Systems

As I think about this fall, and getting back to a more formal style of school, I am a little daunted by how busy I will be teaching 3 (probably 4!) young boys. I think it's a product of having multiple children close in age. When all my guys were very young, it was so overwhelming to have 4 kids under the age of 6. Just mind-bendingly hard work. Lots of rewards, of course, but definitely overwhelming. The last couple of years, as my youngest moved out of toddlerhood (and is now well over 4), with my oldest (now 10 1/2) getting older and becoming a true helper, things have gotten SO much easier I can't even begin to tell you - I've become downright lazy as a result! ;-) But I realize that right now, I have multiple children in a very "needy" part of their learning, with 3 ready to learn to read, and in early math while handwriting isn't a strong point resulting in a lot of hand-holding and direct involvement. In addition, my oldest is going to start some high-school level work this fall, so I will have more record-keeping to do to make sure I have transcripts and such covered in case we need them. I think that this year, and possibly next, will be among my most overwhelming years, school-wise, in a similiar way to how overwhelming it was to have 3 kids in diapers.

So I have been thinking a lot about how I can make the rest of my household run more smoothly so that I can concentrate most of my time and effort on schoolish things. One of the problems I have had in the past is that, when things are going well, school-wise, my house seems to fall to pieces around me. I reach a certain level of frustration, and then tend to drop off my school efforts in an attempt to get my household back together. This start and stop leaves me very unsatisfied, and I don't believe it is efficient or really useful for any of us. I have decided I need better systems.

So, I am going to spend the next several weeks not only reorganizing some of my household spaces, but developing new systems. I will share my ideas and progress with all of you, in the hopes that some of my ideas spark your own ideas.