The calm before the storm...

We were on our way home from a wonderful family reunion today and as we drove home it hit me that summer is almost over. I still have summer projects that need completion...painting, gardening, organizing and then it hit... SCHOOL. School starts next month. And music lessons.

We are going to the Redwood Forest in Northern California on a family adventure pulling the trailer. This will be the first two weeks of Sept so we won't start school until mid Sept. Not that it matters, once we start we put our nose to the grindstone and rarely take days off. For those of you who don't homeschool it is about two and a half hours of total time each day for schooling(Jessie is in sixth grade now and will take a half hour more, here and there). So it isn't like school is this time consuming, all day event. However, I still have a bit of prep to do. I forgot where each child is and need to haul out the books and reacquaint myself.

Emma STARTS school this Fall so I have another student! And the best kind too, a First Grader. So sweet and innocent, minds like steal traps, full of bubbling excitement, I love teaching my first graders! If you are wondering, we do not do preschool or kindergarten. I am excited to think Emma will be reading herself a book by Christmas. Once she finishes her second shiny reader from Rod and Staff curriculum, Daddy presents her with her own new Bible to read. Each of our children have their own Bibles that Daddy presented to them upon completion of their second reader. The #1 reason we learn to read is to learn God's love and commandments, to learn about Jesus! I love it because this curriculum teaches that all the way through.

Before school starts I had promised myself I'd get my children on a more organized chore schedule. I ordered this fabulous book many of my friends rave about. Managers of their Chores. It is all about organizing a household with any number of children(1-15) starting at age 2 to get a simple chore system set up. I can't wait. I have pictures in my mind of all my children with smiles on their faces, skipping around the house doing their chores happily, while I read a book. Hmmmm.....That will take a lot of work, but it is a goal.

So, off to go through school books...