2016 is Fast Approaching

     Christmas is over and we are on our way to a new year.  This means it is time for me to begin setting up my new planner for the new year.  This year I am using 2 new planners. One is the Corie Clark Daily Planner and the other is the Living Well planner.  I am excited about both of these planners.  Here are some pictures of the cover and inside of the  Corie Clark planner.

The Best Laid Plans….

So I had fantastic plans!  I had terrific plans!  I even had these wonderfully terrific, fantastic plans recorded.  I was ahead of the game.  I was ready for the year!!!!!  Yay me!  But then God decided my plans were not the plans we needed to have.  First, we wound up with some unexpected expenses, including propane for our propane tank – which fuels our stove.  This meant there was going to be a delay in purchasing the last few books we needed for our year.  But I was prepared for some minor interruptions, so it was no big deal.

I decided we would begin our new school year on September 28, 2015 as far as new subjects that we were adding to our year.  But of course,  once again these were the plans I made.  Just after it had turned Friday morning (meaning around 12 am), my husband started having pains in his abdomen that looked like when he had an attack of pancreatitis several years back.  So by 2 am, we decided we needed to go to the Emergency Room.  Having been through something similar, you would think I would have been ready for the inevitable conclusion that he was going to be admitted to the hospital, but I was not.  Nor was I in any shape prepared for the doctors to tell me his gall bladder needed to be removed.  Nor later was I ready for them to say the surgery could not be performed because of irregularities with his heart rate, EKG and a blood test.  Nor on Saturday morning, was I prepared for a surgeon to tell me my husband was not coming home – despite being told emphatically the day before by his surgical partner that we would be released that morning.

So all this leads to the fact that I am not sure when we will be able to begin those subjects.  But that is the beauty of homeschooling.  Our schedule is flexible.  I hold the keys to the calendar.  I make the decisions (well with God’s approval of course).  When life happens to be stressing you out, homeschooling doesn’t have to be stressful.  Now I am blessed that my youngest is almost 13 years old, so they are able to work fairly independently.  Plus I am also blessed that my oldest son (who is 19) decided to do a correspondence school for college – so he is home and can have a flexible start date for filling out his paperwork and beginning his schooling.

Right now we are in a holding pattern waiting and seeing what is to come on the health front for my husband.  But on the homeschool front, my children are continuing to do the 3 R’s – Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmetic along with history and Bible.  Then once life is back under control, or as under control as it can be, we will start the new subjects.  Since we homeschool year round, it will work out fine.

So what is going on in your world right now?

“P” is Planning, People Purpose, Progress and Places

So it is another post for the Blogging A to Z challenge.  The letter for today is “P”.  “P” brings to mind the importance of planning when homeschooling.  Planning involves everything from assignments, courses, reading schedules, vacations, trips and even meals.  Nothing flows right when we don’t have a plan to follow.

Next, “P” is for all the people we interact with each week.  We may interact with friends, family members, clerks at a store, our neighbors, fellow church members or just someone we meet while going about our day to day routine.

“P” also stands for purpose.  Most things we do as homeschoolers have purpose.  Sometimes the purpose is to learn something about a topic, or it may be for the purpose of learning important skills like cooperation.  Other times the purpose may simply be for fun.  The purpose may also be to explore something of interest to a particular child.

“P” also stands for progress.  While many choose to let only a numerical grades dictate progress, I take a different view.  While I feel numerical grades are important in terms of high school transcripts, I feel that progress may be demonstrated by improving scores, increasing attention to details in a subject or possibly demonstrating knowledge that has been learned when talking to a family member or friend.

“P” is also for the places we can go either in our minds, through books or in person during our homeschooling journey.  We have the ability to see all kinds of places during many different time periods.  With a good book, I can to all different kinds of places.

So what comes to mind when you see the letter “P”?  I would love to see  your comments.