I never really like this back to school writing assignment as a kid, and here I am as an adult happily writing about our summer! LOL!
Most homeschoolers I know don't really have a summer vacation. We are fortunate enough to have vacations all year round whenever we want to take them! This year, though, I took a summer vacation from school. Between a new baby, our usual summer activities, major changes in my husband's work schedule and life in general, things were just too chaotic to add formal schooling into the mix.
Of course, that didn't mean the learning stopped! Really, does it ever?
My eldest two (we'll call them Princess and Warrior since that's basically what their names mean) participated in the public library's annual summer reading program. At nearly 40 hours of combined reading time between the two, Princess took top reader award, and Warrior place 5th overall! Not bad for a little guy competing against the "big" kindergarten aged kids! In addition to doing so well with their reading, they each won perfect attendance prizes, and all participants received a prize just for signing up!
Princess also spent two weeks at Vacation Bible School. In June, she participated in our home church's program using the theme "Hometown Nazereth". What an awesome time she had learning about life for Jesus when he was a kid! The end of July brought our community wide VBS program put on by 3 different churches working together. Warrior joined her for this week and was so excited to be doing "big kid" things with his sister! They made a splash with a beach theme for the week as the two of them learned that no matter what they have a friend in Jesus, and they can always rely on Him.
Last but not least both Princess and Warrior took swim lessons at the public pool. This was such a great experience for each of them! Princess started out the summer fearful of having her face in the water. It was a real struggle for her to go under the water, but under the guidance of her wonderful teacher she made it into the big pool and started jumping off the diving board and fully submersed (even if for a second) in the deep end! I cannot tell you how proud I was of her immense bravery in conquering her fear!Warrior was a little bit different story. He is my water bug and had no problem jumping off the edge of the big pool and putting his face under the water from the very beginning. A couple of times he had Mama scared with his lack of fear of the water! It only took two days for him to be asking to go off the diving board, and he looked so tiny up there waiting to jump!
So it is with excitement that I say "hello" to a new school year and with many memories leave summer 2011 behind us.
