Homeschool moms everywhere might gasp when they realize it’s August 11 and I’m just now pulling out my catalogs and making my list of what we need to get so that I can begin the process of planning out the school year. I am shaking my head myself. Isn’t it a well-known rule that you don’t place any big homeschool orders in August because of the potential for backlog and super slow shipping?

We made the decision to enroll the girls in the school yesterday. The postman just came for the mail which included our registration forms and tuition deposit. I am going down their list of required books for the year and preparing to place an order for items we need. We have much of it already, thanks to several years of Sonlight use thus far, but my original plans didn’t have child #3 doing Core 1 History – I was planning to do the PreK Core with both the 5-year-old and almost 4-year-old this year. I may still tweak things a bit in order to do that, but I can’t deviate off the school schedule very much or she won’t be up to speed with the other kids on the days she goes.

Can I just say this? For all my love of schooling them at home, there is also an enormous love of obtaining new school things. My kids have never had a need for lunch boxes or school supplies containers before, but will be getting those things this year and they will be thrilled. It will be a little fun.

I’m putting together our fall schedule and it looks a little nutty right now. We’ve had to say no to some good things in order to not have an activity scheduled between 4:00-6:00 every single day of the week. I’m not sure when I’m ever going to make it to the YMCA again and this may be the year I begin to wear a chauffeur cap as I drive them all over the city to things.

The mornings we have at home we’re going to have to be very intentional with to get our schooling in. I’m going to need to follow the schedule of the school and you know what? I’m glad for that. Yes, I love the flexibility of making my own plan and schedule and being able to just scrap it all sometimes if it seems better for us to do so. But for this year, I think I need a level to align myself with and the supplemental school will do just that.

And so, the madness begins. I’m about 1/3 of the way through with my weekly schedule (that’s a major project for me every year), and have made an initial list of what I need to order. I need to check it with items I already have so I don’t make the mistake of double ordering something (sometimes I forget we already have something and get it again).

Those people who told me that life just gets crazier the older you get and the older your kids get?

They were right.