Summer is Not Over

I just saw a naked toddler and a topless boy sprint past my window, and Boy Two is around the block with a gang of neighbors playing. A couple weeks ago, I was again silently bemoaning the loss of an outdoor culture, but as if in answer to my prayer, a ton of new neighborhood kids materialized for summer fun. The weather is warm (not so much today but yesterday it was), the bike trails are full of grasshopper carnage, and yet, I keep hearing people say, "I can't believe summer is over."

Umm, What? I have a calender. I get one every March or April when I decide that this year I will be organized and on top of stuff. My calender says its mid-summer. I think there's five weeks left, but if we're going to define our seasons by when school boards tell us to, then, I guess yes, summer is over. Fuck the solstice, fuck the equinox, Earth cycles have ceased to have meanings now that we have school boards.

(Duly noted that summers off are only relevant when kids had to work the fields, but then people should say, "wow, I can't believe school is starting in the middle of summer. Things have sure changed since I was kid," instead of "Summer's over.")

I have a point. I'm getting there. School starts on Monday, and we will be homeschooling. (yea!!)

Now, that the yea!!! is out of the way (and now that I have stopped clapping), I have to admit that we have made this decision without addressing a few key issues.

A) Money: we seem to have enough at the moment. (I doubled what I make so that helps, but I'm never sure how steady my earnings will be), but not having any benefits (vacation, health insurance, etc.) is a pain in the ass. And we haven't addressed the fact that I need to get a career so that eventually the man can retire from the stove.

B) There's really just A, but in regard to B, I'll wrap up my so-called midlife crisis in another post in case you're dying to hear how it all ended.  

I have a goal for this year, and that is to have a schedule. There seems to be a fine line between unschooling and sitting around all day with our cocks out watching TV and eating Cheetos. (Well, that would never happen becuase we canceled the cable and we don't eat fake cheese, but you get the point). I just need to draft a little schedule that keeps us busy enough but not too busy. I'm a firm believer that if the boys are busy playing all day then that's what they need to do, but if they're bored then we need to add a little more.

Boys One and Two are going to a one day school on Mondays, and I'm trying to find an affordable place for Boy Three to go that day too. Then, the older boys will have Karate Tues, Thurs, and Saturdays so that will suck up some time. The rest of the schedule looks like this 3 hours of free play followed by 20 minutes of reading practice. It should work. We'll see how it goes.

Boy One has just walked in and metaphorically slapped me in the face with a heap'o'whining so maybe it's all a mistake. Maybe I should just stick them on the school bus for what's been referred to as "thirteen years of feeling socially inadequate" all while learning very little. OR maybe, I'll feed him a sandwich and then see where we are.