Spring Cleaning. In Autumn.

At least I think it's Autumn, I haven't got used to the order of seasons here yet. I can't help myself calling it spring cleaning. Anyway, what it means is that I am reorgansing the school shelves. With a view to planning the rest of the year.

It is a year since we began educating at home and I am still struggling with terminology - do I want to call it homeschooling, home educating, school work, book work...?

So for the sake of argument (and secure in the knowledge we moved away from the idea of 'school at home' even before we moved out of the school) I find it easier for now to use the 'school' based words and education creeps in every now and again.

One would hope education crept in every now and again, I suppose.

So as well as struggling with terminology, I am also struggling with organisation and am re-organising the shelves and cupboards again to make the most of the space I have, and also to home the supplies and materials that have multiplied over the course of the year. Also to make room for the fair bit of work we have produced, before it goes to the Pool Room. Currently the Pool Room is just a drawer in the bottom of a chest of drawers we brought from England but we need a more organised and bigger Pool Room now that the number of children, learners and beautiful pieces of work worthy of the Pool Room have increased.

One thing that this blog is not going to be, is a place to come and draw serene inspiration for perfect schoolness. But it might give someone else like me confidence, ideas, and satisfaction that their house (and school shelves) isn't as bad as they once might have thought.

I have taken a 'before' photo. I will take a 'during' and sometime later this week, even an 'after' photo might appear.

We are currently on 'holiday' from school after not taking many breaks at all this year. We kept up some sort of school the entire year to allow for getting LittleH#1 back where I want him to be (post school - grrrrrr), and to allow for the time we would lose when LittleH#4 was born. I am amazed that we have done so well, all things considered, so before I burn out and it all falls over, I am having a break to reorganise and plan ahead for our next year.

Currently my school year runs to March, it seems. I will plan ahead to December so we can realign ourselves a bit. We might even get a summer break!

I told the children we are on 'holiday' from school. LittleH#2 asked if we can do work tomorrow. So it looks like I am running a Holiday Club as well.