Building up a middle school literature curriculum using Glencoe Literature Guides. My goal is to have a large selection of novels for my children to choose from for literature studies. The guides cover a novel as well as several “related works” featuring short stories, poems, and nonfiction pieces. On Thriftbooks you can buy the novel and related works published together in a hardcover student edition typically for less than $5! (I have snagged four so far—still scoping for the others). So far I have printed the free guides for all of the novels I place at 5th/6th grade material. Rather than buy the answer key I am slowly purchasing the Glencoe student editions for them, reading the novels/related works, and filling in the free guides. By the time my kids are in middle school I will have read all of the books they have to choose from and can discuss them! There may be books in the collection that none of my children chooses to read, but I’m happy to put them on offer.

It seems like a schedule (of some sort—variety of styles) is a big part of keeping everyone sane. Thanks for sharing! I’m big on schedules/routine/structure. Having something to stay accountable to helps me on days when I get the case of the blues—seems like it remains important in homeschooling. Since I’m a schedule nerd: 🤓 Right now I’m planning to start July 27th and go six weeks on, one week off (for fun and to plan the next six weeks). We are doing a M-T-H-F school week with W being a field trip/big activity/project/catch up day. I thought breaking our formal days into groups of two would help—we’ll see if the kids do better with a larger structured block. Originally I had hoped to start 7/13 so we could have a bigger break in December, but I doubt we will have as many parties or activities as usual being new to town and not joining any groups (along with shutdowns). We may need school in December to keep us from being too bored. Plus we need more time to settle in and unpack.

What’s a little (or big) something you do for yourself to keep your spirits up and protect yourself from feeling burned out during your homeschool year? It could be for anything—health, hobby, sense of self, whatever. I’d like to hear the different things that keep everybody going! I learned a couple of years ago while recovering from a “motherhood burn out” that taking care of me is a way of taking care of my family because I am better at being a wife/mom. I’m still figuring it all out but now make it a priority (along with everything else going on. 🤪)

I spent a few weeks buying/printing/organizing stuff before we moved last week since I knew settling in would take several weeks of my attention. Today I was just writing out what’s left! 1) Read through/make notes for unit one of math per kid (new curriculum—need to decide how to teach the material) 2) Order correlating manipulatives 3) Print blackline masters/cut & organize cards 4) assemble mini books for kindergartener.

This pretty much sums up what I was thinking after reading the post—the pastor is doing it to fly in the face of “the government overreach” or “for liberty” or some other thing. It has been disappointing to see how some faith leaders have responded to this. My pastor/church leadership was very wise about it/followed the law, and I know most churches are that way. Maybe he isn’t trustworthy in more than the mask issue. You have just seen this side of him due to covid.

What do you do or have you done on the first day of a homeschool year that makes it feel fun, special or distinct? Inspiration appreciated! So far I’m thinking a reduced number of subjects that day so we can finish fast and have lunch out somewhere with a playground. We also need time to go over the “rules” and how to manage their school stuff. We are set to begin either July 13, 20, or 27 depending on how unpacking goes. I left all of the date spaces blank in my lesson plans to fill in accordingly. 😅

We have tried it before. It’s pretty fun and can make you feel good—a lot of people love it. I had to quit when it started to give me insomnia. Evidently that’s a side effect. Some people mess around with their window to relieve that, for some people it doesn’t matter what you do it sticks around. Some people don’t have it.

This week I started a DIY Nutrisystem-style eating plan. I know how to plan/prep/portion my own meals but have found consistent meal prepping to be difficult to sustain during this season. After looking around for tips, I’m going to buy frozen dinners and prepared snack foods within certain nutrition parameters. I will also supplement with ample fruits and vegetables as Nutrisystem suggests. Breakfasts are portioned frozen breakfast tacos/sandwiches that are left over from our big weekend breakfasts. The “heat and eat” aspect of this meal plan is very freeing for me right now—it’s actually a huge relief to know that my food is just already done! I’m also looking in to a hand bicycle for exercise—it’s $50 and will help before my injured hip gets fixed.

Thanks for everyone’s feedback!

Hard to say...maybe wearing makeup

Thanks—this has been a large part of my thought process.

Thanks for listing out stuff to look for—it reminds me of the sorts of events we would put on for the preschool support groups I spent several years in. They are a lot of fun and can keep you busy. I’m curious about how that affects homeschooling—this is going to be a very new mixture of responsibilities and seeking social outlets. All I had to care about with preschoolers was bringing snacks and nap time. I know that both of these groups have official “park days,” but I’m also looking to see if the members seem to enjoy more casual, unscheduled hang outs like, “ We are headed to Chick fila at 2–come if you can!” or “We decided to spend this gorgeous afternoon at the splash pad—feel free to join!” I am absolutely prepared to put these things out there myself—totally in my comfort zone. I’m joining two groups at once to fish for kindred spirits. In my preschooler support groups the meetings and events were fun, but I felt like I had really made it when we could skip all of the formal stuff and just invite friends over to our house. Homeschool groups are not preschool groups so I appreciate the feedback! I just don’t know how it will be different or how they balance with teaching.

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If you could go back in time and give yourself as a first year homeschool mom advice, what would you tell yourself about participating in homeschool support/social groups?

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Maybe try biographies of scientists or do some non fiction here and there? I was going to suggest Zoey and Sassafrass but your kids are probably past that. You could scatter in science nonfiction between historical fiction read alouds. I love science and always find the nonfiction material interesting!

Thanks everyone! I will be upping my garage/outdoor cooking set up (and will know it’s super normal to cook in the garage while doing it!).

Roasted with olive oil or Steamed in microwave/on stovetop I love how veggies taste when cooked this way—they just drive my husband crazy! The fan works ok, though I don’t usually consider using it when roasting in the oven. I will try that next time. 🤔

Who has a secret for getting the house to smell fresh after cooking broccoli or something like that? Those smells seem to just cling around! Opening windows doesn’t seem to make it go away too fast shockingly. My husband hates walking in on a stinky veggie night.

Thanks everyone! You're all right--what we eat and portion control/calorie counting is what it takes.

1. George Floyd’s murder was one of many caused by police brutality. Make a difference by paying attention to laws and practices of your local police force. Donate money to groups working to make national change—they have reach and expertise you do not have, but you can help fund them. As a white mom who has consistently done my part to educate my children about race, diversity, etc., I feel like the only way to make this bad stuff fully go away is to make policy changes addressing, in this case, police brutality. It is clear to me that, while they will change our future generation for the better, our efforts at good parenting in this area are not a fast enough solution. 2. Do not seek to have influence over the opinions of people you don’t have influence over already. That includes family who ignore you. Focus on people who actually listen to you. Think of yourself as lighting the next candle. We can’t all be the type of person that engages in debates with people, psychoanalyzes others and behaves like ideological college students. You don’t have to do that stuff to make a change. 3. Just do the right thing day to day in the life you lead. If you live in a diverse community try meeting a wider variety of people. If you know people exist, then you are available to help them personally when they have needs. Like a community member. Don’t worry about people looking down on you for either “being liberal” or “acting like a white savior.” Those perceptions do not matter—You know you are just trying to do the right thing by those in your sphere. Brainstorm ways you realistically can do that, then leave other stuff to other people. You can only do what -you- can do. If you read the idea of “home” as “sense of safety, security or agency,” this quote from Bilbo in the Hobbit movie describes a way to think about helping from your place (with your own “books, arm chair and garden”) in our world: ”I know you doubt me, I know you always have, and you’re right. I often think of Bag End. I miss my books, and my arm chair, and my garden. See, that’s where I belong; that’s home, and that’s why I came because you don’t have one...a home. It was taken from you, but I will help you take it back if I can.”

Not sure what you mean exactly by extras—are you thinking to match read aloud chapter books with it? I got the main book, the activity guide and a hard copy Usborne history book. I also try to get some of the recommended books from the activity guide for each section before we get to it or find other on-topic books from the library. Sometimes I can replace a section of the main book with a nonfiction picture book which is a nice shake up. That depends on what you have available at the library. All of that keeps us pretty busy! Magic treehouse has a few books that are set in Volume 1 times, too, if your kids are younger.

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