Several weeks ago, I took this picture as we started (back) to school with Kindergarten curriculum. We haven’t been getting 4 days a week in as I pencil into the calendar, but we do get through most of the work and we’ve already tweaked reading to slow it down a bit and let her gain some confidence in it.
Then life happened. As soon as the science and social studies curriculum that I ordered came in, we got a call from the Catholic school saying that there was an opening in the preschool. Sigh. I’m not sold on sending her to school but we will try it for the semester and see how it goes — hubby really wants to try it. So it’s a great thing that I was offered a copy of The Confident Mom’s Back to School Survival Guide.
When I requested it, I figured I’d be doing my review from the view of a homeschooler. Now I get to use it from both points of view!
As a homeschooler (because we WILL be using all the curriculum I laid out in my post a few weeks back), I really like several sections of the Back to School planner. First, I liked the sections on routines because I’ve been really feeling like we are just getting a bad start in the morning. I loved the suggestions for morning, after school, evening and bedtime routines.
The tips for planning for school supplies and clothes were good ones and if you are part of a homeschool group or co-op, the section on getting involved would be useful, too. I also liked the section on teach responsibility and keeping the family schedule. Finally, the section on lunches gave many great ideas for eating lunch on the go OR at home and I’m glad to have those because lunch is the hardest meal of the day for me.
From the POV of sending a child to school, the first section on getting ready for school was so needed for me. I’ve always planned on homeschooling so the whole process of enrolling in school was a huge stressor for me. The Back to School Survival Guide was very helpful in providing information on meeting the teacher, going to the doctor, thinking about transportation and even how best to utilize parent-teacher conferences.
No matter whether you are schooling, homeschooling or, like us, doing a bit of both, the Back to School Survival Guide has something to offer.
Now that my house is back together after the carpet cleaning & new furniture adventure, I will be going through and reorganizing our school room/play room. Stay tuned for that fun ;).
How are your kids schooled?
This post is linked to the NOT Back to School Hop at iHomeschoolNetwork.
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