Your books have arrived, the kids are eager to begin, the family energy level is high and prayers for the help of all the educator saints have been fervently said. Ready, set…hold on just a minute!
Take a deep breath and remember one word: ORGANIZATION!
One more day of planning and marking the calendar might just pay big dividends. Review the manuals and mark out the days for testing. Figure out who needs the computer and when. Take into account birthdays, sports events, choir practice, orthodontist visits and all the myriad other details of family life, not forgetting Dad’s vacation days. Then there is that one other thing…
An important element in education, too often ignored, is making use of the occasional “break” day. Something that should be on the calendar at least once a month is an unusual activity, a change from routine academia. Every locality, however small, has any number of interesting sites to explore. Each month, pencil in a visit to a farm, or the local history museum, a concert hall or the zoo. Find out if there are periodic events, the county fair or a Renaissance Festival. If nothing else is available, a good nature hike might be in order. An exposure to differing cuisines is usually an adventure; there are internet recipes available or inexpensive cook books for virtually every ethnic food. This is an excellent opportunity for a good Cultural Geography lesson, learning about a region followed by a taste of their food.
Try ground nut stew, for instance!
Header Image CC Alaskan Dude