Suddenly the summer is coming to a close. 

How can that be?  I feel like I still have a huge list of things that we were going to do, places we were going to explore, fun we were going to have.  And now I am scrambling to buy back to school supplies, socks that match, and clothing for my boys so that they do not have to go to school looking like deprived ragamuffins.  My daughter needs some back to school clothes also, but she is easy and fun to shop for.  I realize that in a few  years this will not be the case so I am enjoying it while I can.

This  is very unlike shopping for the boys who think they must always dress as though they are going to a sporting event.  As if they might at any time be required to run a marathon. In fact why bother showering, ever, because you might just get sweaty again.  Yeah, we are working on that.  And by working on it I mean me threatening to sell them to the gypsies if they come out of that shower dirty one more time. 

Or worse than selling them to the gypsies, I will come into the bathroom and supervise the showering, because clearly if you are coming out of the shower with dry hair and filth encrusted forearms you are not sure exactly how the whole water and soap thing works.

Right now we are at summers last gasp. 

We didn’t do anything this summer, at least not anything particularly noteworthy.  We hung out at home.  We went to more youth baseball games than should be allowed.  We swam in the pool and all the children are now proficient swimmers, something I had worried would never happen.  We made it a point to eat ice cream every single day.  Usually with chocolate syrup.   We ate enough hotdogs that we probably taste like hotdogs should you take a bite of our arms.  And those nitrites probably have us glowing in the dark.  We  ran through every sprinkler that was ever turned on in neighborhood, whether we knew who lived in the house or not. 

And maybe that is enough.  Maybe that is all a summer should be, a vast expanse of nothing stretching out for days.  Days that are blank canvases, that blend together.  Days where the biggest decision of the day is what color popsicle to eat.

I think purple today.

I have mentioned before that this is the first year that my children are going to school.  I know I have gotten quite a bit of email about our decision to send the kids to school and stop homeschooling.  It is funny, but it doesn’t seem like that big of a decision to our family.  When asked I have always said that I took it year by year.  Each year I would evaluate and see where we were and then make the decision about what was best for the children, for me, and for our family.  Up until this year that decision has always been to keep them at home.

This year, as most of you know, we moved across the country.  A huge life changing move for all of us.  My oldest son is going into high school and he has always expressed an interest in going to high school.  He wanted the school experience.  He wanted to play high school team sports.  He wanted the typical teenage social life.  Where we lived before this, going to the public high school was not really an option.  It simply wasn’t a good school.

When we moved, I made sure that we chose a house that was located in the best school district for all of the schools, but especially the high school.  We met people and talked to them about their experiences.  We visited the schools.  And when the children each individually decided that they wanted to try going to public school there really wasn’t a compelling reason to keep them home.  In fact, my 8 yr old son has some rather severe learning disabilities, (it is looking like something dyslexia related) and frankly for him going to school will give him the resources he needs rather than me driving him hither and yon for help that is simply out of my area of expertise.

Academically I have no worries about the children going to school.  Socially I have no worries either. Instead I worry about weird things.  Like will they know how to stand on line?  Will they know how to raise their hands to ask a question?   Will they know not to stand up and dance on their chair after they finish their math work?

Anyway, I feel like I am sort of clueless about this whole school thing.  Do I pack lunches in brown bags? What do kids wearto school?  I assume they need to wear actual clothes and not their pajamas like we do school in at home.  Would it be weird to drive to the school and peer in the windows at them?  And most important of all, will my high school aged son allow me take a photo of him getting on the bus his first day of school so I can finally have the “Baby’s First Day of School” photo for his baby book.  (I am kidding) (Not really, if he would allow it and it wouldn’t destroy any sort of social life for him I would totally be out there with the video camera)  (I’d probably be crying, too.  And waving.)

Oh, and the having a bedtime and getting up early in the morning might just be what kills all of  us.   We are a family that is used to staying up until midnight and sleeping in.  I am pretty sure schools have a thing about you being there on time.  Just a guess.