Simplified Summer

Some phases of life are really busy while others are much more laid back.  Usually my favorite season of the year is winter; not because I love snow so much, but because life slows down.  My kids only play soccer at this point, which is a spring/fall thing.  We end up staying home a lot more due to snowy roads.  There's just something about winter that is peaceful.

Unfortunately, this winter wasn't like that at all.  We were busy, busy.  Running all over the place.  Co-ops, outings, library runs, grocery shopping.  All I know is that I got to the end of winter and felt more tired than before.  Then I thought, Spring.  Maybe spring will be better.  So far, not so much.

We always seem to be going somewhere.  Some weeks it's hard to find the time to get to the kids' school work.  We always manage to get it done eventually, but lately the kids are working right up until when Hubby gets home from work where before we were almost always done with school by lunch time.

And so it is little wonder that I am feeling burned out and stressed out about school.  I've talked about schooling through the summer, but there's just no way.  My brain is toast.  I need a vacation.

But then there is the part of me that just can't let it go.  A whole summer with no school work at all?!  I can't even imagine.  Since David's very first year of school, back when he was in a Young 5s program, once summer hit, I had him (and eventually the girls) doing math and reading every day.  Some summers I did more than that, but always at least math and reading--one lesson of math and an hour of reading.

When I am torn about a decision, I turn to the Lord and ask Him for wisdom.  So I prayed about our summer and what I should do.  Of course there aren't any verses in the Bible that say, "Thou shalt make thy children do math and reading every day."  (Wouldn't that be nice if there was.)

On Mother's Day, my Grandma gave me an Amazon gift card.  I was looking for something else for my kids when a book popped up in my recommendations box.  It's a book I've read before and used years ago back during that first summer that I started summer schooling my kids.  It's Pocketful of Pinecones: Nature Study With the Gentle Art of Learning by Karen Andreola.

I glanced at the book sitting there on the screen and thought about the time when I used it before.  Back in the day when we used to do more living education versus book education.  When we used to take nature walks armed with our field guides and magnifying glasses and nature journals.  When we went on walks with the sole purpose of listening to birds sing, collecting and identifying leaves, and classifying clouds.  You know, back when homeschooling was fun rather than a chore to trudge through.  Back when my kids liked to learn and begged to do school instead of whining and writing "I hate school!" on their math worksheets.  In the days when I let them use glue and glitter and make a messy project out of the "specimens" they collected on our nature walks without thinking about the cleanup.

Ding, ding, ding!!!

I bought that book and made the decision that this summer I am sticking with my no-school decision, except I am changing it to no-formal-school.  We're really going to toss the workbooks.  I'm really going to let my kids go an entire summer without doing math.  I'm not going to think about the summer slump, the regression, and the review work we're going to have to do come September.  I'm putting that out of my mind.

Instead, we're going to dust off our field guides, nature journals, walking shoes and glue sticks and we're going to spend our summer focusing on nature.  Lots of nature walks, nature studies, books about nature, drawing in nature journals, making messy projects utilizing the things the kids collect, sitting on blankets in the grass watching clouds go by as we listen for and identify the animals around us.

Our winter and spring may be/have been crazy, but I am putting my foot down on our summer.  When this summer is over, I want us to be relaxed and ready to start a new school year.  I am not going to worry about test scores, I am not going to worry about my kids learning enough, I am not going to think about curriculum and if there's something better out there that I've missed.  Nope, not going to do it.  In fact, I am going to go so far as to BOX UP my curriculum catalogs and hide them in the basement until fall.  I might even do the same with our school books.  Just so I won't be tempted.

So, if you are local and are up for a walk in the woods, shoot me an email or give me a call and we can set something up.  Because we are going to be taking a lot of walks in the woods this summer.  And a walk in the woods is always more fun with friends.

Homeschool Burnout

Examining the piano mechanics rather than practicing for his lesson

I remember being a kid sitting in school during the month of May wondering if the school year would ever end.  The second half of May and the first week of June were always pure torture.  Don't even get me started on the years when multiple snow days resulted in the school year being extended.

Upon receiving my college diploma, I thought my days of "end of the school year" burnout were over.  But that was before homeschooling entered my world.

I have a horrible, mind-numbing, uninspired case of homeschool burnout.  I am ready for this school year to be done.  Done, I tell you.  Every year I have these grand plans to school year round; but by mid-May, there is nothing left in me to make it happen.  I just want to pack up the school books, end the feuds (wars) over math and other unfavored school subjects, and kick the kids outside while I get to work digging out my very neglected house.

Sitting and watching the river

I want to get out into the sunshine--working on my garden, going to the park, vacationing to the lake house, swimming, taking walks in the woods.

I have read a lot of studies about the necessity for children to get lots of time out in nature both for their cognitive and developmental growth.  I fully support those studies and regularly let my children loose on the woods behind our house.

But where is the study about adults needing lots of time out in nature?  Extended time to think about nothing beyond what that fluffy cloud looks like.  No one talks about the effects of a 40 hour work week stuck in a cubicle under artificial light.  Or of being stuck inside the house all day schooling your kids and cleaning the house.  About the mind numbing effects of year round work.  Because I am done.  I need a mental health break.  And I'm pretty sure my Hubby would love one, too, if only his work was more cooperative.

Learning just how long a giraffe tongue is

If I ruled the world, I would institute summer vacation for everyone, not just kids.  The whole country would go on holiday for at least three weeks, staggered of course to allow for businesses to keep running.  It could be real vacations or just stay-cations.  But a mandatory, extended break from the daily grind.

Watching worms in the gutter

So if you have heard me say that we will be continuing school through the summer, you can just disregard that message.  School is ending the first week of June and I will not be picking the books back up until the middle of August, possibly not until after Labor Day.  I might not even require my kids to do math at all this summer like I normally do.  Just lots of lots of free reading--in their beds, in the living room, on a blanket outside in the sun, up in a tree.  Wherever they want to sit with a fun, non-educational, non-required, fluffier than marshmallow fluff book.  Because that's what I'm going to be doing this summer.

Mamma Belly Progress Report

Earth Milk--My new favorite drink

Today marks the end of my two week experiment of daily exercising my transverse stomach muscles to see if it would shrink my belly.  When I started the experiment, I took measurements of my stomach and checked myself for a diastasis muscle separation.

I began with a three finger separation between my stomach muscles.  Today the gap is one finger which is right where it should be.  As for my waist circumference, I lost 2 inches from the area 3 inches above my belly button and 1 inch right at my belly button.  Pretty impressive results considering how easy the exercise video I used is.  Ten minutes of really easy exercises that don't even seem like they will make a difference.

I thought about ending the exercises right here.  I closed the gap and lost some inches.  Mission accomplished.  But then I started wondering if another two weeks of faithful exercising would make even more of a difference.  So I am going to try it and see what happens.

Before

After-2 weeks later

In the mean time, I had to buy new shorts because my old ones were too saggy baggy.  And my shirts are starting to hang on me--not my most favorite look.  I've been trying on my shirts that were too tight before only to discover they fit now.  Woohoo!

This week I am doing something called a Fuel Cycle.  This is where you eat all S (high protein, higher fat, low carb) meals for 3 days, then all fuel pull meals (high protein, low fat, low carbs) for 2 days, and then E meals (high protein, 45 grams or less of carbs, and low fat) for 2 days.  And then repeat for another week.  This is to help rev up my metabolism and get it burning all my fat stores even faster.

The S days are even stricter than Atkins induction--no nuts, no seeds, only limited cheese (otherwise no dairy at all), non-starchy vegetables, and no fruit.  When I tried the Atkins diet, I remember feeling like poo during the induction.  But apparently my diet has already been low enough in carbs that I have been energized the last three days eating such a carb restricted diet.  My brain fog and mid-day tiredness have disappeared.

I admit that it seems weird to think that I need to eat MORE fat.  I eat a meal and realize it was rather low in fat, so I eat a skinny chocolate covered coconut crack bar for the fat.  They taste a lot like Mounds Bars.  Next time I'm going to add almonds to make them Almond Joy bars.  It helps keep me full and satisfied.  You would think that all the extra fat would make me gain weight; but the opposite is true.  I lost 3 pounds after the first two days.  And no, it wasn't water weight since I lost all of that a month ago when I first started the THM diet.

Tomorrow I start the Fuel Pull days.  I admit I am most nervous about these days.  Low fat and low carb.  I have a list of food choices and I am confident I can do this without feeling hungry.  I will just load up on lean white meats, egg whites, fat free dairy (plain Greek yogurt and 1% fat cottage cheese), salad and other non-starchy veggies.  And I can't forget my new favorite drink, Earth Milk.  Even if it glows bright green and looks...suspicious, it actually tastes pretty good considering it's basically blended up leaves with a few other ingredients (this batch is spinach and parsley).