End of a school year - Well, yes and no...

No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's dirty looks
Out for summer
Out till fall
We might not go back at all.....

Summer Vacation -

Remember that little ditty?
Did you sing it?

As homeschooler's summer vacation is not exactly the same as it was for my husband and I when we were kids going to a traditional brick and mortar school. We don't have the testing now for our 9 year-old son that we had to gear up for, we don't have that longing for summer and no school that the months of May and June brought to us as kids.
Our son, The Red Ranger, has a totally different outlook - May and June are time to take off a little more time for family summer activities before everyone else has off and does them. He gets to enjoy the days without the crowds that will eventually come. We take breaks a bit more often and spend more time on history as Memorial Day and the historical events that early June bring - Midway and D-Day.
We homeschool year-round now, it just seemed to happen that way over time. We transition into the next grade over the summer months giving extra time to maybe subjects that were a little harder this year or might need a little extra practice. We move ahead in subjects where The Red Ranger excels so that he doesn't get bored. We tend to hit the books harder in July and August when being outside is harder for me with my asthma or just too hot for being outside. It's easy to adjust with a year-round schedule, at least for us, to still enjoy the summer but get that learning in when we can or need to depending on the day. We take a break at the beginning of the brick and mortar school year in September to again enjoy less crowds and shorter lines during the weekdays.

It all just seems easier in this fast paced society we all find ourselves in, the rush here and there, the demands everywhere from countless people. It just seems to work for us this way, to enjoy that time together as a family when the moments appear rather than wait for the weekend or summer vacation. I'm sure it would be different if my husband had weekends off instead, but he's schedule varies and more often than not he's off one or two weekdays and so we adjusted.
We adjusted when we began to homeschool and its been adjusting ever since to a point where its more comfortable and it works well...for now...will we need to adjust again?
Probably - most likely.
Most definately when we finally buy our house at the end of summer, early September.

So, here we will still have pencils and erasable pens (The Red Rangers fav!) and books....
but we'll also have...airplane carriers and battleships, fighters and subs as we learn more this year about World War II and Midway and then that will transition into America's fight for independence for July and so on....its like that mouse and its cookie and milk isn't it?
.....Then in September when its all about back to school.....
we'll be at the zoo or shore, something like that....maybe just maybe we'll make up our own little ditty -

Homeschooling is.....
math in your pj's,
science in the fridge, (Oh, I hope not!)
history at a battlefield or on the history channel,
poetry in the park or writing in the sand by the ocean...

:-)

If you are gearing up for end of the year - have fun!
If you are schooling year round, clink the lemonade glass with us!