T minus two weeks and counting

Houston, we have a homeschool.

I think the anxiety has finally set in. I was going along as cool as a cucumber, then hubby's work had to send him out of town during our family vacation at the cabin which started a chain of events -- all of them making my Type A personality rear its ugly head.

The time at the cabin was understood to be the last hurrah for my son and for me, since I needed, really needed, this mental break before undertaking my first year of homeschooling. Actually, up until my husband told me he had to go out of town, I was completely excited about homeschooling and had to resist the urge to jump the gun and delve into Kindergarten. Then the silliest thing, him having to go out of town and cutting into our vacation, made me freak out...if only on a small scale.

I had my curriculum all decided on and had the calendar planned for several months. I even had slush time planned into my schedule in case I had to slide things, figuring I would HAVE to slide things. Then I realized I forgot that Thursdays are out for homeschooling because we have Bible Study at St. Augustine and by the time we get home, the kids are hungry for lunch. By then, any attempts to do anything remotely like school will be more of a battle than they are worth. So, despite having been ahead of the game and well organized, I had to move my entire schedule around because I had forgotten (!) bible study. School hasn't begun and already a crisis and drama!

To top it off, I then cleared my schedule on Thursdays only to completely space bible study again by scheduling a field trip for our homeschool group on, you guessed it, a THURSDAY!! I looked at my calendar and saw that Thursdays looked like a good day to plan a field trip because they were completely clear and so I inserted a field trip. UGH!!! My eyesight is going and obviously so is my mind.

Old grey mare...

But, I got the homeschool "area" arranged and stocked. Five years ago, when I was pregnant with my son and we knew we would homeschool, we planned a school room in the basement. Well, the best laid plans and here I'm relegated to a corner in our upstairs because the basement still isn't finished. Much of the house still isn't finished! The table is one I had when I was a child...although we had to prop it up on the garish white blocks because my son is too tall for it.

Anyway, if things go according to plan, even remotely, here's the curriculum I've planned for my son...and me.

Phonics - Explode the Code, Bob Books and other good beginner books
Math - Right Start Math
History - Roman Catholic History - Ancient History (aka Connect with History)
Poetry - Selections from The Harp and Laurel Wreath, RL Stevenson, Psalms, etc.
Art/Music - Fine art Fridays where we learn about composers, music, artists and art and do some coloring, art, drawing, etc.

The homeschool group created ID cards this year, which was really nice. I already had planned to make my own with the name of our homeschool so that my son will feel like he's "officially" a student, plus they come in handy for teacher discounts and such.

Our homeschool is called Logan Hill Academy, which is really an acronym for "love of God and neighbor" and it ties into my obsession with genealogy since I have two lines of Logans in my tree. Always multi-tasking :) And, this year, Venerable Solanus Casey is our homeschool patron. Hopefully, under his kind and watchful eye, we will have a successful year -- I'm hoping I don't have to swap Father Solanus for St. Dymphna or even St. Jude.