I am a nauseatingly organized homeschooler. My house is usually a wreck, but believe you me, I’ve got our homeschool planned to the tiniest detail and our school room perfectly arranged. It all comes from my days teaching in a public high school.  Organization = Survival.

    To tell the truth, I have softened over the past five years.  Poor Jake...his preschool experience was more akin to basic training than play-to-learn.  But now as he enters fourth grade, he is a model student...an independent learner who follows written directions easily and is eager to stick to a schedule.

    Then there is Ben...he will enter first grade this year.  And the fact that the word “schedule” doesn’t appear in his vocabulary is honestly what has softened me.  Our home and school would be a miserable experience if I didn’t loosen up the routine a bit for him.  He has even been known to want to do reading before math.  Oh dear!  That is a tough row to hoe for this old math teacher; doesn’t he realize that the mind is more adaptable to problem-solving when it is fresh?  Or was that just something I learned in the College of Education that fit someone’s agenda somewhere?

    Regardless, our umbrella school expects us to complete 180 days of school per school year.  Now I have friends who use a boxed curriculum and don’t keep up with the # of days at all.  They figure that once they have completed the curriculum, they have done enough school work for one year.  I should say so!  And I have friends that follow the public school calendar to the day.  They are satisfied that they have done enough school.  I should say so!  And then I have friends who don’t follow any kind of calendar (they probably don’t have one in their house).  School is always happening in their homes and in their yards and in their cars, etc.  There is no start and finish.  I wish I could be like that (they are so much fun to be around).

    But I can’t.  I have that number...180...drilled into my teacher head.  At least with homeschooling I don’t have to worry about working in snow days!  In that spirit, here are my plans for achieving those magic 180 days for the 2007-2008 school year:

  3 days:    Periodic Math Reviews and Summer Reading done in June & July
51 days:    First Quarter (July 24th - October 5th with 3 vacation days)
        Fall Break:  October 8th - October 12th
40 days:    Second Quarter (October 15th - Dec. 14th with 1 week off for Thanksgiving)
        Christmas Break:  December 17th - January 2nd
48 days:    Third Quarter (January 3rd - March 14th with 4 vacation days)
38 days:    Fourth Quarter (March 17th - May 16th with 7 vacation days which includes spring break)

Does that add up to 180 days?  Whew, I sure hope so.  And by May 16th, I will be satisfied that we have done enough school for one year. (I should say so!)