What's on Your Agenda?

I've toyed with the idea of starting a blog for YEARS. The cons always outweigh the pros: I'm not interesting enough, I won't be consistent enough, I'm not the greatest writer. The last reason was probably my biggest reason for not starting. Mostly because I homeschool. And the fear that all writing mistakes will automatically make people roll their eyes and say to themselves, "and she homeschools?!?!" But oh well, I'm going to get over myself, at least for this one post. The fact of the matter is that I always loved writing before I cared whether or not I was doing it right. I know my grammar needs work (I may or may not have googled whether "Cravens" in my title should have an apostrophe or not -- our last name is Craven, multiple boys equal Cravens, right? Maybe? No? Not that "Cravens in the House" is a grammatically correct phrase in itself anyway,) AND I'm terrible at run on sentences. <--- See?

Anyway, I picked back up my random inkling last night after posting a picture on a homeschool group page that I frequent and getting a handful of "likes" and even a couple of "that's genius" comments. Okay, maybe I'm not over myself. What was my "genius" moment? Read on and be enlightened.

It's back to school time in the public/private school world as well as most homeschool homes. Although we school year-round we still do a fair amount of transitioning in August/September. The homeschool curriculum pages I follow online are all a buzz with talks of planners. What works, what doesn't work, what's the best, most sturdy, most affordable. What does this but not that, what will make my whole life organized and my kids educated all while I lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks. Yeah, there are some tall orders out there for planners.

My oldest is now in 4th grade. We are very eclectic in our curricula choices so each year the planning for him gets a little heavier. Last year I printed off a simple (free) weekly calendar online and filled it in each Sunday. Then I wrote my sons daily expectations in his notebook each and every day. This didn't take a ton of time and worked great but I still wanted to something a little less time consuming this year. I thought about making a spreadsheet BUT I decided I wanted to keep up with it in a planner book/calendar instead. And I wanted said planner to be small so that I could throw in my bag. Enter labels:

The labels were super easy to make with Avery's online template maker and I just print off one sheet at a time so I can make adjustments as needed when we stop certain programs and begin others. A simple little thing but a big difference in my planning. The best part is that the labels allow me to use my super cute $5.99 planner from Marshalls.

The other change I implemented was to start giving my older son a weekly schedule instead of a daily one. He can work ahead on his independent assignments if he chooses but has to complete each day daily. I also started giving him "grades" this year. It was something I used to think was silly as a homeschool parent since we work on an assignment until we get it right but I decided to give it a try this year after seeing the way he responded to the praise I give his younger brother when he is putting forth his best effort. So far it's been a big motivator for him to put in extra effort but we'll continue to play that part by ear. If the "grading" starts doing more harm than good, we'll stop. Notice the "N"s today, it was a Monday, for sure!

As a big time procrastinator, I need our week planned out ahead of time otherwise I would keep putting things off. If it's there, on the list, the box-checker in me has to get it done!

And to add a little cuteness to your day, our "back to school" pictures. Like I said, we school year-round so I always fail at this task but I begged my children to look put together for just a minute for me today. I'm a horrible photographer but I make pretty babies.

Daniel-4th grade: He's been homeschooled by me for over 4 years now and that's why he can't be serious in a picture. He's doing the floss.

Isaac-Kindergarten: Just when I think I had this whole homeschooling thing down, a second child needed to learn to read.

Lukey-Pooky(poor kid's actual name is Luke but I'm not sure many people know that)-23 months: Just now learning to walk so we're going to take it easy on the whole schooling part for this guy.