Didn't mean to be gone so long!
For the first time in a few years we're taking a real break from academics for the summer. We're having a lot of out of town company this summer, plus we're planning a trip to Mike's grandmother in Georgia for later this month, and we're hoping to make it to Boston in August to visit my best friend whom I have not seen in nearly three years!

Also, I've had a few rough years with home schooling and I wanted to take a nice break so I could start back refreshed after a couple of months off. In the last three years we have had two babies and moved two times. I keep trying to figure out why I've been so tired and disorganized lately. Do you suppose this might have anything to do with it?

Speaking of being disorganized, the other thing I've been doing for the past month is trying to work up a schedule for me and the kids. When I was expecting my 4-and-a-half-year-old (btw, today is Grace's half-birthday!) somebody told me about Managers of Their Homes, a scheduling help especially for homeschooling moms with lots of little blessings running around. It was a big help and I used it up until my almost-three-year-old was born, at which point I, um, quit being Organized. So a few weeks ago I pulled the book out and started re-reading it, ordered a new scheduling kit, and came up with a summer schedule which we started using this Monday.

The big thing I have trouble with is motivating my kids to do their chores, so I arranged the schedule with blocks of free time following the blocks of chore time. This motivates the kids to get their work done so they can have free time, and it reminds me not to let them play when they still have work to do. So far it is working nicely!