School in July!? Now, I am not what you would call a hard core home scholar. I do not have chore charts hanging on the wall, my kids don’t wear uniforms, and I don’t blow a whistle while my children sit in clean little school desks during a tightly scheduled day. So, when I hear other home scholars say, “we are doing school right through the summer!” I barf a little in my mouth. I’m usually the last mom sitting out on a rock in the park waiting for the leaves to actually turn color and frost to coat my hair before I will succumb to taking my kids inside and cracking a school book. But last winter, my kids petitioned me to consider letting them do some school during the unbearably hot days of summer so they could enjoy more vacation time in the cooler months. This, I am thinking is not such a bad idea after all

in light of the fact that this July has been the hottest July in the history of the universe. This took a little planning on my part, as I had to make sure I didn’t put off ordering our curriculum and got the school room organized for another year two whole months ahead of time. Heck, while I’m ahead, I decided to make my Christmas card list while I was at it. Those might actually make it to the mail box this year! While the grass roasts to a crispy yellow in the back yard all by itself, we have been in the nice air conditioned school room, happily doing arithmetic and spelling, waiting for things to cool off, and when they do, we’ll cancel school so that we can run outside and enjoy the nice weather. Funny, I have always been resistant to a year round school year, but my kids showed me a better way, just like they usually do.