It's a New Year!

Craig heads back to work today, so it's time to take down the decorations, find homes for the gifts, and figure out our spring semester.

Some of the changes on the horizon:

• Luke will finish up robotics at the high school.  They have two teams, Junior Varsity and Varsity.  We've decided to only do JV this year.
• Ezekiel has started team gymnastics (tumbling & trampoline).
• Luke will start drum lessons.
• I'm considering a change for grammar.  I love Rod & Staff, but find it works best for us when I'm teaching it.  I'm looking at Get Smart Grammar from English Grammar Revolution because she has diagramming & teaching videos. 
• I'm also considering going back to Visual Latin & Lingua Latina.  I haven't had the time to teach Wheelock's well.  I think Dwayne is a great teacher, and I'd like the boys to take his online class in the fall.

I'm still figuring out how to balance all of my responsibilities.  A new year is a great time to evaluate old systems and figure out how to run things more efficiently and intentionally. 

Happy 2014!

Working and Homeschooling

The only thing constant is change, right?

We're in the midst of a big change here.

I wasn't looking for a job, but I've ended up with a part time job.  And I feel like it's right where God wants me to be.  Craig is on board, and the boys are on board.  I'm excited.  

Thankfully the job is close to home, so I won't lose commute time.  And they're willing to work with me to figure out the best hours.  And it uses my giftings, and it's at a place I'm passionate about.

Now, to begin the arduous task of figuring out how to balance homeschooling with working 16-20 hours a week.  This is definitely a step of faith; I'm not sure how it's all going to work, but I feel strangely at peace about it (not normal for me when there are unknowns).  It's going to be challenging, but it's a challenge I'm looking forward to.

My first order of business is to solve how to keep track of the work the boys complete while I'm working.  We've been using weekly checklists, but I think I need to move to a daily checklist for each boy.  With the weekly checklist, they're tempted to move along in subjects they enjoy, while losing ground in the subjects that aren't their favorites.  I'm considering having them paperclip their completed work to the assignment sheets once it's all done, and when it's handed over to me, I'll give them their next sheet.  I don't know; I'm still working it out in my head.  We're wrapping up this week, and then we'll be on Christmas break so I hope to implement a new system when we begin in January.