Fanatic News Flash -June

We did it!!! We survived the school year unscathed, and I survived my first year of teaching a high schooler! Completion is such a good feeling, and I am looking forward to some time off.…..who am I kidding? I’m actually looking forward to next year already! I can assure you, my kids are not saying the same thing!

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Plans, what plans?

Can I let you in on something you may have already figured out by now? I’m not much of a planner, and I have made no plans yet for our summer – with the exception of a vacation next month, (and not many details of that are planned either). No booklists, no activities, no set agenda for the day. Don’t get me wrong, I do have big ideas and goals to tackle this summer, but to be honest, I like the unstructured time for the first week or two off. And that’s where we’re at – four days into summer break. After that, I will put together some sort of plan, or else my summer will dwindle away, and I will wonder where the time has gone.

Currently, I am swimming in papers I did not organize throughout the year, and my nights look like a craft-nado hit my dining room table since I am still working on annual scrapbooks for the kids. Hmmmmmm, maybe there is something to planning after all. I’ll look a little more into that this summer. Thank goodness I have my Homeschoolminder to help me keep track of graded paper work. I was so good at staying on top of that – until February. I got strep throat and my daughter started driving. Things just haven’t been the same since. At least that’s what I’m blaming my slackness on.

Plans that are just ideas

Ok, so I do have some plans, they are just not on paper yet.

One of my plans for the summer is enjoyable reading for myself. I have chosen three books, in addition to my Bible, and a couple of others as part of current book clubs I’m part of.

• Can’t Make This Stuff Up by Susannah B. Lewis – if you’ve ever seen her on Facebook, she will make you laugh so hard! Susannah is so relatable, and you never know what she’s going to say next!
• Not on My Watch: How to Win the Fight for Family, Faith and Freedom by Elizabeth Johnston. I’ve recently discovered her on social media, and sometimes you just need to get fired up.
• Losing London by Joey Jones – a local author who had a booth set up next to me at a local festival. I love stories of familiar places that I call home, and this one sounds captivating!

Of course I enjoy reading homeschooling books, and I will get an earlier start on Blueprint Homeschooling. I wrote a review about it last summer, and it is one of the best homeschooling books I’ve ever read! Another helpful book already on my shelf is The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Teens. This is a fantastic reference book for homeschooling middle and high school.

I also have summer plans to be more intentional about our family time. Last month, a few unexpected changes took place. We chose to use that to strengthen our family time. We watched movies together (which we rarely do). My husband and I have been long time fans of the inspirational character of Rocky, so we thought it was time the kids were introduced to Rocky Balboa. They are fans now as well. I also reviewed Life of Dog , a family friendly movie for teens for the Review Crew last week.

I purchased a couple of new family games, and most importantly my husband led us in an after dinner Bible study. We took a close look at the character of Daniel, and how he handled life at his young age. I plan to share some notes with you that your family could get a lot out of as well when it comes to teenagers.

What’s to come this summer?

At the time of this writing, your guess is as good as mine! I want my blog to be helpful, encouraging, fun, and informative to homeschooling families and soon to be homeschooling families who just don’t know it yet. Be on the lookout for more reviews, day trips, fun learning activities with teens, printables (I just made an end-of-the year survey you can find here), current events, and whatever else comes to mind. If you have something you’d like to see on the blog, or a question you have, I’d love to connect with you!