Thursday, May 19, 2011

The End of Days

School days that is...I can't believe that there is only one more week in the school year, one more week until both Boo and Belle make major leaps in school (Boo from Lower Elementary to Upper Elementary and Belle from Primary to..sniff..sniff...Lower Elementary) and one more week until we have three months of unscheduled bliss ahead of us.

I am so excited to have my first summer off since being on maternity leave with Belle six years ago.  At that time I wasn't really in a place to relax and enjoy, in fact even when I was off for a month last summer I wasn't emotionally in a calm state to fully enjoy the time I had with the girls.  But so much has changed in me over the last year that I think I can embrace this summer and know that not everyday is going to be sunshine and peace and us all enjoying one another but I am able to let go of pre-conceived ideas and let whatever happen just happen.  We are also going to try our hand at some homeschooling which I am so glad that the girls are excited about, in fact most mornings they talk on the way to school about where we should have our classroom be, what day we should get started and what we are going to need to make it all happen.  I have asked the girls to think of some things that they would like to learn more about and because we are not going to have my paycheck over the summer we are going to find free or nearly free things to do about town.  Thankfully we have quite a few resources handy, memberships to the zoo and Magic House and a State Park with a beach and swimming area about forty minutes from our house.

I am busily scouring the blogs for homeschooling ideas, art activities and other subjects of interest for all three of us.   I am so excited to give this a go, but again I keep reminding myself that it won't always be what I picture it to be.  In fact I have to remind myself not to fall back into old habits when I am frustrated with what is going on around me or with me...I think yoga might be a part of our summer as well so we can all keep breathing.