Oh My Gosh

Oh my gosh, I forgot to plan for school this year.

We’ve been having such a good summer, tossing in a little “schoolwork” here and there, that I just forgot to plan for this upcoming year.  Last year, I spent months preparing – choosing curricula, buying supplies, reading about how to homeschool, making schedules, and identifying objectives.  This year, squat.  As I sit in bed trying to decide what to do about this lapse, I’m torn between two powerful and competing forces.

Force #1: Who cares?  You practically un-school now anyway.  You have tons of materials around the house.  The boys are signed up for some cool activities.  You have your work cut out for you just trying to manage interventions; ease up on the school stuff.  For the next three weeks, they are going to work with a tutor you’ve flown in from Texas to help with the Lindamood Bell reading program.  After that, wake up in the morning, poor yourself a cup of coffee, do your family devotions, run them around the block a few times, and see what happens after that.  It will be okay.  Really.

Force #2:  Force #1 is an evil temptress.  You know you need goals.  You can’t function without schedules and objectives and lists.  The boys need structure.  What will the grandparents think?  Get up out of bed, take out your books that list typical objectives for each grade, and get it together.  You only have a few days before the panic will become unmanageable, so move.

If you’ve been reading the blog, you’ll know that this is not an unfamiliar debate, and not one I imagine I’ll resolve before next week.  If I had to guess, I’d bet that I’m going to make a long list of objectives and a very detailed schedule.  After that, I’ll wake up each morning, have a cup of coffee, and see what the day brings.

When I first started teaching high school, one of my mentors told me that it takes five years until you really know what kind of teacher you are going to be.  I’m starting to think that’s true for homeschooling as well.  So maybe it’s four more years of being an un-schooling/classical-educating/list-making/list-ignoring/go-with-the-flow/math-fact-drilling hodgepodge homeschooling momma.

Oh my gosh, did I just say that I’m gonna do this four more years?