Back to School

Today is the day.  This morning is the morning.  Time to start back to school.  I'm not ready for summer to come to a close because it went entirely too fast.  But part of me is looking forward to settling back down into a routine and adding a bit of order to our lifestyle.  And of course with a new school year comes new school supplies.  It always makes me happy to see how some new pens, pencils, notebooks, and paper can bring a joyful start to the new year -- especially new crayons.  Even though my daughter is well beyond her crayon years, I still buy her a box as a special surprise on the first day of school.  It might seem silly to some, but for us that has become a happy tradition in our little home school. 

Crayons

With school beginning once again, I can't help but think about new boxes of crayons. Through the years, I've always made sure that my kids have had brand new boxes of crayons to begin the new school year. Even though I have home schooled them, I still thought it important to not forget this one important detail. I'm really not sure at what age I acquired a fondness for new crayons; but it has stuck with me my entire life. I think one of the things I enjoy most is just being able to gaze at all of the different colors in one place. I still like crayons even for myself; and yes, I openly admit it, I have my very own brand new box of 24 crayons in my pencil box with all of my colored pencils.

Summer Vacation

Our home school year has come to a close, and tomorrow is our first official day of summer vacation. Now I'm typically not one that does well with change. I pretty much like everything to be the same, except when it comes to a change such as this. I can hardly wait for the sun to rise tomorrow, when I can face the day with an entirely different agenda in mind than has been for the past nine months. Gardening, sunshine, picnics, boating ....... hallelujah!!!

Schoolwork and Sunshine

When I was a little girl in school during the month of May, I can remember sitting at my desk staring out of the classroom window wishing that I could be outside in the sunshine. The school days seemed so long. Since I have been a homeschooling mom, whenever the sun is shining warm enough, we take our books outside. That is if the kids want to. On other days, when the sun is shining, but it just isn't quite warm enough to be out sitting on a blanket on the lawn, one of my daughters came up with a little game to make the lessons (mainly math) go by quickly while still getting to enjoy the fresh air. This is how it works: 5 math problems have to be finished. At that point I give her an "assignment". Usually the assignments are something like this -- run outside, skip from the front lawn to the back lawn, when you get to the back lawn do 5 cartwheels, turn around 3 times, and then skip back to the house. When she gets back to the house, she sits down to do 5 more math problems. At that point she gets another "assignment". This time it might be 3 handstands in the back yard, slide down the slide 5 times, swing back and forth on the swing 6 times, and skip backwards on your way back to the house. My daughter loves doing this. She finishes her math in record time because she is so anxious to find out what her next task will be. It also gives her a chance to be outside and get some fresh air, and most importantly a chance to enjoy the sunshine.