Summertime

Well, we've fallen into the summer routine and it feels good.  Most mornings are a bit lazy.  We get up, do our chores, have breakfast and then the kids play a bit.  After that, we settle into some school time while Nathan naps.  The older two can track their work on their own now so there isn't as much management there.  I answer questions now and then and check work at the end.  But they are low maintenance.  Joshua needs the most attention as we prep for Kindergarten.  He is getting so much better at his printing and is starting to blend sounds together to form words.

Looking for the baby horses at Cal Poly

I am not a homeschooler and truly love having my kids attend an awesome classical christian school near us.  However, I have LOVED teaching my kids at home in addition to their school education and so far, I have wanted to be the one to initially teach them to read.  It's selfish really.  Their school does an amazing job backing me up.  But there is just something about seeing my child's eyes light up when they make the correlation between the sounds on the page and the word that they form.  So incredible.  A whole new world opens up to them!  Literacy is truly a blessing from God!  Seeing their little minds work is a gift.  Joshua has been no exception.  I am really enjoying him and school this summer, and am super pleased with his progress.

Once everyone has completed their bit of lessons for the day, they either jump on the trampoline or watch a short little movie while I get dressed and finish up any other things around the house like starting bread to rise or getting laundry loaded/switched.  Nathan usually is up before long (with a full house of kids it's hard for him to get a super long nap) and then we are off on some sort of outing or errand.

I love this pace.  It's so wonderful.  It's free.  It's "scheduled" yet, feels unscheduled.  It's not hurried.  And it's refreshing.

However, too much of this life won't work for me either.  There is something to summer being a season.  It's restful.  But when August rolls around, I am usually ready to start the year again.  Ready to put away the long, lazy days outside and exchange them for chillier weather, the holidays and the pressure of school (good kind of pressure that is).

They're all staring into the sun so no smiles...ha!

I've always loved school.  There is something magical about it to me.  So the fall is a good time.  A celebratory time.  A time to get back to learning and our routine-for all of us.

So I have been thinking about the seasons.  How will my kids remember summer?  Full of activity?  Excess extras?  Or just fun stuff like camping, playing outside all day, the pool and sometimes the beach (truth be told, I am horrible at getting my poor children to the beach and we only live 20 minutes away...I know it's pathetic...it's cleaning everyone up afterward by myself that is daunting; being there is great...when I don't have a baby someday, it'll be better).  I think that's how I want them to remember it...a muddled mess of math/cursive workbooks, mud, watering the garden, reading good books out loud, running to the store and getting a cookie from the bakery, and just all being together.  I love having them all home!

It's full.  It's active.  It's bursting!

It's life.

Summer is the perfect amount of rest needed to get through the rigors of life coming later in the year.

Summertime and the living is easy....sing it Ella!!