Whoever said that Summer was a time of lazy, hazy, days did NOT know me... This Summer has been anything but lazy, though, being in Maryland, we certainly have the "hazy" part down!
I don't know what it's like for other homeschooling families...Do they take Summer off, completely, like many public schoolers, and lay around the pool, watch talk shows, and eat, most days? Do most try to incorporate some kind of learning experience into daily life? Do some continue their schooling schedule, perhaps altering it a bit for more warm weather fun??? I guess that homeschoolers are like anyone else, and do what they please all Summer, whatever that may be...In my homeschooling house, we use Summertime to try new things, enjoy being outside, and take classes and workshops in many different activities-all which I journal daily as continued "school". We love our local community college, they are an incredible source of new learning for us, at a great price!
This Summer found me at endless baseball/t-ball games while my oldest child waited for her "time" to begin. It began last week-fortunately after ball ended for the year-with Ballet lessons at a private studio each Monday. This week added a Music Theater workshop to her list, with her dancing all day today at both classes-a total of four and half hours of dance. This has me in the mini van, three younger boys in tow, pretty much from non til five, and then even later today with the Ballet thrown in...The boys have already forgotten that "sis" sat through...hmmm....maybe 35 games in recent months-most during brewing violent lightening storms-so they are not happy about the situation....!
I woke up this morning after a bad night-not sleeping this week I guess-and rushed to get things in order. My husband had to leave two hours earlier for work, so the rush was more intense then usual. My daughter was running through the house in her dance clothes, asking about snacks, room numbers and emergency phone numbers. The boys were packing matchbox cars and looking for shoes. I directed them around the house, chores to be done, lunches to be packed....With water bottles, picnic basket and matchbox cars in check, we headed out for a day long ago marked on my calendar-day one of "crazy week"! Minutes before leaving, I realize that our library movies-21 of them, were not due on Monday as believed, but on Saturday...Panic ensues as we run to locate the largely fined videos, which was no small feat....I ended up paying a whopping twenty five dollars in late fees...We rush them to the nearest library, hoping for mercy, dropping them at the drive thru window and explaining ourselves. I agree to handle the issue at another branch that same day...We drive to the college, in another part of the county, a long, winding drive with much radio music to hear...We drop her off at class and head to the nearest playground to eat our lunch and swing before our next activity-a children's Max and Ruby program at the library in town. The boys finish their sandwiches, play, drink lemonade and argue about getting into the sandbox. (I don't have time for baths!) Soon we head to the 2 oclock class and I drop the two youngest boys off. That lasted two minutes, I had to go in with them, Jules would NOT stop looking out the door for me! We finished the stories, and the craft and packed up to head out to pick up some pizzas for dinner, right near the college....We sat in our favorite resturant for awhile, eating french fries and watching ESPN, got our dinner and head to pick up Skye...Left there, hurried to get her to Ballet, closer to home. Dropped her there-she was TIRED-and went home to eat pizza...Well, the boys did, anyway. I rushed around in a flurry of mysterious energy, cleaning, and doing laundry-sever loads by bedtime...Cleaned two closets, folded some things for the yardsale pile...vacuumed, bathed the kids, checked the bank account, wrote two bills out, and sat down....It starts again tomorrow!
My first thought was, "wow, I got nothing done today!
Now...What is wrong with ME????
!!!!!
Sami