How Do You Plan?

Lately, I have been feeling like I have been flying by the seat of my pants with regards to our school day. There hasn't seemed to be enough hours in the day to plan for school as detailed as I would like. Yet, this is an imperative part due to the simple fact that starting next year- Moriah will be in full swing of kindergarten and Austen in 2nd and Jayden in 4th. I can't simply expect three children's education to come together without some planning.

I was pretty sick last week and this week  I have been suffering through some terrible headaches. I started drinking gallons of water and that seemed to have helped and I am going to make an appointment with an opthamologist- wearing my glasses for the first time in 7 years is actually helping. Go figure.

How do you plan? I am hoping that going to our home school mid year refresher will be encouraging to me because, honestly, I feel frustrated with myself. I sat down tonight and did a lot of planning and I just need to collect some supplies. I know that this will make our day run so much smoother. Gone are the days where I could just pull something together. It's just not EVER going to happen again. Organization is a strong point for me, so it is not really the problem of NOT knowing how to organize but rather, making the time for it.

My goal is to accomplish math, language arts and our unit studies each day with Spanish and art and hymns and geography alternating days. I feel so much better just writing down a schedule. Foolish, I am not- I know full well that life does not bend to my schedule, my schedule adjusts to life. Yet, having a schedule also allows for life to run more smoothly and efficiently. If I am teaching on Paul Revere and I want the kids to create a paper machie map of his midnight ride- it may come with may interruptions from potty breaks, an excitable one year old but if I have all the paint, brushes, newspaper and platform ready, we will still accomplish our task one way or another.

I pray that this year is a year of many proactive steps to reach my end goal- for the kids to love God with all their hearts and to be educated to the best of their ability. Organization needs to happen. Two years ago, I had converted crates into different file folders ( much like the workbox system). I need to reinstate that system because it worked so incredibly well for us! Pray that I will be steadfast in my planning. My kids are so worth it and so is my sanity! Happy Schooling!