By Mrs. P
I have never in my 12 years or so of home schooling done a “soft start” or “orientation” week, I generally throw myself and my darling children to the wolves from the start!  Inevitably by week 6 we are burnt out, to say the least.  So in turning over this new home school leaf and from the advice from Mrs. H, I set out to do an orientation week, and we are, as of today, mid way through.  WHY HAVE I NOT DONE THIS BEFORE?????  What a beautiful way to start school.  What a peaceful way to ease these wonderful children into the daunting school year!!!  I actually heard from my 10yo “I like this new way of school, it’s so much better than last year.” Oh be still my beating heart.  Thank you LORD for this, thank you for slow start and peace. 

Now, having said all this, today we got advantageous…we started Plutarch and tea 🙂  Ambleside has a schedule and some discussion questions which you can find here Plutarch Schedule .  And again I was blown away at how great it was.  My 10yo again says, “Can we do this everyday?” Now it may have been the cookies and tea, but I’ll hide it in my heart that it was the time together and discussion that made her feel important, made her feel mature and worth my time…because after all, she is a person 🙂  
Let this encourage you to ease your family into schooling…maybe you all already do this…maybe I am the one who is slow to learn…but if I’m not, be encouraged.  It works…it cuts so much headache and heartache for these babes that the LORD has given us…I don’t know about you but I strongly dislike being thrown into a situation that I have not yet been prepared for…it’s tough…and I’m old…how does it feel for my 5yo, 10yo and 14yo??  
It’s not to late…soft start today…next week, whenever…do yourself a favor and meander into your school year…