Regaining our rhythm

We are slowly regaining our rhythm and righting ourselves after a fairly hectic summer.

Except for the couple of weeks of vacation, the boys have spent most of the summer in camp at our favorite Parks and Rec center. I'm so grateful that they have a place to go where they feel safe and comfortable, and are kept busy and active through summer heat that wears me down. I would be totally daunted at the prospect of hiking 8 miles with twelve 5-7-year-olds in 95 degree plus weather, or casting off with a ton of kids in 25 or so canoes and kayaks. But the mainly college age staff is intrepid, and have given my kids summer adventures that I would never have been up for in this heat. It also gives my boys a small dose of some of the social aspects that they would encounter if they were enrolled in school. This has been both good and bad at times, but on the whole I think the exposure is great for them.

Now we are taking a couple of weeks to remember how to just be before starting up formally with school. We are finding it a bit challenging to move from the hectic pace of summer and more relaxed rules on screen time and bedtimes back to our more structured school year schedule. The first couple of days out of camp the boys struggled to figure out what to do. It is slowly coming back to them. Lego battles have ensued, a little bit of backyard baseball has taken place, and the older child has remembered all the wonderful books around him, and rekindled his affection for lazy days reading on the couch. Now if the heat will just subside, it will feel more like fall and we can all fall back into the autumn patterns I love so much.

This week we have worked on improving our learning space. We'll continue with that next week, and indulge in a week o' field trips before formally buckling down.

I can't wait.