Well, "week 1" of summer was really Memorial Day (nice!) before a full day of work (for teachers) on the Tuesday, and then 20 minutes of work on Wednesday ("Report Card Day"), followed by a few days of at-home organizing and resting (and reading!).
Then, this "week 2" of summer is Chad's basketball camp -- all morning for the youngin's (ours included, along with nephews Nathan, Ethan, and Brooks) for Monday through Wednesday, and then all evening for the HS guys through Friday. SO, our "summer routine" has been planned to begin next week -- Monday the 13th -- wherein the kids have daily checklists of things to accomplish, customized to their academic needs for either review and/or instruction and personality and hobbies. It's really just a structure on paper to make sure a handful of things get done everyday with lots and lots of free time left for what summer should be -- sleeping, lounging, running around in the sun, eating popsicles . . .
"So, any big plans for the summer, Sherry?" I always fumble with random nonsense when acquaintences engage me in this small talk, because there is nothing grand in our seasonal plans that makes for a simple, short, cheerful answer, but we've got so much in the works that I don't even know where to begin. I don't know that any person happening casually by really wants to hear, "Reading improvement and math instruction, soccer or softball or dance or running, watering and harvesting garden vegetables and watching sunflowers grow, visiting towns in Illinois where grandparents live, scrap-booking (or at least better organizing the years of things deemed album-worthy), talk with my sister and my sister-friends, read books and watch movies and add a greater number of interesting media pieces to my teaching repertoire, continue to follow the minutia of the Haitian consentment process in anticipation of a summertime adoption finale, hope for a longshot of another sighting and update regarding the two children we still love who remain in Haiti, allow time to progress on the journey of healing from the trauma our family experienced January 2010 through January 2011, do as all teachers do -- catch up on some items put off during the 9 intense months of the school year, teach the kids some new chores, visit with friends, talk with our two soon-to-be-middle-schoolers about some topics we need to revisit in more detail, fix stuff around the house, finish details from the home addition of two years ago, teach kids some more "adult" table manners, try out the Indian Restaurant up the block, swim lessons, Zoo Crew, park programs, library sesssions, piano . . . "
See, nobody wants to hear that for an answer. So, I usually just say "Oh, you know, kids' stuff and catching up, and we're going to Chicago for three days in July."
Then, this "week 2" of summer is Chad's basketball camp -- all morning for the youngin's (ours included, along with nephews Nathan, Ethan, and Brooks) for Monday through Wednesday, and then all evening for the HS guys through Friday. SO, our "summer routine" has been planned to begin next week -- Monday the 13th -- wherein the kids have daily checklists of things to accomplish, customized to their academic needs for either review and/or instruction and personality and hobbies. It's really just a structure on paper to make sure a handful of things get done everyday with lots and lots of free time left for what summer should be -- sleeping, lounging, running around in the sun, eating popsicles . . .
"So, any big plans for the summer, Sherry?" I always fumble with random nonsense when acquaintences engage me in this small talk, because there is nothing grand in our seasonal plans that makes for a simple, short, cheerful answer, but we've got so much in the works that I don't even know where to begin. I don't know that any person happening casually by really wants to hear, "Reading improvement and math instruction, soccer or softball or dance or running, watering and harvesting garden vegetables and watching sunflowers grow, visiting towns in Illinois where grandparents live, scrap-booking (or at least better organizing the years of things deemed album-worthy), talk with my sister and my sister-friends, read books and watch movies and add a greater number of interesting media pieces to my teaching repertoire, continue to follow the minutia of the Haitian consentment process in anticipation of a summertime adoption finale, hope for a longshot of another sighting and update regarding the two children we still love who remain in Haiti, allow time to progress on the journey of healing from the trauma our family experienced January 2010 through January 2011, do as all teachers do -- catch up on some items put off during the 9 intense months of the school year, teach the kids some new chores, visit with friends, talk with our two soon-to-be-middle-schoolers about some topics we need to revisit in more detail, fix stuff around the house, finish details from the home addition of two years ago, teach kids some more "adult" table manners, try out the Indian Restaurant up the block, swim lessons, Zoo Crew, park programs, library sesssions, piano . . . "
See, nobody wants to hear that for an answer. So, I usually just say "Oh, you know, kids' stuff and catching up, and we're going to Chicago for three days in July."
No comments:
Post a Comment
Civil dialogue with signed comments welcome!