I have to chuckle . . .

As I have a morning saunter through blogs here and there, it is evident that all of Homeschoolblogger has started a new year.  There are new materials, new energy, new panic, new books, new character traits to build up, and a few to buff down.  Your enthusiasm comes at such a great time.

We run our year a little differently.  While in the rest of the country/world most people are happy to have their summers to be outside, trading their formal studies for gardens and what-not, we have no interest in being outside in the summer.  The Arizona desert at 117 degrees is just not that enticing!

But fall/winter?  That’s when we want to have less formal study and clear schedules for more ‘time to breathe’.  Our family starts our ‘year’ in January, and ends whenever we’re done, usually October or so.  We can enjoy the back yard without melting, and the Christmas season is blissfully clear.

That’s why you’re enthusiasm arrives in such a timely fashion for us.  Not only am I running low on energy as we near the end of our studies, but I’ve never felt like I got a grip on this year to begin with!

We changed gears a few months into our year after I discovered Tapestry of Grace.  This program does everything I’ve ever wanted to do – but didn’t have the education to pull together myself.  Anyway, we started it and were a bit overwhelmed at everything that was involved – there is an amazing amount of work to do!  Then just when I’d have all the plates spinning, one would drop, and as I ran to save it, down came the rest.  (Ever have one of those days, weeks, months, or years?)  How in the world were we going to get through this?  It got to the point of our skimming down to math and grammar and that was it for the day.  I didn’t want to face another attempt at getting a handle on the ‘to do’ list.

(By the way, don’t let this scare you if you are interested in Tapestry – I still LOVE it and highly recommend it as an very worthy option to research.)

But then I had an epiphany.

(OK, it was really one of those, “Duh!” moments, but doesn’t ‘epiphany’ sound so much lovelier?)

We don’t have to do it all.

We didn’t buy it to make us crazy; we bought it to give us a frame, a guide to follow.  A well thought out program that offers a wide variety of options to use while discovering all the interesting things there are to learn.

But I was using it to make me crazy.  Bad!  Bad!  Bad!

So I sat down and considered what was important and what we could really leave behind.  The goal was to get us through the end of the year, finishing strong, using our time wisely, while leaving my sanity intact.

So, while the rest of my Homeschoolblogger family here are all posting these beautifully full schedules of various subjects with new vigor, my offering reflects the ‘big push’ to the end of the ‘year’.

Math                                                    Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday

Violin/Viola Practice                             Daily

Grammar                                              Monday/Thursday

Reading/Discussing                               Daily – from the Tapestry of Grace plans

Commonplace Book Entry                    Daily

We keep Wednesday pretty light.  Violin/Viola lessons are that day, so we combine that with errands, etc.

That’s it!  No major projects, no ongoing writing, no nothing.  A bit dull, perhaps, but the girls are enjoying all the time this allows to read and practice.  I find the books we need for the next few weeks on the library website, place them on hold, and get them at the drive-through pick-up window.  The rest of the day runs itself.  The house is relatively clean, and I’ve even begun to plan and cook dinner again.  (I know – crazy!)

The girls are learning, and we have a little time to breathe.  Time for them to play and still help with the house and in the kitchen.  Time to sew, crochet, embroider, watch football, paint, whatever the season may bring.  (Hopefully peaches to can with in the next few hours, actually!)  Oh, and time for another run at a garden once we get the killer ants under control.

Now that we’ve got a grip, I can enjoy planning for next year.  The girls are looking forward to Year 3 of the Tapestry of Grace program, and all the wonderful books and ideas that will come with it.  I’m looking forward to a new found freedom in knowing that I control how deep we go under, and for how long.

And if we need to come up for air every once in a while, that’s perfectly ok.

Happy to be Breathing,

Mrs. L