School is OUT! Kind of...

Hooray! The Emperor is home for the summer!

And I sent in my June portfolio for review!

The question I get asked most frequently (after, "Are they all yours?") is, "Do you home school in the summer?"

It's a bit of a tough question to answer.

On the one hand, it would be hard to go a day in life without learning stuff, let alone a whole season. On the other hand, I'm sure the random stranger asking thinks of school as kids sitting and listening and writing quietly. In that case, I'm not sure they would ever recognize our school as being "in session!"

In practice, summer is special because the Emperor is home. We are more relaxed because we're together. (That's a nice way to say that the problem with being married to the most fascinating person you've ever met, is that you tend to pay more attention to him and less to the kids. They enjoy the relative neglect enormously and use it to get into all kinds of trouble and adventures. They also end up with new interests when left more to their own devices. Not a good plan year round, but a very pleasant way to spend the summer.) We do a lot more road trips and field trips. The Emperor often chooses something special to teach the kids (this year it's Spanish and piano). When it gets too hot to do anything, we do more books and writing and math. When the weather is fine, we go out and play. It's usually "low tide" until the kids get bored, and then we do more stuff!

I have found that keeping a bare bones schedule (we pray a little, work a little, learn a little every day) keeps everybody happy and prevents an unhappy reentry into high tide.