Top Ten {Tuesday} – Reasons we’re excited about our New Homeschool Year!
I really could list more than ten reasons I’m excited about this new homeschool year, but I guess that’s why it’s a top ten post. 😉
1 – I’m ALWAYS excited about a new school year. I actually like to plan. {It’s some sort of sickness.}
2 – Lindsey is back home for school this year (after a year in public school) and is totally on board with homeschooling for the first time ever. I don’t expect us all to skip through fields of flowers every day, but I do expect this year to go well.
3- A new school year is the perfect excuse to reorganize and clean out things that get messy or pushed aside during the school year. {I really like organizing things!}
4 – New school supplies. Oh my, it’s ridiculous how much I enjoy new notebooks, and new pens and pencils, and new markers and colored pencils… My daughters are just as bad about this as I am.
5 – New books.
Need I say more?
6 – We’re starting earlier this year and spreading out our breaks. We started math and science with Lindsey last month, and we’ll start a few subjects with Kathryn next week.
7 – If all goes well, I’ll be able to say at the end of this year that I have graduated a child from homeschool. {Confession: I have very mixed feelings on that milestone, but overall, it’s a good thing.}
8 – Kathryn is in middle school. {Again, mixed feelings but she says I have to put this one in here!}
9 – FLEXIBILITY! This is one of my all-time very favorite things about homeschooling. After a year of working around the public school schedule, then two semesters (in two different years) of hybrid homeschools, I am feeling free as a bird with both kids homeschooling this year!
10 – A family VACATION a couple of months into the school year! We haven’t had a family vacation in a few years, and we’ve never done a mid-schoolyear vacation, so this is exciting! {We will totally be doing this souvenir jar idea!}
** Thanks to Angie at Many Little Blessings for hosting Top Ten Tuesday! Be sure to stop by to see all the other Top Ten posts, and to link up your own post!
Wife, mom, J-ma. Introvert who enjoys good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand – unless it’s lost yet again in the microwave. Read more »
What a great list Jamie! I am drooling over your folders. So organized!! I have folder envy I believe. We too are so ready to get going. We took 2 weeks in June and 2 weeks in July off and I a raring to go. So is Keilee. We love school supplies around here too. Keilee told me yesterday, “Remember Mom we DO NOT need any glue” I went a little overboard last year. 😉 And since she is 12 she really doesn’t glue THAT much.
Great list!
I have folder envy too! I am glad to know that I am not the only one who gets excited about new school supplies and gets butterflies at the thought of new books!!!
Your school year sounds really exciting with both girls at home, one potentially graduating, AND a family vacation!
Jamie, are you using Notgrass American history this year? We happen to have an awful lot of the same new books on our shelves here! (The Giver, Christy, Mama’s Bank Account, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Up from Slavery, Co. Aytch . . . )
I love your list. I feel nearly the exact same way as you. Our homeschool convention is this weekend and I am super excited to just breathe in all things homeschool! God bless!
Just thought you might like to know that the “fields of flowers” crack made me laugh out loud. Literally. 😉
yay for new school years! Its nice to get a break in the summer to get the spring back in our step when it comes to school! Thanks for sharing!
I can ‘hear’ the excitement in your ‘voice’, Jamie. It sounds like you are going to have a fantastic year. We love taking vacations during the school year too. I totally understand the mixed feelings about having a homeschool graduate (I have two). Enjoy the year because it will go faster than you can imagine. Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm and for stopping by my place today.
Oh, we are kindred spirits, Jamie! I, too, LOVE to plan. I LOVE to organize. I LOVE new books and new school supplies 🙂 Your post made me smile.
I must have the same “sickness.” I loooooove to organize. I get giddy walking through the school supply aisle every fall.
I’d say you have some very good reasons to look forward to the new school year. I really like your filing system. I end up with papers everywhere but if I did this… I’ve graduated 2 so far. We homeschooled all the way through 12th grade. The first one to graduate was hardest. I cried. But thankfully, my family is still intact and not fragmented like I was thinking could happen. The hardest thing I have found is that once I graduated that first one, I almost felt like I had completed our homeschool journey. It was really hard for… Read more »
I LOVE LOVE LOVE those jars…..hmmm…we are just back from the beach and the kids have made five wind chimes out of our sea shells…but, I think those jars are a fantastic idea. I love your ‘books’…..hmmmm…maybe we can get together one day and share some of our faves in real life! Beautiful post, Jamie and I am excited about your sweet girl being home this year….you are right, not all days will be perfect, but….wow, that is a huge step and one I know will be a blessing! I will be praying for you!
We have some of those same books, too! We’re not ready to go back for the new school year yet, but we are about to start back finishing up (does that even make SENSE??) some things left unfinished, after about a month off. The girls are less than thrilled. I think I have the only two homeschooled children o the planet who’d rather swim, play, read THEIR books, and make crafts than get back to schoolwork. At least it feels that way lately… 🙂
Love your list! 🙂 I completely understand, Love organizing, love school supplies, love planning. 🙂
Who wouldn’t love homeschooling if you’ve got tons of reasons to love it. 🙂 I just love seeing the glow in my kids eyes when they got new pens, coloring books and notebooks. They all love it, me too! 🙂
Just seeing Little Women in the collection of books in the photo brought me a lot of great memories. My copy is still in its place in my small library and I hope that I can add more classics to the list.
I did a double take when I saw the picture of the school books… that looks a LOT like the bookshelf for my oldest this year! We’re using Notgrass’s Exploring America for high school American History. I’m currently working on plotting out a schedule and am deeply immersed in the books. And Homer Price– oh how we love Homer Price and Centerburg Tales… especially getting the audio CDs from the library. Wonderful!
I am curious. How many hours of planning normally goes into every year and when do you normally do this planning? All through the summer or right before school 🙂 I would love to be enlightened by someone as organized as you 🙂
I love organizing and new notebooks, too. I also love that promise of getting things done.
I saw “Christy” and “Little Women” on your shelves…two of our favorite books!!