Calling it summer

I have officially declared us to be on our summer schedule. We have so little left to finish my homeschooling plan for the year that I figured I might as well acknowledge reality of what our schedule has been the past couple of weeks. After I get the garden finally in I'll read the last little bit that is left on the list. Then sometime in the next month or so we'll plan to have Ancient Roman food for dinner. There is one craft left on the list and it is one better done in summer anyway. We are going to create mosaic stepping stones for use in the garden. I figure this way everyone gets a chance to try their hand at doing mosaic and I get more stepping stones which are needed. 

Yesterday we had a little meeting about summer expectations. I have three things on the list for the summer. 1. Everyone must do a page of math from their current book. 2. Everyone must read for at least a half an hour. I don't really care what they read. 3. Everyone must spend at least a half an hour outside unless the weather is dreadful. These three things must be completed by everyone if they all want their game/screen time at the end of the day. The rest of their time is their own. 

They are all pretty good at filling their time. Today K., the child who really doesn't like writing, started writing a story. The emphasis is on start as I don't think he got very far, but I'm excited about the idea and that he actually picked up a pencil. G. made brownies. L. took Kenzie on a walk. Y. had her Japanese tutoring. This evening at dinner we had a long discussion about East and West Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Learning will continue to happen regardless of whether it is on a schedule or not.

And of course, we will still have teatime every day. Everyone is enjoying The Eyre Affair and we will be continuing with the series. (If you are thinking about reading the books to your own children, they really are PG-13, mainly for some swearing. Oh, and a major character is named Jack Schitt. It fits. But you are forewarned.) We'll probably get through the summer without having to figure out what to read next. 

If I am honest, deciding to start summer break was more for me than anything. My children would have continued on with little fuss.