We officially started back to HOME school this week. It’s my first year teaching two separate grade levels in the same home, each day. This year my son who I’ve been homeschooling for four years is going into fourth grade, and I’ll begin additionally teaching my daughter who is entering kindergarten.

I have a plan.

And, if I’ve learned anything over the past four years of home schooling, it’s that our real lives never go exactly according to plan. But, just for fun, and for the sake of being honest with you about the home school process, I’ll tell you all about my plan, and then at the end of the year I can tell you all about how we’ve deviated from it.

For now however, I’m still getting organized. Curriculum and supplies are still trickling in. The bookshelves are looking better, but there is more to be removed, and there are some things to be added. I’m still working on our calendar and memory work board, and most of our elective classes and activities that the kids will be attending outside our home, haven’t started yet.

So, for this first week, while I get organized, the kids are doing self led school. That means the TV is off, video games are not an option, but just about everything else in the house is at their disposal.

Oh… and one more rule. Momma’s involvement in whatever you choose to do will be limited. Momma will be in the same room with you, but Momma is working. Momma is organizing, plotting, planning, hole punching, bindering (so not a word), filing, printing, reading, scheduling, etc. Whatever you choose to do with your time, you will need to be able to mostly do, without me.

Now I know that some of you reading this might be freaking out right now and shouting, “See, see! I knew it. Those crazy home schoolers.  They’re not really learning. They’re just hanging out, making stuff up, and calling it school. THEY MUST BE STOPPED!!!”

But, I assure you that #1 – While I love integrating some self led school time throughout the year, just to see what kind of creative thinking and activities my own kids will come up with when left to their own devices, most of our academics throughout the school year are quite structured.

#2 – Growing up, I rarely learned anything, or did any real academic work in the private schools I attended, during my first week back to school each year. In fact while I was at Costco tonight I overheard a high school girl telling her mom that only four kids out of thirty six in her new history class, had their textbooks with them today, so the aggravated instructor just let the students talk and hang out for the entire period. Sounds familiar.

And #3  - My kids really do learn some neat things when they are allowed to learn about whatever they want.

So far over the last two days amongst many varying activities, my fourth grader has:

- observed, analyzed, and discussed the differences in our pumpkin flowers growing in the back yard

- observed and discussed a grotesquely large garden spider we unfortunately found, and luckily captured, in our living room

- read a chapter in a science book about Leonardo Da Vinci and built a parachute as an accompanying experiment

- folded and tested several different paper airplane styles as well as learned how to fold from paper, a hat, boat, and water bomb

- read a library book about the Amazon and the legend of El Dorado

- read a library book to his sister about clouds and their different structures

- read a chapter of C.S. Lewis’ Voyage of the Dawn Treader

- meandered through the Art Fraud Detective

- read several Aesop’s Fables to his sister and then worked together with her to construct animal masks out of construction paper, so they can act out the stories together, later this week

And, as you can see, my kindergartner has been far from neglected.

In addition to what her brother has voluntarily been including her in, she has also:

- read a couple of Bob books to me

- helped me put our new calendar together and discussed the names of the days of the week, and months of the year

- started writing her own name so she can sign it on her school assignments… when she gets them

- diligently been trying to teach her two year old brother to count to ten… with some success.

One of the things that is vastly important to me and must be part of my children’s educations, is making sure they become life long passionate learners, who don’t wait to be taught, but rather seek out new knowledge and understanding, for themselves. There are a lot of topics and skills I am most certainly requiring them to become proficient in through our home school, but I’m also really interested in finding ways to inspire them to experiment, and learn on their own, simply because they’re curious, and equipped to seek out answers.

I promise we’ll hit the curriculum next week.

And, whether you keep your kids home for school or send them to school, you must check out anotherlunch.com. I’ve been ogling the site for weeks now hoping that some of the creative healthy inspirations will rub off on me.

So far our home school lunches have comprised of PB&J with Pringles, and $1 Lunchables from Walmart. My kids aren’t complaining, but I can’t go on this way for the next 160+ school days.

Thanks to anotherlunch.com however, it looks like with the purchase of a few handy little tools, and some more of this creative inspiration, this year could be the year I become a Rock Star lunch maker!

I’m looking forward to it!

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