Oh! and figuring all that ^ out by journaling: when and during what activities any one of us experienced:
Overwhelming Enthusiasm
Meltdowns
Frustration
Deep inquisitiveness
Boredom
Distractedness
Peace, contentment
Over-stimulation
Information overload
Etc, etc.
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Went through this in my first year in particular. Lots of frustrations and meltdowns. I learned so much about us through journalling! 
Yes! Our first year, also! I just took the curriculum and schedule suggestions from the first person I spoke toâbig mistake! With journaling, I could pray and trust my own motherly instincts!
Ps I think I have visited your website, do you have a blog?
I did the same thing! Lol A friend told me what she was doing and I was so nervous I said OK and did the same thing! I thought I had done great until we actually started school. It was a very hard year, especially for the first year. But like you journalling and prayer helped me to make some changes.
I just started a blog recently its only a couple days old now. Actually I started it my first year of schooling 2010 and then deleted all the posts to start again.
Journaling is a great idea!! Will need to do that for sure!! Thank you 
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Get a laminator. Workboxes. Mix audio books, videos, you tube, computer programs, to break up books and workbook work. 4-H and homeschool co-ops are helpful. Homeschool conferences are great! (look forward to it all year).
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Wow what a great topic! I think the one thing I wish I would have known was homeschool was not public school at home! I being a public school graduate thought you had to have the same cutesy environment at home like in an elementary classroom in order for my kids to learn. You all know what Iâm talking about, the individual desk, the posters on the walls, the textbooks that we have to do exactly like it says! Now our homeschool style is very different from that first year. We are very eclectic, we use several different curriculum styles & do many hands on projects with lots of class time outdoors. Learning what works for your children & doing it is the key to a peaceful homeschool in my opinion.
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Do not use online schooling. !!
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That less is more.
For example: Sure doing 2 or 3 math curriculums because they are all good would be good to cover different ways to do math, but focusing on one good math curriculum you can really spend the time and thoroughly learn it.
I fell into the trap of thinking the more we did the better my kids would learn. But what I found out is, we just scrambled to check off our really long list of to doâs and we really didnât dig deep into learning.
Thereâs a lot of great resources out there. I just have to look the other way sometimes or Il Iâll try to do it all.
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In the topic, âWhatâs in your libraryâ a lady recommended a book called, âTeaching From Restâ by Sarah MackenzieâŚHIGHLY RECOMMEND it too!!! Just finished reading it today!! It is a MUST READ for all homeschool moms!! Whether just beginning, in the middle or end!!! This is a book many homeschool moms would want to know about
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I am just figuring this out!..I am so by the book that it was a HUGE shock to learn that so many teachers and homeschoolers skip things or go off on their ownâŚI am getting better but itâs great to hear from others who have done this or are doing it and know they didnât crash and burnâŚso thanks!!
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@sgrrrbear , would you mind telling me why you donât recommend online schooling? Thanks a lot
âShould I leave Online SchoolingââŚtype that into the search engine many opinions given about it!
One that I was told going in and Iâm so glad I remembered is your curriculum needs to work for you not you for your curriculum.
I actually bought a pricey curriculum that a friend (who had an only child) recommended. I started it with a 5 yr old, 2 1/2 yr old and just having had a baby⌠it was very parent intensive and did not work for us. Good news was I purchased it at a convention on a discount so was able to resell it and got what I paid for it. I am so thankful I saw my limits and realized it wasnât for us.
Another is to not over compensate. I once reorganized all my homeschool materials and found that I had a huge section dedicated to history⌠a weakness of mine growing up. In staring at the shelves that contained all the beautiful and exciting history stuff - I also realized I bought stuff to make it enjoyable because it wasnât ever presented to me that way- I noticed that all I really used for History was Mystery of History, youtube and pinterest. Not to say I wonât ever use something off that bookshelf but that God lead me to a great curriculum that works for us and I didnât need much more. More is not always better.
Lastly, kids learn way better if itâs something they are interested in. I once was teaching my then 1st grader to write a basic paragraph. I had gone over how then let him pick a book to read to report on. He picked bats. He started working and I put the baby down. While rocking her a paper was slipped under the door. I put her in the crib and went to get the paper. I prayed, âGod I hope he understood some of what we just went overâ. I was shocked. He wrote an essay filling the front and back of the paper. Several paragraphs about bats with neat writing and good grammar. He had even cross checked the spelling of some of the difficult batsâ names to get them correct. Iâve always gotten better work if they are engaged in the topic.
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Thank you @HSintheCity , I will do that And by the way, thank you for the book recommendation, I am looking forward to reading it 
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I agree! Love this book!
@heba - Sorry I havenât meant to ignore you - My son has been in the hospital with a severe eye infection. Here is some more info for you:
Yes, I have been doing an online school for 5 years!
Pros: You have an exact schedule. All materials are sent to you for free.
Cons: They promise flexibility - but you donât really have any. You must never get behind, so if your child has problems with something - that doesnât matter, you must rush through to get it done, so you donât get behind. If you get behind, you get messages from teachers and administration that you are behind. You do not have time to go on field trips or do anything fun, because again, you canât get behind. If you need to take a day off, you will have to make it up⌠because that work just piles onto the next day.
Testing: So much testing! In K12 they do Scantron (2 tests, two times a year - with about 60 questions each), and Deibles (this is 3-4 times a year), and MAP tests (2X a year), and the State Testing (which is 2 times a year, for 1 week. We have to drive 1 hr away and miss the entire morning in school). They also have you do Study Island - which is part of your grade, so you canât ignore it. My son had to do about 56 Math tests on Study Island, plus about 60 English tests on Study Island this year. At one point, after he had did a Try It online for division, and a worksheet, and a Quiz, we were directed to Study Island to do ANOTHER quiz on division. He started crying. Oh, by the way, all these tests? You donât get the day off, it is still a school day, and you still have to get all your work done, because you canât get behind!
Writing Samples: You have to turn in writing samples every month. Requirements are horrible. Even if your child does everything they are supposed to that is a âcâ grade. They have to go above and beyond what was required to get an âaâ. I think that is very unfair. Writing samples are scanned in and you have to send a âKMailâ to the teacher. It is very time consuming. Kids are not allowed to write what they want to write either, it is what they are told to write.
Class Connects: In Kindergarten it wasnât so bad, he was required to meet with his teacher 1X a week. Now it has turned into a teacher meeting, plus Math, writing, Lang Arts class connects. I was told that when he gets into the upper grades, he will have 14 class connects (that is 14 hrs a week!) on the computer, isnât that great? But, of course, that will not take the place of his work, he still has to do all that, canât get behind!
Sorry about my rambling - but I do hope that helps. I would not recommend an online school. The same thing can be accomplished on your own. I am going to pull my kids next year.
However! Some people really like all the scheduling, and they like that all the prep work is done for them. So, while I wouldnât recommend it - I certainly do not look down on people who would choose to go that route!
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@Bella - This was an awesome post - thank you. I loved the writing part. I have been in a K12 online school for 5 years and it is not working. Part of it is that they tell you what to write, and you have no way to choose what you want to write about. My son suffers being told what to write about. Next year I am going to give him more freedom and take more time on writing - I think itâll do wonders. Thanks for these great reminders!
@sgrrrbear , No worries, I pray your son is getting better now, May God grant him a speedy recovery 
Thank you very much for all the info you passed me, now I understand why you donât recommend it. most of the decisions of homeschooling comes to give kids the freedom to learn and nourish I wish you the best 
is this only available on a kindle?? i would love to read this book but i canât find a BOOK! lol