Tuesday, June 03, 2014

easing into summer break

I have discovered I have this same problem every year.
I do not know how to wind down our school year with a true end date. I know the books we need to finish reading and how many lessons we have left in some of our other materials like spelling or Latin.
But the routine of our Morning Time is hard for me to let go of for the summer and thus it is hard for me to officially announce that we are done "school". Sitting down in the morning to sing hymns, read the Bible, pray, read poetry and  enjoy our read alouds isn't school for me, it's just part of our normal life together.

In Ontario, most schools are not finished until the last week of June so the neighbor kids and other friends aren't looking for Seth to play until then, so I find I like to keep Morning Time going until he is occupied elsewhere.
By July and August we are often busy with travel plans and Seth is invited to participate in soccer camps and other activities with friends, so his days are fuller. And then as August winds down, I spend my days organizing and planning for our new start in September.
It really is this time in June that seems to hover over us as we finish our lessons, yet we do not have much to take its place yet. So our year sort of just fizzles out without much end-of-year fanfare. My friend Barb in a recent email asked me if I have anything special I do to mark the end of the school year. She related that she was considering going for out ice cream or something similar to add a celebratory tradition to note this time of year. I wrote back to confess that I sadly had no ideas or traditions, but that I hoped she settled on something that fit their family.

Meanwhile as we meander towards our summer break, I am planning and beginning my own summer activities. Exciting things like unbury my bedroom bookshelf and blush over the amount of books I am in the middle of reading.




I also have taken steps to be able to identify some of the trees that grow around our house and along the river. I have started with the evergreen trees and collected some samples of their different needles, cones and branches to help me identify the different kinds.  It has been relaxing and rewarding.  Summer break is very nice whenever it unofficially starts around here.




1 comment:

  1. Kathleen9:17 PM

    We have fizzled as well. Not intentionally. It seemed a natural meandering from a sitting-to-do-things day to a go outside on the hammock to read or to the park kind of day, with less structure and more play. I had to call a spade a spade though: we are officially ending on Friday and going to Sugar Mountain to see just how much 500g of candy really is!!! A reduced morning routine will remain though - reading through the bible and singing.....maybe piano.... maybe some math drill... maybe?? too much??? We'll see what I can get away with....

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