Posted in Educational Pursuits
Here we are at the end of August; can you believe it? For those of you in the lovely four-season section of our country, you're getting ready to wash off your lawn furniture for that final re-packing into the shed, pulling out the cooler weather clothing, and anticipating the beautiful color show Mother Nature puts on for your viewing delight. For those of us in the high-heat of the one-season desert, we are aching for the temperatures to settle down so that we may pull our lawn furniture out of storage, readying our homes for the delight of spending the days with the doors and windows open, and yes, pulling out our cooler weather clothing.
No matter where you are, though, fall is the universal sign of school resuming. Public or home school, fall is usually when most start up a new year. It's a habit that we can't seem to avoid, and if we do, we feel a bit odd about it each year. Each world, public or home, stocks up on new school supplies while the sales are available, sorts through old school items to see which can make it another year, and prepares to settle back into the school routine.
Ah, the school routine. There's nothing quite like it, is there? Mothers all around the world, whether home or public, breathe a sigh of relief: the schedule is back in place. What a wonderful word, this word schedule! We must have been out of our heads to curse this word at the end of last school year (whether it was three months or three weeks ago). A schedule means gently reminding family and friends that pop-in visitors and school-hour phone calls are no longer permitted. A schedule means that the children are constructive instead of at-odds with their day. A schedule gives us the courage and support to say 'no' to activities we may otherwise have let intrude on our day. A schedule is a lovely thing. Routines are to be in place, everyone is to know what is expected of them, and home is once more alive with purpose, learning, and gaiety. School holidays are like vacations in that you're always so excited to see them come, and so relieved to see them go. What a blessing they are!
Holidays revive our spirit, speak to our soul, and re-energize us. They allow us freedom from our schedule, freedom from routine, and freedom to BE. They are a lovely break in the ordinary, and they are necessary to avoid burn-out, depression, and apathy. They are also best in moderation, as all wonderful things are. I find that for our children, anything longer than a three-week break serves no purpose but to flame their bickering skills, encourage laziness, and shorten tempers. It is a thin line to walk, for mothers are the ones desperate for school holidays.
Our children will have had a six-week break when we begin school anew next Tuesday. Six weeks that has flown past us, undermining my projects-to-be-done-on-school-holiday list and passing almost too rapidly to be enjoyed. These six weeks have been a study in free time, games, swimming, camping, and family. They have also spawned boredom, aimlessness, and foolish behavior.
So it is with both regret and gratitude that I hammer out our first term's lesson plans this week and announce to the children that school starts next Tuesday. They groan in mock despair, for I have seen their eyes light up when they peruse the shelves holding our next year's school books. I have fended off questions of what their first history projects will be (*I* don't even know yet!), and we have eagerly discussed where our field trips should take us this year.
We are so blessed to home educate our children, to have school holidays, and to resume lessons. Wherever your new year takes you, I wish you much joy, success, and many blessings along the way.
