I've been watching my friends' kids showing off their first-day-of-school clothes on Facebook all month now. Some of them were back to school the first week in August. Most will be back long before Labor Day.
They all looked nice and shiny, with new clothes and backpacks.
But you know what? I'm not quite ready for summer to be over yet. The weather is still nice. The kids are not bored yet (although a couple of them are getting there). And I have a lot on my plate right now with having to deal with 3 broken cars in the last month (none working yet), the school computers broken in the last week (where did I put that extra monitor?), and an upcoming trip to see Grandma and Grandpa as they return from 18 months living in Africa.
I had a homeschooling friend ask a couple of weeks ago, "When are you starting school?" "I don't know," I answered, "I haven't thought that far ahead. Gotta get my cars fixed first." "I haven't started planing yet, either," she confessed. "Glad I'm not the only one!"
One of the nice things about homeschooling in Colorado is that if I'm not ready for school to start yet, it doesn't have to. I get to set my own schedule. I have to meet the legal requirements still, notifying the district 2 weeks before we start, and getting in enough days and hours, but I can start when I want, take breaks when we need them, and completely be in charge of the school calendar so that it meets the needs of my family.
So we're not going back to school yet.
Summer isn't over, and we're not ready.
