Preparations for Upcoming Year

After I wrote my plans for the first week of school, I realized that there are many things I want to do with the kids over the upcoming year that do not begin this week. There are activities to do and books to read that would be planned later in the year. There are ideas I want to communicate to my kids that just aren't included in a curriculum guide.

So....
I made a list of all the ideas, books, activities and so forth that I planned to accomplish this year. It wasn't really a list of goals, more a list of thoughts and activiites. Anything that came to mind was included. The beginning of my list looked like this.

• Structure Time, Not Content (discuss)
• Self-Guided Study (G-sports, H-gears, start)
• Writing with studies weekly
• Art - Jr. Hi book, alternate drawing, color
• Unlocking Mysteries of Creation
• Bible Grammar with Steve
• Poetry Memorization
• Feminine Modesty (w/girls)
• A, G - cook 1x/week
• Games
• Website updating
  

After I made the list I put a small mark next to everything we would start this coming week and made sure it was included in my weekly planner.

Then I tacked the list on a corkboard in front of my desk. It is right there in clear sight for me to see EVERY day. When I plan each week (since a week is the best chunk of time to plan in advance), I will see that list and decide when to add or delete an activity.

I hope this helps some of you as you look at the daunting job of homeschooling your children. Remember I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me. It is ONLY through the power of Jesus Christ that we can successfully homeschool our kids. He is faithful to do all that we ask or think!

Kerry