Our Weekly Wrap-Up: Rethinking Some Plans

Remember (way back at the beginning of the week?) when I blogged about my marvelous plans for the summer?  Well, I've been through a week of summer now and have a MUCH BETTER IDEA of what things will look like!   As I was thinking about this today, I came across this post about summer schooling.... it sums up my thoughts PERFECTLY!.   The best quote from this post by Christy is:

I’d like to think we’ve found a happy medium between the full steam ahead approach I took our first summer and the brain shut-down that occurred shortly after I realized we couldn’t keep up the pace.

 I want to find this happy medium before I let the pendulum swing too far to either side, know what I mean?

This week we accomplished math, (On the math front, we spent each day learning about prime and composite numbers and making factor trees -- which my daughter declared were "very fun!"   We also hammered the times tables each day and I think this was a good investment of our time.)  piano practice, read aloud and swimming lessons each day.   Guess what?  THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!   I am the queen of never cutting myself slack, and I think I just set the bar way too high for the summer. 

As I sat in the van and listened to a bit of my nine year old's synchronized swimming practice I could hear her teacher counting beats and giving instructions quite rapidly.  I thought to myself, "This is a HUGE education right here - following directions, memorizing a routine, etc...".   I need to let these activities be enough for us this summer.   

We got together with good friends from our co-op one day for yogurt, and tomorrow we are meeting friends for Jumping Jelly Beans and lunch... these friends will be moving in 6 weeks and it's IMPORTANT to spend time with them.  Sometimes I think I let the almighty "schedule" suck a lot of the fun out of our days.

The last two weeks of May we just vegged, and it felt so GOOD.  I hadn't done that in a whole year.   I still think we need some more time to relax and not be so formal about school.   Could it be that I have underestimated the toll that homeschooling takes -- on my physical household and also on my mental stamina?   I think the answer just might be YES.

So, that's my weekly wrap-up!  How's that for getting stuff done?