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The beginning of Summer break. As a home-school mom it probably means a lot less to me than for the moms who have spent the last nine months packing lunches, meeting with teachers, helping with class projects and generally being awesome. However, I still feel somewhat at a loss right now. Somehow, all the classes my children were taking wound down around the same time school was ending for everyone else. So it feels as though we too are entering the infamous Summer break. All the running around I had been doing has come to a sudden halt. No more making sure I remember on which day to pack swimsuits and which day requires piano books. No more running out the door to get to a class on time. No more water bottles, snacks, special shoes, leotards, goggles, swim caps, release forms or monthly fees.
No, we are free. However, with this freedom comes an absence. We are a bit lost for what to do with our time. We had been so scheduled and programmed that now I don’t know what to do from Monday to Friday, really. Should we sign up for more classes, fill our calendar once again. Are the kids missing out on some activity that would fulfill them, really meet them on an intellectual and physical level. Am I no longer stimulating them sufficiently.
Let me remind you that my children are four and six. Let me tell you that as we speak they are running around the house dressed as some species of warrior having battled and won, they showed me the medals. This morning when I walked into my son’s room I heard giggles coming from under some sort of oddly constructed blanket fort they had built so quietly I had not heard them before then. Let me remind myself that life is never boring around here when you have two little imaginative people that don’t know the meaning of the word bored, that never use the word.
I should stop worrying about signing them up for another class, one that I can add to my Mother of the Year certificate which I will be printing shortly. I should stop looking over at the Joneses who live four houses down and who haven’t slowed down a bit and are probably on track for some super gifted premiere program I don’t even know about. I should probably calm down a bit. We will have plenty of time in the Fall for more classes. We will be singing up for them all. After all, I have to justify* my homeschooling somehow. Until then, let me see if I can somehow keep up with my two rambunctious children this Summer without putting them in classes. That will be the real challenge.
*I’ll leave that post for another day.