Calm Before the Storm

      Like my title of this post? LOL  One of the other reasons I like to start school the end of July is it gives us a full six weeks to get started, back to routine and accomplish quite a bit, before all the other school activities start. We are able to stay focused and ease back in. Because after our week break, everything is in full swing, volleyball games, co-op, First Lego League, book clubs, Keepers, Biology Labs, Science co-op, youth group and what ever else we throw in there. Oh my poor unsocialized homeschoolers! Thankfully the start of all of these is spread out and we can ease into the craziness. Although some would say we are always in the midst of craziness with homeschooling SEVEN!
       I must say though, as long as we stick to our schedule the days go really well. I am ready for the weather to cool off  however, so they can spend their lunch hour on the trampoline or riding bikes!!  Last week, after I spent one afternoon and evening picking up stuff and cleaning,  I decided to make an after school chore chart for each child. Wow! That has made a huge difference and the house is clean afterschool!! As the saying goes, many hands make light work. This is very true. Each kids has about 7 jobs that take no longer than 15-20 min but then the house is picked up and looks nice! Here's to a great start of the year and a blog post to look back on when I am pulling my hair out. :)
 
     Here are just some fun pictures I managed to take from this week.