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I get so excited about the start of a new school year! Here are my top ten reasons why I am looking forward to starting our 2012-2013 school year.
1. A clean slate! Sometimes at the end of the school year, or on other extended breaks, our daily routine gets lazy. We start to watch too many movies and our attitudes get ugly. The start of a new daily routine is just what we need to jumpstart the new school year.
2. A new daily schedule! Since we began homeschooling in 2008, no two school years have looked the same at the beginning. When we began Foster was a pre-schooler, Katie a toddler and Theodore was still a baby! Each new school year our daily schedule has had to change to work around all the littles and when they nap, etc. Now that Foster and Katie are big kids at 8 1/2 and almost 7, I hope to be able to utilize their babysitting skills and pair them up with Parker (3) or Jonah (9 mos.) while I do one-on-one work with Theodore or whoever. I will post that when I figure it out!
3. A new stack of books! Oh Sonlight, Oh how I love thee, let me count thy ways…I received my new Core in the mail the other day. I have no idea why unpacking that box is such a joyful experience but it really is! And then to see the awesome free gift I got, the new Core tips CD, the changes to the Instructor Guide! I even paid for the new Sonlight binder and it was so worth it!
4. A new Kindergartner! There is just something special about the Kindergarten year. Theodore is all boy and moves to the beat of his own drum. It will be exciting to see how he learns and grasps new concepts this year. I am thankful that Foster and Katie were my guinea pigs on what a true Kindergarten year should look like. I am sure that I stressed too much about what they did or didn’t know. No more. Theodore will do this at his own pace and I will just be coming along side to help him out.
5. A change of scenery! We are house hunting! So at any time we may have to pack our little Grubb Christian Academy in some boxes and move on down the road. We have been renting for the past 5 years and we are ready to have a house of our own.
6. A change of perspective! I’ve been reading many articles and post about relaxing the way we “do” school. I have felt a sense of freedom set in as I realize that the whole reason we homeschool is to instill a love of learning in our children. If I try to have “school-at-home” then I am not allowing that natural love of learning to flourish and grow.
7. A new planner! Ok, so I don’t actually have this yet, but when I get it (soon) I will be excited about mapping out the year.
8. Adding more field trips! This is a big one for me. I feel like because I have been either nursing or pregnant the whole time we’ve homeschooled, I haven’t taken the kids on as many field trips as I would have liked. I am hoping to change that this year and be more intentional about participating in the field trips that are offered through our co-op.
9. Adding more exercise (kids included)! This morning when I took the kids to the park to play, instead of sitting on a bench I walked the path around the playground and before I knew it they were walking with me, doing the stretches I did and giving me ideas (“Let’s do 10 jumping jacks Mommy!”) If we incorporate exercise into our homeschool days now then hopefully it won’t be something they balk at when they get older. Mentally and physically I need it and so do they!
10. Asking Daddy to co-teach more! My husband works very hard, is in the Air National Guard and will be starting back to school himself this August. Because of that, I tend not to ask him to take on teaching the kids. But one thing they love for daddy to do is read to them at night and do hands-on-science experiments with them, so hopefully we can incorporate that in on a regular basis.
Linked up today with Many Little Blessings for Top Ten Tuesday!
All the Little Grubbs 
Sounds like you have a great year planned. I hope you will find that perfect home for your family. That is so exciting. Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm for the new school year.
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Love it! Reading your list makes me excited!
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great plans! Happy house hunting. I bet having a new place will be filled with all kinds of hands on learning.
Blessings, Dawn
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