Big changes in our lives!

We got confirmation last week that my husband is definitely going overseas this year. I am not feeling very prepared; it's hard to believe, but in the nine years of military service he has, Levi has never deployed! He's had various non-deployable jobs and all kinds of training and schools that just never left him available for deploying. It was bound to happen sometime, but I feel like a newbie PFC wife, not knowing at all what to expect.

It's happening relatively soon, so we're in a mad dash to get as much stuff in the house packed and ready for his departure as possible. The kids and I will stay in North Carolina to finish out N's school year (even maintaining a legal residence, homeschoolers have to transfer if you'll be out of state for more than a month). When his school year is up, we'll pack up the rest of the house and go to New York to live with family while we try to sell the house. I'm pretty confident it'll sell. It's in a good spot at the front of the neighborhood, we have done a lot of upgrades - including a gutted and completely redone kitchen, new roof, and new foundation, and we have a good realtor to work with. Levi has started clearing out the shed and I've started in the house, and we've agreed to just keep working, working, working. We'll take some time next month to have a little family vacation before he goes, which we're all looking forward to.

I tend to lay blame on Levi for how much stuff we have, but I know I am guilty, too. I am especially aware of this since I went through all our school and craft supplies this weekend and realized we have more than we can possibly use. I don't want to pack up all of the little crafty bits and baubles, and school stuff that always goes on sale like notebooks and pencils, so I bagged up a ton of stuff to take to a meeting with homeschoolers today at the park. Thankfully they picked it all over pretty well and took home at least 75% of what I was hoping to get rid of. The rest can hang out for a yard sale we'll have later. It's hard to let go of this stuff because I know someday I would use it, but I know we need to be realistic about what we want to deal with moving, and the reality is: not much! I'm just hoping Levi will really get on board with this, too. I'm not going to ask him to get rid of stuff he really uses or stuff he really loves, of course, but there are a lot of things I am willing to bet haven't seen the light of day in years. It's a process, I know, but we have limited time to do it!

The best homeschool scheduler I've found!

I have been homeschooling in some form for the past five years, since N was preschool-aged. I have tried every scheduler/tracker I can find. I've done hard copy on paper, I've done spreadsheets, I've done apps. I haven't really liked anything. Hard copy wasn't bad, but I hate my handwriting and editing ability left something to be desired. Spreadsheets were okay, but I couldn't access them on the go very easily. Apps always lacked something. Finally a fellow homeschool friend suggested I try Skedtrack™.

Ahhh, the clouds parted, the sun shone down! It is everything I have wanted in a scheduler/tracker, and it's free! It's easy to input and edit, it tracks time and attendance, it keeps grades, it creates reports. It's easy to use with more than one child. And best of all, perhaps: if you don't get an assignment done, it automatically moves it to the next scheduled day for that subject and bumps everything else back so you don't have to worry about scrambling to catch up or else manually change your whole schedule for that subject. If you do catch up and complete the next assignment, just mark both done and the schedule automatically puts everything back into place for the upcoming days. I cannot tell you how great this feature is, especially with two little ones running around. Let's be honest: not everything we schedule is completed on the scheduled day, and having a program that automatically adjusts to that is invaluable.

Another bonus to this program is that it is accessible on any computer, tablet, or smart phone. I haven't used it on my phone, since the small screen would make inputing and editing a little tiresome, but in a pinch or simply to mark assignments done, it's great to have the option.

I really can't say enough about how much I am loving this program. The site is neat and clean, accessible through easy links and tabs, and the FAQ section is great. I had one suggestion about login time outs and I heard back from customer service within hours. If you've been on the lookout for a homeschool scheduler and tracker, I highly, highly suggest Skedtrack™!