Moving Forward

It is July 31st.

Tomorrow is the start of August.

Perhaps that seems rather obvious ... in fact, it is. But, the fact also is that means the school semester is about to start.

I have enjoyed our summer more than I even thought possible. No drives there and back to preschool. And although we read and wrote each day - and practiced a bit of math here and there - I got a break from being "teacher" as well as mom/cook/cleaning woman/laundry detail/etc/etc/etc/. = ) You get the point. It was much needed for my brain.

And now, curriculum has arrived. I have one last thing to order, which I plan to do tomorrow, and our shelf is lined with books, separated into 1st grade work, and preschool workbooks. The boys oohed and aahed over the beauty of clean, new books. I remember that feeling as well! School looked so exciting at that moment! They have been asking: "when can we start school?"

And so, I am gearing myself up. They are geared up already. I need to lesson plan. I have realized that for me, I can't lesson plan the entire semester. Because, most likely, things won't go quite according to plan and then I will feel upset in being derailed. But, I hope to sit down each Sunday and plan our week's worth of lessons. At least, that is my current plan. I haven't homeschooled two children before, so I also know it's going to be a rather large learning curve.

Next Monday we'll start easing into our new routine. One or two subjects a day for the first week. So that we ALL can see that although we're at home, just like the last two months, so of the time at home is changing. Becoming a bit more focused.

I am excited. I will enjoy seeing my kids learn and grow and being a part of that with them. But, I also look ahead with a bit of wistfulness about the days we're closing the chapter on.