summer break

We've finished our official school year at last.

Most everything was done a couple weeks ago, but the two oldest kids still had a few math lessons left. Some years I might have called it Enough a couple lessons shy of 100% completion, but with how easy Teaching Textbooks makes chipping away at it, the fact that we've still been having plenty of cool-weather days, and knowing there's plenty of summer ahead of us yet, I decided to prod them on to the bitter end. Besides, it doesn't hurt any of us for them to spend a half hour each at the computer doing something calm, still, and focused!

But now it's done.

Whew.

Another year in the books, and a super terrific one, at that. When I began the 2012-2013 school year, I had some things I wanted to keep in mind. I wanted to encourage learning, to fan the flames of curiosity, to enjoy exploring through nature and books and group activities, to savor our togetherness. We've (I've!) certainly had our fair share of days when this did not describe what was taking place in our home, but it was the goal we kept coming back to, by the grace of God.

And we've had fun along the way!

This week I wrote up our final quarterly reports for the year. I also filled out IHIPs for each of the children for the coming year. I'm packaging up lesson plans and leftover supplies from teaching the kindergarten class at our weekly homeschool co-op this past semester. And today we cleaned out all the school shelves and supply boxes.

Summer is here.

This will [hopefully] mean lots more playing in the garden (me), splashing in the kiddie pool and slip n' slide (the kids), grilling dinner (Daniel), and walks and bike rides (all of us). It will inevitably mean cleaning the bathrooms more often, showering sweaty heads and dirty feet at least once a day, complaining about hot bedrooms, and picking up our weekly share from our CSA.

I am so ready for this!