Another Summer Gone — Homeschooling My Way

It’s August 10th. That may not mean much to you, but to my kids and me, it’s the first day of the 2015-2016 school year.

I could say I’m not ready. And it would be partially true. School is scheduled so each child knows what he/she has to do from now until May. It looks something like this: schedule1

 

This particular spreadsheet is for my 13yo son. Each of my children has one; each one is different. It took me a week of working a little every day to schedule all of this. It’s one of the things I hate the most, but it saves me TONS of time as the year progresses. It also keeps my children on track to finish what they need to do each year.

I started it many years ago when I was homeschooling all seven of my children, and I couldn’t keep up with who was doing and turning in their work (and redoing it). With this (done in Excel), they start in red (as you can see). If the assignment needs to be redone, it gets changed to orange. Black is for completed items. That way both my child and I can look quickly at any given day and see what needs to be done, redone, or what’s complete.

And because my children are normal and want to test my resolve, it is password protected so they can’t make changes. They are human and will try to get away with cheating. I haven’t had one yet who hasn’t tried in one form or fashion tried it. Typically they only try once. The consequences are extreme.

The beginning of the school year, a.k.a. the end of summer, also means I have less time to write. I hope to get a good schedule in place, so I can have an hour or so to work in the afternoons, but that may not always be possible. My children and their education are my full-time job. Writing is a passion and a calling, but only after my family.

But I can do both with a little planning, and some cooperation from my muse. I am learning to take the little snippets of time and write. It doesn’t take me nearly as long as it has in the past to get back into a story.

What signifies the end of summer for you? Labor Day? School starting? Or just cool weather? (not happening any time soon here in Alabama)

Blessings,

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