An End of the School Year Daybook

Outside my window... it’s warming up. Mid-eighties today and my girls (one in particular) have mentioned how they are dying in the heat. August is going to be a rude awakening.

I am thinking... up summer plans and routines (and fall curriculum choices and book lists). The opportunities to make fun plans and lists never ends thankfully!

I am thankful... for park days with our Classical Conversations friends. Truly, it’s a struggle to get going most of those Tuesdays to get a picnic packed and out the door when I have piles of laundry and lists of things to tackle here. However, I always come home with cheeks sore from smiling and laughing with the other mamas and very tired and dirty kids. It’s a good thing.

In the kitchen... scraping by until Saturday and I can make a massive grocery run. I may have have to make a quick Aldi run for a few basics (like sandwich bread and lunch meat) but hope I can get through to the weekend with what I’ve got. Dinner may get very creative.

I am wearing... my red jogging capris pants and a white t-shirt.

I am creating... thinking of creating a summer mini-book like I have used for December Daily in the past (something similar to this). Surely I have enough scraps and bits that I can put this together from my stash. I’m excited about this summer and the two months that we will be breaking from “formal” (home)schooling and want to record it in a fun memorable way, outside Project Life. As far as Project Life … I am dreadfully behind. DREADFULLY. I have been getting pictures ordered and tucked into the album, but the journaling is laughably absent. I miss working on it and need a big catch-up day pronto.

I am going... to watch the oldest’s first softball playoff game tonight! Seriously so excited for her and her little team. They had a great season and it was so neat to see my girl blossom and improve out on the field over the past several months. She has really, really enjoyed playing this sport and I can’t say enough good things about the dads that have coached the team. So very encouraging to her who had really never picked up a softball before.

I am reading... hahahahaha. Reading? What is that? That has slipped TOTALLY off the radar of things I can get done in a day of late. When I sit down in the evening and prop my eyes open for 2.7 seconds, I usually peruse a blog or two, but I haven’t picked up a book in weeks. At the beginning of the month, I read Kimm Crandall’s Christ in the Chaos and it was a wonderful parenting shot in the arm for me.

 

As for other reading, the list of what I think I want to try and read this summer is somewhat laughable. This is just the stack that is beside my bed and doesn’t include stuff stacked on my desk or loaded on my Kindle. On the top of my list that I want to try and hit: a slow read-through of Educating the Whole Hearted Child by Clay & Sally Clarkson; The Wind in the Willows (because I’m leading the Reading to Know book club in July on this one!); Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which has been on that nightstand for over a year I do believe and needs to be read. And so many more.

I am hoping... to wrap up our school year this week. We’ve got all our days under our belt, but N1 has a handful of lessons that she needs to finish in her 3rd grade math book – easily knocked out this week – that we want to tackle so we can enter June with a clean slate. She and I will be spending much time this summer with some multiplication flashcards and get those suckers committed to memory but, otherwise, she has finished well for this year. However…

I am learning… about struggles in reading with one in our home. What I hoped last fall was a personality struggle with learning to read due to general busy-ness and energy has turned into some legitimate clues that I may have a munchkin that has some bigger struggles than previously thought. This summer will consist of switching up her reading with a new game plan and bag of tricks to help her process letters in a way that helps her more. New territory for me in our “classroom” and am praying for much wisdom in this area…

I am looking forward to... our Classical Conversations practicum next week – three days of encouragement in the world of classical homeschooling and time with other mamas that I love as well as meeting some new ones.

Around the house... over the last two weeks I have snuck in a little purging and hope to hit most of the rooms in the house over the summer. The kitchen (and pantry) was hit hard one day last week during lunch (i.e., a can of shortening – never opened! – from 2010 made its way to the trash. Eww). The boy’s room was cleaned out of many of his little baby toys that he’s really too old to play with (sniff, sniff). It was time, but it’s never easy, that’s for sure.

I am pondering... and realizing that I may have a diaperless house within the next six months. Hard to believe that we are almost at the end of this season of parenting. A certain someone has absolutely no interest in actually wearing the cars underwear that we have in his dresser, but we sure do talk about them a lot. : )

One of my favorite things... Sally Clarkson. : ) I may have mentioned her once (or a hundred times) here. I had the chance to hear her in person at the Teach Them Diligently conference in Nashville last week and it was just wonderful. I went to three of her sessions, took copious notes, and was most encouraged in my journey as a mama in how to parent as well as encourage other mamas in the journey. Good, good stuff.

A few plans for the rest of the week… softball playoffs most nights if they don’t lose! Cleaning up the school room and packing things away for the summer! Swimming if it’s warm enough! Fun summer things. : )

A peek into my day...

Hello summer 2013. We are ready for you!