Wondering what Mommy Homework is??? Each week you will have an “assignment” here to share in our comments here on this site. You will love this-both sharing AND enjoying answers by others. Some of them, I compile into an ebook (contributors can resell as a product of their own–be sure to submit your email and full name when you register so I can credit you appropriately!).
The result is AWESOME!
We get to know each other…we are encouraged in our journey…and we glean super ideas from other great moms!
Ready for this week’s MH? This is going to be a good one!
I can’t believe that we are in the midst of August! WOW! Are you gearing up for the new school year? Ready to roll? This week, let’s talk about how you are preparing for the new school year. What have you got lined up? What are you doing to get ready for a super year? Share here! This will be a blast!
Have fun! 
DIG IN!
Love ya!
Cindy
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I’m going to start my planning this week while we are in Branson! I have 2 year old twins, so there isn’t much to “plan” but I do want to have a weekly theme with scripture. I should be getting my calendar this week and I cannot wait!
Well, I was on your radio show regarding notebooking, so we are going to do a little more of that this year. We are starting to line the shelves with school books, living books and library books. We love the library and get many of our living resources there!
We are also starting to make use of a more strict use of a schedule. We were more relaxed last year, but ds was diagnosed on the autism spectrum and using a schedule really helps him to focus. Another thing we’re going to do is allow him to start his own blog. He hates to write, but loves to type. So, he’ll be doing some narrating, writing, summarizing, etc. on his blog. Hopefully, this will decrease (or eliminate) our writing battles. Now if I can only start writing on my blog…
We’ve also been hititng all the back-to-school sales and stocking up on the free or almost free stuff. I love these sales!!!
We are looking forward to a good year and the kids are starting to get excited.
We started our school last week. This will be our 2nd year to homeschool and we are working on 7th grade. I am us ing Edutrack to help me plan this year.
So far it is helping me stay on track. I can check off what we have worked on during that day and anything we didn’t do is added to the following day’s list.
First and foremost my husband and I have completely emptied the “schoolroom” of everything. We washed the walls|touched up the paint|washed and polished the floors|cleaned out all clutter|set up new organizing system including shelves to make our school year run smoother. Next, I got all of our books and lesson plans ready to used. We are using notebooking this year for the first time and we are excited. They each have their own notebook and are ready to fill them up. Thank you Cindy.
I am looking up the library books I will need for the first 4 weeks of this year to go with the curriculum. Menu planning and a basic routine to follow for the first semester including what to do whilst on vacation in Tennessee.
I am excited about this new school year! We are going to be learning Charlotte Mason style. This will be a new adventure for us. Many thanks to Cindy’s encouragement! I have been trying to be too structured and in doing that I have stuffeld my children’s love for learning.
To prepare for this year I have and am spending time in:
Prayer- If this is to be a succcesful year I must put aside my own desires and seek what God has for us. Only by following him will we learn and grow as a family. I want my children to learn that school is not just a task but an opprotunity to learn so that they can be used of God.
Organizing- We have not only been organizing books but also our house. Clutter collects too easily. Cleaning out the clutter and getting organized helps us to be less frustrated at messes and have a neat, smoother running home.
Scheduling and goal setting- I am working on getting our year planned and organized. Using the time the Lord has given us wisely is essential to staying on track and keeping learning fun. We make goals. Setting goals is important to me and my children. They enjoy the success of reaching their goals and it is an incentive to do their work.
Reasearching and ordering- Gathering information, ideas, and books that go with each childs learning style and interest take time but is well worth the planning. It saves on loss of time and aggravation during the school year.
Have fun and enjoy planning this year!
Lois Graham
We have strayed a bit too far into unschooling territory for DH’s liking. We will be focusing on the ‘3 R’s’ for a bit. We have a wonderful opportunity to review various homeschool items that will fill-in and supplement our basic Reading,wRiting and aRithmetic. I think with these extra items, my children will still have fun and learn, while keeping daddy happy too! We have been doing some unofficial school-related things for most of the summer. We will have our “full schedule” in place sometime around Labor Day week. I hope we can get a good routine going! I know this is mostly up to mama so I need to be diligent 🙂 We also plan to be joining in more of the field trips that our local informal homeschool group does. If we are planning to spend time out of the house, it makes our time at home more focused.
Wishing everyone a blessed time of learning with your children 🙂
We’re getting ready to start next Tuesday, the 18th. (Daddy has the 17th off work, so that wouldn’t be such a good day to start, LOL!)
We’re such a hodge-podge, eclectic mix, that where do I start to tell what we’re doing? But this is the first time I’ll have 5 kids in school: 8th, 5th, 4th, 2nd, and now K! (The little one is SO excited!) We’re traditional in math, Ruth-Beechick-like in language arts, some Sonlight ideas for read-alouds, Christine Miller’s classical ideas in history, Apologia notebooking and stuff in science, and planning some fun stuff like drama for extra kicks.
This week I’m trying to finish up all my planning, clean out the crates we use at the dining room table, and make sure I have some toddler stuff ready for my 2yo daughter. I really have a lot to do in just one more week! Oh, and the dog needs shots, I have a midwife’s appointment, I need to get an oil change… it feels like I have one week left of freedom, haha, and too much to do! 🙂
This week we’re having yummy breakfasts (like coffee cake this morning, yum), and we’re going to the fair tomorrow, then we’re having a back-to-school neighborhood party next Monday, to start the year with a bang. (Or maybe to start really tired next Tuesday, LOL!) It will be fun, though
Wouldn’t it be fun to be flies in each others’ houses this time of year? 🙂
Hugs,
~Anne
Gearing up for the New School Year started at the end of the last school year. This month I am in full speed mode. I have mapped out our units with a little bit of a cushion as I think the boys will want to dig deeper. These coming weeks are the Teacher Appreciation events locally and I am taking part in the great deals finding all kinds of goodies to make school fun. I am still working out details for some field trips, but with our units studies mapped out I think we are ready to go…
I am waiting for a couple of items I ordered to arrive but other than that I think we are there.
I am also planning for our co-op a week (4 1/2 days) outdoor school as well as co-op classes I will be teaching… I am using my tools and knowledge I’ve learned from UHSE to make cuts where they need to be and simplify what I can..
We are attempting to do some dual enrollment with the local community college this year for my youngest at home daughter, soon to be 15. We are also going to utilize TeenPACT.com for civics/government/public speaking. We went to a class on it at a HS seminar last weekend and my very quiet daughter thought she might like it to help bring her out of her shell as well as learn about civics/government/public speaking.
We also are very involved in 4-H as a family and use a lot of the things we’re involved in with it for our HS program.
We do have a prayer request to share as my estranged husband has disclosed to us that he has prostate cancer that has metastasized to his bones. He needs Jesus and we are praying that daddy asks Jesus into his heart without delay. We’d also like to see him come home, but it’s most important that he makes a decision for Jesus. Thanks for including Mike in your prayers!
This is our first official year homeschooling and I’m terribly anxious :). But, I’m excited as well! We have some serious organizational/home management issues to deal with, that aren’t going to be gone for another few years (unfinished house, no kitchen, no bathroom, no running water, you get the idea). In any case, we’re using Illuminations Year 1, which is going to be SO helpful to me. I tend to be a bit of a planning perfectionist but I take FOREVER to plan, this way I just need to slot in the R’s on the grid schedule and I’m ready to go! Phew.
So, I’m gathering books, clearing off bookshelf space (packing DVDs into a binder in sleeves, putting the cases in storage, and reclaiming bookshelf space), and need to get our notebooks set up, order books, etc. etc. Woohoo! I was so unsure what to do for history this year, it drove me crazy, but God came through with this great program :), just what I needed!
I’ve got some curriculum ordered and waiting for it to come. In the meantime, I’m reorganizing the school room and setting up a workbox system for each of the girls. They are so excited about these little shoe boxes LOL! Best part of this year … after 6 years of homeschooling, dh is actually taking part in some of the curriculum choices … an answer to prayer!
Adding another baby to the crew has made me even more scatterbrained! So this year we have decided to enroll in CLASS for our middle school son. This decision was for several reasons – he needs more accountability than to just “mom”, I wanted someone else to have the responsibilty of choosing textbooks and levels of difficulty, we wanted him to begin buckling down for the harder workload of high school and I wanted to have most of the burden removed from me allowing me to have more time with my children due to less time spent planning and record keeping.
What I have been doing here at home besides scheduling the lessons has been quite a bit. I’ve transformed our first floor guest suite area into more of a classroom setting for us. I think that being removed from the main level of the house will remove a lot of the distractions for all of us and allow us to concentrate more on what’s at hand. If I can’t see the washing machine, I won’t be thinking about all of the laundry to be done much the same way, not seeing the tv or playset outside will let the kids focus on learning. I have also implemented Sue Patrick’s workbox system in the hopes of getting everyone more motivated and focus on getting our work done.
We too are very involved in our local 4H and the classes they offer – right now our 13yo son is involved with the livestock club learning how to get feeder calves ready for showing this fall. He also takes speech presentation classes, cooking classes, and many more while I teach a sewing class in the spring. I HIGHLY reccomend it to anyone who is considering it. We are also fortunate to belong to a co-op where he takes classes in art & drama. One of those teachers also runs and outdoor adventure youth program where our son has learned to rock climb, repel, kyak, hike, camp and build his problem solving & self esteem.
Are we ready for next week when we start? Probably not all the way, but we’re ready to jump in and “just keep swimming……” Gotta love Dory!
We are starting again on Monday. We are currently using k12 curriculum (ds is gifted and dd is trending that way too so we keep it very structured and in depth and theirs is great for that for them). So this week I have cleaned out the bins that I keep their “stuff” in; gotten the supplies we need (mmmm I love the smell of new crayons!); next is getting the next 4 weeks of lessons ready; menu planning; dentist appointments (for them) and dr’s appts for me (just found out I am about 10.5 weeks pregnant!) So lots of stuff going on I am teaching 3rd grade and K (dd is sooo excited and already halfway through her handwiting book!).
Also have tons of gardening stuff to do, harvest of some things is upon us others later in the fall. Ok off to make more appointments and work on paper work for the insurance!
Mary Damask
I have been so looking forward to this school year. My daughters freshman year, the beginning of high school. I was worried the past few years about when we arrived at highschool level and how it would be but with Cindys encouragement I was ready , I was prepared to go more notebooking and Charlotte Mason method and then my daughter decided she would like to try out public school again as it has been 7 years since she left it in elementary and I have enjoyed these 7 years so much and we have been really blessed with the journey. She of course knows she has the option at any point to come back home to school but I suppose she wanted the experience. I know we will just greet each day with prayer and put on her armour before leaving for school each day. She has a good base and knows our beliefs and the counselor has been wonderful as her sister homeschools her children and she is familiar with it. I love Cindys site and still consider myself a homeschool mom so I will still be here and enjoy all of the knowledge and fellowshiping. I would love to hear from anyone else who has gone through this lifestyle change as it would be helpful. We are praying about it and Gods will is always right. Please keep us in your prayers. I know this isn’t exactly something for the new school year but it will be a really New school year for us.
We have been home educating for 12 years and I am feeling slightly overwhelmed at the thought of planning this year for my 8 kids ages 2 up to 18! ( I need to count the 18yo too because while he graduated last spring he is working at home for a bit and he needs my love and support even though it may not be academic).
I know I need to focus on prayer this week and really listen to the Holy Spirit before I start planning. I really want to plan better than ever before and set goals with my kids. I am listening to Cindy’s podcasts -favorites and oldie but goodies to help me get focused and motivated. I love how she always comes back to seeking the Lord and my relationship with my kids!
Blessings to everyone and their families- have a great fresh start this year!
I am trying to plan a new routine for the school year. Researching ideas for what to do with a 2 year old during school time. Planning to put together a box of “just school time activities” just for him.
Have already ordered curriculum. It is organized and on the shelf. I am only waiting on the Handwriting Without Tears books to come in. I plan to order some more reading books to challenge my oldest son as he has read nearly everything we have here.
Also, making a list of goals for each child including character traits we need to work on.
I love the planning and organizing part of this. I don’t do as well with execution. 🙁
I love lists and writing and thinking and mulling things over. My two girls are very busy and hands on. So……………in order for me to get my writing fix and not drive my children to hate school, I do a lot of probably unnecessary planning. I have started my own Scripture copywork. Thanks, Cindy, for the copywork ideas. I have noticed that when I am doing it, the kids want to do it.
I have a weekly, lined teachers planner. I am going through each curriculum and writing in each day what we will do for that curriculum. I also have weekly book lists. Now, having said that, I build in a lot of extra time. We are pretty relaxed in the execution of my plans. 🙂
I have file folders for each week of school. I make my copies, etc. ahead of time and file in the folders. If I have everything ready to go, I’m less likely to get side tracked and not get school done for the day.
I reread this and it sounds like I am sooooo together. Ha, ha. That is not the case, I’m just trying to mesh my talents and weaknesses with my girls learning styles and come up with something workable. We are very much a work in progress. I try not to stress if my plans get sidetracked. It has been such an encouragement to me to listen to UHSE workshops.
God Bless
Linda Sprague
It helps me to have an overall knowledge of where we are going in each curriculum.
I have been busy enetering my Lesson Plans into my computer program that keeps track of everything for me, Homeschool Tracker. I find we stay on task better and I feel more organized when we have a plan. I am also getting ready to organize everything for my 1st grader soon. We have our house on the market and I was really hoping to get an offer and move before school starts. It’s not looking like that will happen so I guess we’ll start once I am ready.
Lori Duncan
All 4 of my children went to camp in July. During that time I was able to get my homeschool room more organized. This coming weekend my husband and 3 of my children are going to Marshfield, Ohio with our church group to minister to a church there. My youngest, Nicholas, will be staying with Grandma so that I can start to plan. Actually, we go scrapbooking once a month, but this time instead of scrapbooking I took my school books and began the planning process. Some thought I was crazy, but I really enjoyed it even though everyone else was scrapbooking. I do love the notebooking idea. We started a little bit last year and definitely plan to do more. I also have to plan for my nephew who is 3. I watch him 3 days a week and he is just too smart to sit and play with toys the whole time. I am looking into doing 4-H this year,but haven’t quite decided yet. My main focus is on my oldest. I may only have 2 years left with him and I want to make sure that his needs are met. My younger ones get many field trip and enrichment opportunities, so that is not such a concern. I am really looking forward to this year and hope that it is our best year yet.
I wanted to get ready all summer but before I knew it school starts just arount the corner. We need to get the school room cleaned, order the last minute books, and then get ready for the first day of school after lesson plans accomplished. Each year I want to encorporate so much that by Christmas I and the boys feel overwhelmed. This year we are just sticking to the basics and doing more with Dad when he has a day off and just enjoy each other.
This is my first year officially homeschooling my kindergartener and two preschoolers. We have moved some furniture around and now have school room that I am getting ready. I have been starting a school notebook for myself with all of my calendars, forms and planning/lesson sheets. I have been reviewing the manuals for my purchased curriculum and getting books ordered from the library for other subjects and read alouds. I have been getting notebooks and lapbook ideas ready for the kids. One of the best things that I will be doing next week is exchanging kid-watching with another homeschool friend so we can both have some alone time to do some planning for a couple of hours a day while the other watches the kids play. By the grace of God we have a fun and adventurous homeschool year ahead of us!
I have a 2 yo son so we are starting a semi-structured plan in September including a weekly theme, letter, number, shape, color and Bible truth. I used an online digital scrapbooking site and created a 24×18 landscape poster to laminate and hang on our refrigerator with a 5″x5″ block for each topic to hang what we are working on. For example, the first theme will be Fall, letter A, number 1, color red, shape, circle, Bible truth “God made me!”. The next order of business will be planning out the year’s themes (including activities/field trips) and Bible truths. We should be ready to roll the first week of September! 🙂
Tara McClenahan
Hello. I haven’t been here in awhile and my life is showing it 🙁 I was getting crabby because I wasn’t filling my teacup!
I have found a few new things that I am putting into place. The first is that my dd is starting high school. So, we are going to start using Far Above Rubies with her.
The other thing is something that I am doing with scheduling. Workboxes. Basically, you have a bunch of separate numbered shoe boxes on a shelf (12 is the recommended number) and you put everything that is needed for those classes in the box. They recommend each child has a set of 12 and then there is a schedule strip where you include other things – playing outside, lunch, chores, etc. – mixed in with the box numbers on the strip.
I’m kind of doing this for all of us and having more than 12 boxes for everyone combined. I’m using all the boxes for everyone and then going with all the things that we want to get done, but then when we’re doing different things (dd is writing, ds is on the pc, I’m getting the supper stuff out and ready) we each have a file jacket (file folder with sides) in the same box. If/when we run out of day with boxes left to do, those boxes get moved to the starting end for the next day so we’re never getting that far behind.
Also, this year, dd is starting to volunteer at the local hospital (it has a charity program so that people who can’t afford but need medical care can still get the care they need) – I think service is important and this is a way to help this hospital keep costs low so they can help others.
Elizabeth Bowen
This is my fourth year homeschooling. I have two dds that are in 3rd and K/1st grade. I’ve realized that I need many more hands on activities in our school. I follow more of a classical/CM approach, so this year I switched from Classical Conversations to Veritas Press for our history. I’ve planned a lot of fun activities to go along with the history cards. We’re studying the Old Testament/Ancient Egypt. We’ll also be studying light, water, dinosaurs and animals for science. I found Total Language Plus at the convention this year and I’m excited to try it out with my 3rd grader. We also do Math U See and Handwriting Without Tears. I love homeschooling and I’m excited to get started again, hopefully in the next two weeks!
Well, the biggest “new” thing we have planned into our school year is
a field trip to Mexico! Our son does part time mission work in Senora.
The girls are faithfully studing Spanish this year and should be finished
with Rosetta Stone level 1 by the time we leave in Nov. We are going
to visit his mission town and villages around it that he ministers in. We
will get to meet all the people we have heard so much about and live
in a new culture for a week.
We are also doing unit studies in Science and History and putting them
in notebooks along with our timeline notebooks.:o) Couldn’t have a
year without notebooks!
With my last 2 in high school and realizing my homeschooling years
are winding down, I value each year a little more. But I am also looking
ahead to enjoying their grown-up years, especially the girls. We can
do so many things together that there seems to be no time for now… sewing, making soap, scrapbooking, etc. Carolyn
Well, the biggest “new” thing we have planned into our school year is
a field trip to Mexico! Our son does part time mission work in Senora.
The girls are faithfully studing Spanish this year and should be finished
with Rosetta Stone level 1 by the time we leave in Nov. We are going
to visit his mission town and villages around it that he ministers in. We
will get to meet all the people we have heard so much about and live
in a new culture for a week.
We are also doing unit studies in Science and History and putting them
in notebooks along with our timeline notebooks.:o) Couldn’t have a
year without notebooks!
With my last 2 in high school and realizing my homeschooling years
are winding down, I value each year a little more. But I am also looking
ahead to enjoying their grown-up years, especially the girls. We can
do so many things together that there seems to be no time for now… sewing, making soap, scrapbooking, etc. Carolyn Griggs
The big thing for me this year is understanding that after many, many years in “crisis mode” and “survival schooling”, that it is no longer an unaffordable luxury to organize. Ok, my youngest being adversely affected by visual chaos due to microencephaly and two others who melt down or get easily frustrated if things aren’t clearly laid out is even more motivation. But those have been true for awhile. The big thing is realizing it’s not an unaffordable luxury. I know there are those who would say that the same was true during the crisises. We had a rough framework, but I’m trying to get it filled in now! And I have my doubts if someone could have found the time in the day to be more organizned with the number of needs there were to meet at the time.
I am nearly done instituting chore cards and workboxes. I have a laminated time-line in the hall, the summary cards for history for 5 children (I have 10, 2 are graduated) done.
I am hoping to have the first 9 weeks planned and ready to go by the last week of Aug, at which time we can take a 2 week “at home” vacation.
One of the** best things**have done in the past (twice) is to take a day off for me. I left home ALONE before anyone was awake. I went out of town where no one would know me. I went to a movie. I spent time at a bookstore. Ok, I was NOT going to go to the school section, but I did and ended up buying a book, I think it was by Michael Farris, that was to encourage moms and was hilarious. I took it to Olive Garden, sat in a booth, eating, reading and laughing outloud. It was one of the most refreshing thins I’d ever done. Now that we have a new location, I’d like to spend a day on the Appalachian Trail alone, but that is not wise. Sigh.
Monique
I am really excited about this school year! This year we are using mostly Charlotte Mason style homeschooling. In the past, I have planned and then unexpected needs arise to throw us off schedule, but this year I think we are more prepared for those unexpected “pop-ups.” Our days, though planned are looking much more relaxed and fun compared to years past.
We implemened notebooking (thank you Cindy for your ideas!), a lot of copywork, lapbooking, and a little narration last year. Because of the great success and interest from all our children, we have planned to make these helps part of our curriculum this year. My main goal right now is to get organized! One thing that we did last year was to have a shelf for each child with all of their notebooks labeled and placed there as well as “school books.” I also have each child a bin ( I found bright colors at a local superstore) and this bin will contain their daily assignments, making it easy to grab their bin and get started each day. When finished with assignments, the bins are set at my station (a small desk beside the computer, but not just MINE!) and I check work as needed and place the next day’s assignments in bin and return to shelf. Our system was implemented at the end of the school year, but it worked wonderfully! We haven’t started back to school yet, so we are cleaning out the notebooks from last year and the children are so proud of their work. It is fun for them to remember their drawings, copywork, or a nature journal entry and we will keep them in a larger notebook! I only wish that our middle school child was just beginning Kindergarten, because this way of schooling is so much more fun and interesting and less stressful for us all!
Thanks Cindy,
Tina K
My kids are 11, 9, 7, 4, and 18 months, just to let you know where I’m coming from!
First, I make a one page Goal sheet. This lists each child and is a general overview; I compare it to last year’s sheet to see what goals were met and which ones need more work. This includes brief educational goals, but focuses more on character qualities. For example, this year a certain 4-year-old’s scripture goal will be “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe…” Philippians 2:14-15. She said she wants to be a star 😉
As far as the actual educational planning, I do a unit study, with History being the springboard. I get out my forms from Cindy. I got them from the Let’s Get Organized seminar, with a “Let’s Get Ready/Gear Up” title. I make my booklists of historical fiction divided into 6-week sections, then check what we own, what our local library has, and what I’ll need to request or buy. I use a “yearly planner” form and jot down lapbook topics as they pop up in my planning, two per month. For example, we’re studying U.S. history this year, but instead of making a lapbook on Christopher Columbus, we’ll read about him, but do a special topic lapbook on ships. Our handwriting, vocab and spelling, and writing will be on these history topics.
Math is separate. Science will be separate for now, and we’ll be doing lapbooking with that this year.
Devotions, Bible and Character training are varied. Right now we’re doing a character lapbook, so that covers our devotions and Bible. We incorporate videos, then follow-up with the scripture the story is based on. For the littles, we use devotional books. The older two will be working on independent devotions.
And don’t forget the fun stuff! We “study” the topics of interest to the kids, so this year we’ll be covering horses, race cars and sketching.
Be blessed,
Danielle Hull
mdhull@kconline.com