So Long, Summer

Today marked the end of our last week of summer break. On Monday, we begin our fourth year of homeschooling. I keep thinking that each year things will become more and more normal, with few surprises, but I'm usually wrong about that. This year, the surprise is that we feel very much ready to begin book work again. I didn't see that one coming.

We had an extended break this year, so I suppose that's part of the readiness for structure to our days. We began our summer holidays in early June in Nice, and Z was intent on finishing her book work before the trip, so we did double work for six weeks and thus had six extra weeks of non-structured learning. It has been lovely, really. The mornings have been slower, and Z has made strides in nearly every subject, just by virtue of being given time and space to figure things out on her own. Her curiosity is insatiable, and her desire to know more and do more is unquenchable.  She never stops learning, regardless of whether we are following curriculum plans or not.

But we really aren't cut out for full time unstructured learning. We've reached the point at which we both miss our mornings at the breakfast table, reading and discussing history, science, literature, and art. I miss having that kind of purpose, not to mention the joy of opening up a book to find out what new thing we will learn next. And so I bid a fond farewell to summer and look forward with anticipation to Monday. The books are waiting for us. I think I hear them calling our names.