Time is flying

Since we have finished school, time has flown by.

Considering we're still in the middle of Andy's deployment, and we're anxious to have him home, it's nice to have the time passing quickly.

The problem is, I don't feel like I have much to show for these past few weeks of free days. I had envisioned myself getting tons of things done. It hasn't happened yet.

I've spent some time on the yard and I've done some spring cleaning around the house.

What I haven't done is started on the school-related stuff.

I need to file away last year's schoolwork and prepare the notebooks for next year. The trouble I'm having is deciding how much and what to keep. There just isn't room for it all. I generally only keep an example or two of worksheet type stuff. Then I put each of the notebooks (science, history, writing) into a folder and pack it away. The kids enjoy looking back through their notebooking pages. Nobody wants to look back through their math work anyway. I'm just wondering where I'm going to keep all of this stuff. With 5 kids and 13 yrs of school each, that is a lot of work to store away. I think we might have to pare it down a bit.

I also need to go through our books and curriculum and clean it out. I have a bad habit of keeping stuff that we have tried and hasn't worked for us. I have a baby and a preschooler still. We're still early in our homeschooling journey. I would hate to get rid of something that we might use later. The kids all have different learning styles and what might not have worked for one, may work for another. But, who has the space for it all? We don't!! I just need to let go a bit and get rid of some of the stuff that we haven't used. I know that if I sell some of it, then I could actually afford to buy the Rosetta Stone program that we'd like to use next year.

The schoolroom also needs a deep clean. Throwing out the broken crayons and sharpening all of the colored pencils. Refilling the drawers of paper and art supplies. Reorganizing the bookshelves and putting things back into their places. I always like to start the school year with everything fresh, clean, and organized.

It looks like I have my work cut out for me! I'd better get to bed at a decent hour so that I can actually have some energy in the morning. I've been thinking that maybe I need to start drinking coffee. I'd hate to become addicted to the stuff though :)