A bit of malaise

Anyone else suffering a bit from not wanting to "do school"?

This week I've chosen an extremely relaxed approach to school rather than our usual semi-vigorous schedule in the mornings. It's been very hot. I've been patting myself on the back for deciding to put in central air last summer, which means we don't have to hide out in the basement, and cooking doesn't mean suffering. We still have the Birthday of the Day every morning (today's birthday: John Roebling) even though I haven't been writing it out in advance. I've been reading history and mythology to them, they've done piano and karate practice as usual, we did Candy Chemistry yesterday with a kit Madison got for her 5th birthday, we went on the Book Hike yesterday, and have been to the library twice. Ella and I have been weeding and watering the garden and observing what is growing and what has not yet sprouted despite our pleas.

(Oh, and last week right out in plain daylight we saw a mother deer right by the garden. I had images of our great garden plans being chomped to bits, and I so wanted to chase her away. But then, from behind the shed stepped a tiny fawn, not more than a month old, all spotted and beautiful and hesitant. It reached under its mother and started to nurse. "You go right ahead and munch on my radishes if you need to," I said to the mother deer, to the girls' vast amusement.)

Madison and I have had a lot of Frontier Team book discussion and editing. But no one has done official math other than some play math at the dinner table, no handwriting, no spelling, no grammar, no (official) logic. They've had karate, dance, and "Gym and Swim" lessons. A lot of things have gotten built while I've been reading to them: there's a whole Brio train setup in my dining room, we had the No Ends building set out for a while, and I think it's time to bring Zome back in for another try. Madison has been tearing through some new library Nancy Drews like a California wildfire. Ella has watched a bit more TV than I'd prefer, but I figure the worst thing an extra episode or two of "What Not To Wear" (her current obsession) will do is make her want to buy some high heels.

It's not the girls' malaise, you know, it's mine. They'd be perfectly happy with the structured learning that typified last week, when I was Super-Homeschooling-Writer-Mom. But I've mostly been working on my own stuff: the book (almost done with chapter 13, about to start the end game), and clients have needed things. Usually I'd be really into Kim's science discussions this week over at Kim's Play Place. I mean, it's really neat stuff! But my attitude, to my own horror, has been, "yeah, yeah, I should remember to read this sometime when I care about it." Yikes. The girls seem to go with the flow either way. But there's no denying the fact that they're not learning nearly as much as they would if they, you know, focused on educating themselves.

It's just so easy to rationalize my lassitude by saying, "They're ahead, they're ahead, don't worry..."

Anyway, we have two more official "weeks" of school, for which I will make a definite effort to be structured again. Then Madison has a week of drama camp and two weeks of engineering camp in quick succession, during which Ella and I will do school in the mornings, just the two of us. A relaxed version, I figure, focusing on getting those multiplication tables into her, and a lot of reading.