It's that time of year again...

Summer cleaning and organizing for the next school year. If I give myself the next month, hopefully I'll finish it all. I have a lot to accomplish:

1. Empty the notebooks and store away last year's schoolwork (I don't keep math and grammar - maybe a page or two. This is mostly our history and science notebooks. I bind them up with metal rings or string and then put them in the kids' memory boxes - rubbermaid totes which they get to keep their schoolwork and mementos in.)

2. Turn in my ILPs (Individual Learning Plans) to the Correspondence school we use, stating what subjects, curriculum, and supplies we will be using. I will be writing my own "Parent Designed Course" for science using various books which I will post later.

3. Order curriculum and books for next year. This is the fun part!! I have $1900 to spend for Ellie and $1700 to spend on Kate. Of course, I will be using about $800 of that a piece on gymnastics/dance classes. That still leaves me with a bunch of money to spend - and it goes so quickly!!

4. Go through our "art carts" and throw out old markers, broken crayons, etc. and then buy new supplies for next year.

5. Re-organize our bookshelves to make sure that they are in order. I have them set up by subject (history, science, art, etc.) and then within each subject they are organized further (the history books are in chronological order and the science are further split into subjects - plants, animals, space, etc.) These were in order when we moved in last year, but the kids read them (thankfully!) and they don't always end up in the right places :) We have so many books that if they aren't in order, I will never be able to find the book I'm looking for. Of course, maybe I should wait until all of our new books come in the mail to make sure that I make room for them :)

6. Enter next year's lessons into Home School Tracker.

7. Clean under my large desk (I am frightened at what I might find under there!)

8. Make copies of all maps and worksheets needed for the year and arrange them in notebooks by week.

9. Come up with next year's daily school schedule. This is going to be trickier this year. I now have a tiny baby that I have to attend to. My 2 year old has defeated both high chairs and the baby gate to the play room - what I'm going to do with him, I'm not yet sure. Plus, I now have 3 students instead of two since I'm going to start Lexie in K this year. I think that I am going to have rotating toys (and sisters) scheduled with Nick to keep him busy throughout the day. It's going to be interesting :)

10. Breathe a great sigh of relief when I'm finished and can enjoy the month of August as a family before Andy deploys.

I will post a picture of our clean and organized school room when I've finished.....