(Steve would like you to know that this is what happens when you let your children free-range on the game cabinet. Which for the record, I do not do. But he does and claims it's good for them. Even if it means we end up with a big, overflowing box of "this goes with something" game pieces permanently placed in said game cabinet. I roll with it because a part of me agrees - there really is nothing like making up your own games...)
(....but I much prefer the looks of this.)
Oh, we homeschooling parents sure know how to party. A little bit of Johnny Cash, a sip of bourbon, and cleaning out the family library on a Monday night. A new three ring binder here (with dividers!), a bucket of fresh acrylic paint there, and more sharpened pencils than you can shake a stick at (yes?). Good times. (Really, actually, good times.) Though we learn everyday, all year round, certainly there's something wonderful and refreshing about beginnings and fresh starts to our learning efforts and projects. As some of my kids get older, our homeschooling has shifted and shaped and changed with our family and with the kids themselves. I don't think we firmly fall into one camp of any kind of label or another, though when pushed, I'd say we lean towards unschooling or project-based learning, but I am quite fond of saying that we take it year by year, and child by child...and that it always looks a little different than the last, and that we can't quite tell what will come in the next. It is an adventure - one that we knew we were wanting to embrace before our first child was even born, and one that we continue to be challenged, inspired, and surprised by all these years in.
All that to say, today is the sorta-kinda, as-official-as-it-gets start to our academic year, and we're all a little excited. There's something new for everyone this year - Mom and Pop included - and everyone's looking forward to seeing what comes of it all. What new things we learn, what we discover about the world around us, what we find out about ourselves and each other too.
Which is precisely why we found ourselves, late last night, rocking out the best organizational tools this Virgo could muster. Clearing out books that no longer fit, making room for the new ones I've been accumulating. Clearing out boxes (and boxes) of paper (oh the paper!!), and making room for blank notebooks (oh, the beauty of a fresh notebook). Labeling, labeling, labeling. All the while, talking about our babes - about our hopes and dreams for them, ways through the challenges each face, and how to best nurture their strengths. Individually, and together as a family.
Homeschooling, unschooling, deschooling, back-to-schooling - whatever it may be for you and yours - this time of year is a beautiful one for new beginnings, isn't it? I wish you (and your little ones!) all the best with yours in the days to come!