I’m sitting here watching my 3 beautiful children play in the sandbox. The breeze on this summer day is cool – almost fall-like. I enjoy the momentary solitude before various neighborhood friends show up to climb into the small sandbox – like college students in a phone booth.

My mind turns to the upcoming school year, when my kids will play outside in the fresh air while other children are stuck in a stuffy classroom. My kids will be running around full of activity while other children sit still at their desks.

No, I’m not a horrible mom who chain-smokes and watches her “stories” all day while her snotty-nosed, continuously dirty children throw rocks at the neighbor’s windows. No. I am a homeschool mom and durn proud of my students. School will be starting up soon, which means the early sound of busses braking to pick up students, cooler weather, and colorful trees. Gone will be the frequent sound of the doorbell ringing as neighborhood kids come to see if your children can play. No more humming air conditioners and outside will no longer smell like coconut sunscreen and fresh-cut grass. September is full of promise to homeschool families. Our school year never really stops, but it does slow to a trickle in the summertime. Friends are out of school and vacations, parades, and picnics tend to interrupt our schedule.

But there’s always time for learning, even if it isn’t a planned lesson with corresponding library books and worksheets. Besides, we aren’t that structured when it comes to school, letting the kids lead us in what they want to learn. To an extent.

So when September comes, we like to start the school year out with something that is fun and a bit laid back. And since it’s a “new year” for school, we like to review how much we’ve grown and write resolutions for the upcoming year. For starters, we write a letter to ourselves. Brad Paisley style. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fqtbMHfpXY). This year we are going to write a letter, and then sing it to the karaoke-style to the Letter To Me music. You can get your music below for less than a dollar. Be sure to record it, put it on YouTube and send me the link! I'll post it here.

We read last year’s letters and see how much we’ve changed, if we’ve met our goals, and how much our spelling and handwriting has improved. While it’s perfectly fine to use plain notebook paper for this – or even just type it up on the computer – it is also a nice touch to use school-themed stationary. I get all my stationary from DLTK, where you can design custom writing paper (http://www.dltk-cards.com/writingpaper/). They also have other school-themed lined paper, such as an apple, pencils, and books (http://www.dltk-kids.com/school/mteacherpaper.html). Kids seem to enjoy writing on something that is colorful better than on a plain sheet of notebook paper.

What nationality are your children? Have them research a country from which their ancestors came. My father is Italian, so we might have a Little Italy Day. We can cook Italian dishes, learn some Italian words, and maybe do a craft, play a game, or learn a song. For instance when I Google “italy crafts for children,” I found this great pizza game that we can make: http://www.craftsforkids.com/projects/pizza_game.htm. I type in “italy songs for children,” and I get this awesome site that has songs, fingerplays, and nursery rhymes from Italy in both Italian and English: http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=el&lang=Italian. The great thing is that this site has many more nationalities from all over the globe, so check it out!

http://www.mamalisa.com/ Welcome to Mama Lisa's World, home of the internet's largest collection of childrens songs and nursery rhymes from around the world. Whatever the culture a child belongs to, whatever the flag he or she lives under, this is the place to find the lyrics to kids songs, in English and in the original languages! Some songs include MP3's and Midi music.

In keeping with the About Me theme, you have several choices for math. You can do some graphing answering a question that relates to your child. For instance: How many of each different color t-shirt do I have? How many kinds of Webkinz do I own (i.e. birds, zoo, jungle, pet, etc.)? You could also have your child measure himself – height, weight, head circumference, foot size, and so on. One neat way to do this is to trace your child in chalk on the sidewalk, then have him measure his arms, his legs, etc. When he’s done measuring, he can finish drawing the details and color himself in.

For Bible, I can’t compete with Danielle’s Place. I’ll probably do something from the “I Am Special” lessons, which is listed on the right-hand side under "Sunday School Lessons – I" at http://www.daniellesplace.com/HTML/bible_lessons.html. Danielle’s Place is a great resource for bible lessons and crafts for younger children. You might have to adjust the lessons for older students.

Be sure to spend plenty of time outside during your return to homeschool this fall. The transition from summer playtime to autumn schoolwork can be hard on kids. Even if you have to start back a week early to ease your kids back into the school routine, it’s a good idea to let them enjoy some outside time while they learn.