Where Has the Time Gone?

We have reached our finish line for this school year. For some reason, I don't feel the usual relief. This is the first year schooling the boys at home that I didn't constantly count the days to the end. I think that has a lot to say about our attitude now that we are homeschooling vs. cyberschooling. I'll have more to say about that in next week's post. I plan to do my typical yearly summary then. For now, I want to share a few things about our trip this week and some of our plans for summer.

On Monday, we made our long awaited trip to The Frost Entomological Museum. At the last minute, my husband was able to take some time off and come with us. That made it especially nice for me. Both boys enjoyed the visit, but JT was definitely in his element. He asked our graduate student tour guide about the kinds of things he should study in order to prepare for a degree in entomology. He found out that Ian received his Bachelor's degree in Biology, then continued his studies, specializing in entomology. JT did mention that he has been studying Latin roots in order to be ready for all those scientific names. First we spent some time in the actual museum looking at the displays of insects from around the world. Then, as a special treat, we were taken to another building to see live specimens. EM got to hold a millipede, JT held both a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach and an Australian Walking Stick. All in all, the trip was a great wrap up for our year.

As far as summer plans go, the boys and I had a talk on Tuesday about the things we would like to do. I had them help me make a list of day trips we could make. We also decided that we would spend morning hours outside as often as possible. After lunch, we will be sure to get in some reading time and only then move on to using computers or watching movies. JT has been looking through a new cookbook, planning to try some new recipes this summer. EM wants to keep working on a kit we bought to build an electric motor boat. JT will be continuing his computer programming projects and EM will be doing his eye therapy three times a week on the computer, as well as using his Earobics program weekly.

I think summer looks like it might have just as much learning going on as our school year. It seems like the longer we homeschool, the less we differentiate between 'school' and 'non-school' time. Learning is able to take place whenever we let it.