So, I'm homeschooling Iris next year. Possibly Lily, too. We haven't totally decided on Lily; if our church's preschool is still there next year, we may just send her for the preschool to have that time away. If they don't have it, I'll just have her work here with Iris as much as she wants to. No pressure for her, she's just turning 4 at the end of September so she's still pretty young.
I am very excited to teach Iris; I just try to expect the worst, since I'll have 4 kids at home by then! :) I am trying to imagine every possible thing that could go wrong (and even all of them happening at once!), just to prepare mentally. I've been reading a lot of blogs of moms that homeschool with babies or are homeschooling several kids at once. It's very encouraging and very scary at the same time!
Iris seems fairly excited; she tells everyone everywhere that she'll be at home for school next year. I just hope she knows I mean business when it comes to sitting for the times we need to sit and participating when she is supposed to. She can be moody (as we all can be, I suppose) when it comes to doing something or an activity that maybe she's not ready to do.
I am still trying to figure out the best place in the house to do this. I cleared out along a wall in our room that could hold a desk and shelving units for our things. I looked at one mom's photos of their homeschooling ROOM today. I don't have an extra room, though, so that's not going to work. I like the idea of a giant markerboard and the rolling storage/organizer thing that has enough drawers for every subject, so I can put together workboxes for her to go through when it's time for her to do some things on her own....like when I'll be feeding the baby or helping Lily and Addy do something.
So far, I am thinking I'll do about 3 1/2 to 4 hours a day for her school. Every other week, Arthur has Thursday and Friday off, so I might try to double up on the Wednesday before his days off and then have her also do 3-4 hrs on the Saturday AFTER his Thurs/Fri off. That way, we can still enjoy his "weekend" with him. Or, if we plan a field trip, I'd like to try and do it on that Thurs or Fri he has off, so I have the help with the other kiddos. Regardless, I know I have the flexibility to make our days as we'd like. I still have to count out the total number of days for the year. I'm thinking we'll start the Wednesday after Labor Day, and I'd like to be done before Memorial Day. I enjoyed that kind of year as an elementary student, so I'd like to do it that way for her, too. Of course, if we plan a vacation or break in addition to the "regular" ones, I'll have to change those dates to extend into the summer. :( I still have time, though, to map that out.
Curriculum should be ordered by April, I think. I want to get it here and check it out to see if anything should be returned before the baby arrives. That'll help make my transition to 4 kids easier, I assume. One less thing to work on (as far as the returning/reordering) while juggling summer activities and breastfeeding!
Overall, I am super excited that we have this opportunity to test it out. If we find it doesn't work, I'm not worried. We can always work out getting her into a school mid-year or finding alternatives to the way we're doing it. And I like that we can take our time with everything and that I get to see her growth in all areas. I love them so much, and it's crazy to think that I'll be responsible for them to be productive and intelligent and to learn what they need to. I know we can do it; I just know I am not doing it alone.
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