The joy of spring BREAK

This past week was Spring Break. And it was great.

As a homeschooler, I can pretty much do what I want with my schedule as long as my kids complete about the same number of school days as our local district does within a calendar year. The flexibility is really nice. Some homeschooling families choose to school year round- some schooling six weeks on, two weeks off, all year long. Others choose to follow a more traditional September-May school year. We fall somewhere in the middle.

 We had about a week of school in July last year where we focused heavily on writing skills, and will probably have a bit of school here and there over this coming summer as I see fit. I wouldn't exactly call our schedule "year round" but at the same time, I don't plan to take three solid months off over the summer. The kids got a week off in October because Tim and I went to a wedding out of town and they stayed with my parents. We actually started out Christmas break pretty late (December 23rd I think) because we were really close to finishing our reading curriculum and I wanted to get it done.

I've been keeping track of our days and I realized that if we continue at our pace, we'll be done with the required number of days the first week of May. I didn't originally plan to have Spring Break. But then I found out that Tim was going to be out of town for almost the entire week, and that our Enrichment Program would be off for the week, so I decided we needed a break too.

I'm really glad that I did! I personally needed time to not worry about school, and I know the kids enjoyed it too. We got together with family and friends, rode bikes, played outside, had a super lazy day of doing nothing, and just hung out. I also had time to schedule the 5 or 6 appointments I've had on my list for a while, which was a huge relief. I read a book and a half, tackled almost an entire season of Grey's, scrubbed the litter boxes in the sink downstairs, and went through the girls' clothes to see what they need for spring and summer. (Turns out Lydia has enough stuff to clothe four girls while Lexi had no shoes that fit and only one pair of shorts) I even cleaned the entire bathroom, including the baseboards.

Overall, it has been a productive, fun, chill week and I am glad we took a break. Breaks are refreshing. Taking a break from school allowed me to focus on other aspects of my life that really needed my attention. After not thinking about school for a week, I feel like I'll be ready to approach it again with fresh eyes and renewed energy over the weekend. And I think that will be good for all of us.

So I guess the moral of this post is: Whatever your job is, whatever you do with your time, don't forget to give yourself a break now and then to recharge. You might find it's just what you need. 

An Excess of Noise and Activity

I haven't written in a while! Life has been crazy- busy and noisy. The thought of writing something coherent has exhausted me.

This past week has been a real blur between Tim starting a new position at his company and having several evening obligations, a few of us having a random, short-lived stomach bug, me subbing, the girls having lots of activities, and just life screaming back into action after the break of Christmas.

I loved having some down time for Christmas. We spent days in our pajamas eating Oreo balls and watching TV. It was relaxing, but by the time it was over, we were all antsy ready to get back to the grind. I guess we maybe hit the ground running a little too fast, because this week has been exhausting.

I've made a few observations of activity level and how the family functions.

When we don't take the time to rest, we end up running on fumes. When we run on fumes, we aren't our best selves. I end up shouting more or attempting to hide in the bathroom more than necessary and the kids end up in tears over little things (such as a toilet paper tube boat and the last few notes of "My Bonnie") and in general, ugliness comes out.

When our days are filled with nonstop action and noise, we get so run down that we can't fully function anymore. We fall apart. We eat poorly. We don't keep up with the dishes, laundry or other household chores. Some of us suck our thumbs constantly. Others of us spread out every single item we own in a thin layer atop the carpet without actually playing with anything. Tim just looks tired. It's not the prettiest picture.

Despite running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I've found myself staying up way too late each night this week in pursuit of peace and quiet. The cycle is vicious. I stay up late reading or watching TV and enjoying my quiet alone time, which leads to me not getting enough sleep, which leads to me being grumpy the next day, and the whole thing repeats.

I'm going to attempt to slow things down next week. I'm going to try to keep us home a bit more so we can focus on the important things. I'm going to try to give myself time for a cup of coffee and a breather each afternoon so that I won't stay up so late. I'm going to get enough sleep so that I have the energy to get to work on the 3 or more blog posts I've been putting off for weeks!

Being busy is good. It is good to be active and involved and to spend time in meaningful activity. It is not good to be so busy that you can't function. Rest and time to process life are essential to sanity.

I think I'm going to pursue sanity a little bit harder.

This post was brought to you by coffee and an extremely helpful cat. 

Note: As I finished writing this post, Tim walked in the door two hours early- he's off for the rest of today as well as Monday. Thank you, Dr. King! Let the pursuit of peace begin.