We didn’t end up starting back to school this week like I was sort of thinking. That’s where I went wrong – I was sort of thinking about it and not really thinking about it. Our summer ended up being so nutso that we’ve really used the past couple of weeks to catch up on simply being home. We’ve been getting our routine back in place and that is no small thing. I actually planned meals for this week again and we have seriously incorporated chores for all of us into the daily rhythm. My oldest groaned today when I gave her her afternoon chore pack and she said, “There are just SO MANY CHORES!” For the record, her afternoon chorepack had about 4 things in there, all age-appropriate, so it wasn’t that bad. I said, “Yes, Dear, there are SO MANY CHORES. And now you know how it feels. If we all work together, this isn’t so bad, right? Right? Come on, RIGHT?”
So that feels like our first major educational goal – it’s not academic, but it’s life-driven and, perhaps just as important.

Also, we’re going to Tom and Christine’s wedding this weekend in Birmingham with a stop-over in Nashville, so in my mind the summer won’t really come to a close until we get back from that. Add to that the two-day school the girls will be attending this year which doesn’t begin until after Labor Day and you can see why things are still a bit unsettled around here. Oh, that and the fact that I can’t seem to put down the Harry Potter books. I really need to finish those so I can stop being distracted…

So, small steps. Routine and chores first, then we’ll add back in some read-alouds (I’m thinking The Penderwicks – something not on the curriculum plan for this year) and perhaps do some math review and begin handwriting. If we did nothing else this year but improved math and handwriting I would call it a success. My 8-year-old scored in the 8th grade level for language arts and spelling on her standardized testing last May. Her math? Well, I knew it needed help, so I wasn’t surprised by the score which will be left unaccounted for at this moment. So, though we’ll still be working on those things, obviously, our priorities will definitely be skewed towards things of a numerical and legible nature.

In other news, and this probably isn’t really news, but a recap, I’m not taking any seminary classes this year and I’m very happy about that. I want to fill in the rest of my 30 hour Graduate Certificate with all Jerram Barrs’ classes anyway and he’s on sabbatical right now, so I’m happy to wait. I heard a rumor that he’s thinking about teaching a Children’s Literature class sometime in the future. I’m so there when it happens. This year is going to hold many other things to take the place of the seminary classes, so it’s a good year to take a break from that. Craig will still be taking two classes in addition to his full-time teaching gig.

Our full fall schedule has not hit yet, so I know we’re all going to be in for a bit of a shock when it does. But until then, we may just continue to sit this week out and enjoy a few more days of summer.