I’m in full-on planning mode… a week from today, we’re embarking on our first day of PreK! Even though we’ve been doing preschool at home for several months, this will be a big difference. I’ve chosen a PreK-4 curriculum (even though Jonas would miss the birthdate cutoff for a PreK class in public school) because I feel that he’s academically ready for the challenge. We’ll be doing short-vowel word families and sight words, so he should be well on his way to reading by the time we complete this program! We’re also doing a lot of calendar math (patterning, days and dates, graphing, place value) as well as a math book. He’s beyond excited about this math book – takes it off the shelf a few times a week to reverently turn the pages and ask me when he gets to start working in the book. 🙂 It’s adorable! We’ll also be doing a weekly character trait -with a Bible story, Bible memory verse, and literature read-aloud that connect to the trait. Throw in a little science and social studies and art activities and music and outdoor play and snack and free play and lunch… and we’ve got VERY FULL DAYS ahead of us!
I’ve worked out a schedule that feels good… on paper and in my head. Only time will tell if it really works day-to-day, but I’m going to give it a few weeks before I make any tweaks. The plan is to “do school” Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings. (Tuesdays are reserved for physical therapy and playgroup.) We’ll start after breakfast and finish with lunch…. theoretically!
I’ve already started rising early, since I’m hoping to wake up before both kids to make time for a cup of coffee, a few minutes in prayer and the Word, and maybe a chore or a shower. So far, that hasn’t worked out too well – Jonas is waking up with me (I’m quiet! I swear!) so I don’t actually get that private time. I’m hoping and praying that once our busy days of school get underway, he’ll be more tired at night and sleep longer in the mornings. (A girl can hope, right?…)
But as I’m planning, and thinking through what our days will look like, here’s what I want to know: how do these women do it? The ones who homeschool multiple children, keep their homes in some semblance of order, cook meals, run errands, care for babies, and blog about it… how do they do it all?