First Day Back to Home School

First Day Back to Home School

This year I staggered the re-entry into homeschool.  A couple of weeks ago, the 4 and 6 year olds started.

Yesterday, the 13 and 15 year olds began, and today the 11 year old will.

Instead of having just one “first day back to home school”, I thought that staggering would make things a bit easier.

We’re trying a new curriculum this year, and new things always take some getting used to.

All the items are checked off the “back-to-homeschool to-do list“. Triumph!

Overall it was a good day, although Julien and I felt unusually tired. Could nearby Hurricane Hermine be affecting us? It’s a theory.

During this first week, I’m making notes so that I can create daily and weekly routines. I used to put the routines on paper before we began. But that doesn’t work as well as doing it after observing what actually goes on in a day/week.

Last week I printed out new chore charts.

This new system is already working better. For some reason I find creating a chore system that works quite difficult. So many moving parts!

After reading The Frugal Girl’s post about her kids’ chores, it struck me that dividing tasks into “mealtime chores” and “daily” is brilliant. Why? Because most messes are created around food!

At this point in our journey, homeschooling is on autopilot. The big kids are great about getting busy in the morning and completing their schoolwork without prompting.

Homeschooling in a large family doesn’t look like what many would imagine. The kids are, by necessity, very independent. They come to me when they need help. I hold them accountable. I offer encouragement and support. I read aloud a lot. I assess. And I provide snacks. 🙂

What was your first day back to home school like?

Read about previous years:

• First day back to home school 2011
• First day back to home school 2012
• First day back to home school 2015