Gearing up for #Notbacktoschool

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Our public school system started school this week but I am saving our #notbacktoschool day for when my littlest poppies return to preschool (right after Labor Day).

Leo is beyond excited to “really start” homeschooling, or homeschoolin’ as we like to call it. He has spent the summer coming up with ideas for this year. His homschoolin’ wish list is very, very long.

In order to organize ourselves, because we are both planners, we decided to come up with Homeschoolin’ Daily Goals. Leo wanted to include everything from his wish list, but I told him to limit his “must dos” to five. And then we added number six for obvious reasons.

We love to laminate things.

In all honesty, we accomplish the daily goals most days. The more I dabble in homeschooling, the more I realize my wise friends were correct: we have been doing a lot of it already. We just didn’t call it that. Or record it. So… now we are.

Initially Leo was upset that the list did not include all of his various other wish list items. After some brain storming (and, of course, Google-ing), we decided to try out a Homeschoolin’ Loop Schedule. The loop schedule includes “bonus” subjects. If time allows, we can tack on an extra subject on a particular day. We made a list of bonus subjects, in random order, and we will [mostly] follow the order of the list so that we are covering each subject somewhat equally.

I guess I’m learning Latin, folks!

This second list made Leo much happier. We talked about how our goals and our loop schedule are essentially an experiment. We have never homeschooled before and we have no idea what will work for us, and what will not. Therefore, all of the above is subject to change at any time.

We also discussed flexibility and how we are not tied to these lists. If we are presented with a fun opportunity or event, we can cast the list aside for a day and not stress about it. If we have been stuck inside for several rainy, raw, New England days and we are suddenly blessed with a sunny day, we can go outside and learn something in a different way. If we decide we want to head to a museum or go on a hike or meet up with friends, we can do that because that is also learning. I admire the unschoolers… and I have a wee bit of unschooler in me (especially with regard to young children), but I am too much of a planner to dive in entirely. I feel like this is a good start for us. We have a plan, but we aren’t married to it for the entire year.

We really start next week.

#notbacktoschoolandtotallyokaywithit

Tell me, what are you guys doing to celebrate #notbacktoschool? Share here!

Happy Labor Day weekend everyone!

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It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.

~ Leonardo da Vinci

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Caitlin Fitzpatrick Curley

Cait is a school psychologist, mom to three children, and an unexpected homeschooler. She loves nature, good books, board games, strong coffee, and dancing in her kitchen. Cait believes homeschooling can be *almost* all fun and games!

Cait has created several courses for homeschool parents. Cait co-hosts The Homeschool Sisters Podcast and is co-founder of Kindred Collective. Cait is also founder of the Family Book Club at My Little Poppies, a fantastic community of book-loving parents and the Gameschool Community at My Little Poppies, a vibrant community of gameschoolers.

Cait is a contributing writer for Simple Homeschool. Her work has also appeared on The Huffington Post, The Mighty, Scary Mommy, GeekMom, and many others. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.

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