Saturday, August 24, 2013

Summer 2013

As you can tell from my lack of posting, we had quite the busy summer. We had a friend come from England and stay with us for six weeks. Then Brody and I participated in our local community theater; I was art and he had a small part. The summer was wonderful. We traveled, hung out, made new friends, enjoyed our local atmosphere. It was restful and fun.

One thing I did not do this summer was obsess over school. I gave myself permission to ignore it. At least until a certain date. And that's what I did. I put it out of my mind. I did that for ONE GOOD REASON: I wanted to live my life. It is immeasurably important to live your life. That means not letting life bump me from one activity to another, but to be fully invested in each moment. If you find it impossible to do that, you may need to reevaluate some things.

This is not to say that you don't gather materials and ideas as you go. If you're choosing to homeschool, you know, it is always in the back of you mind. I went to a used book sale. I purged my bookshelves one afternoon. I chose my topics before last school year was done. The planning is always there, but it is possible to not obsess.

On August 4th, I buckled up and hunkered down and got to planning. I found fun places for my kids to be for three straight days. They were having a great time. I gathered all my supplies, cooked some food to put in the fridge and got down to it. In those three, uninterrupted days I was able to read the materials, write outlines for the classes, created spreadsheets and write worksheets and study questions. I didn't finish it all. I worked four more days with the kids home, but those three days were invaluable. I was ready for the year!

I suppose my purpose for writing this post is this: do what you do. Don't obsess over things to the point that you lose interest before you ever start. If you have the chance to do theater, enjoy it. If you can visit the sights, go! When it comes time to plan, plan hard. Get it done. Don't let the panic set it. Do not fear; you can get it done without killing yourself!