The most popular question for kids right now is, "Are you ready for school to start?"

This question is a little different for homeschooled kids to answer. Or at least for our kids...

We don't officially school year round, but we take a week long break every six weeks, then we take off a little more for Christmas and we might take a week off while I help plan the pregnancy center's annual Gala. This last school year, we missed about a week due to morning sickness. Last year we took off while we all passed around a stomach virus. All of those breaks mean school didn't end for us until a few weeks ago. We didn't even technically finish, I just knew I needed a break so we picked a few items I wanted to do and dropped the rest. So, in essence my girls have had a very short break.

As summer winds to a close, every time we're in public, they're bombarded with school related questions. At home, Ashlyn sees me prereading the books she'll read on her own (with a underline happy pencil for vocab words!). I'm also finishing my school shopping list-a few more random items and we'll have all we need to start-which is usually the week of Labor Day.

Guess what I've been hounded about for several days now?

The girls want to start TODAY. I was supposed to take my sister-in-law to radiation treatment today but she's been off the chemo for a few days and feels well enough to go on her own. With the unexpected change of plans, the first question this morning was, "Does that mean we can start school today? Pleeeaaasssse?"

We homeschool for a myriad of reasons, one being the gift of a lifelong desire to learn. I'm so pleased that my goal in giving this gift to the girls seems to be materializing. I know it is in large part due to not using a text book based curriculum, exposure to excellent books (again, not because I can pick them out, but because Sonlight can), and a relaxed, joyful family attitude about school. Our girls often hear us thank God in prayer for the ability to homeschool so easily (meaning the law is very easy here) and for finding Sonlight. We all feel we've found a treasure in teaching our kids at home, especially with such wonderful living books as Sonlight offers.

So, don't tell my kids, but even though our break has been short, I'm excited about starting school, too!

I've had more moms who want to know the nitty gritty details of homeschooling, so I'll try to blog about our days more this year-it should be exciting with 3 "cores" (what SL calls their year long package of materials for a grade) at once!