I'm telling you the kids and I are ready for school to be out. We love learning and reading and exploring. We love to talk about things like light refraction, Joshua and the Israelites not consulting God before making a treaty with Gibeon, and even grammar!  But, we are ready for things to slow down. To sleep in a bit, read without pushing ourselves to do so many pages a day of spelling, math, and grammar.  To explore something just because.

Which actually is the essence of why I homeschool, so we can be free to do all this.  Somewhere along the way lately, the shoulds of school and being at grade level have replaced the joy and it's something I intend to remedy next year.

For example, Wes and I are discussing the very normal 9th grade subjects he will need to cover. But, we're looking into texts, online lessons, books, etc. and lots of fun ways to cover them that don't mean hours of joyless reading of texts and fill in the blanks. Don't get me wrong, texts have a place but a steady diet of them means dullness, and an inability to retain much of what you've learned.

For the summer we're not going to quit learning, not by a long shot. I'm going to have the kids read the paper and discuss current events; keep a journal; choose educational programming to watch; read lots of books of their choice.  And learn that above all we learn so we can feel closer to God, the Author of all truth, and be able to live well in his world, and reach others.

After all, isn't that why we're here?

Today's workout:  Slim Series Tone it Up (total body weighted workout with a definite cardiovascular effect.)  I love doing my weight training with DVDs that also work my heart and lungs, like killing two birds with one stone. I also walked Rocky at 4pm when it was 88 degrees, yikes. The dog walks definitely need to take place earlier in the day or later at night, it was hot!


P.M.  10 Minute Solution Yoga, Yoga for Flexibility and Relaxation