I didn’t even have time to think about this until now when the first semester of this year is basically behind us. It’s been a hard semester, but God has shown me His faithfulness and that we have accomplished more than I have felt we’ve accomplished. Maybe it’s because through all the craziness I have continued to keep God at the center of our homeschool?

Start every day in the Word of God.

This might be why our homeschool hasn’t died this year through all the challenges! Even in the challenges, I am always sure that God has called me to homeschool my children and because of this, I have to live each day dependent on God to help me homeschool my children. One of the ways I feel we honor God in our school is to set apart the first half hour or so of our school day for Him. The first 30 minutes of school is when I take my children to the Word of God and teach them how to love, serve and honor God. I look at it as my daily planting, watering and nurturing seeds of Scripture into their hearts and I am trusting God to make those seeds grow and produce fruit.

Stick to the basics.

I knew this year was going to be a very challenging year in our homeschool, so when I planned our year I planned to simply stick to the basics and be okay with that! We read the Bible, do our math and language arts lessons for the day, review our CC Memory Work, attend our weekly CC Community day and read lots and lots of books together. I am so thankful for CC because even with the basics, my children are being exposed to so many topics, concepts and skills through our Classical Conversations curriculum.

Teach more life skills.

The girls are doing well with their empty dishwasher chore and putting their laundry away chore. We are focusing on meal prep this year - especially breakfast!

Academic goals

Little Bug - This is our last year before she begins Essentials next year so I want to see her continue to commit her English Grammar memory work to memory. I also want to see her continue to devour books. With the help of xtra math, I want to see her commit her basic math facts to memory and be able to recall them quicker and correctly when doing her math work.

Sweet Pea - I want to see Sweet Pea be able to crack the code to reading and discover the joy in reading a book on her own. I want to see Sweet Pea work through the first level of CLE math and form a good, solid understanding of basic math concepts.

Sarge - Sarge has come a long way in his speech since he started therapy in March of 2018. He has a long way to go still, but I want to see him continue to make progress. I want him to enjoy a variety of books and literature this year and learn to count to 10!

Beau - I want to see Beau develop a love for sitting down to listen to books and to have lots of exposure to ABCs and numbers!

Savor the days.

This is a bit ironic because after the season we’ve been in recently, I have wanted time to pass, but ultimately I do realize having young children is a very small season of life and it will pass quicker than I want it to - even with the challenges we face. I want to remember to sit back and take in all the crazy and savor it because one day before I know it, I will wake up to a silent house and have all the time I ever wanted in a day to do whatever I want to do. These years are my prime years when I am doing what I believe God made me to do - to love, nurture, teach, shape and mold four little children into men and women who will grow up to love and serve the Lord with their lives one day.

- Elaine