July 28, 2006
Time to Start Planning!
As the summer draws to a close we need to ask ourselves if we are ready to start homeschooling again. Now I'm not trying to make you feel panicked or bad, I'm just trying to help you out. Don't worry if you haven't started planning - there's still time.
The most important thing you can do when you start planning is to spend time in prayer. Ask the Lord to guide you and to show you what He wants you to accomplish. This will give you peace about what you are doing and keep you from comparing yourself to other homeschool families.
Start off by writing down the goals that you want to accomplish. Here are some areas you might want to think about:
Spiritual
Academic
Interpersonal
Life Skills
Physical
Writing down goals has helped me when I've gotten to March and wondered if I was doing enough. It helped me feel better when I saw how much we accomplished and it also helped me to know that there were some areas that needed a little more attention.
After you've written down your goals, think about how you want to accomplish those goals. If one of your goals is to have your children memorize Bible verses, you could look into joining AWANAs. If you want your child to learn to tie their shoes, what specifically do you have to do to accomplish this? You might want to have your child tie a pair of shoes every moring after they eat breakfast. When I taught my son to tie his shoes he had to go and get a pair to tie, since Texans wear sandals most of the year.
There are a lot of goals we can accomplish that don't have to fit into the school day. If you want your children to appreciate classical music, you could play classical music at dinner time. You could read books at bedtime if you are having a hard time finding time during the school day. That's the joy of homeschooling. We have learning opportunites all day long.
Your Story Hour Volume 7 - Audiobook on Cassette
What about listening to historical CD's in the car? I love Your Story Hour CDs. They are entertaining and teach history and character qualities. My kids love listening to them.
 |
Your Story Hour Volume 7 - Audiobook on Cassette By Your Story Hour |
When you start to plan don't feel like you have to plan every day in the school year. Get an overview and take it from there.
Some families do plan for the whole year and others plan monthly or weekly. Do what works for your family and your personality.
There are plenty of websites that offer free printable planners and other helpful forms that can make planning easier:
Of course Denim Jumpers has free printable lesson planners.
You can print off a free printable homeschool planner at Donna Young's website.
The Homeschool Mom has lots of free homeschool planners, menu planners, calendars and more.
Homeshool Helper has chore charts and reading logs that look helpful.
Planning will give you a direction for your year and make you feel confident about what you are doing. Just don't be a legalist about your plans. Feel free to change them if they aren't working for you.
Happy Planning!
Sheri
July 25, 2006
Homeschool Blogs
Check out our new Homeschool Blogs Section. I've just starting working on this section and plan on adding lots more blogs! Blogs are a great way to find out what other homeschool families are doing and to find new friends. They are encouraging to read.
If you would like to add your blog, go to Add a Link, or send me an email: sheri@denimjumpers.com.
-Sheri
What We've Been Doing
We have had a great summer! We've been swimming, going to the free movies and just enjoying unscheduled time.
Rebecca, 13 years old, has been on a mission trip with YWAM for over two weeks. She's loved it and she has really grown spiritually. She also went to church camp for a week. We have all missed her a lot, but are glad that God is using her in incredible ways.
Joshua, 8 years old, has loved having friends over and has loved all the swimming we have done.
Cassie, 5 years old, is as sweet as ever. She is currently upset about having to go to the eye doctor next week. She has severe astigmatism and needs glasses. The doctor said when she doesn't have glasses everything is short and fat.
Grace, 3 years old, somehow got stung by a flying insect last night. She said she had a bad dream that a blue bug was bothering her. I looked at her hand and she has at least three stings on it. I guess it wasn't a dream. I just wonder what stung her and where it is in the house.
Paul has been working hard and has been doing a great job keeping up with everything that he has to do. He has two part time jobs and each job is more than part time, but we are thankful for them.
God has been working on me this summer. He has been developing some self-discipline that I need. I have been getting up early all summer and have been exercising. I started jogging and my goal is to run a 5K in the future. Right now I can run 1.5 miles, even if I feel like I'm going to die the last half mile. When I first started I could only run half way around the track. When I first told people I wanted to run a 5K they laughed at me. I'll show them!
Our cats are doing great. You would never guess that Django was a stray cat for a while. His bald spots are filled in and his worms are gone. He sure loves staying indoors now. Before he got lost he always wanted to go out and now he doesn't have any desire. I guess he realized it's a cruel, cruel world out there for kitty cats.
That's what we have been doing. I hope you all are having a great summer!
-Sheri