Our family started school three weeks ago. I say that but let’s be honest, I’m already a week behind in my good intentions. I have this way of front loading the school year that every time proves to be discouraging rather then beneficial, so I’m scaling it back and focusing on the essentials. We have book clubs, field trips, Spanish, CS Lewis Adventures, 100+ science projects, and lots of math planned this year.

I love that video. Of course I don’t think there is a video the Holderness Family has put out that I don’t like.

For my friends at Ft. Bliss/El Paso this is the first week of the 2014-2015 school year. I anticipate a flood of adorable pictures, excited children and weepy (secretly thrilled) mothers. Ok some of you aren’t so secret about it. I’ve seen a few heel clicking jumps in celebration. Pictures from all over the country have already been flooding my news feed and I love every one. It is so exciting to start a new year, new friends, new lessons, new adventures…I especially love the updates of my friends who are going back to school themselves, starting their first or last year at college. It is never to late to start.

My Secret

I have a secret I want to share with you. I’m jealous. There is this part of me that wants that big yellow school bus to pull up in front of my house and whisk my kids away to the magical world of public school. Yes my dreams are distorted as I imagine myself taking long quite walks, reading book after book, having a spotless house, spending hours at the gym, and writing constantly. Yes I know that other mom’s who send their kids off to school don’t have uber amounts of time, but a girl can dream. We all need a fantasy and a clean-quite-relaxing-house isn’t such a bad one.

There were a number of reasons behind why we chose to home school (trips to St. Jude, military schedules, flexibility, to provide a constant in my children’s world of continual uncertainty, and the list goes on). It has definitely helped that El Paso has proved to be very homeschool friendly. And for now, home schooling is the best decision for our family. Whether we home school or not I know that the key to our children’s success is our involvement. And I have to say that as difficult as it may be at times it is worth every previous second. I love being with my kiddos even when they drive me nuts and am thankful that I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to homeschool.

Schedules

I am more of a fly by the seat of my pants type gal and for that reason I LOVE the summer months of pool time, video games, and friends on summer break. But when school starts if we want to succeed we have to plan. It’s always miserable to miss out on that field trip because mom forgot to write it down or have a school day planned when all the other kids are off.

Here is where I have to insert hats off to the mommas who keep up with all the public school activities plus their children’s extra curriculars and still find time for themselves. I’m that mom who would always be running back to the school with the last minute field trip permission slips and half finished science projects. Flexibility is obviously one of the reasons I home school.

So for now I have my handy dandy planner (no I have not figured out the mysterious wonders of my iphone’s scheduling capabilities, it actually drives me mad). I love pen and paper. At the beginning of the week, in order to keep our one car family on track, I write out the week’s activities on a piece of paper and stick it to the inside of the front door. It is a handy reminder to my husband as well as myself minus the nagging of “please don’t forget.”

I’ve abandoned the notion of planning out an entire semester, it’s now more of an abstract thought, and only put down one week at a time into the Homeschool Tracker. I have it mapped out but if I enter it in assignments every time we get a little behind I just get discouraged and fall further into the trap. So it’s one week of assignments at a time for us. I love Homeschool Tracker because at the end of the semester or school year I can print off report cards and I can save lesson plans for the younger children. It also has the option of rescheduling assignments (which is a must for me).

As for the fantasy of a clean house, well that is only accomplished when I have the luxury of calling Maggie’s Cleaning Service (have I mentioned I hate cleaning, oh and if you happen to call her let her know I sent you! She has a referral program that I love). Thankfully I also have friends that contribute my clutter to creativity. I would much much rather pick up a book or write a few pages then organize.

Projects, Your help is needed

It’s not just the kids who have projects scheduled. In the midst of field trips, 100+ Science Projects, and much more… mom has some projects of her own. Most of them revolve around writing. One of them is specifically school themed and I would love your input.

Robert Upshaw, founder of Reaching Upwards, and I are co-authoring a curriculum on bullies that is specifically for Christian Schools and Youth Ministries. If you have a personal story you would like to share with us email it to hope@hopengriffin.com By sending us your story you are giving us permission/rights to publish it in our manuscript. By sharing it is not guaranteeing that we will use it, it is only providing us with permission to do so.

Before you go tell us your favorite part of back-to-school. Please share in the comments below.