Summer prep

It's summer!  No more formal schoolwork until August, no outside activities really, no stress.  Right?  RIGHT?????

Yeah, right.

We had a lot of stuff happen, mostly just normal family stuff.  Lydia wanted to learn to play the clarinet, so for her birthday in May we got her a clarinet and signed her up for weekly private lessons.  She's doing really well, and enjoys playing.  Lucky for her, I also enjoy listening to her play so she can pretty much practice all she wants in her free time.

Other than that, the girls are finishing up their curriculum for the school year with the virtual academy.  Since we did a mid-year enrollment, they are working some through the summer in hopes of finishing up close to the start of the school year.  Kim is totally finished with two subjects, and should be finishing up with the other 2 subjects over this next couple weeks.  The other girls, well they are less enthusiastic about working during the summer so they will be finishing up after the school year starts most likely.

Friday I went to the used curriculum sale to look for a couple things.  Not for the girls, since they are in the cyber school.  I was looking for some simple things to do with Preston this fall for preschool.  He has been bugging me so much for his own schoolwork lately.  It felt odd though, being there and seeing all these great materials I want for the girls that I just KNOW would be great for them.  I finally, after several years of trying unsuccessfully, got my hands on a print copy of the Tapestry Of Grace curriculum to actually look at it.  I'm in love, and so wish I was able to buy it at the sale Friday.  It was exactly what I was hoping it would be, and a perfect fit for our needs as our family grows and the kids get older.  I also got to see Teaching Textbooks in action, not just the online demo at their site.  I had a feeling it would be a good choice for a couple of the girls just from what I did know beforehand, and seeing it Friday and getting to really get in there with it for a couple minutes confirmed that thought.  Yes, it was a good night for exploring curriculum.  I also snagged a couple of things that I did need, like a copy of Writers Inc. for FREE and a $2 copy of Before Five In A Row for Preston.

But with the curriculum sale came this odd feeling I'd not experienced before.  I realized that I really don't have any planning to do other than putting together a few fun little things for Preston to do each week this school year.  I'm so used to sitting at the computer during the summer, printing off lesson plan forms and putting together my lesson plan binder for the year with the 4 girls and all the curriculum that entails.  I've spent countless hours searching for great deals on new and gently used materials for our family, scouring the internet for free resources, looking through thrift and discount stores for things I can use, and even talking to a few people I know to borrow this or that item so that I can stay in budget.  I spend almost as many hours during the summers putting all those resources together into a comprehensive lesson plan for me to use, mainly just topic overviews and lists of things I want to cover and activities to do in the order I anticipate so that weekly I just throw an actual lesson plan together, and then creating my notification letter to submit to our district.  I spend several hours in summer administering standardized testing to the girls for our reporting portion of the notification I submit annually.

None of that stuff is happening this year.

The girls are in a virtual academy.  The school provides the curriculum, does all the planning and scheduling, and tells me where and when the kids need to be for standardized testing.  I've saved probably a hundred hours or more not having to do any of that stuff this summer.

So now what do I do?

I feel useless now, like this huge let-down has occurred.  Every school year I look forward to the summer planning.  I love doing it; the planning is my absolute favorite part of this journey of teaching my children at home.  That is gone now.  All I can do now is try not to over-plan preschool for a three-year-old boy who has determined that his favorite toy is in his underpants.  It is mildly depressing, to be honest.

My summer no longer has much meaning.