A couple of weeks ago, I shared a post about our traditions and how we start our school year with pictures and pancakes. We always start on the day after Labor Day and aside from my high school student, we planned to do the same thing this year.
I typed that post the week before it was published. But as life would have it, we actually did a soft start on the same day that post published. We were supposed to be enjoying a couple of weeks at the river with family to finish out our summer.
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However, on the Friday we were supposed to head out we found out that we would not only be unable to go to the river, but we needed to quarantine in our home for two weeks. The kids all felt fine and so we talked about it and decided that they would spend those two weeks doing schoolwork and enjoying some afternoons in our little above ground pool.
That Monday, I was sick and unable to make pancakes and take pictures. However, the children took their contracts and set to work. The big kids even helped my first grader so that he could complete most of his work. They continued with that plan over the two weeks and got a lot of work done even though we had not done our official start. We did not start our morning time and I did not work with my first grader in his phonics program (though he did keep working on Reading Eggs online). However, they were able to get lots of work done and enjoyed getting started with all of their new curriculum.
By going ahead and getting some work done, I felt more able to reschedule our time with family during September and not worry about taking time off so early in the school year.
Yesterday, we had our official first day, complete with pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes, hot apple cider, and pictures! It was actually a great start because they had already done some work in August, so they were able to dive right into the day and get going.
This experience reminded me that one of the many benefits of homeschooling is the flexibility. Have you had any experiences with homeschooling that made you thankful for the flexibility? Is it hard for you to switch up your plans when life throws you a curve ball? I struggle with it sometimes, but find that when we can be flexible it makes things much easier to handle.
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Our start to the new school year did not go as planned either! We intended to start in August, then we started to move things around in the house and started to work on projects. Well, these projects needed to be completed before school could “officially” start. My kids still did some work but nothing that required intensive study. We are always so thankful for the flexibility of homeschooling for this and many other reasons.
It is wonderful your older kids were able to help up your younger child. My daughter is a big help when I am not feeling top-notch. Again, I think this is a blessing of homeschooling. I do believe she is compassionate and helpful because we are close due to our family structure and lifestyle homeschool contributes to.
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Our start was definitely different also. We actually started this school year back in June/July and took a break in August, restarting after Labor Day.
Glad your kids were able to be so independent in their start and got things off on the right foot, even when it took a short while to get those chocolate chip pancakes.
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We typically school year round and have an official start date for the new school year which includes pictures, sometimes desserts for breakfast, new supplies of course. We base our school start date on the public school start date. Two of our kids were doing the online side of public school due to COVID. Since then one has asked us to “drop out” of pubic school and go back to homeschool. Yay! The other doesn’t want to because our schools do not take homeschool credits and she is hoping to go back next year for her senior year, even though the online school is waaaay too much for her (she has Down syndrome). She is persevering through it though. I am thankful you are feeling better and have such wonderful helpers.
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I struggle with the ability to be flexible too. As a public school grad, I tend to pay attention to their schedule and follow it – which doesn’t always work in my favor! Thanks for the reminder to be thankful and willing to embrace the blessings of this life we’ve chosen!
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