If there is one thing I am certain of, it is that our homeschool is always changing. I love looking back and comparing where we were then and where we are now. This year's first week has been the smoothest start to an official homeschool year for Emmett and I. This morning, I sat down and considered why this fresh start is suddenly different. What are we doing that made this year's first week a little smoother?

Today I'll be sharing:

Our First Week Was a Short Week
Emmett Helped Plan Our First Week
First Field Trip
Fun From the Get-Go

Our First Week Was a Short Week

This year we started using Emmett's new curriculum on a Wednesday. This meant he only had 3 days of lessons on his first week of a new homeschool year. Having that shorter time gave both of us an easy intro to using his new lessons. On day one he completed 6 lessons including zoology, history, multiplication, language, geography, and inventing. He finished with plenty of time to celebrate his first day done to go to Chuck E Cheese's. Not only did lessons go smoothly, he also got to have a lot of fun.

Day two we switched things up, taking his lessons to the library. The change of scenery was a great way to keep his lessons exciting. He again finished 6 lessons this time covering osteology, history, fractions, handwriting, geography, and art. It amazing how much our kids can learn in a short period of time when they are given the right tools and guidance they need. For Fun Friday Emmett read about simple machines, did a lesson on editing, completed his daily geography lesson, and did a video project.

Emmett Helped Plan Our First Week

When Emmett's curriculum arrived this year, we unboxed it together. He was so excited because he helped pick out the topics he wanted to study this year. Each book we ordered or got from the book store received his input. And the tools he chose to learn with were fantastic. I made suggestions and asked him questions. He got to really participate in what he will study this year. Seeing his excitement and interest, I knew I had to keep this going.

When I opened up my planner, I asked Emmett to help me plan out his first week of lessons. We looked at all his curriculum and he chose the order he wanted to study his subjects. It was such a great experience planning his first week of homeschool. Once all the slots for the week were filled in, he asked if we could keep going. I said "of course". Then Emmett and I planned out the rest of August together. But it didn't stop there.

First Field Trip

On Saturday morning, after our first week of homeschool was complete, we took a field trip to a local bee observation hive. It was so much fun! Emmett loves learning on field trips. He reads ALL the signs and posters. Then proceeded to "teach" everyone about the information as they walked by.

I love that he wants other people to love learning about everything like he does. At La Bee da Loca, it was such a great experience to see the Queen laying eggs into cells, worker bees doing the wiggle dance, and learning all about the hive from the bee keeper. In fact, it was such a fun field trip, we are going to go again with our homeschool group in the autumn.

Fun From the Get-Go

After all the lessons were planned for August, Emmett and I started looking at our homeschool co-op calendar, Cub Scouts calendar, his swimming schedule, and his tae kwon do schedule. We figured out when his activities will be, when we could host our own activities with friends, and left spots open for other fun. (Like Chuck E Cheese's, the movie theatre, the bowling alley, etcetera.)

If you've read any of my expedition blog posts or visited my Instagram, you've probably noticed, our family is very spontaneous. We like taking spur of the moment camping trips, going to the movies to see a favorite over and over again, and generally just doing something fun when the moment strikes. Having that balance of plans and spontaneity is super important to me. We are very flexible when it comes to our schedule and we still manage to be very productive.

The Homeschool Lifestyle

Our homeschool is always changing to fit our lives "right now". I think that is a great lesson for Emmett too. He is being prepared for life's changes by learning how to adapt to new plans while still enjoying life.

Join the Conversation

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have heard about the new monthly homeschool chat. This month we are talking about homeschool planning. Do you have a homeschool planner? How about a list of lesson plans for the week? Feel free to stop by and share your homeschool plans for the day!