Finishing Strong

The end of the school year slowly draws to a close and summer calls sweetly with promises of beach days and hours spent at the park with friends or possibly just crawling onto the couch for hours of "I Love Lucy". Freedom.

But the time is not yet and all of us, whose lives revolve around education, hear chants to "finish strong".

And finishing strong is what I planned. Two more weeks of full school, one month free of everything except one page of math just to keep the juices flowing (and possibly reading for young readers). July and August are destined for electives we don't usually make the time for and then September will begin our official new school year.

Finishing strong seemed possible. And then life happened.

I spent an angry morning with children who spent the hours doing just one lesson in Math. We babysat children. We ate out. We visited parks. Alynna got stung by a bee. I spent a day with a friend in the hospital and visited her every day I could. The children visited friends and finished up their art classes through the city. Alynna went to urgent care where she was treated for an bacterial skin infection thanks to the bee sting. And Simon threw up half his body weight in the car.

It was quite a week. I think I spent six hours total doing official school.

Who knows what next week looks like. My parents will be moving here, my friend will still need supporting and offering, hopefully no one will be stung by a bee or throw up again. But who knows?

I've decided that choosing wisely will be my personal version of "finishing strong". If we forgo a reading lesson to support a friend in need or spent time with grandparents, I think we've chosen the better thing. If I feel myself getting angry at children who are not focusing on book-work and I choose to switch to an activity that supports our relationship and my sanity, then I know I have chosen the better thing.

My children are young. Their hearts are sweet. Our community is priceless. No amount of knowledge can replace what we have been given in love and relationships and opportunities.

We will do our best this "last week of official school" and even if we accomplish no official hours of official school we will finish strong.