Going with summer weather

Our summer school work gets pushed later into each day. We are staying up until 11, 11:30, 12 midnight and sleeping until 7, 8, 9 AM (Nate set a record this week going past 9:30).

When they were babies, my kids never slept in. Their version of sleeping in was 6:30 a.m. rather than until 6 a.m.. In summers past, I would have not allowed such a deviation from the school-required schedule. It would have been too much to get them back to waking at 6:30, ready to leave by 7:45. With the bus consolidation of last year, their bus now comes at 7 a.m. (!) which means they had to be up by 6, ready to go by 6:45. We started them on drinking coffee just to get them awake for school.

Now I don't care. Do your reading at 9:45 p.m.. Fine. Go to bed at 11:30. All I ask is that you brush  you teeth and floss!

Their latest hobby is using a camera, borrowed from a friend. It takes short movies, too. So far, they "film" themselves playing Mario Bros. or take footage of May, our outdoor cat. Nate has figured out how to upload his pictures/films on his laptop. When that kid is motivated, he will learn.

Madelyn has started a "Explorers Club." One must apply for membership. I signed my name on her forms almost as often as when we refinanced our house, and then she issued me a card. Members must explore ("anything, really" she says) and make drawings or notes of what they find. We pulled up the bricks around the mailbox last night and found baby crickets.

Our neighbors have a pool, bless them, and we have been swimming almost every day this week. So there are our swimming lessons, costing only the time it took for me to do a session of Yoga Bodywork on the owner.

I tried reading The Jungle Book to them, but having discovered an anime magazine at the library--Shonun Jump-- they would rather read to themselves right now. A few weeks ago, we read Pooh Bear, but that's different. I have different voices for each character and the stories are dry and make us laugh. Jungle Book is less humorous, and less interesting, I guess. My kids love humor and watch and memorize Brian Regan clips on YouTube like it's the catechism. Nate is definitely visual and more interested in the movie version of The Jungle Book. It's hard for a bookish mom to hear, but considering how film is a medium, I'll keep my book-snob opinions to a murmur.