The past several weeks I have been weary, if I am going to be totally honest. The summer heat and humidity always wear me out. Upheaval in my home always wears on me. And I’ve been drowning in the minutia of updating 250+ printable products and then updating them on three sites where I sell them instead of thinking and writing new posts and creating new products. I don’t do extended minutia well. And between home renovations and printables, I’m swimming in the minutia of choices, changes, uploads, and details every day.

I’m incredibly grateful we are doing all this. I’ve named this Transformation Summer 2017 because we’re undertaking such big projects that are significantly transforming two big parts of our life (and to put a positive mental spin on the entire process). I know that I’ll be so thankful on the other side when we’re done. But I would be lying if I didn’t say it’s been challenging. Yes, homeschooling is great. Yes, owning a home is great. Yes, owning your business and working from home is great. But they all have challenges at times as well.

I haven’t written much here this summer because I have been doing so much behind the scenes and because I needed a break for a few weeks from thinking about homeschooling and parenting and all that goes with it. I went down a rabbit hole online several weeks ago and found all kinds of blogs to read that are different and fresh for me that don’t involve homeschooling or parenting or gifted/2e. I even needed a change of digital scenery. (Updated: Read more posts about Old-Fashioned Blogging)

I’m currently reading The More of Less and my heart just aches to think more deeply about those topics and begin writing about them again. Hopefully soon.

In Our Homeschool This Month

We are continuing to use the CTC Math that I reviewed earlier this summer. We’re making our way through it and finding the holes in Caroline’s learning. We’re playing (in theory) a game a day. It doesn’t happen every day, but if I make it a goal to do it daily (M-F) we do it more days than we would otherwise.

We’re also reading aloud with a focus on Caroline reading to us. She’s going to have a second round of testing at the end of the summer. I’m really interested to see how she scores. We (and her therapist) have seen tremendous growth in a number of areas. Between targeting the areas she struggles with and getting her glasses, she’s made huge strides in some areas.

Places We’re Going and People We’re Seeing

Lowes, Home Depot, Ace Hardware.

Measurers. Installers.

My Favorite Thing This Month

My favorite thing this month is Caroline’s fish that I wrote about last month. LOL! She purchased a third fish and they are all so different in terms of their personalities. Who knew that fish could show their individuality so well?

What’s Working for Us

Pretty much what I have already written above.

Homeschool Questions and Thoughts I Have

We will officially have no babysitters starting in September. Caroline will be turning eleven in late September so she’s approaching the age she could be a (supervised) babysitter herself. When we started hiring babysitters so we could work, Caroline was around two and the sitters were often eleven or twelve. It was a great age for girls to get experience babysitting while an adult was still in the house. Caroline’s especially fond of one babysitter she’s had for a number of years so she’s a bit sad about not seeing her any longer, but it’s time.

I admit to feeling a bit panicky about not having a sitter any longer. We normally have a sitter one or two afternoons a week. It’s my introverted time to focus and work without having in the back of my mind someone is going to interrupt. I’m not sure how this is going to work out in combination with David’s work load and responsibilities. Time will tell.

On My Blog In Case You Missed It

As we think about back to school in another month, don’t miss the helpful posts in my series:

• 10 Days of Homeschool Encouragement

I’d be so appreciative if you would share one or two of these posts with your homeschooling friends, co-op Facebook group or email list, etc. so more people can be encouraged.

Happy July!