We all know the feeling before that first day of the new homeschool year. There is always great excitement at our house as we prepare. Our “parent brainstorming time” is in the past. The schoolbooks that we needed have arrived. The supplies for our responsibility chart are awaiting my creative juices to flow. The family pow-wow where we lay out everything to the children is over and done. We are on our last summer get-a-way. And then there begins the application.

If you are like our family, we are full steam ahead for awhile, the “perfect” schedule morphs into the “reality” schedule and things may cruise along with bumps, hiccups along with joys and triumphs through our homeschooling year.

Then, as it happens in many homeschool families, the winter drags on…and we get the pre-spring homeschool blues. We start panicking about all those things we didn’t do, and forget to look at all the things we did do. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel, feeling oh so ready for the summer break…and we can lose our momentum. We can lose our steam. And we need a fresh shot in the arm.

That is one of the reasons I think this series at Growing Home is GREAT for this time of year!

We need each other.  We need to hear about each other’s ups and downs, struggles and joys.

So make sure that you spend alot of time this month over at Growing Home.

I am over guest posting at Growing Home today.  My topic is on homeschooling several grade levels at once when you have a large family.  Practically speaking, how do we homeschool several grade levels at once? How do you accomplish the educating of 6 different grade levels, from Kindergarden to now college level? Head over to hear of a few tips we have tried:

I am looking forward so much to the Teach Them Diligently Conference this month as well.  Is it because I need curriculum help?  Well, I am sure I will get some new ideas, but that is not the main reason I am looking so forward to it…

I love the shot in the arm, the burst of motivation, the sweet encouragement that is flowing at these conferences.  There is something about seeing a fellow homeschool mom who when you meet her eyes across the aisle with her armload of pamphlets and books, you just know that you understand her and she understands you.

This year I am especially excited about getting to meet my cyber blog friend Amy from Raising Arrows face to face as well.  I am hoping to have lunch with her one day.  AND I have been invited to a blogger meetup the day the conference begins.

Joseph and I are also going to be doing some work over at the CollegePlus table, so this conference holds a special excitement for me!  If you are in the area, stop by and tell them A Mother’s Heritage sent you!

So what about you?  Are you planning a conference this spring or summer?  If you are able to check out the Midwest Parent’s Educators Conference. Encouragement abound for us out there, dear friends.  And, to start off with head over and enjoy a month long of virtual conference over at Growing Home!