LAST WEEK of school! Week #36, spring #12

We did it! We completed an entire year of Kindergarten, ala Enki Education. This was our final week of the school year, and we spent it slowly shifting into our summer groove. We morphed our fun Planting Flowers Adventure Circle into a more organic format by taking it on the road and performing the activities while on a morning walk. We skipped, we sang, we admired all the beautiful flowers we found in our yard and others, we ran, we jumped, we breathed in the fresh summer air, we chanted, we jogged, we traveled about a mile each day in about 45 minutes. (Quality, not speed!)

The boys check a hollow tree trunk for residents on our morning walk.

We'll be continuing Organic Circle for the rest of the summer months, adding a dash of Enki Movement Activities here and there as we feel so moved. The "freer" format seems to suit Zoo Boy better at the moment, and it has a certain summer flavor to it that fits in with our more relaxed rhythms.

And, lo and behold, joy erupted when our local lake beach opened for the season this week. J immediately jumped in and proved that he remembers very well how to swim with his life preserver on. (I'm guessing he got the chance to hone up on that skill up at camp a couple weeks ago, too.)

And Zoo Boy enthusiastically joined the swimming fun, although he doesn't seem to quite remember how to make his arms and legs move together to produce forward motion. He's working diligently on it tho!! That is when he's not training hard for his future career as....

....a beachcomber. This is Zoo Boy in his Natural Element. The child was born to frolic along the sandy shores of any given body of water. He'll have plenty of opportunity to do so this summer, as our plans revolve mostly around spending as much time here as possible.

We are taking the month of July "off" from school. By "off" I mean that we're not doing any organized story work. We are, however, going to stick to strong, supportive rhythms so that J's big transition into first grade work (which will happen either the 1st week of August, or the 2nd week of September -- all depends on how ready I feel come Aug 1st! I'd bet money on Sept....) will go as smoothly as possible. So our day will look something like this for the next month:

Wake, barn chores
Breakfast
Dressing rituals (calendar, brushing teeth, sensory integration activities, dressing)
Morning walk/ Organic Circle
Snack
Outdoor Play
Lunch
Rest
Beach
Settling in/reading time
Supper
Bed Prep
Family Story Time (kids selecting books they want to read)
Bed (including the reading of a chapter from whatever book we're working on at the time, selected by me)

I'm also going to be taking the month off from blogging. I need as much time as possible to get ready for the coming school year. But by saying "off", I only mean I won't be posting a log of things we're doing (since every day will be pretty much the same!! How many photos of the kids at the lake can you stand???). I WILL share photos that are worth sharing as I take them, hopefully daily, so please do check in and see what sorts of things we're coming across on our Summer Break!

Happy Summer, everyone!