Three weeks.

August 17 is D-day around here.

Or maybe that should be H-day.  Or S-day.  Or... I don't know, suggest something. 

August 17 we will go Back To School.

Home school, that is, not "away school" as my kids have taken to calling that mysterious yellow-bus destination.  (The boys got a chance to ride a yellow bus to YMCA camp this summer.  It dispelled some of their longings, I think.)

I would rather start after Labor Day, but with a baby expected in the winter, plus the usual weeks off for Thanksgiving and Christmas and Holy Week, and a couple of vacations and trips to Grandma's, and the Extra Sanity Week I always give myself in late March, it's start early and end late in 2009-2010.

I am almost ready.  I have to be ready, actually, by next Thursday (more on that later).  

I have a weekly basic plan worked out, printed, and in my master school binder.  One page shows it organized by student, one page shows it by day, and one page shows it by subject.  (You wouldn't believe how many precious seconds of "ummmmmm....." this saves me, having it all printed out three ways.   It's the difference between "What do I have to do today?," "What does Oscar have to do today?" and "When was I going to set up the art project?")

I have a one-page basic to-do list, for each day of the week.  Not a schedule, exactly, although there are a few time points on the pages:  "leave for music class at 9 AM," that sort of thing.  Crucially, these are not printed out and placed in page protectors.  They are handwritten.  They will be scribbled on, annotated with this-goes-here-instead-of-there arrows, rewritten many times.

For Oscar, I have a 36-week schedule planned out for catechism study.  Another one for Early Modern World History.  Another one for science.  Another one for independent reading.

Theoretically, I should have another one for 19th-Century American History by now.  I'm about half done.  I have a feeling we'll have to wing it, a little bit, on that one.

For the whole family, I have a 36-week schedule of read-alouds.  

I don't have a schedule for math, spelling, English grammar, composition, Latin, Milo's nature study, music, art, or learning-to-read-and-write.   I don't really need one for those.  You just keep going, one page or chapter or lesson at a time.

I have been to Kinko's to spiral-bind the assignment/record books.  They look lovely and crisp, all new and blank.

I think I have all the supplies I need to get started, except for a few grocery-store items.    For instance, I need two gallon-size glass jars for science.  I'm thinking: pickles.  Oh, and we also need to finish drinking the case of Crispin's Hard Cider we bought so I could have two dozen identically-sized clear glass bottles.  A toast... to science!

No, I'm not in bad shape at all.  What a relief.  Because a couple of months ago, when I was napping for two hours every afternoon, I didn't think we would ever be ready.

Comments

[Tabitha]

you're amazing! I have found gallon glass jars at thrift stores, if you don't want to eat that many pickles!

[Amy F]

I've been told that gallon jars can be found at Target or Walmart for $10.

Are you going to ferment pickles? Cool. I'm too chicken for that, although I did can 1/2 bushel of pickles using the fresh-pack method yesterday and they have to sit for a month before we can eat them, so it's no faster than fermenting.

My five year old was pretty sad when he realized that he'd always be driving to school with dad and starting kindy (vs pre-k at the same school) would not mean he'd ride the bus. He does ride them for field trips though -- it's usually all he'll mention about the trip.