Today was our first day back to school, and I wanted to start off on the right foot. I am not an advance planner; as the first day was quickly approaching I was still pondering how would I make today spectacular. 

In order to get ready for the purchasing of material I write a list of the topics the girls desire to learn and the things I believe are a must to learn.  After writing my list, I list the potential resources I will use to teach the girls the topic. By the time I get to the ordering stage many items have been removed simply because we don't need them.  I appreciate being able to sit with my list before ordering because it keeps me from spending frivolously.

I haven't always been a fan of homeschool planners because often times they are too bulky. They tend to have too many forms that I don't need which means too many pages to flip through to get to what I am looking for, but after trial and error with several I have found one that fits this paper planning homeschool mom's criteria-The Organized Homeschool Planner

I know homeschool moms get giddy about the new books and materials, but it is really important for our children to get just as giddy. 

I know when I started on my journey finding African-American moms who were homeschooling their children was hard especially in the community we lived in; I know now in some areas homeschooling in the African-American community is no longer an anomaly. There are many families choosing to teach their children at home and some are actually sharing their stories. 

As we've began to transition to another year of homeschooling, I've been thinking more about the way not even our homeschool looks the same each year.