Happy NOT BACK TO SCHOOL NEW YEAR!

2011 is here bringing with it a blank canvas and a fresh pallet  for us to paint the rest of this homeschooling year with! Sounds exciting doesn't it?

 I know our two will be reluctant to dust off their books and pick up where we left off...It's always hard to start up again after a long relaxing vacation isn't it?

We'll start slowly, with a review of where we left off and set some new goals for finishing up the year.
Here's where we're headed!

• Look at each Oak Meadow subject ( and Math)  to see how many lessons there are left to complete.
• We figured out we have 22 weeks left if we want to be done by June 15th.
• ( that means two lessons per subject per week to finish!)
• Discuss goals ours and theirs and plan small steps to get there.
• Each of our children received a new calendar for Christmas so we'll use those to schedule in  the extras such as sports, Scouts, music and Rainbow Girl meetings and events. 
• Support their child led interests and offer the much needed nudge and push when motivation begins to lag. 

     And when all else fails our son will just plug in his electric guitar and let it rip!

      Music is always a part of our day to day.

 There's often a tune being played or written in the den.While the music plays ( and if there's a good deal on blueberries) I'll bake a pie...

It's always nice to have something warm and yummy to look forward to at the end of day well spent living and learning together!

Now it's time for pie and watching the snow fall! 

It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of planning and over schedule. I find with two teens, it's best to keep it simple, lay things out we want to accomplish for the day and allow for plenty of flexibility. After all, we are homeschooling!

Some days we paint with large bold strokes, like when someone finishes a book report or gets a piece of music ready for performing.  Most of our days are softer in color... a little dab here a little dab there... following a rough draft but allowing ourselves to paint outside the lines when we want too. 


I'm wishing you a smooth re-entry and a creative homeschooling season!

Deborah Jean

 So, how do you PAINT your homeschooling days? To see how other's live their day to day go to Simple Homeschool and read more!

" The light of the world comes mostly from two places, the Sun and the student's lamp" 

   KEEP YOUR LAMP ON!