Getting Organized:
In your Home and Homeschool
Dear Friends,
Are you ready for your school year to start? We started our school last week, and we have had a great adjustment back into our homeschool routine. We started back with all of our subjects at once. That is unusual for us to do on the first day of school.
The boys are getting up earlier this week, and they are doing their morning routine and moving right into their schoolwork. It has taken years of doing our routines to be this solid for them to transition from a summer schedule to a school schedule.
Many school years we have had a “soft” start to the school year. If you have young children or many children, I recommend this way of starting your school year.
A soft start takes the pressure off of you as the teacher and off of your students. You introduce one subject a day over the course of the first week. This helps you and the student get a rhythm for each subject. You have more time to cover any questions and make any adjustments to your lesson plans.
If you are introducing a new textbook or curriculum, this gives you time to see the flow of the lessons or units. A soft start also allows for time to do any placement testing, if you are using a new curriculum that requires it.
Another thing I do during a soft start is look at the beginning lessons in math. Many times these are review lessons, and I will give my children the first test to see if they have retained those skills. I don’t want to push the through lessons of material they have already mastered.
Some grade levels also have more of a change in the way material is presented to the student, and a slower start the first week of school gives the student time to adjust to these changes.
During your second week of school, you can go to a fuller daily schedule of all of the subjects. I have found that it is a smoother transition after a week of exploring each subject over the course of the first week of school.
Have you picked a start date for school? Do you have all of your books?
Your Zone Mission today is to dust along the ceiling, light fixtures and fan in the Dining Room and Entryway.
Your Home Blessing for today is to toss papers and magazines.
My menu plan for Thursday is soup, sandwiches, and a salad.
Have a great day!
