10 reasons I'm excited for next school year

These top 10 lists seem to be exploding all over the blogosphere, and I love lists!  So, I'm joining today with my 10 reasons why I'm excited for the new school year.

I'm always excited for a new school year.  That has been something that I've loved since I was a little girl.  Getting the kids excited about the new school year can be fun even with homeschool.  I show my excitement and hope it rubs off, and tell them about all the fun things we are going to do come Fall. 

The top 10 reasons I'm excited for next school year...

1.  Our local homeschool group is growing.  We finally have a local homeschool group forming with plans to do a book club, and meeting up regularly.  I'm so excited I don't have to drive miles anymore to find friends, or go on a field trip.  I have waited for this for many years, and hoped something would start up closer to home. 

2.  The art museum.  April has requested to go on a field trip to the Portland art museum, and I want to make that happen this Fall.  Along with some other cool field trips.

3.  A more normal routine again.  I'm am looking forward to slowing waaaayyy down!  I had hoped for a more quiet summer, but it isn't turning out that way.  I just want to hang around at home again learning with the kiddos!

4.  New books and supplies.  This is always my favorite part.  A fresh start in supplies and learning materials.  We've already gotten a few things, but I still have some more decisions to make in other subjects.  I plan on making a back to homeschool list of supplies for my kids with just the homeschool things we need, they're excited for that.  I just picked up new backpacks for the boys too.  I told them that these backpacks were dedicated to school work so if we have to leave the house we can just grab their school bags and they can work on stuff while we are out.  Our backpack situation last year didn't work out quite like I wanted it to.  I think it was because they would empty school stuff out and put their other things in for family car trips and vacations.  Then we'd have a hard time getting everything back in! 

5.  Starting our 100 day count down again.  We had so much fun counting down the days last year, and then on the 100th day we had fun with the number 100.  My boys love that number now!

6.  Getting our workboxes up and running again.  I have been slowly getting our workboxes back together.  I have one more ikea drawer system to acquire along with a wire paper sorter, and I think we'll be good to go.  I will be doing a more relaxed workbox system than I did last time though.  It helps me organize so much better!  After all is said and done each child will have 6 of the ikea drawers with a wire paper sorter on top that has 6 additional slots. 

7.   New goals for each child.  While there are some goals that will remain because they weren't reached this year, I'm excited to add some new goals and see what the kids can achieve this year.  I still need to map these out, but I'm excited to sit down and think about it soon! 

8.  Having a new tot schooler.  I love having a child that is growing out of the baby stage, and is getting really curious about the world around him.  I have loved doing tot school with my other 2 boys, and look forward to doing some with Alex.  He is 18 months old now and really starting to get easier to entertain at the table and with little challenging tot school games.  This will hopefully make our schooling a little better this fall. 

9.  Trying out my homeschool ideas from pinterest.  I like how inspiring pinterest is especially for homeschool ideas.  It is fun to find something that is just perfect to add into what we are doing with our homeschool days.  I'm excited to get back into it when summer winds down.

10.  A beautiful season for some great nature study.  We haven't really done too many formal nature studies this summer, but we've been out in nature a lot!  I love doing nature studies in the fall, there are so many fun changes to watch, and I'm looking forward to getting some beautiful nature walks in.

Desiree