Just Dreaming

hold your plans loosely

We basically started school last week with the rest of the neighborhood.  We had been trying to sneak some in here and there over the summer, but every day at 10:00 am there would be a knock at the door revealing at least two friends wanting to play.  The kids would then spend all day playing - hopping from house to house in the neighborhood and having a great time.  Summer sure is fun for them around here!  I was really excited to get started though and was counting down until Tuesday Sept 8th when we would have quiet from 9-3 and we could work on all the stuff I had planned!

We got in two days of school, and then inexplicably Wednesday night Avery fell a little funny off his scooter right outside our house.  He freaked out ...... but he always freaks out when he hurts himself so it was hard to tell if anything was really wrong.  I brought him into the house to calm him down and get him an ice pack when I began to notice his arm looked a little funny.  Concave where it usually is not and slightly bulging in another area.  I had him stand up and lift both his sleeves to compare both arms front and back and realized we needed to head into the ER.

A couple pictures of the X-rays:

 

 

After we had the x-ray done and we realized it was broken, they called in an orthopedic surgeon to set his arm and to stick a cast on it.  Thankfully, they put him to sleep while they did this.  Avery was very frightened about the entire thing - and very brave.  He is a kid who doesn't like the unknowns - so he was worried about being put to sleep, worried about getting x-rays, worried about getting a cast and just basically worried.  Of course all of that is just amplified by sitting in a room with nothing to do but worry for four hours.

When it was all done though?  Avery said "it's all done?  That wasn't bad at all."

Here he is at Connor's soccer game last Saturday showing off the cast:

 

He was the neighborhood celebrity for the first few days. 

Other kids were overheard by their parents saying things like "I wish I broke my arm."

Avery's comment to me about school?

"Well Mom, I guess I can't do school for the next 4 weeks."

Nice.

Planning for Success!

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.

Henry Ford

 

This summer I spent months devouring homeschooling books.  I read "beginning" homeschooling books, "how to" homeschooling books, "organize" your homeschool books and "what homeschooling looks like in different families" books.  I have been homeschooling now for almost 5 years and yet I was able to learn so much from each of these different kinds of homeschooling books. 

The main thing I have learned is that although I love to plan and organize things, my plans are not as detailed and thorough as is necessary for our homeschool.  If I don't have a detailed list every day of what we are doing I tend to:

1.  wake up feeling overwhelmed  - like I hardly know where to start

2.  give up halfway through the day out of frustration

3.  get annoyed at my kids when they ask if they are done - because we are never done

4.  feel like I am doing a poor job

This was a great revelation for me!  I have always considered myself very organized and I am in so many ways.  This is not a reflection of my poor organization or planning skills, it is merely a wake up call that I have to be more intentional with my homeschooling and create detailed weekly plans for us. 

It also means I get to hang out at the coffee shop every week and spend a couple hours drinking coffee and going through what our plan is for the coming week.  The key to our success this year hinges on my weekly coffee date with a bag full of books.  I simply can't concentrate or focus enough to do my planning at home and for an introvert like me, it is a nice little break to be by myself for a little bit. 

I started to plan this coming year over a month ago.  We have spent some time testing out different curriculum's and creating and organizing a schoolroom in a spare bedroom upstairs.  Here are the results:

It's not painted or decorated much yet but it is organized and promises to be a distraction-free space (except for a certain loud 4 year old). 

Here is to a great 2009-2010 school year!