School starts tomorrow!

While some of my friends don't plan to start their school year until mid-September to reap as much of this glorious summer as possible, I feel relieved and grateful that we have committed to starting tomorrow.

Last year when we pulled our first grader out of public school and began homeschooling him, the time between the decision and the event was fairly short and I didn't enter into the process feeling very organized. Mostly, that was because we were new at it, didn't have as much information about the different curricula available to us, and hadn't honed in on a specific philosophy or vision. One might question whether this was the best way to start homeschooling~~by jumping right in. But we felt urgently that taking him out of school and plopping him back into the family was the right step and the rest would get worked out. It did, and I almost felt sad to start our summer break this year, for about 20 minutes or so.

This year, I feel incredibly relaxed. I have the year planned out. I feel comfortable with the spontaneity of it all~~as in, when all plans go out the window, I have confidence that our children will still continue to learn, grow and process. We have honed in on what is important to us for each of our children. Now, once we get back into it, perhaps I will look back on this day and laugh. But all in all, I feel ready.

And I'm quite sure that our children are ready! This summer has been wonderful and we still have plans to take advantage of it. But life works so much better in our family when we have more, not less, of a schedule.

So today we finished shopping for school supplies and spent at least an extra half hour in accident-related traffic while driving back to our home. The blue sky and bright sun sang to us as we approached our town amidst the sulking hunger-related growls from a couple of the children. So I did what any other frugal zealot would do and picked up a pizza. We headed to the park and plopped down on our blankets, basking in the sun. I called it a pre-school party (not to be confused with "preschool party," they were quick to point out), just to get them hyped up a bit. We even had ice cream once we got home~~unheard of after 4 in the afternoon~~and had a great big prayer session while holding hands in our tiny little kitchen.

This post has mostly been about "I, I, I." How about I give you the children's perspective? Psalm and Zoya are thrilled to begin school again tomorrow. Wolfgang has decided that life couldn't get any worse and that 24 hour breaks are the only way he will agree to move forward. Bethany plans to have fun and get away with sitting on the table as much as possible. Noah is meal-planning for us (he loves cooking) and looking for ways to participate. So, 4 out of 5 hearts are on board, which isn't bad. :)