the magic of hands

Well, it’s that time of year again! The school buses are lumbering down the road, which is my signal to start making some definite lists and plans for a new homeschool year. Then we can ease into a full schedule in September.

I’ve been thinking about what it means to do something every single day. Our piano teacher encourages her students to practice every day. She told us how a famous pianist remarked that if he skipped a day, he could tell a difference in his piano playing. If he skipped two days, his family could tell a difference. And if he skipped three days, the whole world could tell. For awhile we practiced piano every single day, and the results were dramatic. I’ve seen for myself how much easier piano practice is when it’s done every single day, and how difficult it can be when several days are skipped. I want to apply this to our home learning.

So I’ve been rummaging around for ideas of how to practice math, reading, and writing every single day. The math isn’t all that difficult. We are moving to Singapore Math this year, and we can just work on it every day, with just a few problems on the weekends. The kids might balk at this at first, but curiously, the more they practice the less they balk. When we were practicing piano every day there were a few days I forgot until it was past bedtime, but we would sit down and pound away at it, and it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I expect tonight’s practice will be. (While I should be optimistic about this, my previous experience tells me a drink before piano today might not be such a bad idea!)

So math, check. Reading, that’s not really difficult at all. But writing. Writing. Last year I had them write in their journals every day, just a little bit, determined by their skill level. This sounds good, but the reality was more of a rushed practice in simple sentences. I’d rather them engage in writing, find it fun and challenging at the same time. I’m thinking of having them keep a blog. We started this last year, but I opted instead for the handwritten journal. I think this year, since there will be enough laptops about, we might each do a blog entry every night, maybe post a photo and write about it, or just say “today I….”. A sort of diary. Post links to Facebook. The cool thing about facebook and blogs is that they generate comments. Which leads to more writing….

We shall see if this works! There is a level of discipline which I was cultivating early this Summer but which disintegrated in the July heat. I can see it coming back, and I am hopeful! In the meantime, I still have to:

• Administer the  Singapore Math placement tests
• Order the appropriate books
• Sort out what “short classes” we might want to do (videography, pottery, garage band?)
• Get set up with Rosetta Stone SPANISH
• Redesign our Homeschool Calendar, which helps us keep track of what we are doing, and what we are not doing
• Subscribe to Home Education
• and plan a Homeschooling Meeting for my fellow homeschooling friends!

I’m already excited, and a little anxious!  It’s how every school year begins, no matter where you go!