— 1 —

Potty training took a set back two weeks ago. But I *think* we are back in the game. Normal, right? To have set backs, I mean? To balance out that, though, Little Man is SUPER excited we are going to be learning at home. He has no desire to go to school (“I don’t want to go to school, Mama. I want you to teach me.”) and he CANNOT wait to get started. He runs over to his learning corner and asks to do something multiple times each day. Yay! Let’s hope there are no setbacks there, huh?

— 2 —

I decided on a “curriculum” for preschool!! Yay! I am going to use “The Preschool Journey.” I read a sample lesson, read some reviews, and decided it was well worth $6.99. I am not a crafty type mom, nor am I terribly creative. I like rules and guidelines and such, so this book is perfect for me. It set out the reasons to homeschool a preschooler, gives a supply list (most of which we had already, or relatives had and gave to us), and lays out easy to follow “lesson plans” for each letter of the alphabet. I didn’t necessarily need step-by-step directions, but my educational focus in college was high school, and I taught middle school. Preschool/early childhood education is frightening to me!

— 3 —

I devised goals for preschool, however, before I bought the book. Here is what I want Little Man to accomplish by May: 1) Recognize his letters A-Z and their sounds 2) Recognize his numbers 0-10 and be able to count objects 3) Recognize the rainbow colors and be able to categorize things by color 4) Recognize the basic shapes 5) Know the months of the year, the days of the week, and the seasons 6) Know his name, our names, our address and our phone numbers 7) Have 26 Bible verses memorized (or at least ingrained in his life some way)

— 4 —

Are those too much? I mean, in reality, he already recognizes the alphabet, knows how to count (including counting things) and knows his shapes and colors. But I thought starting with an end in mind would help keep us on track.

— 5 —

We are starting August 26. Well…we’ll be gone that day to another state and driving home. So maybe Tuesday that week! We’ll loosely follow the local school calendar (which is year-round style) and take two weeks “off” for fall and spring break and four weeks at Christmas. We’ll be done before Memorial Day, too. We were going to start this next Monday, but I don’t have my “preschool corner” quite finished. We hung his magnetic chore chart Sunday night; apparently we should have started a chart system months ago. He has responded to it beautifully! I need to move bookshelves from his room, hang the calendar, and organize the supplies. My mom is printing the printables from the book and laminating them for me over the next week, so I will have those in hand before we start, too.

— 6 —

On to other things! I am still training for my first marathon. I was planning to do the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco, but I did not raise enough money by the commitment day to feel good about that (meaning we would have had to cough up A LOT of money for me to compete). So I switched to the local fall marathon here in Indy. No travel expenses AND my family can be there for me throughout the course. Yay!!! Plus, now it looks like I can go up to Detroit next month and do a half with my brother; it’ll be his first half-marathon, and I would love to do it with him (and by “with him,” I mean like an hour behind his speed demon self).

— 7 —

I am very tired (see #6). My mileage has increased and my sleep levels have not. Tomorrow I am supposed to drive 30 minutes away for a 2 hour run. I’m thinking seriously of sleeping in and running from my parents’ house instead. Their neighborhood hooks into a local trail system that is mostly wooded and goes through a lovely college and small town. That sounds way more appealing to me. Sleep and nature. And being alone. Does it sound like I’ve already decided? 🙂