Planning the School Year . . . Finally

If you've yet to plan your school year and are feeling horribly guilty about it, I'm here to make you feel better.

September 4th arrived and I had not so much as thought about planning the school year, except to enroll Teen Son at the community college. A busy summer and unforeseen life changing events just put that school stuff to the back burner.

Admittedly, I'm an unschooler at heart. Teach them to read and they can take it from there. (Real books, real books, real books!) But, alas, I'm married to an academic who sees things differently. So, we throw in a textbook here and there and even plan out the school year. I do have to admit, it's nice to have our goals written out and to have a plan to fall back on. (You can find my official planning forms at my website -- click on Downloads.)

So, a planning I shall go. Fortunately, I have my old friend Laura Berquist to help me out. Her syllabi are a life saver. I don't follow everything in each syllabus, but it's a great place to start.

First I sat down with Teen Daughters 1 and 2 along with their syllabi. We discussed their goals for the year and how to go about achieving them. We went through our bookshelves to see what resources we already have on hand, went to the library's website to place 20 or so holds, and ordered the rest from Emmanuel Books.

The next day, I sat down with each of the littles. Again, the bookshelves were searched, library holds were placed, and this time a big fat order went to Catholic Heritage Curricula.

Not to worry, we're not sitting around twiddling our thumbs here. Education is taking place all the time, even without the appropriate MCP math workbook. While we wait for the UPS man to bring our new books, library trips, snuggling on the couch to read together, exploring the woods, and so much more is going on.