It seems like my summers have been pretty much the same since we started homeschooling 5 years ago. I take a break from thinking about schooling during June. In July I start evaluating what worked the previous year(s) and what didn't. In August, I start gathering supplies and curriculum.
I wish I had the money to drop on the latest and greatest choises out there, but since my oldest is in high school now, his curriculum is where the majority of our school budget will be going. He'll be doing Switched On Schoolhouse this year as we were able to borrow our friend's 9th grade version at the end of last year and he loved it. I won't be buying the 5 subject boxed set though, but will still be spending a good bit with the ones we do get. He'll be doing 10th grade LA, Science, and History, and 9th grade for Math as it is Algebra and he hadn't really covered it yet. Since he plans to work in Law Enforcement as an adult, I'm going to also supplement these courses with Civics, Logic, and Accounting as was suggested to us by my local sheriff. Now I just need to get these ordered and delivered by the end of the month. He'll also be doing other things, but these are the only items I still need to order.
My two youngest will be working on the same level in most areas, except for reading at least. I would like to buy a Spelling curriculum for them, but I hate to purchase anything without being able to hold it in my hands first to see if it would be a good fit for them. However, I do have some of the older spelling books in our personal library so I made up lesson plans for them myself. I think they will really enjoy doing their spelling this year as I took all the words for a given week and used them in a story starring themselves. I still need to type it out and bind them, but that won't take me very long once I get started.
I'll also be babysitting my grandson a couple of days a week and I want to have more planned activities to keep him occupied while we are doing our schooling. The kids have volunteered to take turns helping with him (not diapers though, they were very clear on that) and they are all looking forward to homeschooling him also. So, I want to look around on the web to find good activities to do with toddlers, he'll be 17 months when we start back at the end of the month.
I also want to get some basic breakfast and lunch menus planned and do any advanced cooking as possible before we start back also. We all work and focus better on a full tummy and we tend to waste so much time trying to decide what to eat then preparing it. I need to get much better in this area.
I'll try to post more regularly again, but probably not with very many crafts. We are still a very crafty family, I just don't photograph it all. I do have pictures of the blacksmithing class I took last week with my son, though. They are on my facebook page and if you tell me you read this blog I'll approve you as a friend so you can see them as well as anything else I've posted on there. | 
