On homeschooling ...

We have completed 2 weeks so far. And I have to say, I'm pretty unhappy with it.
Not unhappy with the choice to keep the kids home, not unhappy with their work (my oldest is doing quite well if I do get a chance to brag a bit!). I'm unhappy with the direction we are taking. Frankly, most of what we are doing is boring. I want it to be fun and exciting. I want my kids to be enthusiastic about learning and doing their schoolwork.
So I think, I'm going to take a very big directional change with how things go around here from now on. I want to have a LOT more reading going on ... reading, reading, reading ... my goal is a minimum of 2 hours reading total a day. I also want to incorporate more creativity into our day. Painting, drawing, sketching, writing, acting out plays, singing, building, etc, etc, etc.
I really think my kids will not only have more fun with this, but blossom more and learn more in the long run. I still want to do all the academics - writing, math, science, social studies, but yet I want to do more than just that.
I originally kept them home because I did not like the classroom setting as a whole nor do I think my oldest especially will do as well in that sort of environment. It occurs to me that over the last two weeks, we've recreated a classroom here - just with a lot less children! Well, if that's the case and all I'm going to do, it's silly to keep her home, IMO. So I'm going to jazz it up a bit, change things around.
Fall is coming upon us. I dream of going to the park, doing some reading, maybe some math, then observing the nature around us, drawing what we see, writing poems about it, running around the park, playing on swings, do some more artwork, have a picnic lunch, do some reading, and play some more. Now maybe I won't have something that sweet going on here, but I sure will try! So, here's hoping this week we can get the essence of that vision in what we do. We have already started a few painting projects, my oldest has a purse on the loom, the youngest is creating collages, and I think we are off to a great start honestly.

In other news, this week should actually be a hectic one! We have several errands to run tomorrow, I think my g3 will start gymnastics Wednesday, Saturday we will do family pictures (FINALLY! LOL!), my g3 will become g4 Sunday (boo-hoo!), next week the girls start some classes, Awana starts back up, my moms birthday is coming up, I have about 2 million projects myself to finish in the next few weeks, and blah, blah.
I hope that I can find some peace and quiet with the kids through my newfound direction in schooling them.
DH starts his third job in two weekends, and next weekend is packed with activity ... so I'm also trying to mentally prepare for him to be working 7 days a week, minimum of 12 hours a day. This time of year is always hard on me, but this year, I already feel stressed to the max and so I'm nervous about getting through it in one piece. I have decided to go to the Y this week, check it out, and start my membership. That way I can start working out (and hopefully start working out frustration) as well as getting a brief break from the kids each day when they are in the childcare room. It will also give me a place to go when things get too stressful around here. Dh wants to wait until November to start the membership - um, yeah, cause he will be working every day from now until then! I want to start now so I can find a mini-get away while he's busy working each day! LOL!