I QUIT! And that's okay!

I came to a realization yesterday.

As much as I can rationalize the effectiveness and logic behind schooling during the summer, I hate it. This is our second year to do "summer school" or "year round schooling". And I have a lot reasons that look good on paper:

1) We will have an extremely busy fall. Schooling now will give me the flexibility in the fall to not worry so much about staying on schedule.

2) We live in the south. It is HOT here. We're going to be stuck inside anyway during part of the day. I might as well take advantage of the down time, right?

3) My son has asthma that acts up badly in the summer (thanks to the air quality in the afternoon). Coupled with reason #2, it just makes more sense.

4) It will give us more break time during the year (we usually take December off).

5) Hubby will be having surgery in September. Getting a head start now will help with stress later, right?

I'm sure I could come up with more reasons. But you know what? This is something I realized yesterday:

1) No matter how much of a "head start" we get in the summer, we will fall behind during the school year. We do every year. Even last year!

2) My intentions are always "enjoy the weather in the morning, school when it gets hot". But my kids and I all hate schooling in the afternoon. We'd rather be relaxing THEN. So, I end up schooling during the early hours, and then we are stuck inside doing nothing when it's super hot. Uhh.

3) When we take all of December off, we usually argue a lot. Nothing says Christmas like family stress and arguments, right???

And honestly. I need a break. I know my kids do, too. But, I just need a break from thinking about ways to pour information into my kids' heads. I want some down time. I want to be able to clean my house, work on a project, lay around and do nothing and feel FINE about that, etc.

I'm so sick and tired of trying to come up with a unit study, literature program, math lesson, etc. to have the kids do during "down time" so I don't feel guilty about a missed opportunity.

I've also realized that when I'm going "hyper homeschool mom" trying to always capitalize on every chance to teach the kids something...I'm just making them loathe the homeschool life.

Yes, every day is a day to learn.

But not every day needs to be **must make them learn**.

And some days can just be a regular ol' day.

And there isn't anything wrong with that!

So...I QUIT!

I'm putting the books away. I'm shutting up the class room (except for some cleaning/organizing I want to get done).

And...I'm going to enjoy the summer days with my kids doing absolutely nothing!

And maybe...just maybe when September rolls around this year, we will feel excited again. Because lately I feel like a flat tire.