I'm feeling a bit unsettled.
In less than a week the schools break up and the tables turn. While I make the boys do their maths every day and march them to their classes, the sounds of carefree, lesson-free children will be drifting over our fence.
Suddenly all 'our' places will be overrun. The parks, swimming pool, museums, river - everywhere we find peace and a notable lack of queues during term time are no longer ours alone.
Like a toddler, I have to learn to SHARE. Hmph.
This will be our first long holiday since taking the boys out of school so it'll be interesting to see how it goes. We'll be more flexible because we've got friends to see and adventures to plan. I can't see us ducking off in the middle of a picnic declaring "Sorry, we have to learn 3-column subtraction".
But a flexible routine in term time necessitates some continuation of the routine into the holidays. I'm feeling the pressure to grab any consistency I can now that the Monday-Friday school pattern has been thrown out.
There are some advantages to the ongoing learning approach. As the boys get more free time in their afternoons they're not strung out or exhausted so a big break isn't a necessity any more. Particularly with maths and literacy, the little and often approach to learning is an effective way to maximise retention and encourage application.
Maybe it's not that we're missing out on the holidays, we're grabbing them as just another learning opportunity.
