Saturday, July 19, 2008

Our School Years

From Life Take 1
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In the past, I have broken down our year by quarters, planned breaks and holidays as well as vacations but not this year. My plans never seem to go as I thought they would. Two weeks into the new year ... things are already on a very different course. So, I have a new plan (didn't think I would give up on planning altogether now did you??). Since we believe in schooling year round, I am simply picking months to start and end in.

May 2005 - April 2006
May 2006 - April 2007

Now .... why did I choose such odd times? Well, it was rather simple actually. We buy all of our home schooling supplies for the year with our income tax return. I have one shot, once a year to get it right. I begin planning for my next year by asking questions and collecting suggestions for additional materials within a month of starting our school year. In late November, early December .... I began making my list of wants and needs for the upcoming school year. I look and see if there is anything that I could purchase as a fun gift for the boys that would apply to our next school year. If so, I get it for either Christmas or their birthdays. The rest, I save for my shopping spree. Once I have my list pretty well compiled, I ask some of those that I trust the most for their input and ideas. Did I miss anything? Anything I should add? Etc.... We start purchasing in March (this is when the tax return usually gets here). It usually takes until late April for everything to arrive. Give me a few weeks to read through the Instructor Guides (IGs) and gather miscellaneous supplies... and we have a starting date of May. We have an ending date of April because the boys would be upset if they missed more than a week or two of school in a row. So that's my plan for now. We will work through summer as we usually do, too hot to play outdoors. And will spend lots of time outside during the fall and winter. We pray that you all have a wonderful school year!!!

We have used this plan for several years now with great success!

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