Schooling At Home...2013

I am incredibly excited about the coming school year. I think that is primarily due to the fact that I gave myself grace to take off all of August to devote to preparing and resting myself.
I've already shared the curriculum we've chosen for this year. One change to my previous post--the kids asked to take the year off from swim. I am a bit relieved (though also bummed--I liked swim), both financially and mentally. I really don't like doing too many activities if it can be avoided.
I've come up with a couple other tips for this year that are at least making me feel prepared mentally.

1. Schedule
Last year I had a flexible schedule written in my day planner. Despite all the fabulous technology available (which I use too) when it comes to homeschooling--I really need a paper day planner. Nothing fancy. I use this one: http://www.ataglance.com/ataglancestore/search/searchResults.jsp;jsessionid=D95EF4B6253FFF3AC351247B5263553D?_DARGS=/ataglancestore/search/facetSearch.jsp, (Mainly because it's pretty, and because I like a monthly & weekly view with ruling!) I keep our lesson plans, as well as our family schedule, in this planner. I use my iCal for everything except for lesson plans.
This year I am also utilizing my alarm app in my IPad as a Bell Schedule! I get lost into whatever we're doing when teaching, and sometimes forget to look at the clock. I put in fun noises to go off to remind us it's time to start the next subject or take a break. Much more fun than using the kitchen timer.
I also used Google docs to create a spreadsheet of our daily and weekly schedule, and to create our yearly calendar. Here's a look at that (daily on the left/weekly on the right)

	Owen	Eden				Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:00 AM	Morning Devotional//Bible		BIBLE:: 30 minutes		8:00 AM	Bible				Access
8:30 AM	PASSING				8:30 AM	PASSING
8:35 AM	LoE	RoH, read, Latin	ENGLISH:: 90 minutes		8:35 AM	English//Latin
	RoH, read, Latin	LoE
	FLL & WWE
10:05 AM	recess/snack		RECESS:: 15 minutes		10:05 AM	recess//snack
10:20 AM	PASSING				10:20 AM	PASSING
10:25 AM	Math		MATH:: 60 minutes		10:25 AM	Math
					11:25 AM	lunch		History	lunch
11:25 AM	lunch		LUNCH:: 30 minutes		11:55 AM	recess			recess
11:55 AM	recess		RECESS:: 15 minutes		12:10 PM	History	Science	lunch// recess	Science
12:10 PM	History//Science		HISTORY:: 45 minutes		12:55 PM	PASSING			PASSING
12:55 PM	PASSING				1:00 PM	Music//Art	Music//Art	Art w/Gramma	Music//Art
1:00 PM	Art/Music		Elective:: 45 minutes		1:45 PM	clean up
1:45 PM	clean up				2:00 PM	DISMISS
2:00 PM	DISMISS

2. Copying
It seemed like I was always copying lessons last year. Sometimes, I'd realize too late that I should have copied something--leaving the kids to sit and wait (not good). This year, I went to Office Depot & had someone else do it all! Woot! I am so excited to see their work copied, 3-hole punched, and waiting patiently in the cupboard for school to start. Yeah!

3. More Prep
My kiddos attend a homeschool enrichment program on Fridays. This is Eden's first year, and she is so excited. This leaves me a "free" day. I've already scheduled monthly lesson planning days, but I am more excited about my weekly Bible study with fellow moms. Each Friday morning at the local coffee shop we're getting together to simply read God's Word, and apply it to our roles as moms, drink some tea, and encourage one another.

More to come...
I'm hoping to create a grade book this year. I want a quick, easy view of my children's progress. Last year, I e-mailed reports to my husband every other month or so on how the kid's were doing on their math tests and other subjects--similar to a report card. This year, I'd like to be a bit more prepared and regular about keeping track. I admit, I'm more focused on teaching and learning than grading. It's easy for me to see how they're progressing, but my husband doesn't get to see that and I know he likes to hear more in-depth beyond his daily chats with them (or me) on what they're learning.