gearing down for summer

We're getting ready to slip into summer mode around here. As suggested by the Enki Education homeschooling curriculum, we're going to take the summer off from "formal" school activities (not that we've done a whole lot of that sort of thing yet anyway!) and spend the summer relaxing, rejuvinating, and preparing for the coming year. I sort of "pishawed" the idea when I first read it -- I mean, one of the great things about homeschooling is that you're not tied to a traditional school schedule! But as it works out, I did end up feeling like I needed some time to concentrate on planning for fall, and I felt like the kids needed a break from organized activities. So we're officially on Summer Break as of today!

To prepare for our summer of relaxation, we went into town to run some summer-like errands. Everything we needed to do was at Town Hall (shown pictured here), but our timing was a little off -- the office where we needed to buy our dog liscences was open, but the office where we needed to buy our lake pass was out to lunch. So we took care of the dog business and took a stroll around town for half an hour while waiting for the other office to re-open.

We live in a pretty typical New England small town. The downtown area is small and built primarily of stone; there's an old railroad depot that has been converted into cute shops; there are stone arch bridges that run over the small river that winds through the downtown area; there is still an active freight rail line that stops traffic several times a day in the center of town. The brick sidewalks are lined with benches located under mature trees. All in all, think of New England, and you'll think of our town. Not at all a bad place to waste a little time while waiting to buy a beach pass.

Back at home, the kids kick into full summer gear in (and out of) the wading pool. I've scaled our summer daily rhythms down to bare minimum:



-wake, open curtains, make beds (around 8am, or whenever!)
-sensory brushing (@ 10 min)
-outdoor play/morning chores (still in PJs, of course! :-) (@ 45 min)
-breakfast (@ 30 min)
-free play while I shower (@ 30 min)
-toothbrushing, sensory brushing, dressing (@ 20 min)
-run errands (grocery shopping, etc) OR baking OR arts/crafts OR creative play (depending on the day) (@ 1 1/2 - 2 hrs)
-lunch (@ 30 min)
-rest (@ 1 hr)
-beach (lake) (@ 3 hrs)
-afternoon chores/outdoor play (@ 1 hr)
-dinner (@ 1 hr)
-outdoor play (@ 1hr)
-bed prep (@ 30 min)
-family story time (@ 30 min)
-bed (around 9 pm)

Here's the kids sporting those new towels I talked about yesterday. They can't wait to take them to the beach! The local lake has the nicest little beach, which is where we'll be spending every afternoon (weather dependent of course). If that doesn't sound like summer, I don't know what does!



Zoo Boy is ready for indoor activities too. Here's his screwdriver family -- he's showing off the really big one now, but they've all got names and personalities which I can't hope to remember (but no doubt will get in trouble for not being able to identify at some point!). Between wire hanger "hook birds", camera tripod "robots" and screwdriver "families", who needs toys??

Which makes me think that a tag sale might be a good summer activity....