That Time of the Year

It is that time of the year again when I start preparing for the upcoming school year. When I taught public school it was a fun time of the year....a fresh new start....with new notebooks, pencils, crayons, and children. As a home school mom, some of the newness and fresh start is not as apparent. There is another feeling of being comfortable with where you are. Like with an old friend, you settle in for another visit.

I must admit that homeschooling has its fair share of struggles. There are days I wonder what in the world I was thinking and even complain to my husband. Yet, there are so many more days when I am filled with wonder and amazement that it totally outweighs all the frustrations.

This year I am refocused, refreshed, and ready to go. I think the main reason for this feeling is that we took a BREAK! Normally we school formally year round, but this year we took off in May and we are still enjoying our vacation for a few more weeks.

We have:

• been lazy
• slept late
• attended two church camps
• went to Florida
• spent two weeks with cousins
• ate more popsicles than is legal
• swam all day if we wanted
• played games
• read
• watched movies until late in the night
• outran a thunderstorm in a party barge
• caught hermit crabs with a net
• sunburned our noses
• hosted a wedding at our house
• learned a lot more Spanish
• and dreamed about all the things in life we would like to do

Even though it was not formal schooling is was the way learning should be and so much fun!

Home school catalogs started showing up in the mail a couple of weeks ago! R. has had out the Rainbow Resource catalog looking at all the things that he would like to learn. (Love that kid!) Apologia Science has him pumped and he is begging to start! The thirst for knowledge continues in our life of learning!

It is going to be the best year yet! Life is good!