Which season is it?

It has officially been spring for almost one full month. I know it's not officially summer until June 2020, but we tend to think that "summer" begins once the school year is over. When I was a child our school year ended right around Memorial Day. Summer break for my kids usually begins in early May, but this year because so many field trips were cancelled and because we've been home almost 24/7 for a month, we finished earlier than planned. Our last day was April 15. The kids opted to do extra work in some subjects to make that possible. For example, Nadia and Ian did four lessons in Liver (Life of Fred math textbook) on Wednesday. It feels strange in April to say we've started our summer break, but it's true. What makes it feel even stranger is it snowed yesterday and today. Yesterday it didn't stick to the ground, but it did today. Snow might be pretty to look at in January, but I don't have that opinion of snow in April. I mowed the lawn and power washed one side of the house last Saturday. I haven't really been outside since then. I'm longing for warmer weather so I can get back in the habit of walking. I ordered some new sneakers online because I was bleeding through the sock and soaking the inside of my right sneaker in blood. The sight of my sneaker grossed my kids out, ha ha! I made sure to put on band-aids every time I went for a walk after that happened. I have never bought sneakers online before. I always felt the need to try shoes on because I don't always buy the same size. Hopefully these new sneakers will fit.

The kids have a list of activities they can pick between to earn screen time, and there are limits on how much screen time they can earn. Nadia really wanted to take pre-algebra next year, but when I gave her the placement test, the recommendation was that she take Math 7. So she decided she wanted to do both during the next school year. She started Math 7 yesterday, and she's already completed five lessons. It's completely her choice. She's chosen to do math, practice the piano (with a guinea pig on her lap), and read the last two days. She's been reading on the Kindle recently. She really, really prefers to read an actual book, but when the library is closed for an indefinite length of time, she is willing to read library books on the Kindle. Ian has practiced the piano for at least an hour a day the past two days. He also has done one puzzle each day and read a library book on the Kindle. Yesterday Oliver did a typing lesson, read a book about snakes to me, and did a puzzle. Today, he didn't want as much screen time so he only did two puzzles. Ian built a new Lego set that came in the mail today. Nadia still memorizes 3 Bible verses a day. It doesn't earn her turns, but I do give her $1 for every 10 verses she memorizes. I also give Nadia and Ian $1 for every 1,000 pages they read. Oliver is expecting to get $1 in the near future as he has a loose tooth.

Summer break means I spend more time planning for the next school year and doing projects around the house. I'm not putting any dates on the lesson plans for the upcoming year. I usually plan for 150 days and the other 30+ are usually field trip days. Hopefully we WILL be able to go on some field trips during the 2020-21 school year. It takes me many, many hours to plan out all the subjects for three kids. Today I worked on Bible. We read through the whole Old Testament together four years ago and the New Testament three years ago. I've decided this second time around to take two years to read through the OT. The plan I devised today for the 2020-21 school year is to read Genesis through 2 Samuel plus Psalms. We will also use a global prayer guide from Voice of the Martyrs and a book called Window on the World, which I intended to use 5 years ago but didn't actually use. We'll also be learning about various religions (Mormonism, Judiasm, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Jehovah's Witness, etc. ) as well as praying for a specific country or people group most days. I have plenty of time to invest in lesson planning since we're home all the time! I'm not sure whether I should include resources from the library that I can only obtain if they reopen. In the past that never crossed my mind, but considering the libraries have been closed for a month and haven't yet determined a date when they will reopen, it's a valid concern. I did decide this week to scrap our plans to go to MD/DC next month after I saw the Blue Angels show was cancelled and Ford's Theatre extended their closure. Hopefully we'll make it down there in June or July, but I will probably reschedule many of the places we planned to visit for 2021.