I take June, July, and August of every year to immerse myself in preparing for the next homeschool year. We generally homeschool year-round, but we take the month of August completely off. I'm counting down till August. I love homeschooling, but I also love that break and the enjoyment of missing it. I spend the summer reading and re-reading books, researching, evaluating, praying, learning, re-learning, and un-learning.

Here is my current syllabus for the summer, I haven't thought it entirely through so it's subject to change, but here's what I've got so far:

Must-reads every summer:
The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach: Bible Based Homeschooling

What Your Child Needs to Know When: According to the Bible, According to the State: with Evaluation Check Lists for Grades K-8

Educating the Whole Hearted Child

The Well Trained Mind

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I take my job as educator of my children very seriously, and am in many ways indebted to the state for allowing me to educate my own children, remember many countries don't have that choice, privilege, and right! I have a responsibility to the state to do what I promised to do. Although my educational goals are loftier than the No Child Left Behind Act, or our state's Standards of Learnings; I do research and refer to these when setting benchmarks for my children.

It's been fascinating to read the 2009 PISA results. PISA (Program for International Assessment) is an test given to 15 year olds in about 65 countries. The results have been very interesting, and quite informative. I am currently reading Lessons from PISA for the US. amd gaining meaninful insights into international educational reforms, all of which will be useful over the duration of my years as an instructor.