Beautiful Rain and Scheduling Decisions

Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

I'm so thankful that we didn't get any of the severe weather that was predicted to head our way today. You just never know what's going to pop up during a spring storm in East Texas! Luckily, we were blessed with a peaceful Sunday and a nice steady rain. Our beautiful lakes and rivers are on the rise, the grass and trees seem greener than ever, our little garden is putting on a show and the smell of sweet jasmine hangs heavy in the air. I know this bliss is fleeting, so I hope to savor every moment. Before long, we will be driven back inside by mosquitoes the size of hawks and temperatures hotter than the hinges of the devil's door, but for now we intend to enjoy every moment of wonderful we can get.

After considering the brutal summer we are sure to have, we've made a decision regarding our homeschooling schedule. We have decided to try year-round schooling, which sounds a lot more intense than it actually is. We won't be adding additional days to our school year, we'll simply be incorperating more frequent, but shorter, breaks. Instead of taking off three straight months in the summer, we'll distribute those weeks throughout the year. So when the temperature soars, we can take refuge indoors and handle a lot of school business. When the weather is too beautiful to be stuck inside, we can take more time to relax, play, explore and enjoy our more beautiful seasons.

Another factor in our decision, is that children lose a lot of important information over the summer and must spend the beginning of each new school year reviewing the previous year's work. By arranging our schedule to include several short breaks, instead of one long vacation, I hope to strengthen the kids' retention and avoid wasting a lot of precious time in review.

I'm still new to all of this, so it's very possible that in the future I may look back on all of these early ideas and have a good laugh at myself for thinking I have it all figured out! But for now, it all makes sense to me, so it's full steam ahead! Fingers crossed.