Raise your hand if you have books. No, I mean EXTRA books? *raises hand* Don’t we all? Even though I save the majority of our books to be passed on to younger children, I still end up with some things that I don’t intend to keep for one reason or another. I didn’t think I had that much, but once I actually started pulling things off shelves, (and out of the “attic” – I sure hope appreciate me going up there!) I found that I do have a little stash of books I can sell off to make a little bit of curriculum money for new books. Who doesn’t like a little bit of “out with the old and in with the new??”

I’m going to be completely fair and not try to rip you off, okay? I mean, what’s the point of buying used books if you’re not saving any money, right? ;0) And I’ll make it as easy as I can. If you’re interested in any of the following, leave a comment or e-mail me–It’ll be first come, first come first serve. If you have any additional questions about anything, just ask, okay? I’m not including pictures, but I will if you ask for one. I AM, however, linking to new ones at their various retail locations so you can read their descriptions and see their prices brand new. (Also, my preferred method of payment is Paypal.)

BJU Press: Reading, Once Upon An Open Book, 3A & 3B Student Texts- a 2 book, hardback set of BJU 3rd grade readers. No marks or tears on the pages that I can see. Binding in good condition. Originally 27.50 each. These items are no longer for sale. There are corresponding teacher manuals and worktext which I don’t have. You may be able to find them for sale somewhere else, or these can be used alone. $15.00 postage paid to contiguous United States. Contact me for shipping outside the states.

Saxon Math 3, Home Study Teacher’s Edition - Spiral bound teacher’s edition for Saxon Math 3. Still available for sale (new for $61.50) and the supporting books and workbooks are available for sale here. The cover shows minor wear, no writing on the pages, a few smudges here and there – and what appears to be coffee dribbled on the top edge of a small section of the book. *Ahem* The book is still in pretty good condition and I can take pictures if you are interested. This book is pretty heavy and large, I’ll do $20.00 plus shipping calculated to your destination. I’ll ship to the contiguous U.S., contact for shipping outside the states.

Saxon Math 65 Teacher’s Edition, 2nd Edition – Public School version, not the homeschool version. Good condition. This is pretty nifty because it’s just like the student book but with the answers right there in it – as opposed to the answers listed in a separate book. I’m still trying to find information on whether or not you can find the student texts and how much this book is worth. If you’re interested let me know and I’ll get back with you.

The Story of the World, Volume 1 Ancient Times (First Edition, Paperback) & The Story of the World, Volume 2 The Middle Ages (Revised Edition, Paperback) - The volume 1, as I’ve noted is the 1st edition and the Volume 2 is the revised addition. They are both in excellent condition. They’re about $15 – $17 brand new. I don’t have any of the other correlating items, but if you need them they are cheapest at Christianbook.com. ;0) Sold as a set for $18.00, postage paid, to the contiguous U.S, contact for shipping outside the states.

Green Thumbs: A Kid’s Activity Guide to Indoor and Outdoor Gardening – Paperback, fairly good condition. The pages are in excellent condition, no markings, the cover shows minimal wear. Overall the book shows a little wear (curvature) from being thumbed through and looked at. Retail price is $15.00, price on Amazon is $10.17 plus shipping, I’ll sell it for $8.00 postage paid to the contiguous U.S., contact for shipping outside the states.

Okay, so that’s it. See? Just a little bit of stuff I’ve got collecting on my shelf. If you need it, I would love to help you save some money – and de-clutter my bookcase at the same time! Now I just need to find something to do with all the other books that I’m saving to pass on while they’re not being used!!

Now it’s your turn:

If you’ve got some curriculum or other teaching tools collecting dust on your shelves, now’s your chance to find someone who’s looking for what you’re not using. List your link in the linky on Monday’s post and then see what happens. If you don’t blog or don’t want to post it on your blog, you could also post it in a Facebook note (make it public) and link to that, OR, you can leave it in a comment in the Facebook Discussion. Deal?

For me? I haven’t bought anything! I’m totally up for buying The Mystery of History Volume 1, or Apologia Astronomy used and in good condition. Just, ya know, in case you’re looking to sell. Now go forth and help a homeschool Momma out. (Not necessarily me.) =)

P.S. The linkies are going to be open ALL NEXT WEEK, so it’s not too late to join in and link up. I’ll also probably post about what I learned from you all this week. Thank you so much for joining in and making this the most fun carnival I have hosted here at Classic Housewife. Muchas Gracias!

I am a SERIOUS school supply, office supply, and yes.. curriculum junkie. I have to keep myself in check when this time of year rolls around and it can be really hard sometimes to make decisions over which curriculum to go with. I know, I know, I could just pick an all-in-one, straight out of the box curriculum. I’ve tried to go that route, but I’m just not really happy with it. I most prefer picking and choosing things based on how well they fit our needs, my kids’ strengths and our budget. Besides, while browsing I get to drool over all kinds of interesting books and creative learning tools.

I’ve actually had most of our curriculum planned out for weeks (though I have yet to actually buy anything) but I still like to peruse up until the very last minute.. just in case I change my mind. Most likely I won’t change my mind (much) and here’s our curriculum as it stands right now:

The Princess

Math – Finish Switched on Schoolhouse 5th Grade & then move on to LifePac 6th Grade.
Language Arts – Finish S.O.S. 5th grade and then Lifepac 6th Grade. Maybe. Or I may just use McGuffey Readers (probably the Fourth,) the McGuffey Speller, A Shorter English Grammar With Composition, etc. After all, they’re free, and they’ve worked for generations and generations.

Drama Queen

Math – Horizons Math, 2nd Grade (She’s already about a quarter of the way through this and we LOVE. IT!)
Language Arts – McGuffey First Reader, First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind, the McGuffey Speller. I also have a Houghton Mifflin public school spelling book I can use with her. For handwriting (I’m kind of ashamed to admit this…) several leftover workbook halves from big sister to be used up. I’m also looking at several free penmanship books on Google Books, let me know if you know of a good one!

Little Prince

Math, Reading, Writing – with mom, hands on, as his attention span allows. When he’s ready, the McGuffey Primer. I have several dollar store and Walmart pre-k/k workbooks with activity pages and basic skills when he wants to work in those. I also REALLY want to have a variety of hands-on items available to him throughout the school day, like this Gears! Gears! Gears! set and these Tinkertoys He likes to do things with his hands, it keeps him busy for hours, and he learns a lot through it, too. I also have a lesson book that goes along with the first four Magic Treehouse books, which he received for Christmas. It’s for early elementary kids but it will be very easy to adapt down.

All Together

Bible – ESV Children’s Bible, Chronological ESV Reading Plan, and possibly the Westminster Shorter Catechism for Kids, Volume 1

Science – Apologia Astronomy and the Notebooks, Apologia Astronomy kit, Science videos from pbs.org, the National Geographic Channel online, and my favorite: www.godofwondersvideo.org

History – The Mystery of History Volume 1, History Through The Ages Timeline Creation to Christ, Draw & Write Through History for Princess

Supplemental Reading- Weather (Usbourne Beginners, Level 2), Sun, Moon And Stars, Level 2: Internet Referenced (Beginners Nature – New Format), Planet Earth (Usbourne Beginners, Level 2), Gilgamesh the Hero, The Tales From the Odyssey series by Mary Pope Osborne, and Favorite Greek Myths

As you can see I truly AM an eclectic homeschooler. Not only do I mix and match curriculum but also methods, teaching styles and whatever else I need to use. I adore the older books such as the McGuffey readers but I also love a well put together and brand spanking new math or science curriculum. I want both structure and routine but also “free learning time” with a variety of games, books and projects available to them. This method has it’s advantages but also a bit of extra work involved. Still, it’s my favorite way. =)

A lot of how I choose our curriculum does have to do with cost, and free is definitely my favorite amount, but it’s not our only deciding factor. It was very important to me that I found a biblically based science curriculum and a history curriculum with a biblical worldview. I needed science and history programs that I could easily use with multiple grades. I also wanted to find things that would make it easy to incorporate a variety of teaching methods and learning styles. The math curricula are chosen specifically for the child’s ability with math and learning style. All these things together are what have guided me through my choosing process.

Princess will be finishing up her history and science this month and then we’ll begin our new year with her current math and language arts to finish but that will free us up to do all of our group subjects together. Drama Queen already has a jump start on her 2nd grade math book & McGuffey reader so she’ll just dive right back into those after taking off this month while I help Princess wrap up and while I work on getting ready for the new year. I can’t wait to get started with the new curriculum. I need to get that science and history ordered!!

Now it’s your turn:

If you haven’t already, tell us what your children will be learning this year. Tell us how you pick and choose. Or write about one of the other topics if you haven’t already. Everything links up on the linky list on Monday’s post. There are also linkies for your homeschool blog and a curriculum-for-sale post if you have one. There are so many options! (It should be obvious by now I LIKE options! So go ahead, link up!

Check out the:

• Original Carnival Post
• Monday’s post about organizing, planning & scheduling (with the linkies)
• Tuesday’s post about my “students.”
• Wednesday’s post about our school day.

(All Amazon items are linked with my Classic Housewife affiliate id.)

Do you ever wonder what “doing school” looks like for other families? Sometimes I wish I could be a fly on the wall of some of my homeschooling friends, just to see what their day is like. I have a feeling I could learn a lot from my homeschooling friends, they all seem to do so well at it. I bet they have their moments, too, though. We all do. Still. It would nice to be a fly for a day.

Our school day hasn’t been the same from one year to the next. Shucks, sometimes it changes from one MONTH to the next. I suppose that’s the way of it, when there are littles underfoot. I like to switch things up as the needs of the family change. When there were naps that needed to be taken, that was a great time to do school with the older ones. Now that a certain four year old rarely ever takes naps anymore (INSERT GIANT SOB HERE), and seeing as how I can’t ignore him all day long, it seems the best way to get school done is try to include him as much as possible and allow him to wander off for solitary play as he sees fit. It also means answering “when are they going to be done so we can play” about every hour.

Over the years though, there have been some constants. Those are:

1. We *have* to do a certain amount of morning chores before starting on school. I mean, make your beds, clear breakfast, get a load of laundry going. That sort of thing. Otherwise we’re just starting our day in chaos and then marinating in it for the rest of the day.
2. The earlier we get started on our day, the better. There have been times when we’ve tried to save school for afternoon and knock it out between lunch and supper. Well.. you CAN.. but for us at least, once we’ve spent half our day reading or watching tv or playing outside, the kids seem to put up a much bigger fight when it’s time to start school. Much better that we go ahead and get going on in soon after breakfast and get it done.
3. Toddlers MUST have something to do or they get into mischief! Up to a certain point I’ve kept old preschool books on hand for my toddling kids to scribble in and pretend to do school alongside their siblings until they lost interest. Then I’d redirect them other books, playdough, paint with water books, dry erase lap board, whatever they wanted to do to stay busy in a positive way. Once they tired of pretending school, they’d usually feel satisfied to play quietly in their room for a little bit or lay down and watch a movie. But they need their attention, too! (And besides, they usually end up picking up some smarts along the way!)

Most recently, we’ve had a structured routine in which we begin school about 9, take a 15-30 minute mid-morning break at 10, eat lunch at 11:30 and have a snack break at 2:30. When our new school year officially begins and I’m doing the same science and history curriculum with all three kids, our schedule will look roughly like this: bible & math during our 1st hour, then an hour of language arts after the mid-morning break, following by an hour of “quiet reading time” (aka “I HOPE THE 4yo FALLS ASLEEP WHILE THE GIRLS READ” time) after lunch, then an hour to an hour and a half of either science or history or something else Mom has planned for that day. I’m REALLY looking forward to the new school year so we can start doing all those history and science projects that we’ve never planned enough time in the day for!

Of course, before we can do that, Princess has to finish up her science & history for this year, which she should have done by the end of the month. And then there’s the whole “Mom hasn’t ordered anything yet” issue, but let’s not go there! I already know exactly what I want!

As for where we “do” school, I recently wrote a post about our little “one room schoolhouse” – Big Daddy’s office. We’ve taken over a corner out there and it has it’s definite advantages. One of the biggest advantages over the dining room table (aside from space) is that I can sit the kids separately from each other, and facing away from each other when they need to quietly work. LOVE. IT. I would love to have an entire room dedicated for school but I haven’t talked hubs into giving up his office yet. In the meantime, this is working well and we like it.

How long our school day will take is always anybody’s best guess, but even if the oldest is still wrapping things up I’ll send them all outside at a certain point so I can start on supper. I’ve learned (the hard way) over the years how important outside play time is (there’s a reason for Recess you know!) and I’ve also learned that the kids don’t care about the weather nearly as much as I do. Sometimes Princess has to finish up after supper and I finally came to the conclusion that that’s okay, too, because you know what? Thousands of kids across America come home with homework to work on, too. It happens.

Things I want to work on next year, as far as our school day goes include: Making sure we start each day with prayer – because we NEED IT!, making sure we get our morning chores done before starting and get an early start, making sure that we don’t neglect our planned breaks throughout the day because they really help with the kids’ attitudes, and committing to planning ahead so that we can do our history projects and science experiments in the afternoons when we’re supposed to do them. Every single one of those has to do with creating habits, did you notice that? MY habits, I might add.

Now it’s your turn.

I want to know more about YOUR school day. How you decide what to do first, where you do it, how long you spend, etc. I want to know if I’m the only homeschool mom who planned the afternoon snack break at 2:30 so the ten year old can watch “Fetch!”?  Or the only homeschool mom who has a toybox under the desk and a tv with headphones in the school area so the four year can watch movies or play with toys when he needs to. Well?? Am I?

Link up your posts (on this topic or previous ones) on Monday’s post and tell us all more about school at your house. You can also find Tuesday’s post here. Click here to read Thursday’s post about our curriculum.

Having 3 kids will teach you many things. Among these, having 3 (or more) kids will really demonstrate just how unique and different each child is, and how they have different ways of learning. No two of my three children have the same school strengths, interests or learning styles. One of the most confusing things in the early years of homeschooling was how I could try the same exact approach and do the same exact things with Drama Queen that I did with Princess but it wasn’t working. “But why not??” Because – they are not the same, they don’t think the same, they don’t learn the same. It was all very frustrating when I didn’t understand what was going on (and when I sometimes forget) but paying attention to my kids more closely has taught me to see them each for their unique strengths, interests, and talents.

My Princess

There are two kinds of princesses. The haughty, snooty, spoiled rotten kind, and the frilly, girly, graceful and sweet kind. My princess is a kind princess, even though she’s on the cusp of pre-teenhood (as she’s fond of reminding me) and even though she already falls prey to the uncontrollable surge of hormonal mood swings. OH MY. She’s in 5th/6th grade (depending on who you ask) and I can’t believe she’s almost to middle school! When did that happen?

Princess is my visual child, my artist. Though she learns best by seeing things, simply reading material alone is not enough. She does well when she takes notes and when I can give her a picture or small video to go along with the material she has just read. Her favorite subject is history, though she easily gets bogged down by long lists of dates and places to memorize. She has NEVER enjoyed math, though we’ve finally had some big successes once I thought to adjust learning math facts for her learning style. (DUH Me, right?)

Princess also likes to *do* things… like science projects, dressing up & acting out parts, that sort of thing. I think the drawing fits in here, too. It allows her to take what she visualizes in her head and create something with it, put it on paper. All of these are things I’ll be keeping in mind as we go into our school year.

Drama Queen

Drama Queen, age 7, likes to talk. BOY. DOES. SHE. EVER. (She comes by it honestly.) But as much as she like to talk she also likes to move. I had a hard time trying to decide exactly which one was her stronger learning style. But when it comes down to it doesn’t really matter, I need to incorporate both and I still need to address her need to wiggle while she learns. Because that girl can’t sit still! Once I figured out she HAS to wiggle to learn though, I figured out I could do stuff like bouncing a tennis ball back and forth with her while reciting math facts out loud.

Me: “2 plus 2 is..” (bounce the ball to her)
Her: “Four” (bounce the ball back to me)
And so on.

By doing things like patty caking (you know the complicated kind, what’s that called) or bouncing balls back and forth while memorizing or reviewing information, Drama Queen can actually focus on the learning and believe it or not she actually answers faster. Weird, huh! This has been a real challenge for me because I cannot think when they fidget!! You can imagine how frustrated we both were when she was fidgeting on my lap while I was trying to teach her to read and I kept telling her to sit still and then tell me what the next sound was. Lesson learned: She can’t sit on my lap while we’re doing school. ; )

Drama Queen, by the way, comes by her blog name for a reason, and if you knew her when she was 3, you’d know why! Fortunately she’s mellowed out greatly. She despises learning to read. She likes math. And like her sister, she loves to do hands on science projects. She loves to sing (which she could be fairly good at with some practice) and she’s not so great at fine motor skills so she’ll be PRACTICING her handwriting a lot this year!

The Little Prince

If the bloggy name “Little Prince” sounds spoiled, well, I plead the 5th. I TRY really hard not to spoil him any more than I did the girls but well, he IS the baby! So it’s something I really need to stay strong to avoid. Most days he’s acting more like a dragon slayer, kungfu warrior, a dirty pirate or space alien rather than a little prince, but in between he’s a big sweetie. The imaginative capabilities of a 4 year boy just astounds me, and has really caught me by surprise. It’s also forced me to grow and change and learn to let some things go and let boys be boys from time to time.

Being 4, Little Prince isn’t really “required” to do a lot during the school day but being the only one not doing school work can be a lonely thing sometimes. Sometimes he wants to be involved but most times has very little attention span for it (unless it’s an educational computer game of course.) He seems to learn by osmosis – seriously, just ask him what a cumulous cloud is/does and what a therapod is. Though he may actually talk more than Drama Queen, I’ve only just realized how much of his world he’s taking in visually. He has a stack of encyclopedia type picture books he likes to look through and he absorbs every drop of information he can out of them. I think if he could read the captions himself he probably wouldn’t ask me nearly so many questions. Well, maybe. ; )

I can already tell that his main areas of interest are science related so even though Little Prince is more than welcome to entertain himself otherwise, I fully expect him to want to be involved with our science projects and experiments. For all the times he’s not, I’m planning on stocking up on a lot more picture books and hands on tinker type toys for him to learn with this year.

Teaching Multiple Grades

Teaching multiple grades was a whole lot easier when one was in 1st grade and one was in preschool and the third one wasn’t even here yet! Kids grow, though, families expand and things change. A LOT. Over the years we’ve adapted, adapted, adapted to our changing circumstances: doing school during the baby’s nap time, teaching some simultaneously though not together, teaching one student while the other one played with the baby.. you name it. It’s a balancing act and it can be hard to figure out. A wise woman once told me: “You’re not a public school, it doesn’t have to look like a public school setting.” SO. TRUE.

I often wonder what teachers in one room school houses did with all the kids on so many different levels. I bet you we could learn a lot from them. As I’ve pondered what kinds of things they must have done to make it work, I’ve come up a few ideas that may help us this year. Those are:

1. Teaching the “Three R’s” individually at level. By this I mean using curriculum & teaching methods that fit the child’s learning style and at their ability level and individually. I’ve scheduled a set time to work on math, but I can have the preschooler play with math blocks and the 2nd grader run through some flash cards and math facts on her own while I teach or review a concept with the 5th grader. After I set her to work on her assignment I can work one on one with the 2nd grader, teaching or reviewing a concept. After I get her started on her assignment I can sit down to work on simple counting and math concepts with the preschooler.
2. Combined teaching for science, history and bible with individualized projects & assignments. We’ll be going through a science (or history or bible lesson) together as a group and then I’ll give them each different projects according to their interests and abilities. I may have Princess write an essay, draw a picture or build a model. I may have Drama Queen memorize a skit, write a song about it, or draw a picture. And so on and so forth.
3. Fewer science and history lessons per week and longer time periods spent on each one. This year we’ll be doing science and history each only twice a week (on different days) but I’ve allotted an hour and a half available for each session. We won’t be doing experiments every day but this should allow for more time spent on doing experiments and creating projects that will help make what they learn more fun and memorable. And what about that hour and a half on the fifth day each week? I’ll be mixing it up with educational videos, from NASA and National Geographic and History.com, etc.
4. Four year olds still need naps. They don’t want to. They don’t think they do. But they do need to lay down and rest at the very least. But he won’t if he thinks we’re all doing something he’s missing out on. The solution? An hour of quiet reading time after lunch. He has to lay down in his room. The girls have to lay down and read for an hour for required reading. It’s a win/win.

I imagine one room schoolhouses didn’t have preschoolers. I can’t imagine what they’d have done with them without dvd players and legos! Teaching the two different grades last year with a preschooler under foot was a challenge but we made it and both of the girls actually had some pretty major successes, too. This year will hopefully go a little bit smoother since I know I can do it, Little Prince is a little LESS little and I’ve adjusted our approach a little to accommodate where we’re at right now. Here’s hoping anyway – right??

Now it’s your turn.

I want to know what you’ve learned about teaching multiple grades. Or have struggled with. Or if you have any questions or tips. You can write a post about this or about your “students” or an all-in-one post about everything. You can even link up a post you’ve already written so long as it’s on topic and links back here. See how easy going I am? Everything links up on the same linky list on yesterday’s post. You can also list your blog on the homeschool blog linky or list a post with curriculum for sale.

Here’s a link to the main carnival post.
Here’s a link to yesterday’s post about planning & scheduling.
Here’s a link to Wednesday’s post, “Our School Day.”
Here’s a link to Thursday’s post, “Our Curriculum.”

Come on, what are you waiting for? Share with us!

Welcome all excited, frazzled, giddy, cross-eyed, school-planning homeschool moms! (And Dads, if you’re reading this. Hi!!) The end of the summer signals many changes coming, a promise of cooler weather (the sooner the better) and the beginning of a new school year!

Back to school for us usually means back to school after about a month off from our year round schooling. This year is means we’d better hurry up and finish last year before the new year starts! The beginning of the school year (whenever we get there) also promises to bring many changes for us. While most homeschoolers constantly evaluate and adapt throughout the school year, the beginning of the new year provides big opportunities for major adjustments due to changing needs and growing self confidence. The possibilities are vast.

Today kicks off the beginning of a week long Back To (Home)School carnival – during which I’ll be posting every day about various topics and providing you the opportunity share what works for you, ask questions and find other like minded homeschooling blogs.

At the end of this post I’ll have a set of Linkies to do just that but first I wanted to talk about how I go about planning and setting goals for our upcoming school year. I’ll admit that what I’ve done has changed from year as I’ve learned how to set goals and plans that are both realistic and challenging enough. I still feel like I’m figuring a lot of things out, and I’m not an expert! Believe me!

So how does one go about planning a school year?
Some people find it helpful to print off their local school system’s calender and just follow along. If that works for you that’s definitely the easiest way to go. Two years ago I wrote about Getting Ready For the Homeschool Year, in which I laid out a “school planning 101″ plan of attack. Last year I didn’t follow my own advice. Couple that with an unplanned one month break in April (when the weather was just simply TOO GORGEOUS to say inside!,) here we are… not finished.. still going.. banging my head against a wall for taking too many breaks! So can you guess what I’m doing this year? You’d better believe it! I’m planning it out again!

Living in Texas I have a bit of flexibility but still, this year I’m planning a traditional 36 week school year (the average length of a public school year.) Unlike public school systems however, we’ll be stretching our year from September to the end of June. I learned from our impromptu month long break this past April and I realized that it was much smarter to plan a longer spring break and less breaks in the summer when it’s too hot to play outside. Even so, I’ve adjusted all the breaks so that we actually have a 2 month summer break instead of our traditional one month. Why? WIGGLE ROOM. Enough said, right?

And then there’s the lessons.

For the longest time I railed and fought against lesson planning. I didn’t want to do it. It seemed so tedious, so stressful!! Most of the time we just go along and do whatever is next in the book. It’s not efficient. I’ve been improving and I’m hoping this year will be the year that I really get a handle on it. I’m starting by planning enough to set a pace (like I mentioned in that link above,) and then this year I’ve purchased The Well Planned Day homeschool planner to help me stay on track.

I’ve been using The Well Planned Day homeschool planner for the month of July, to get used to it and start developing a habit. So far so good. I’m getting there. I’ve also used the free version of Homeschool tracker (but last I checked it wasn’t available for Mac – is it now?) and I’ve also used MyHomeSchoolPlan.com. Well.. TRIED to use.. I didn’t stick with them very well. I seriously love my laptop but I have a thing for good old fashioned pencil and paper and I like filling all the blanks in on a planner. I’m hoping those work in my favor to help me stick to this one.

I have to say that I haven’t been using this planner long but I am REALLY loving it so far! And I’ve gotten lots of positive recommendations for it so I’m really expecting a lot of good things out of it!

And then there’s the record keeping.
Ugh. Record keeping. The only thing I’m worse at than lesson planing is record keeping! I am very fortunate that I don’t live in a state that requires detailed record keeping because while I do grade their papers.. I’m not very good at keeping them. Or recording them. I’m going to work on developing that habit this year, but I’m still a little uncertain about how I’m going to stay on top of that and stick to it.

Obviously if I lesson plan that will make record keeping a little bit easier because that provides a place to write down grades. My problem area is the HABIT. The WHEN. Should I open up the lesson planner every time we finish a lesson or assignment throughout the day and jot down a grade? Or should I sit down at the end of the day and record everything? What about time spent? What about you? How do you do it? (I’m open for all lazy-homeschooler advice on this one!!) Please help me!

Last but not least – don’t forget to plan in some goals.
I know that can really sound cheesy if you choose to take it that way. I’ve never really done this but I’m doing it this year. I wrote down a few academic goals for each child, and I wrote down a few goals for me as a teacher.

I want to help Princess become really comfortable and quick at multiplication and division facts, I want to help Drama Queen make big improvements on her handwriting and I want to teach Little Prince to learn to read 3 letter words.. just to name a few. For myself, I really want to do a better job at encouraging my children in their interests and incorporating their interests and learning styles into their learning experiences. I obviously need to work on the administrative side of homeschooling, lesson planning and record keeping, but I also need to work on having more fun with it.

Simple goals, really, but a goal not only gives us something to work towards but it also provides a better opportunity to observe successes and feel a sense of accomplishment when those goals are met.

And now it’s your turn.
This is how I’m planning ahead for the upcoming school year. We’ll also be involved in our local homeschool group for regular field trips and we’ll take breaks and head down to my mom’s house for some kind of fun outing down in South Texas. What’s on the calendar for you, and how do you keep track of it? Do you plan it all out, do you go with the flow, do you march to the beat of your own drum? And what planning resources can you absolutely not live without?

Later this week I’ll be sharing more about our children, our curriculum, our school room, etc. You can do that, too, or you can write one post and share a little bit about everything. It’s up to you. You can even link up to posts you’ve already written about the upcoming school year if you’ve already written about these things. Or maybe you really don’t have time to write much of anything right now. That’s okay, I’ve got a way for you to join in, too.

I’ve got three linky lists here at the bottom. This  first linky list is a place to link to your homeschooling blog. You don’t have to link to a specific post, you just need to be a homeschooling blogger (who blogs about homeschooling, even if you blog about other things, too, like I do.)

Homeschool Bloggers

This 2nd linky list is a place to link up your Back to School post(s.) If you write more than one, leave a link for each one as the week progresses. Use keywords such as “Goals,” or “School Room,” and your blog name when joining the list to help others navigate it.

Back to School Blog Posts

Here’s a link to my 2nd post: My Students; Teaching Multiple Grades & Learning Styles

Here’s a link to my 3rd post: Our School Day

Here’s a link to my 4th post: Our Curriculum

This 3rd linky list is for “curriculum for sale” posts. Please, please, leave good instructions for people reading your posts and conduct yourselves with integrity. Remember, if you’re browsing this linky list, I cannot control nor am I responsible for what happens on other blogs. Remember to read the blogger’s instructions and conduct yourselves with integrity also. Thank you!

Curriculum For Sale

You can find my own ‘curriculum for sale’ post here: Day 5, “Got Books?”

{I reserve the right at any time to delete links that don’t belong and I will do so! I’m planning on leaving the linky lists open all week, and maybe next week too, unless it becomes a problem.}

I’m really looking forward to meeting some new homeschool bloggers this week! I’m excited about the opportunity to share information and get questions answered and take away some new ideas. What are you waiting for? Link up your Back to (Home) School post and get that information flowing!