I completely heard in my head the song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” when I started typing… and it is so true.  Where Has All the Summer Gone??  How is it already August??

Two weeks ago we had a wonderful vacation and for the first time in six years we managed to visit the ocean.

Renting a house was definitely the way to go with food allergies/intolerance concerns.

This past weekend I played support for my husband as he completed his own personal triathlon on Saturday as a part of his Swim for Hospice.  This was his second year doing a triathlon and the memories appeared in my Facebook feed from the year before

What am I doing now?

I don’t know about you but I am frantically trying to plan for the upcoming year as I’m contemplating how to school my four girls.  We will officially by 7th, 5th, 2nd, and PreK this year.  The youngest does not have to do school yet this year, but I know she is going to want to school too so I’m planning for her as well.

I’m also trying to create school supply lists before all the school supplies are off of the sales.  At the same time I have been slightly stressing as I am trying to purchase curriculum/books for four girls for this coming year.  How we will do it all I have no idea.  But that brings to me a message I received from a dear friend just the other night.  She was wondering how to support us.  She knows that finances can be a struggle.  She knows that we are trying to do right by our girls and that at times it seems harder than others.  She wondered what would be things that someone could help with… like school supplies.

So… I’m trying to let my village help me where I can.  I’m trying to graciously say “Thank you”, when I want to say “You shouldn’t have” or “you didn’t have to really”, or “we’ve got this”… especially when it is so clear that we do not.

Summer is Ending

There are 12 days before my husband starts his semester.  Despite having taught this course before the semester is already proving it will be an interesting and full one.

We are currently running the 3-d printer as much as possible, now that we fixed it, to get the pieces printed for my husbands class.  Each student is building a robot this semester and the body is 3d printed.  There is at minimum four pieces needed for each robot, the largest piece takes 9 hours to print, and there are 15 students… you do the math.  If the printer isn’t printing right now we are wasting time.

The calendar is filling up already with meetings for school.  The weekends ahead have Lego League scheduled until December.  I’m planning ahead for Handbell practices and concerts.

Yet I have to plan at least one more beach day before the summer ends for the girls to have their swim tests for this year.  We missed the end of swim classes being on vacation.  A hard trade-off for them a little but swimming in the ocean and spending time with family was something you can’t say no to.

The Plan Ahead

My Homeschool Plan

So right now I’m planning.  A lot.

Last night I purchased one of the last piece of curriculum that  we needed to do school for four girls.  There are some pieces here and there I need to get yet, a few that might wait until later in the year for a hopeful sale or a little bit more in the funds department.

I have to figure out which books, or spines, we need to have here at the house vs trying to use the library as much as we can for our books for our new literature based curriculum.  Back to a style that I have wanted to use but the last few years necessitated a different style of schooling than what my husband and I really wanted to do.  The last four years have been more worksheets and monitoring independent work.  Independent work will still be done, just hopefully a little different emphasis as the weeks progress.

I’m also thinking of how to make the curriculum we do have and what we have chosen for this year to work for the girls.  What “school supplies” that means we do need vs what we might already have.

I’m also putting the curriculum we are using into a spreadsheet to try to keep track of – what is next – as we look at the weeks as they progress.  With four different teacher manuals, this is just easier for my frame of mind.  So lots of typing.

I’m trying to figure out a place in the house for our library books to help keep track especially as we will be using two different library systems.

My Blogging Plan

I am thinking to what blog posts I want to write, and what others might find helpful in their homeschool journey.  I will be talking about what curriculum I’m using in the next post or two. I want to do something showing how I’m organizing myself, whether a video or just a blog post I’m not sure.

I am also trying to come up with a 4 things for 40 days before I turn 44 … things for self-care and taking care of me.  This will likely get blogged about as well as a way of accountability.  This will include the Fit2B workouts I’m doing and possibly the start of the Tummy Team course that I have a gift certificate for but haven’t forced myself to take the time to use.  I need to to use it and for my health.

I am also exploring planning more both with my Happy Planner both Teacher Edition for school and classic for regular use, but also a Bullet Journal.  So there might be some upcoming posts in there about how I’m planning, besides digitally.

How about you?

How is your plan for the year going?  Whether the kids are going to school or you are keeping them at home, the days are filling up.

How has your summer been?

What of what I’ve shared would you like to see some more details of in the future?