Assessment time of the year here in my state. All 5 kiddos passed with flying colors! I am so proud of them!
With that the 2014-2015 year has come to a successful close.
First the kids and I had to take a break. The actual evaluation process for some of the kids can be very stressful. This year I had a quick turn around time from when I got my official time to when the appointment was. Conventions squished our available time so that is my fault and something I am fine with. After the evals are over though we all flop like rung out wet towels. It’s time to take a rest, pause, and let the year settle.
Last week was mostly a time of rest. Then when I had my energy back I started a MAJOR household purge. All the paperwork from last year needed to be shifted out of our active pile. I need to start a new year’s complication of learning material. I packed the paperwork away or trashed it if there was no need to keep it.
Over the weekend it was time to reflect. Think about the years of homeschooling we have under our belt. THis time next year I will have a graduate! Or two! I can remember the first day of homeschooling with my oldest a box of crayons and a set of workbooks. Over the years we just added more joy and fun as we added more kids.
I did break down and cry several time. It was an emotional time of reflection. I am deliberately setting up the school year and curriculum in a manner my husband prefers rather than how I like to homeschool. He is more a draw inside the education lines kinda guy. I am much more free form and go with the weather, current events, delight directed learning than that. I am hoping as we ease into homeschooling fully as a couple the two methods will mesh it something more beautiful and helpful to the kids than we have had.
I closely looked at the progress of the last year to see what speed and exactly where educationally each child is. That will help me with this week’s big project of PLANNING!
I am going to do something crazy but needed. I am going to schedule the whole year from July 1st (the beginning of our state’s school year) through next June 1st the approximate date of our evaluations. We are year round homeschoolers so a year long planning event now will help tremendously over the coming year.
We have some huge tripping blocks that I will have to deal with …
- we get sick often
- we have multiple learning disabled/ medically fragile children
- Lots of drs / therapy appointments
- We run a home business
- I could pass away at any time and hubby needs to be able to pick up the household, homeschooling included, and continue on
I am going to bring you along for this Planning Palloza! Check my Instagram, Facebook page, and here on the blog for detailed updates.
I hope by watching me muddle through your planning process will be much easier!