Labor of Love Weekend

Last month I considered making a paper chain for Jonah, so he could count down the days until we started school, but now I'm glad I didn't go ahead with it-- I am doing fine in the nerves department without a tangible daily reminder. Although maybe I could've used the therapeutic release of paper-ripping.

This is our last weekend before my baby starts school, before I am a teacher, before we are never quite the same. He is spending a much-anticipated weekend with his Nini and Papa, and Brother is being remarkably calm and self-sufficient today, giving me time to put together some things before Tuesday.

We've made several trips to the back-to-school section of several stores, much of which is in clearance now (YAY!), and assessing our haul the other night, I felt pretty satisfied that we're more than equipped, in one area at least.

There are a few things missing that I'm going to have to figure out, reimagine, or maybe just toss out altogether. I'm sure that will be the case for many things throughout the years. I am still very "green", and rummaging through my own memory to decide what we need isn't all that helpful, since, as I keep having to remind myself, 1.) I went to public school. 1a.) This isn't going to be the same and 1b.) That's a good thing.

One example of my rigidity of thought is my conception of a bulletin board. I really think we need one, and I've been imagining one just like I remember in my classrooms throughout my public education. I got the board, I got the border, and then it hit me: where am I going to buy colored butcher paper? We live in a nowhere town without the benefit of an immaculately-stocked office supply store. Sure, I guess I could have it shipped, but an entire roll is around $70, not including shipping, and that's just for one color!

Suddenly I'm realizing a benefit to teaching at a public school that I won't have in my own home; I can't handily walk down to the supply room and tear off a piece of butcher paper from the communal roll, for free. Nor can I run off a krabillion copies on the lovely free copier, or laminate gimongous visual aids, or easily (and evenly) cut mass amounts of paper in a paper cutter (actually it's perfectly fine with me that I don't have one of these. Me + paper cutter = me with less body parts, almost certainly). I've even mourned the lack of a wall-mounted pencil sharpener. I bought a little battery-operated one that I'm sure will do the job and be fun for the kids, but I'm sad that they will miss out on getting out of their seats to walk up and turn the handle to sharpen their pencils. There are a lot of similar things they won't experience that I'm realizing and feeling a little sad (and yes, a little guilty) over, but that's another entry for another day.

I'm homeschooling for a reason. A lot of reasons. A lot of reasons I fully believe in. I am doing what I feel is right and best for my children. And they will survive without a bulletin board in the traditional sense. In fact, I'm already planning to order some fabric for it that can be changed periodically. Much less expensive, and potentially pretty cute, too.

But back to my last-minute scrambling to prepare for Tuesday. Today I scanned the story disks in our Five In A Row book. (Story disks are visual representations of each title in the curriculum, to be placed on a "literary map" for social studies lessons and as a way to further involve and immerse the child in the story.)

I printed them out and painstakingly colored each. I cheated and pulled up the order page on their website so I could color-match with the ones for sale (for way more than I care to pay for little paper circles, however sweet they are, and they are). Hopefully sometime this week I can run to the UPS Store (we actually have one of those, can you believe it?) to have them laminated, so they'll last through grubby fingers holding and playing with them all they want.

I've also set up a corner of our playroom to serve as a classroom, although I'd wager, were I a bettin' woman, a lot of our learning will be done everywhere but the designated space. But that's fine, and I'm happy to have it. At the very least, it makes a great place to store supplies and display artwork.

I also love the rug I bought yesterday. I am willing to use the word 'adorbs' to describe how I feel about it.

Tonight and tomorrow I'm rereading the lesson plans for our first story (The Story About Ping) and doing any make-ahead work that I can.

It genuinely excites and warms me to do these little tasks in preparation for this new stage in our life. It really is a labor of love, and it adds a whole new, beautiful dimension to parenting.

From here on in I'm going to attempt a few posts per week, beginning with our introduction post. The handful of people who read this likely already know (and love) us, but this is being posted to the world at large, so I guess if someone happens upon us at random, it'd be nice to tell them who we are.