Summer Vacation

June 6th was our 180th day of school - our last required day to meet the state standards. I had planned to take a week off and then jump right back into our studies and keep right on trucking through the summer while it's too hot and humid to play outside much. Thank you Florida. The pace would slow and we wouldn't necessarily school every day, but I didn't plan to change what we had been doing. Then I read a newlsetter about vacations and an article by Todd Wilson that really struck a nerve. He reminded me of the NEED to take a summer vacation and the NEED to "put on our FUN hats". He went on to say, "You need to enjoy your children as children NOT as students, and your children need to experience you as their mother NOT as their teacher."

Ding ding ding ding!!!!

Oh man did I NEED to hear that! I have not really been enjoying my children lately. We've been fretting with each other a bit too much and Mr. Wilson was right. We DO need to take time to experience each other as mother and daughters.

So, we finished our "official" school year on June 6th and my oldest (the party planning queen) had a big end of the year party planned for June 7th and then we spent the next couple of months relaxing and enjoying each other. I came up with a list of things that we had been meaning to do but kept putting off like building a volcano, making a nature journal, learning how to sew, binding the books the girls have written, reading, playing games, riding bikes as a family...and then we spent some time working on the list. We didn't get it all done, but we had fun along the way. Isn't that what summer is all about?