If you ask most mothers what their favorite day of the year is, you may find the overall winner to be "the day school starts!" It was always my favorite day, too. I felt like I could finally get things done again. Especially since I work for myself and at home (I teach and write a number of online courses), the "school day" was my time.

Taking my son out of school and letting him learn at home has been one of the best things our family has ever done. We all agree. There are no doubts, no questions, and certainly no turning back--we're happy! But how we structure our days has changed significantly, especially since I still needed time for me.

This lesson is an opportunity for you to explore the many possibilities of putting your daily, weekly, monthly and annual routines together. There is no right way to do this that works for everybody. It's a process, it evolves, and just when you think you have it figured out, it changes.

A couple of significant changes our family noticed right away coming out of a school environment, are listed below.

• The elimination of the Early Morning Rush. If you're trying to get a child up, dressed, fed, and ready for school in a relaxed pleasant manner before 7 or 8 am, it can really be challenging! Yes, you can lay clothes out the night before, and pack lunches together, and you can make it, but it is really nice not to have to.
• The elimination of Homework. If you have kids in school, they invariably come home with an hour or two of studying, assignments, or work to do in the afternoons. Just keeping track of that homework, going back for books, arguing over when and how it was to be done, and generally having to take on that project in the late afternoon can eat up your time with your children.
• The elimination of Early Bedtimes. Kids need 8-10 hours of good, restful sleep each night. They should be able to sleep until they wake up. At that point, they are rested. If you need a child up by 6:30 or 7:00 am, they need to be asleep by 8:30 or 9:00 pm. Asleep--not heading toward bed, not starting homework, not even reading under the covers--but asleep. We still head our son to bed around 8:30 pm, but he often reads for an hour and we never wake him in the mornings, and yet he's up at a reasonable hour, eager to start his day.

In our reading this week, you'll find some great ideas on how to put together your day. Each family is different with different people home during the day, different age children, and different lifestyles. My husband is an airline pilot and he's home about half the month and gone the other half. When he's home, he's able to spend time with the family, travel, or join us for studies and projects. But it's not the same all the time! Flexibility to accommodate opportunity is essential when you home school.

Organizing the Whole Year

As you think about organizing, you may want to take some time to review the whole year and plan when you'd like to break for holidays, take time off, or schedule in a few days to attend an annual home schooling conference. If you haven't ever attended one of these conferences, they are enlightening! You'll find endless vendors with curriculum, books, science projects, and more than you can imagine. It's a great opportunity to get your hands on a lot of the things you see online and browse. They usually have workshops you can attend as well.

I like to attend for the vendors and exhibits alone, but often buy a CD or two of the lectures I think sound interesting. I can only take so much in at one time and enjoy listening in the car to the lectures. There are many options available, but if you can, try and find one close to home at least every other year. You'll be amazed and encouraged by all that is available.

Let's move to our reading assignment and some activities!