Summer Plans

It's time to put a rough plan in place for what I want accomplished this summer.

We are probably going to finish up our schoolwork the first week of May. That's unless the kids get ultra-motivated to be done and double up on work.

We can't buy new curriculum and supplies through the correspondence school until July 1st. By the time I order stuff, receive it, and am able to prepare it for us to use, it will be late July at the earliest when we can start again.

It's not that I have a burning desire to start in the middle of summer. August is a beautiful month in Alaska and I want to take full advantage of the sunlight and good weather.

We will probably be on a modified schedule and we won't have any of our normal extracurricular activities until September, but we really have to get an early start this year.

Andy will be returning from Iraq in September and I want to have the flexibility to take time off to spend together when he gets back. Also, we will probably be moving in May of next year, so I need to make sure that we are completely done with school by then.

So, back to our summer plans.

We will have a much needed break from gymnastics, dance, art, Girl Scouts, and AWANA. I am very excited about this! It will free us up for other fun adventures.

Ellie and Kate are each going to a week of camp, which they are both looking forward to. Kate's is a day camp, so she will be coming home every night. She's not quite ready for the overnight experience yet.

The girls have plans to fill the greenhouse with lots of cool plants this year. Gardening should keep them busy with things to do. Planting, watering, weeding, and enjoying their harvest.

I would like to get out and enjoy the sunshine and fresh air as much as possible. We will take day trips to Pioneer Park, the Botanical Gardens, Creamer's Field, and maybe go panning for gold at one of the mines. I won't be making any long trips though. Driving a long distance in the Alaskan wilderness alone with the kids doesn't sound like a very good idea to me...

The kids will spend lots of time riding their bikes in the yard and maybe on the trails if I feel brave enough. I will spend a lot of time on my swing, watching them play.

I am thinking about putting Ellie in a week-long handicrafts class. They offer weaving, knitting, crocheting, and some others. She has been happily finger-knitting and starting to learn to crochet. I'm finding balls of yarn all over the house. My skills aren't good enough to teach her much more than she already knows though.

I plan on taking a lot of pictures and learning how to use Photoshop Elements.

I am hoping to work on some genealogy in the evenings.

I am going to give the kids nature journals when the snow melts and hopefully they will be full by the time snow falls again.

We might do a session of swimming lessons if they are offered on post. The kids have been absolutely begging to swim again and I can't take them all in the pool myself. Lessons are the only way that they can swim for now.

I will be doing some much needed Spring/Summer cleaning. It feels like a cave in here during the winter. I'm ready to air out the house and declutter a bit.

And last, but certainly not least, I will be preparing next year's schoolwork. I still haven't made the decision on what curriculum we will be using, but I know that I absolutely won't begin until I am prepared this time! Period. End of story.

What are you planning on doing this summer?