Hot Dog, It's Summertime!

Before I had kids, I prayed that God would give me nerds.  Nerds are much easier to raise than the cool, popular kids.  (Dear family, you can stop laughing.  I am aware that the chances of Hubby and I conceiving a cool, popular kid are slim to none.)  My prayers have been answered in spades.

Today is the first full day of summer break for my kids.  Yesterday they spent the day swimming at their friends' houses.  (Did you know a law has been passed that if you have a pool you must have a pool party on the last day of school?  I spent over an hour picking my kids up all over town at their different parties.)  Today we, meaning me, decided to stay home.  A day to relax, play, read, enjoy the fabulous weather.  You'll never guess what my kids chose to do.

For almost every minute since breakfast they have been playing school.  Still are, actually.  It's almost nine o'clock at night, and they are in the basement taking a test.
 
The sad thing is, I knew it was going to happen.  They have done this every single year since Buttercup started school.  (Phoenix didn't come up with it when he started school.  He's not really the leader type.  And so you all know, because he would be just a bit irritated if I didn't let you know, he stopped playing school a couple of years ago.)

Buttercup is always the teacher, which isn't surprising.  She's always the boss/ringleader of every organized activity they do. 

A few minutes ago, when Hubby interrupted their play to tidy up the house, Buttercup informed me that they weren't doing real school.  They weren't doing worksheets or anything like that.  They are doing brain teaser type things.  A totally different, more fun version of school.

Yeah, still nerdy.

I'm good with it, though.  Thrilled even.  My day could not be easier.  Buttercup even takes care of lunch.  At 12:30 she became the lunch lady, making their grilled cheese "hot lunch" option. 

During Religion/Music class she put in a CD of a children's bible.  They listened to the stories and sang the songs when it was time.

Turken is loving school the most, seeing as he's never been to school.  He is ridiculously excited to start preschool in the fall, and is trying hard to catch up to the big kids.  At one point today, he took the lead and "read" his new magazine to Cuckoo.

It was one of the cutest things I ever saw.  (Notice the Cars lined up next to Cuckoo?  He was reading to them as well.)  A few times he stopped to quiz Cuckoo.  "Do you know what kind of feather this is?" he asked.  Cuckoo would answer, "A black one."  "No, it's a helicopter.  Do you know what this is?"  "No."  "Me either." 

Have no fear, this won't last long.  By tomorrow afternoon school will close for the summer.  Besides the fact that we have a huge soccer tournament this weekend, with 15 games in the next three days, we put together a long list of things they want to do this summer.

At breakfast I asked them what we should do with our last, real summer break.  Once Phoenix heads to high school, summers won't be the same.  Here is what they want to do:

build a fort
play Hunger Games
geocache, with and without friends
get together with our friends that moved away
swim
one-day road trip
find a pioneer camp
find a place to do an obstacle course
picnic
play tennis
play baseball
have a pajama day
have a waterballoon/watergun fight
play tag in the dark
see a meteor shower
camp out
go to the zoo
go to a zoo besides ours
have a craft day
go to a lake
day trip with our old neighbors

Because I have teens now, who would sleep until noon every day and thus prevent us from doing most of these things, we, meaning me, came up with our new routine.  The plan is in place to make sure we do everything on the list, but also to make sure our chores get done and the house continues to stand.

Each day I will make sure everyone is out of bed by 9:00.  We will eat breakfast, do our normal bed-making, teeth-brushing, room-tidying, dress-getting, then do the chore of my choice.  Some days they will each have an individual chore, like clean a bathroom.  Some days it will be a group job, say working in the garden for an hour.   Once the chores are done, the day is free to do as we wish, be it something on the list or just hang out at home.

The days of having all of my kids with me, wanting to do things with me, are numbered.  High school sports, activities, and friends are just around the corner.  (Phoenix is going to be in eighth grade in the fall!!)  I am going to take advantage of every single day we have.

Because nerds are my kind of people.