Planning

I haven't been blogging as much lately - but have still been keeping busy!  A lot of it hasn't had pictures involved (and I do love pictures!).  I'm busy trying to get a lot of planning done for the upcoming year.  I haven't done much "school planning" yet, but it's been a lot of other planning for our homeschool group.  Here's a peek at what's been going on.

1.  Five in a Row Group - This is a group that I started in Jan 2002 for families using the Five in a Row curriculum.  It has been a real blessing to be a part of this sweet group!  After being a part of the drama production with Rebecca in the spring, God really showed me how encouraging each member to have a part in the group was a blessing - not only to the group, but also to the individual!  In order to facilitate this, I talked with a core group of leaders within our group and we came up with ideas of ways that people could serve in the group.  I'm really excited to see so many new people taking on roles of leading in various areas!  I'm hoping that we will move to a point where everyone in the group is involved in helping to run it in some capacity.  I'm excited to see what God will do in this area.

2.  Field Trips - Our FIAR group does field trips every other week from August to May.  I LoVe field trips!  I've been planning them for groups since  Christopher was 2!  There are three of us organizing the outings this year.  We met over the week-end and developed a plan for the year.  I've gotten one confirmed and hopefully the others will fall into place just as easily!  I think we have a fun year ahead!

3.  Family Event - This is the largest event of the year for our FIAR group.  We hold this on a Saturday and plan it around one of the FIAR books or several if they have a similar theme.  We have done  WWII, Western, Medieval and more.  I had a great group of 6 gals come together to plan our events for the upcoming year.  One of the things that I love about this event is that everyone that signs up to attend, also signs up to have a job.  The creativity that comes out is amazing.  It to me is a beautiful example of the body of Christ working together.  It's also a LOT of fun!  More to come on this fun fall event!

4.  Mom's meetings - We host monthly Mom's meetings for our FIAR group.  We typically have a topic and also have a lot of social time.  We need this time of encouragement and refreshment!  We had our first meeting on Sunday and talked about planners.  People shared what they used and what worked for them.  It's a fun way to learn from others and to get inspired for the upcoming year.

5.  Beyond Co-op - The group that participated in the Volume 4 FIAR co-op wanted to continue into another co-op.  This co-op was such a fun time.  Again, lots of creativity and the shared workload and learning was incredible!  We are planning to work through Volume one this year and are in the midst of our planning for the year.

6.  Book club - This is something new for this year.  I wanted something special for some of the older kids and thought a book club would be fun.  We met tonight and discussed and chose books we will be using for the year.  We plan to have each girl take a turn leading the discussion and hosting the club.  She will also provide food for the event.  I hope this will be a fun time and also a time that will stretch the girls and help them to gain new skills while the deepen their friendships. 

7.  High School group - Organized several meeting where some of the moms of teens could view this dvd series on transcripts.   We are starting a loop to discuss transcripts and hopefully this will be a place where we can encourage each other.  I also think it would be fun to plan some outings that are especially geared for the older kids.  Nothing firm on this yet though.  I'd like to do some things that Christopher will really enjoy and want to focus on him during his senior year. 

I've toyed with starting a FIAR co-op, but have not felt a peace about it yet.  I don't want to take on too much.  If there is to be one, I'm thinking it will be a once month meeting so that the commitment level will not be too intense. 

I've also been spending a LOT of time working on Christopher's transcript.  My record keeping has been lax the last 3 years.  I've had a lot of other things on my plate.  Christopher has done the work, I just need to compile grades and record all that he has done.  I need to get this done soon as the college application process begins in a couple of months. 

So, there is a little of what I've been up to.  More on these topics in posts to come.  If you have questions about any of it though, please ask as I'm happy to share.  I'm hoping that by focusing on dividing up the workload in our FIAR group that the work will be shared and not a burden to me or one of the others who is heavily involved.  It also frees me up to think about starting some of these other new groups.  I'm really excited about our upcoming year!  I'm thankful that we are healthy and able to participate in a variety of things too!  God is good.

Blessings

Leslie

PS  Soon I hope to be doing more school planning and will share what we will be doing this year in a later post.