My least favorite season ...

Not Summer itself, I like parts of Summer.

What I like least about summer, though, is School Planning Season.

Most home-schoolers I know are deep into School Planning right now. Some are blogging out loud their thoughts and curriculum purchases, likes and dislikes. Some are taking days alone to plan and schedule.

I have to admit, the whole thing gives me a deep sinking feeling every year.

Not only am I not a planner, by nature, but the whole task we've taken on - to school our children at home - is a daunting, overwhelming one. Oh, sure, some things are easier. Like not having to get everyone up, fed, dressed, and presentable at a specific early time. If that was the only reason to home-school, I would trade it all. But it's not. Each time we've reconsidered, we've come back to believing this is where we're supposed to be, as a family.

But that doesn't make thinking about next year -- even if I already know what we're doing and have purchased it -- any easier. Well, maybe a little. I still don't want to think about it. We're still wrapping up last year. Still trying to figure out what we're doing this Summer. Still trying to learn new chores and make them routine, and get the rest and fun we need and expect in the hot and sunny days of Summer. Next School Year seems like it shouldn't be looming on the horizon just yet.

Maybe it's because, growing up, Summer seemed to be a wondrous dream-land of a lack of responsibilities and schedules, at least from a child's perspective. Maybe there were some chores, and certainly the swim team I was on took some scheduling, but I didn't do the scheduling, I just hopped on a bike or into a car and went when I was told. And the rest, so far as I remember, was just play. And oh, how we looked forward to Summer. That residual dreamy promise of Summer still crops up at the end of the school year.

But now, as a parent, even the wonders of fun take scheduling, planning, discipline, and work. Finding swim clothes and enough towels, or the right park bag, or remembering to pack the lunch and have the right groceries for that packable lunch. And in the midst of all that different-every-day-fumbling, the regular chores march on, relentlessly.

I think I need a Summer break from our Summer before I even think about school.

A Day at the Nature Center

Today, in anticipation of mid fifties and sunshine, I decided we'd go to the local Nature Center for school.

Not only did we get to cash in on the field trip groups, by sneaking into the sugar house between BIG groups, we got a small private explanation of the syrup evaporation and we also got to wander and do our own things. The best of both worlds.

Here's the 1870's Sugarhouse:

And inside, learning about the evaporation process:

We also saw both the modern metal collection buckets, and the recreation of the Native American methods with a wood spigot (they have some other name, though ... I can't recall at the moment) and birch bark collection bucket.

We walked along the river trail to get to the Sugar House, which at one point was literally both river and trail. Fortunately it was right near a path to the road, and we circumvented the underwater part.

We also took notebooks, in which the children wrote down the things they saw, sketched pictures, and took notes.

Even Buzz got in on the notebook action:

Whooops! I almost forgot my favorite picture from the day ~ a lucky shot macro of a teeny tiny spider. It was only 3-4 mm and I wasn't even sure it WAS a spider until it moved! I spent the latter part of the afternoon trying to identify him.

If you click on his photo, it'll take you to my flickr photostream, which have a few more nature-y pictures of our trip today (I didn't want to overwhelm my dialup friends), if you like that stuff.

All in all, it was a very nice day.

Their Enthusiasm is Gonna Kill Me

I guess I must be doing something right, with this homeschooling thingie.

Several of my children have been nearing the ends of their Math-U-See books. So I ordered the next step up. Math-U-See has, however, changed their curriculum since we began, so my three oldest are transitioning to the new system. I decided to continue to use "Classic" with the littles since less changed and I already have the teacher's materials and all that.

Anyway, we've been waiting anxiously for the order to arrive and today it finally did. It actually arrived at the same moment, in the same delivery, with a separate order of Magic Eye books, which was equally anticipated, and purchased for a great price through BookCloseouts.com.

So the screams of "The Math is here! It's from Math-U-See! It's here! It's here!" quickly shifted to "Oooh, the Magic Eye books are here, can we each do one?" and I thought the Math Enthusiasm had waned.

I was wrong. The Magic Eye excitement lasted only a few minutes before they were begging to open the math. And then they stood screaming over each newly-packaged book, with their fancy greek letters, and asking which one was for whom. Since the program is new to me, and it took me several days, myself, to figure out who would move to what and which one to get for whom, and shoving them in my face, while the 3 year old yelled, over and over, "I get a new math? I get a new math?" and I couldn't remember whether I'd ordered one for him, and if so which one, and whether I'd gotten Primer for the almost-4 year old or for the Kindergartner, and with all the enthusiasm and shouting I just couldn't think.

In the end, we got it sorted out, divvied up, and labeled with the children's names. The oldest 3 rushed to their "old" math to finish up so they can dive into their new books. Iliacat just needs to polish her last test from the old book and dive into the new, which is about 2/3 review and I expect her to whiz through it, getting extra practice and feeling smart, and then I'll order yet another new one for her, the next level.

Gark is a little behind her, but not much, and is really motivated to catch up. So he's busy trying to see how fast he can finish off his old book.

It's loud and chaotic and enthusiastic, but since it's all about math, I guess I can't complain.

I just wish my 3 year old would find his volume control. And stop asking the same question again and again and again if he doesn't like the first answer.