Back to School Blues

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It is once again back to school time.

The time of year when stay at home moms celebrate. A time of early rushed mornings while you try to get our children out the door in time.

School time brings on the freedom during the day to do your chores when you please. Gone is the need to come up with creative ways to entertain your children all day long. Now a teacher will help you fill their days with learning and fun.

One year I heard my neighbor celebrating from inside her house. All the windows were closed but I still heard a loud, “Woo Hoo!!!” echoing through the neighborhood.

Then there are the rest of us.

I don’t look forward to school beginning. It isn’t because I’m going to miss my children that much while they are away at school.

It is quite the opposite. They. Never. Leave.

I love doing school with the girls, watching them learn and discover. I love having them around and helping them through their problems. I love our school choice, having the structure of a traditional school provided to us while being able to implement it at home.

[Tweet “Every year I grieve #summer as it rapidly fades away and is replaced by #school.”]

Gone are my lazy days, sitting around all morning playing games on the computer and spending some extra time blogging. Gone is the freedom to do whatever I want, whenever I want. Gone is my mostly clean house because I no longer have time to really pay attention to it.

I feel like a kid again. I miss summer vacation.

The girls started school yesterday and we all longed for last week. While I didn’t show it, I was just as tired as they were. My brain was just as muddied as theirs. I didn’t want to do school either.

But I tried to mask it with false enthusiasm. Sure, I’ll help you with your math. This should be fun! Of course I’d love to give you a spelling test. Look how beautifully you colored that map!

I joined Miss Crafty while she did a kids yoga DVD for PE yesterday. I should do that more often. I definitely could use the workout. Kids yoga is no joke. I’d hate to see the adult version.

The best time of the day came in the last 3 minutes of her workout. It was relaxation time. We laid on the floor for 3 minutes listening to calming music.

3 minutes of peace.

3 minutes of silence.

3 minutes without…

Mom, can you help me?

Mom, I don’t understand.

Mom, I don’t want to do school today.

Mom, I can’t remember how to do this.

Mom, what should I do?

Mom, I’m tired.

Mom, my head hurts from thinking.

Mom, I’m not used to this anymore.

Mom, can I have a break?

Mom, mom, mom.

No mom. I’m in my 3 minute happy place.

 

Once the school day was done, they were free. Free to be kids. Free to run the neighborhood. Free to jump on the trampoline, or play minecraft, or annoy their sister.

I was free too. Free to run around the house, catching up on the chores that were missed during the many mom moments of the day. Free to do laundry and fold towels. Free to wash a load of dishes. Free to squeeze in 5 minutes of facebook before having to cook dinner.  Free to stress out because dinner was going to be late since I forgot to pull anything out of the freezer.

Yeah, I was free. Free from school and back to the lazy days of summer. Cramming one lazy day’s worth of work into about 2 hours.

One benefit to my husband switching jobs last spring is that he gets home later. He used to get home around the time the girls finished up school and then he wanted to spend time with me. So much for getting my chores done.

At least now I have at least 2 hours to cram in chores before he walks in the door.

I know it was only the first day of school, but I’m already looking forward to June 2015.

Last night, as I went to bed all I could think was, “4 more school days this week.”

I got up this morning ready to begin the day again. Ready to face school with a smile on my face and pretend that last week is a distant memory. A memory that I’m sure to relive sometime this morning as The Inventor begins her weekly writing assignment.

This week’s writing topic is a brutal reminder of what we left behind: What did you do this summer?

 

 

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