Here it is, another school year, is now upon us. Most of you have your curriculum and are already getting your homeschooling organized. I must confess, due to circumstances beyond our control, I don't have my entire curriculum yet. I hope this is an encouragement to those of you that don't have all or yours now. We have started with what we do have and plan to add to as soon as possible. I just know that some of our curriculum may take a little longer than I planned. But that is the way it goes. This is really out of character for me, because in all the years when I homeschooled my 3 older children, I always had my curriculum by now. But my youngest child is just in 1st grade, a year early. Normally, because of her birthday, she should be starting Kindergarten this year. But I decided to do Kindergarten last year and it worked out well with my young daughter. So I don't feel any panic at all, since she is already ahead of other children her age in the public school. But no matter what the circumstances you find yourself in, don't panic if you don't have your entire curriculum yet. There is still time. I remember when I worked at a call center for a homeschool bookstore, a few years ago, I picked up a call of a lady apologizing that she had not bought her curriculum yet. This was in the fall. How could I judge her? I didn't know anything about her and her family. She must have thought that I was going to either really get on her case, or give her a hard time about not ordering her curriculum on time (whenever that is). But that was not the case. So what if you or I spend a few extra weeks into the summer to finish school. It does not matter.

The other thing that I wanted to mention, today, is whatever your style of homeschooling is, whether it is traditional, unschooling, or somewhere in-between, be consistent. This is very important to the success in the education of your children. We all have days when we wake up and we would rather do other things than face the responsibility of homeschooling our children. But there is a day coming when your children will be grown and homeschooling will be just a memory. Then you will be able to work on those projects, or go to those functions that you have missed in the past. If children are not able to be consistent with their homeschooling, then they may not be consistent in other important areas, such as their jobs, paying bills, or their marriage. Being consistent with homeschooling is equal to going to work. The other children in public schools, by law have to go to school 180 days a year. Homeschooling is no different. Being consistent brings stability and security to children, because they know they are learning right along, just like their peers. I have seen the result of children that didn't have the privilege of being homeschooled everyday, and they had a very low self-esteem and seemed very insecure. I am sure it was because they could clearly see the difference between what they have learned and the other homeschool kids have learned around them. They are now in public school. There were days when I was homeschooling my 3 grown children, when they did not want to do school. But they were sure glad to finish; it gave them a sense of accomplishment and just as glad as I was that summer had arrived. My oldest son was the one that had the hardest time, when we started to have sunny days in the spring. But I knew that it was in his best interest to stay the course and finish what we had started. Now he is glad that he did and it did give himself a true sense of accomplishment. I know that that helped him as he is now married and out on his own, living his own life. It has given him a sense of stability in his own life. It is so important.

As you start this new homeschool year, be consistent. It has a real impact on your child's outlook on life as a whole. You are teaching more than just academics as you homeschool. Have a great homeschool year!