Cleaning out. . . .

Along with getting settled in our new place, I have some major clearing out to do.  8 years of teaching in public education has allowed me to accumulate a lot of stuff affiliated with teaching of a classroom full of students.  One whole closet in a bedroom (aka : the toyroom) and at least 1/2 of the storage closet outside is occupied by my *stuff*.  I accomplished quite a bit today, clearing out the toyroom closet of most of the boxes and tubs that were in there.  I have saved stuff that I think will be beneficial to have for homeschooling, but the rest is outta here. Many of the tubs and/or boxes were just moved to the kitchen to go in my get rid of pile, but they have been gone thru and are going out of my house. Yay!  I am hoping to have a big garage sale before school starts to get rid of a bunch of it . . . 

One step closer to being settled and moving forward with our new journey!

Settling In . . .

We are getting all settled in at our new place.  The boys are getting into summer mode - lots of playing.  They are still excited about homeschooling but have quit asking when we are going to start doing school.  I think it has clicked for them that school is over for the year - now it's time to play!

I signed up to join our local homeschool group but haven't heard back from them yet.  I am looking forward to getting to know some other homeschoolers in our area.  We've only ever met 1 other homeschool family (that I know of), so feel a bit out on our own right now.  We have found a homeschool den for Boy Scouts for Garrett to join in the fall and are looking forward to that as well.

We have two new friends who have been coming over during the day.  The oldest boy is Jesse's age and the younger one is a year older than Leanna.  We are all working on learning how to get along with each other.  We are also working on cleaning up after ourselves - which is a must with 5 kids in the house - but it is a challenge for most everyone.

For now, we are enjoying summer and looking forward to starting our schooling in September, probably.

The beginning. . .

Here we are at the cusp of our journey, waiting to begin - the kids don't know about our new journey yet and we are waiting anxiously to share it with them.  We think that they will love our new adventure as it will allow them to self-direct their learning to a great deal.  We are excited about the opportunity to follow their interests, desires and lead in their education.

At the same time, it's a bit nerve-wracking having this new (and definitely big) adventure looming in our future.  We have 12 weeks before we can close the door to the old road and fully open the door to the new one.  Lots to learn, explore and prepare during that time but we are ready to do it.

To the road to be taken and the road to be left behind, I am ready to have it happen!  Is it June yet?