wow, I really hate the month of May. I dropped the ball on more than one thing this month. I started crying while homeschooling my kid, not because of anything he was doing, but because I was just really done. My husband had a work trip (after just having a work trip like the week before), the baby knocked out one of his front teeth, etc. etc.
The best part is that I’m not even sure summer break will offer any sort of a break, but I started looking forward to it just in desperation of like, “anything has to be better than this.” My middle kid did several weeks of camp last year, but he’s aged out of that one and nothing really jumped out at me for this year. Plus, camp pick up and drop off adds another layer of complexity to daily logistics. My preschooler will continue 5 days a week through the summer at his school, a change from last summer when he attended 3 days a week. With the caveat that the school is changing their hours slightly, and he’ll have an earlier pick-up time.
Regardless, we’re taking the summer off from homeschooling. I told a friend the other day that I think I have a tendency to downplay how much time and energy I give to homeschooling. I need to stop doing that. It’s a big part of my life, and probably will be for (at least) the next seven years. So hopefully that frees up some time/ brain space, although I have the lofty goal of pre-reading our literature selections for the next year.
Because I am me, I am (probably) delusional about what will happen/ be accomplished this summer. Some is realistic- in an ideal world, we would make sure my middle kid gets some tutoring this summer as well as stay consistent with completing Kumon homework. Some is not- I both want to read a lot of books but also, like, deep clean and declutter the house while also filling up a sketchbook and taking some online classes.
What will (probably? maybe?) get done:
Hand Letter Hero with Art Beat Club (very excited for this one!)
DYICAD challenge (we know I don’t have the best track record with anything “daily,” but I don’t know, I might try again)
Writerly Love book bingo; it’s set up a bit differently this year so I can’t be sure which books will line up with which prompts, but I’m assembling a reading list regardless! More on that below. Rachel came up with some thoughtful journal prompts to accompany each Bingo square and I’m looking forward to journaling about my summer reading.
my yoga studio is doing another challenge, but it’s half attendance and half random acts of kindness. It’s terrible but I don’t have the bandwidth for random acts of kindness, I am just over here trying to survive while one of my kids hardcore struggles with the transition to summer. Luckily I can still earn a sticker by completing half of the challenge (if you complete the whole challenge, you get a free tank) and I really like stickers!!
We also have some travel planned! A few days at the coast, an epic road trip that feels a little intimidating, Squam in September (already dreaming of the lake, tbh), and Houston for the Cute Things from Japan/ Superior Labor event.
Summer Reading
So what are my summer reading plans? Thanks for asking!
I am attempting to read my rising sixth grader’s book list in its entirety; I planned 9 novel studies (I may drop one because, with how this school year went towards the end, I’d like to have him wrap everything up in early May, which should give me a few weeks of breathing room before public school ends) and 22 graphic novels (probably too many! Adding graphic novels is an experiment— actually, all of what I’ve planned for ELA is an experiment— so I’ll make adjustments once I start working through the stack).
Of course I want to read stuff that I want to read, too, so there’s a bunch of romance novels and some craft books on my list, too. Slow read of Middlemarch; but also these titles are appealing too?! Do I have the bandwidth for more??
(This is where I really miss the ‘cut’ feature on livejournal.) You can find my complete summer reading list here. I wish I had a couple of poetry and short story collections on here. Like I said, May’s been rough. But my list isn’t set in stone; it’ll be interesting to see what I’ve read once everything is said and done!
What’s on Tap for The Workbooks
I’m switching things up for The Creative Kingdom book club— after struggling through Write for Life and Seeking Wisdom, I can’t see myself reading The Listening Path or Living the Artist’s Way. And in the interest of not burning myself out, I need to tone down stack of books I had intended for the summer.
Instead, I’ll be sharing a series of posts in June that cover Cameron’s memoir Floor Sample, which I’m currently reading and enjoying! Her tone is much different than in her more recent books.
I’ve also dipped my toes into Supplies and am enjoying that, too. I’m working through the exercises in a journal and intend to share them here, but haven’t quite figured out how/when, so stay tuned for that. (But I do recommend grabbing a copy.)
Q2 snail mail for paid subscribers will go out in June. If you’re thinking of upgrading, you can do that here. Paid subscribers also have access to my Visual Journaling for Writers course, which would be super fun to work through over the summer! It’s very low-stakes and open-ended.
I will definitely be taking a break from posting here at some point (likely August), and will pause paid subscriptions when I do. From my understanding, you won’t be charged while everything is paused, and it doesn’t count against annual subscriptions, but you’ll still have access to any paid content. So, keep that in mind!
90% of the reader survey responders want more art journals and collage- I hear you, me too! (If you haven’t take the survey yet, you can find it here.) Everything in my life is a delicate balance and I’m looking forward to shifting some of my priorities around this summer and into the fall as my schedule and routines change.
Goodness! You have a seriously full plate. However you're doing it you are achieving awesome stuff for the family, the kids. I hear you on bandwidth; sometimes it's the only thing to do to say 'enough' and slough off a few things. There's no harm in doing *less*.
Keep going!
Not so random, persistent acts of kindness: keeping my kids alive. Daily.