Summer vacation

It has begun -- this is day 2 -- and we are so far surviving. That may sound silly, but it is possible for things to start off badly and get worse from there. OK, that sounds really pessimistic. But true.

I believe in the power of a well-planned schedule and in sticking to it. Flexibility is for later, after the schedule is well-established and we are comfortable with it. Right now we are all still learning it, and I am tweaking it.

For example, I learned during the last two days that the twins like to do "computer time" in the morning as soon as they get up. They are so addicted to the computer that they can't bear to save it for later. This is OK with me, because it gets it over with early in the day, but if it were me, I'd want to do it in the late afternoon when things slow down. During the last few months we've been having computer time on Tuesday and Friday, but in the summer it is going to be Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday (unless we're on a trip on Saturday). Since we're transitioning schedules, this week they got to have computer time on both Friday and Saturday, so they are in heaven.

We got some disappointing news on the last day of school -- Kid A did not get into summer school. It was a combination of bad luck and lack of knowledge on our part. They do testing three times a year, and admission to summer school is partly based on the 2nd test. For some reason Kid A scored 20 points above the cut-off on that test. So although he scored 50 points below the cut-off on the 3rd test, by then summer school was full. We also could have gotten him in if I had filled out the free/reduced lunch paperwork back in February, after Rocket Boy was laid off, but I didn't realize that summer school admission is partly based on income. By the time I did fill out the paperwork, summer school was full. I'd like to yell at someone about the fact that summer school doesn't have enough room for everyone who needs it, but this isn't a Boulder problem, it's a Colorado problem. Colorado is ranked something like 47th (out of 50) in terms of school funding. Everyone knows our schools don't have the money to do what they ought to do.

So we're working on Plan B, finding Kid A a private tutor, which dear, generous Aunt Nancy has offered to fund. And I'm working on my attitude, which was extremely terrible on the day we found out, but is improving...

It helps that it's sunny today (at least for now -- it's supposed to rain later). I finally got around to taking some pictures of the pretty purple flowers in our front yard. The irises are almost done, but we have a great crop of onions this year. We haven't gotten my Mother's Day flowers yet, so we haven't planted the pot near the front door. The Week 2 theme is "Yard," so I figure that would be a good time to get the flowers. Next weekend, maybe.

This coming week's theme is "Water," starting tomorrow, so we'll be spending the week going swimming, visiting local bodies of water, painting with watercolors, etc. It also may rain! It rained a little yesterday, just enough to keep things greened up, and as I mentioned, a little more is predicted today. Oh, and the Creek Festival is going on, so we'll probably go there tomorrow. It always rains during the Creek Festival, so you have to choose a time when it's least likely to storm. I think Sunday late morning/early afternoon sounds good.

Summer vacation is a scary concept to me, because I have to be "on" all the time. My normal moods tend to swing between reasonably happy & productive -- and depressed. In general I think of the depressed times as just part of my life, something to be gotten through, and eventually I cheer up again. They don't last long, and they aren't truly crippling. But when you're trying to manage a family, depression is problematic. Rocket Boy can't cover for me, because he doesn't have "drill sergeant" as part of his make-up. He yells at the twins, but it's ineffectual. You can't just yell, you have to be firm about something, such as "Computer time is over for the day and now we are going to have lunch." (That's what I'm going to be saying in about 15 minutes.)

The idea of the schedule is to have a safety net when depression or boredom or desperation strikes. Instead of wailing, "I can't do this anymore!" I can look at the schedule and say, "Oh, it's time for Arts and Crafts, and since it's Astronomy week, we will draw pictures of stars and planets." Or whatever. If necessary, I can also say "As a special treat, let's have two extra hours of computer time!" But I hope not to do that too often.