Summer School

Well, we are very close to wrapping up school for now.  We are not "done" with everything but we are taking a necessary break.  I know, I have blogged about how we are schooling all summer no matter what and all that jazz BUT--plans change.  I felt like we needed to school all summer because I thought we were behind.  However, once I looked at my calendar for the month of June and the first half of July I knew that trying to fit school in would likely make us all nuts.  So, I planned to take a 6-7 week break.  I was thrilled about a break (I can be a bit obsessive and I definitely get obsessive about school so when we are "on" I am a taskmaster and have a hard time relaxing) but still was uneasy about what we hadn't done.  So, the other day I took a few minutes to make a list for each child of all they had done this year.  I do that every year and include it in their box for that school year along with all of their papers, projects, etc.  Anyway, as I made the list I realized we were nowhere near behind.  Everyone had done more than enough and and made so much progress in so many areas that I had nothing to worry about.  I was basing my "we're behind" thoughts on the fact that Hannah had so much more left to do in My Father's World.  Then I remembered that that was because we didn't even start MFW until October.  She was supposed to be behind in that.  In the core subjects each of my children did a normal school year's worth of work.  Because of so many interruptions to our schedule it became a habit early in the school year to double up on math and language arts lessons at least a few times a week.  That has paid off and now we can fully enjoy our time off.  

I don't know how well I'd do schooling in the summer anyway.  I'm very easily distracted and don't do well if my whole focus is not school.  I'm one of those people who likes to start things at the beginning of a week or a month and if my week starts off bad it's very hard for me to get going.  When the kids were younger and I was only schooling Hannah we would take whole weeks off of school just because Monday didn't go well.  Really.  Thankfully I'm better now but I don't think I could do school in the afternoon after my kids had spent the morning at VBS.  Or school them when we have a guest for two weeks.  Or school them for two days in a week knowing we are going on a trip at the end of the week.  If our next 7 weeks were not so busy I would probably continue to school because I think it's good for the kids to have continuity.  I know they will forget things because they are taking so much time off and it will be hard to get a routine going again.  But, we'll work it out.  I'm really looking forward to time to read to them more and play some games.  Just because we aren't schooling doesn't mean we aren't learning.  We've got some great educational games that I will be pulling out.  I see lots of "Sight Word Bingo" in my future.  Our first read aloud will be "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls.  I love that book and can't wait to share it with my kids.  We have been reading only the YWAM Christian Heroes biographies the last few months so I am really looking forward to some mindless fiction.  I'd also like to read "Follow My Leader."  We'll see.  Okay, considering that it's noon, I think I should go get dressed now.  I just had to get these thoughts out of my head, they've been brewing for days.