Indian Summer and Back to School

Pumpkin pie spice may be here, but the cruel heat of Texas summer hasn’t subsided in the least. Out here on the hot prairie, we spend part of every day watering the wilting plants. Perfect time to be inside planning school (or doing school). I’ve always thought that it was silly to take off school in Texas during summer months. Nobody got time for 100 degree heat; and when you blister in 15 minutes flat, there’s no sense in spending any more than 15 minutes outside per day.

I’m not a summer fan. I understand why people like it… but they live in Canada. I’m convinced that even at the Equator, it’s not as hot as Texas. The only place that seems to have a worse time of it is Arizona. I feel you, southwest brothers… and I’m so jealous that you get to grow saguaro cacti in your yards.

Heat or no heat, we are starting school. Monday is our first day back full time. The boys are wiggly and it may take some time to get those summer habits ironed out. Bedtimes need to be rewound, screen time needs to be reduced, and mama needs to get those meals and routines planned out to the T.

There’s been a LOT of goofing off while mama has been painting bookcases and shelving a thousand books. But it all hasn’t been a loss. Lots of creativity and fun with daddy – hiking and target practice.

I’ve really enjoyed doing some teacher “in-service” in prep for 2019-2020. I’ve finished reading through Catherine Levison’s books again, gotten all the history books chronologically sorted, put away 3/4 of the books (still lacking bookshelves for the rest of them, but we’ll get it figured out eventually), and I’ve made lots of notes and plans in a low-tech spiral notebook.

I’ve been homeschooling since 2001, and the most important thing I’ve learned is that you will never “be ready”, “have enough money”, “be totally prepared”, or “get it all done”. Homeschooling is about doing the best you can with what you have – consistently – and trusting God that it is ENOUGH.

We are jumping in! Even when there’s chance that this next month or two may turn into Indian Summer (still nearly 100 degrees with mid-september nearing)… even when there are books in piles on the floor in the den… even when I haven’t figured out how to get the printer to work… who cares! Let’s get this party started!

I can’t even tell you all the things we’ve been up to since our last blog post. Sorry for that… but we’ve been hard at work on the renovations of the den/library/school room. It occurred to me that you might think I had died. Consider this post a check in… (I thankfully got an all-clear at the oncologist’s office in August – and reached my three year mark since my cancer diagnosis).

Yay! Go God!

I would like to say that I’ll have more time to check in after we get settled into our routine for this school year, but every day we are working on the house, working outside on various projects and gardening/landscaping, etc… and I stay uber-busy with planning classes when we are in the thick of co-op term.

I’m teaching a world culture, history and geography class this semester for the third-through-fifth graders… and I’m helping teach a lego buildings STEM class with another mom. The boys are counting the days down until co-op. It’s certainly a highlight to them, even if it is a lot of work for mama.

The school year tends to move like lightning in the fall term. School schedules begin to iron out just in time for the holidays to begin… and somehow it gets faster every single year. Because we are going to move even more towards a Charlotte Mason methodology this year (been toying with CM for years), I’m hoping we have more smooth sailing than ever before. Keep that and my continued health and our renovation finances in your prayers.

If all goes smoothly, maybe you and I can have chats over warm, frothy green tea lattes more often. That’s my jam lately.

I love you so matcha for being my online buddy!

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