Back to School–A Day in the Life Week

A Day in the Life Week

We started school last week and spent the week “easing” into our schedule.  I have two in public school, my special son returning to his special needs class and my unique son who all his life has been homeschooled, is attending his last year of high school at our local HS.  My Rock Star Son is driving in with his Dad at 5 in the morning and attending the  Jr. College in the town his dad works at.

So we were all back into a new routine this week. 


I am more of a routine person than a ridged schedule person.  I love schedules… how they look and that I can make them and have goals, but I do not like to be “locked” into them.
Each year I revisit our School Touchstones to remind me of the reasons we homeschool and the importance of FLOW in our days:

Touchstones: As a metaphor, a touchstone refers to any physical or intellectual measure by which the validity or merit of a concept can be tested.

<sup>F – Family Needs
L – Learning Moments – Learning Center – Love of Learning
O– Ordered By Routine
W – Work Binders – Work Stations – Worship Him in all we do



Progress is born out of FLOW…  (FLOW is more important than time frames)</sup>

Going over these points will ground  me in my planning stage for the year, as I can tend to “over plan” and get overwhelmed at the big picture.  These touchstones help me zero in on what is important to our family.

I shared how the Lord speaks to me in seasons in a previous post.   The past few years I have adapted our school year to reflect the four seasons.  We have four quarters: Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring.  We end up schooling year round but our summer quarter is a light schedule with 3-4 goals in mind.

Here is one of our summer quarter plans:

This is our daily schedule for Autumn:


This year I have 2 Binders set up for our school year:


Portfolios~
I have a section for each of the girls. 
I record their progress and grades in this section. 
I have individual course sheets for each subject in their sections.  

 

 

 

Yearly Planner ~  

This binder has all my planning sheets.  

There are four sections – one for each season quarter.  

I keep attendance sheets and a copy of the course of study for our school.

Well, that gives you an overview of our plans & schedule for the year, and with anything they are just that  - plans.  




The LORD directs the steps of the godly.
He delights in every detail of their lives.  
                 Psalms 37:23


living for His delight~