summer '17

Although Summer the season is still here for another month, the mindset of Summer begins to wane as we pick up math, grammar, chemistry books and add special events to our calendar. The Summer was active from late May to mid-June with a short breather until Ella began her volleyball league. What was once typically busy days at home is now sprinkled with busyness outside of the home, but it is good and time for more of those opportunities, consistently, for my children. 

What would Summer be without wide expanse of time for reading? I enjoyed previewing a few books for the children and thoroughly enjoyed Eye of the World (The first in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series), The Blue Sword (and it's prequel The Hero and the Crown) by Robin McKinley and Troubling a Star by Madeleine L'Engle. As a family we are reading aloud The Spell of the White Sturgeon  by Jim Kjelgaard and the children and I are reading Over Sea, Under Stone (from Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising Sequence) and it's Roone's first time through so it's enjoyable seeing him discover this world.

Although the seasons change the rhythm of our days I'm so thankful we've established a family and home life that doesn't change so that it really seems the transitions flow naturally to the next exciting opportunity and we are healthy (in particular ample rest, good food and taking time to know each other) to participate and enjoy them. Here's to transitioning to the schooling days with an 8th grader and 6th grader.