I cannot believe I am writing this, but I am starting to have feelings of......ahem......looking forward to summer break.
No, I haven't forgotten to take my medication, and I have been getting enough sleep, and I am not having a break with reality of the Beautiful Mind variety.
As much as I love routine, I am also tired of the school routine at present, both my teaching routine and my kids' homework and projects and paperwork and activities. I am ready for the routine of summer....visiting the pool and playing outside and picking berries/fruit and going to the beach.
For those who would comment on my public dissatisfaction with snow days, summer break differs tremendously. It is not a random event for which one can't prepare. It is not being trapped inside the house with kids who thought they were supposed to go to school and are now losing IQ points on the Xbox and who WILL COMPLAIN MIGHTILY when they are forced to go back to school, especially if there is still a flake of snow on the ground.
I am already making my mental list of things I can do with the kids and ways to organize the day. The weather rarely makes it impossible to go outside in summer. Even in the most stifling of heat, we can head to the pool for a few hours.
Of course, I won't get my beloved 6 hours of Carrie time a week for awhile, but the kids feel a little easier than they used to. We're not trapped by nap-schedules, and at some point I finally, finally relaxed around the kids. It was so gradual and subtle I didn't even notice that it happened. I only noticed the lack of worrying.
I used to feel, every second of every day, so tense when my children were left to their own devices. I felt like at those moments I should be engaging them, working with them, enhancing their experiences, building their knowledge. Call it "Third Child Disengagement" or whatever, but not only do I need to leave them to their own devices, they find each other far more funny and entertaining than I ever am.
So having the summer months.....the routine of summer with me planning some fun activities for us.....is a welcome break from the rigor of the school routine.
No, I haven't forgotten to take my medication, and I have been getting enough sleep, and I am not having a break with reality of the Beautiful Mind variety.
As much as I love routine, I am also tired of the school routine at present, both my teaching routine and my kids' homework and projects and paperwork and activities. I am ready for the routine of summer....visiting the pool and playing outside and picking berries/fruit and going to the beach.
For those who would comment on my public dissatisfaction with snow days, summer break differs tremendously. It is not a random event for which one can't prepare. It is not being trapped inside the house with kids who thought they were supposed to go to school and are now losing IQ points on the Xbox and who WILL COMPLAIN MIGHTILY when they are forced to go back to school, especially if there is still a flake of snow on the ground.
I am already making my mental list of things I can do with the kids and ways to organize the day. The weather rarely makes it impossible to go outside in summer. Even in the most stifling of heat, we can head to the pool for a few hours.
Of course, I won't get my beloved 6 hours of Carrie time a week for awhile, but the kids feel a little easier than they used to. We're not trapped by nap-schedules, and at some point I finally, finally relaxed around the kids. It was so gradual and subtle I didn't even notice that it happened. I only noticed the lack of worrying.
I used to feel, every second of every day, so tense when my children were left to their own devices. I felt like at those moments I should be engaging them, working with them, enhancing their experiences, building their knowledge. Call it "Third Child Disengagement" or whatever, but not only do I need to leave them to their own devices, they find each other far more funny and entertaining than I ever am.
So having the summer months.....the routine of summer with me planning some fun activities for us.....is a welcome break from the rigor of the school routine.
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