School’s out for summer!
We officially finished school on May 21, but we had finished out school work two days earlier. We spent the last two days on field trips. Just like public school, summer has come, the kids are done. The teacher is not.
The last week of school was spent wrapping up grades, updating transcripts, and making report cards and completion certificates. By the way, in Texas, none of this is required, but it makes my Type-A self happy to do so, and my kids get a kick out of it. I even went a step further this year and got a graduation cap for my eighth grader!
Now, the real work begins. Last week, I cleaned out bookshelves and classroom shelves. I have TEN boxes of curriculum, books, games, etc. to take to the homeschool curriculum sale and swap on Friday. Whatever is left over will be sold on Ebay or donated to the library for their upcoming book sale (I just hope the majority of it is taken so I do not have to load all ten boxes back into my car after the sale).
Next on the to-do list, I have a laundry basket full of this year’s work to move into storage in the garage. I have three huge Sterlite containers that I store work from the past seven years in. Again, in Texas we are not required to keep portfolios or anything like that, I just like to keep their work. In fact, I like to keep too much of it. I have a job ahead of me to purge some things so that this year’s haul can fit into those containers. Wish me luck.
I will not be done yet. A friend gave us a gloriously large bookcase a couple of months ago. It fit perfectly in the garage between the craft drawers and garage shelves. This is to become my curriculum storage spot. I am planning on moving anything we are not using in the 2021-2022 year to this bookcase, sorted by subject. This should free up space in the classroom as well as the built-in shelves in the living room. Those shelves are crammed full right now and are a bit of a clutter eyesore.
Then, I have a pile of curriculum and books on my bedroom floor that I have been accumulating over the past few months for next school year. I need to find homes for it all in the school room. Which means rearranging what is still left on those shelves to organize and make it all fit.
Finally, I plan to spot clean the walls and touch up the paint in the classroom. The walls get pretty dirty around the work table. I gave up on the thought of repainting the whole room, even though it needs it. I have not been inspired by a color yet, so it will stay beige another year. I would like to find a new, large whiteboard, which would be mean rearranging the maps and other items hanging on the walls. But, I will wait to cross that bridge if I come to it.
To sum up, my to-do list for closing out the school year:
- Wrap up records and paperwork.
- Clean out bookshelves for items we are done with to sell or donate.
- Store completed work from last year that I am keeping.
- Move items to storage bookshelf that we will not be using next year.
- Move items that we will be using to school room bookshelf.
- Clean and prep room for next year.
Do I have a timeline to get it all done? Not really. I plan to start our new school year on August 5, so I guess as long as it gets done by then. And in case it sounds like I am complaining, I am not. The teacher in me loves this time of year, wrapping up the old and prepping for the new. Summer is not so much a time without school for this teacher, but a transition time between one school year and the next.
Hill County Homeschooler 