Summer break is almost here!

It's been a LONG school year, and we're counting down the days!  After today, there are only 4 more days of public school before we will be on summer break, and starting our homeschool journey in the fall.  It amazes me how far we have come in the last few months.  We only just started considering homeschooling in December/January, finally made the decision to do it in the beginning of April (after an amazing time at the Cincinnati Midwest Homeschool Convention) and here we are in June! 

It took me a while to decide what materials we'd be using for each subject, but I have them planned out now and everything has arrived.  Using the steps from http://www.simplycharlottemason.com/ on "Planning your CM Education" I have mapped out our plan for the year, terms, week and day as far as what we'd like to get done in first grade, and how many days a week/what parts of the day we would do things.  (Now that is a good feeling!)

Now for the fun stuff!  I'm currently gathering inspiration for decorating our resource room.  I know many people choose not to have a designated room, but I'm the type of gal who will do better if everything is in one room, I know where everything is, and its all organized and pretty!  I think Julia is too, so for now, we're going to have a "school room".  Of course, we'll spend plenty of our time outside of the school room, but having a place for everything, and a door to shut to signal the day is over will be nice. 

The quest for the perfect homeschool planner is also going on now.  I cannot decide if I want to go the computer route or the good old fashioned paper and pencil.  There are some good planners online, and I'm leaning toward http://www.homeschoolskedtrack.com/ because it is pretty thorough, and best of all - FREE :)  Plus it keeps all your info online, so if your computer crashes, it's still there!  I'm a paper and pencil girl at heart, but have heard the erasing and re-scheduling can be a serious motivation killer. 

So for now, we're still researching, planning, and going to be enjoying our summer together!  May even throw a vacation in there!  :)