Summertime and the living is… what?

Whoever said that summertime is lazy and hazy must be pretty non-engaged in life!  As a family who home schools, we find that summer can be less academic, but we still use the time we are afforded to learn.  We do a number of things that hopefully keep us on track for the fall;

*we continue doing math lessons throughout the summer.

*we continue cooking/baking instruction.

*we continue music lessons through July (at least)

*we do some history through field trip and travel.

*the kids still do their Kung Fu and horseback riding

We also sleep later than usual and enjoy the area around us.

We recently had a piano recital in which I performed with my students, at the First Baptist Church on Main St. in Willimantic.  I blew the dust off of some pretty hefty classical pieces,  and Jonathan played, too!

Afterward, we hosted a gathering for friends that meant all of us were cooking/baking for the day.

I’ll also be having a farewell gathering for friends who are leaving the area to move to another state.  This party will be pretty big in number and size.

And there will be a wedding to play and tech (Jonathan) for, too.  All these events take huge chunks of preparation time on the front end.  What a mish-mash of activities.

Add this to the mix:

I need to close out the year by doing an evaluation for both Jonathan and Rosie.

I also need to weed through their shelves of work and file them for the end of the year.  I will do some prep for the fall, too.

I have a huge list of things, both indoor and outdoor, that I would like to tackle.

I would also like to deep clean the house, with the kids help, of course.

I say all that to just raise the flag of awareness — with  home schooling really being a lifestyle rather than something you do for certain parts of the day, some things get left unattended to.  As a result, I am looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and getting things clean, fresh and uncluttered!  Organization is key here!

I’ll defer the rest of the column to the kids who will tell you what they will be doing this summer.

I hope we’ll keep in touch through the months ahead.  The possibilities for exhaustion are endless!

My Summer Activities  – by Rosie

Well, I’m supposed to write about what I like to do in the summer, so here’s a list:

I like bike-riding, camping if the weather is nice and if there’s no chance of a thunder storm, swimming in our friend’s pool when it’s 105 Fahrenheit outside, sleeping in a room with AC, watching fireworks in the car (I don’t like loud noises), bringing my Gerbil(s) outside, not being in school, having fun doing things with my whole family, doing things with my friends Brenda, Jen, Rachel and Mikayla, maybe going to Block-Island and riding bikes there, and last but not least, playing lots of tag.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to scare the squirrel on my porch.  Where did I put my squirt-gun-mega-blaster?

-R.G. out!

Summer Plans – by Jonathan

This summer, we’re not going to do anything too earth shattering (at least, not that I know of…), so I’m going to write about what we did last year – as well as what were going to do this year.

Last year, we went to California to see one of my older sisters graduate from college (the other one had graduated already by that time and she joined us, as well, for the graduation).

We had a nice time in California, but the ceremony was so long, and the AC didn’t do much to help out in the likes of cooling. So, after the ceremony was finally over, we went outside and waited there for her to come out and find us.

It took forever for her to find us, but once she finally did, we went to our next rendezvous, which was the park. We had Subway sandwiches and sushi.

After that, on Fathers Day, we went to a restaurant called “The Melting Pot,” where they only serve fondue. Now I know you’re thinking, “How could they have a whole dinner of just melted cheese and bread?” but that was only the appetizer.

After the cheese fondue, they brought out pots with really hot broth, and plates of raw meat that you stick in the broth. And depending on which flavor broth you cooked it in, it had a different taste.

After the main course, we had chocolate fondue which was REALLY good. For dipping in the chocolate, there was fruit and cookies.

The next day, we went to Disney Land (or was it Disney World?) with my sister and her friend who knew the place like the back of her hand.

My favorite ride was the haunted house, because the special effects were spectacular.

We spent the whole day there and we had a great time.  Needless to say, our feet were really tired afterward.

This year though, we’re going to have a bit more modest itinerary, what with the economy and all.

So, we’re going to be staying in the state for the most part, and exploring towns we’ve never been to before, like Darien, and other places with funny names.

The first place we’re going to is Block Island. Dad has wanted to go there for a while because, I believe, it’s supposed to be a good place to bike.

So we’re going to take the ferry over with our bikes and bike around Block Island.

We’ll be doing other regular things this summer, of course, like ‘Ill be mowing lawns as usual, and Rosie will be doing some baking that she needs to do, plus I’ll be working on the Congressional Award.

Other than that, that will be about all for this summer.

Posted July 20, 2009