Year 2 Planning

While we are intentionally resetting our home to get ready to start our school year again over the next few weeks, I am excited to start planning (and haven’t really stopped researching, planning, organizing) for our Year 2 with The Children’s Tradition (TCT).

I’ve purchased the curriculum update, read through all the wise wisdom Amanda maps out, continued reading Poetic Knowledge by James Taylor, and added in a few Charlotte Mason volumes to reread or start up in my continued mother-teacher education. I’ve been reading The Liberal Arts Tradition as well, and hopefully with a vision of peacefulness, our second year will continue to fit into life feeling much like an extension of our family as Y1.

After going through the curriculum with a renewed vision and excitement to start up again (isn’t that always the case!? I’m so ready to dive in which helps in the sense we usually school year round). I spent time going through the book lists and making note of supplies we need to add in. I’ve purchased all the books (aside from one I think) that we will need for this year. Since some of them were already on my shelf and some from Y1 go into Y2, I spent about $200 on all of the books I needed and was really happy with that price and the quality of the books I snagged. I like to try and beat the price so I usually compile a list on Amazon on what the prices are if I ordered them all new, and then hunt used book sites, thrift stores, library sales, etc. and this year cut the book cost in half from shopping used. I may do a post in regards to cost breakdown in the future!

In addition to books, something with having a baby at home this year I didn’t formally add in were brush drawing/watercolor/nature journaling. I just let my big kids paint, journal, do whatever creative thing they like and this year I want that to be a more formal area of study. I snagged a few water color books and am excited for this to be something we do as a family and I can grow in it, too!

Other restocking has been cleaning out the art supply cart and adding in fresh materials like crayons, paints, paper and notepads. I don’t know the best way to keep this area contained other than keeping a separate space for “fun art supplies” and “school art supplies” but something Amanda mentioned I think in The Toolshed was that in her house they don’t create without purpose and while I love them doodling lots and expressing themselves especially when I need a minute to juggle the baby, my hope is if we are intentional with what we are creating, the supplies won’t always be pouring out and scattered about all over my dining room floor. Here’s to hoping for a little bit of order in this regard!

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t really follow a strict timetable like many homeschooling moms do. We really just have our basket of books we are using for that term on my coffee table and we sticky note/bookmark and just read the next page and make sure we read generally along with the outline that TCT includes in the lesson plans. Some things look a little differently, like in our family we have the recommended poetry recitation for Term 1 already memorized so we may skip on to the next or just spend the first few weeks working on other rhythms before we add that into our days.

With the stack of books and a general handicraft reset, the next things I’m looking at are our weekly expectations. With starting our school year over the summer, this means we don’t have a lot to add in other than wanting to be relatively flexible to be able to enjoy time with family on a whim and I’ll have work to account for (I work around 20 hours a week for a styling company). I also map out any travel that we know of, but usually we are on the go on a whim, and if we do go for an extended camping trip then we just take along all of our school stuff. Last in this category is a hopeful weekly enrichment program to get going with nursery years (2-7 year olds) in our area who are looking for a co-op without being necessarily a co-op. A friend and I are hopeful to get this mapped out for our families and hope to invite more to tag along once we get in the groove.

Starting over summer also gives me a time to get rhythms in place before starting any extracurricular activities that start up in fall like Bible study and dance classes or other fall sports etc. and I really like getting into a groove of one thing at a time. It’s far easier to juggle attitudes and hearts (mostly mine).

With this in mind, we will get back to our benediction table routine initially with just reading scripture and nursery rhymes and poetry at a more regular time. Most of the things within the curriculum we don’t ever stop doing all together on our break, we just are more intentional on the when and structure i during our school days that help the flow of our rhythms. Math needs to be added in, and then for copywork, we are going with cursive and I picked a curriculum a fellow TCT mom created which is such a sweet treat! I’m hopeful the art inspired aspect will have my Y2 kiddo excited.

The last thing I am hoping to tackle on the topic of a reset is… meal planning. I don’t really meal plan and hate feeling like I just add a bunch of meat and vegetables and fruit to my grocery pick up order knowing I can whip up something on the fly… which is totally the perk of being a single ingredient type of house most of the time. However, if I can get a bi-weekly meal plan to make sure I’m adding in variety and not getting stuck in the cycle of “tacos every other day” feeling… you get the picture! I hope to sit down, make a list of our favorite recipes for all three meals and snacks/tea time treats and rotate the tried and true, alongside some fun new recipes. I’m not confident in this area but I may share regardless just to inspire any ideas once I finally map out a general plan.

Is there anything else I’m missing!? I think we are almost wrapped up and organized to start Year 2, I can hardly believe it! Time is truly a thief, I wish it would slow down just for a minute.

If there’s anything else I’m missing or you’re curious on planning or beyond, let me know!!

XO, McKenzie