3 weeks to go

Only 3 weeks left until school starts up again. Why does that give me such a feeling of panic? Of almost breathlessness? The thought stressed me for some reason. Maybe it's because I don't really have my plans in place. Maybe it's because things are definitely going to be different this year--the 18yo coming part-time, my cousin's wife coming with her kids part-time, "Bob" starting high school and trying to really tackle the issues blocking him, dd starting junior high, ds starting grade 4 and I'm feeling panicky over the fact that I know he's not grade 4 level in anything except his English reading. Well, and maybe his knowledge of bugs. ;)

I think it's also that it means I have 3 weeks left to recover the house completely from renovations, accomplish some progress with my two for their math and with ds, for his handwriting and French reading. I guess I feel like I'm running out of time. I only had about 5 hours of sleep last night, which means it's probably not the best time to be thinking about school plans, as I won't see clearly and will be more panicky. But I need to brainstorm a bit what I do want to get done these next 3 weeks and some more planning for the school year.

*Keep reading Choice Theory and get my plans for the first few days finalized. I found a great site that has recommendations on starting the school year, how to get them thinking about the things they need from others to be able to learn well, and some other Choice Theory stuff.

*Keep reading Montessori. I want a plan in place for my niece, but also want to see what I can use from Montessori for my two.

*Dd: master multiplication tables and improve division skills

*Ds: keep working through his grade 3 math workbook, cursive, and do some French reading

*Get the house in order: there are cd's and books still to put away, stuff to bring to Goodwill, the front entrance closet to get the shelf stuff put back (maybe get some containers to organize things a bit better), clean up the den, figure out what to do with the electronic piano (it's full-size)...

*School plans for dd's grade 7 and ds's grade 4. I have to get out of my mind these "grades", though. It's not helpful at all. My goal with them for language arts and math is to just keep them going. If dd makes it through her grade 7 text, great. If she doesn't, then so be it. Although then she'll feel even worse about her math ability. She has no clue how easy math is for her, it's just that she hasn't really been interested and doing any for a while. If I have to start the grade 4 text late with ds, that's okay, too.

For dd's language arts (both French and English), some general plans at the moment: grammar, writing a variety of sentences, how to do a proper paragraph, beginning essay writing (intro, middle, conclusion), lots of reading. I want us to cover at least one English novel and one French novel together. Actually, she's already shown interested in doing Les trois mousquetaires. It's a very challenging book, and I can't find my copy either. *sigh*. But if we do it together, I think it would be good.

No more thinking for now. Too tired!