The Month of August

A friend recently asked, "What does the month of August look like for you?" I felt an immediate adrenaline rush as I thought of the million details I need to pull together before school begins. Letters of intent and the kids' test scores have been submitted to our school superintendent. Boxes of beautiful school books have arrived. Now it remains to organize all of the details for this coming school year. The biggest lesson I have learned over the past few years is that all aspects of my homeschool and housekeeping responsibilites needs to be clearly mapped out; otherwise, I get lost and overwhelmed by noontime.

The first project I tackled in preparation for this upcoming school year is a yearly menu plan. For those of you who care to take a look, I have decided to include in my blog an inventory of my favorite recipes. This list keeps me out of my cooking ruts and gives me fresh inspiration at a glance. I have typed out 5 months worth of menu plans and have begun to stock my chest freezer with some of our favorite staple items (soups, chili, homemade breads, spaghetti sauce, and veggies from the garden).

Next, I reordered my life in one big, friendly binder. Each area of responsibility has a section. The binder follows me everywhere, so I can jot down ideas in the proper place and file papers and lists as I go. This method worked well for me last year...

This next week, I hope to print out the kids' chore packs. I am so grateful for my friend's recommendation of the book, "Managers of Their Chores" and am excited to see how this new system will improve our quality of life.

Last, but not least, I need to create the MASTER SCHEDULE. This year I am going to try to map out our day hour by hour. Baby boy is in a predictable enough schedule that this should work. We are no longer at the mercy of frequent feedings and choppy naptimes.

It was music to my ears when Buddy asked me this morning, "Mommy, can we PLLLEEEASE do some school today?" Guess I'm not the only one who is eager to regain some order around here and hit the books. I have high hopes that this will be our best year yet.