The sun is shining, the temperature is warming up and the hot air ballons are taking to the sky. I find the summer to be enjoyable because I am able to hang out with friends much more and there are a bunch more sleepovers, parties and barbeques. I like to walk down and hang out with my friends at or often. My family also does some camping and we go on hikes, bike rides and trips to the beach. Because most of my classes and activities follow the school-year calendar, they ended in late May. Some classes I am excited to finish, but in most cases I am sad to say goodbye. Even though I do love most of my classes, it is nice to have a break.
In order to participate in all the activities I do throughout the year, I do schoolwork year-round instead of stopping for a long summer or winter break. We do break sometimes, for vacations throughout the year and family visits. In fact, a couple of my cousins came up from California a few weeks ago and I had a two week break from schoolwork then. Because I spread my schoolwork throughout the year, I get to spend less time every day on it. I do about an hour a day of reading and writing essays for history and using Khan Academy to keep up with math. What is really nice about this past week, and normally a few weeks in the summer, is I get to do all my schoolwork outside in the sun. Somehow its much more fun to read a history book out in the sun than inside a cold house on a rainy day.
This year I am going to assist a couple Studio East summer camps and I am still doing some volunteering at the Northshore Senior Center and the Redmond Police Explorers. Last year in addition to assisting summer camps, I went to Camp Coleman, a YMCA camp. I found that to be a miserable experience.
Our family normally doesn't do much traveling in the summer because it is gorgeous here. Additionally, since a lot of other people travel in the summer places we want to visit get crowded and touristy. As a homeschooling family we can take time off from school to travel anytime it's convenient for us. This year we are making an exception and going on a cruise to Alaska with my grandparents and uncle. I am very excited about this trip.
Some of my friends do take summers off, and some don't. But as I have said in other blogs every family gets to pick and choose what works best for them. The summer is really fun, and I have much more free time to hang out with my friends, but I am always eager to have my regular activities back.
