put them in binders and separate them by subject.  At the end of the year, I will decide what I want to keep permanently and discard the remainder.

I keep records in totes that have the scope and sequence, worksheets, any tests given, etc. for previous school years.

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Here is where and how I keep my paper records.  Since I use a laptop I don't need to use this area for the CPU.  The folders you see on the top shelf are just a ton of extras.  I always buy folders and I NEVER use them.  As I have said before, I keep ALL my records online.  That make printing transcripts so much easier!  Homeschool Tracker Basic is my application of choice.

I don't by any means mean to imply that my way is the only way to organize.  This is just what works for me.  I work with the resources that I have and are within my budget.

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This is how I organize my curriculum.  It is separated by subject.  It is only the bottom 3 shelves.  Science is in the black magazine holder to the right.  Math manipulatives and writing instruments are in the tote to the left.  We use different bookshelves for the books we read.  However, now that I live in town and interlibrary loan exists, I am trying to borrow more, purchase less, and give away books we no longer read.  I did force myself to get rid of all the unused curriculum from last year that I will not use this year.  "What if...", says the borderline hoarder.  Just keepin it real.

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And Last But Not Least -
I want to show A.J.'s beautiful artwork!

Terri Blair
8/15/2012 04:36:16 am

I appreciate all the hard work & love you put into educating two of my favorite people.

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Laura
9/5/2012 07:19:03 am

Love getting a peak into the way your brain works! :)

Thanks for sharing the behind the scenes stuff in homeschooling. I enjoy seeing how others do thing.

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