In-Service

I'm officially declaring July 19-23 as my "in-service" week.

EG will be at a science camp all day, every day (drop off is 7:30-8:00, pick up is 5:00-5:30!), and FB will be at a sport camp for a good portion of the day (drop off is 8:30-9:00, pick up is 1:00-1:30). I have this week to 'reset,' move all of our materials, and finish all the necessary printing and photocopying. I'm also taking this week to take myself to the dermatologist and my general practitioner. I usually feel like it's just not possible to attend to these things during the school year. I wish I had gotten all of us in for a dental appointment before we restarted school, but maybe we'll manage before the end of August, at least.

Tomorrow I'm driving to the nearest Staples (which is not very near at all) to get EG a Desk Apprentice, which I'm hoping will alleviate some of the bookcase storage space issues that we're facing. If it seems to be helpful, I may get FB one as well, since he thinks he should do everything his big sister does, as it is.

We're starting our new year on July 26. While on principle I feel that public schools should operate on a calendar approaching September through June, I also recognize that since the local schools don't, there is pretty much nothing in August - no camps, no White Water, no pools. Everything goes to weekends only! Since we don't have our own pool, and since it's so horribly hot, I decided that we might as well have the ability to take a few days or weeks during the much nicer autumn and spring.

Our calendar for the year includes two days off around EG's birthday, three days of the beach in September (but not Destin :(( ), a week for Disney in February, spring break with the local schools, and of course time off around Thanksgiving & Christmas both. We'll finish our required 180 days sometime in early May 2011. The exception to this schedule is EG's online logic course, which follows the above-referenced September-June schedule. She'll have her first class on September 3, and will wrap up the second semester on June 10. We also will have several weeks before all of the outside activities begin, which gives us additional "wiggle room."

I think the kids have had an excellent summer. We started with a trip mid-May to Washington, DC, and we also took a weekend to go the Great Smoky Mountains. EG has gone to Girl Scout day camp, Girl Scout resident camp, Camp Gold Dust (show choir/musical theatre), and this week, science camp. FB has gone to two mini-camps at the Y and, this week, sports camp. We've also gone swimming, to White Water several times, to two state historic sites, to an amusement park, miniature golfing, the zoo, and Fernbank natural history museum, amongst the usual things.

Needless to say, I'm exhausted after this summer, so I'm looking at July 26 with increasing eagerness.In