Summer seems to have whizzed by this year! I don’t know if it was because we went straight from snow to heatwave, with no springtime here, or that the retailers actually put the school supplies out early or what, but I just can’t believe we’re at that time already!

Thankfully, our little homeschool family has a few weeks of summer left after the “away-schoolers” have to go back to hitting the books, and to be honest, it’s usually a time we really enjoy! We hit the parks and playgrounds and kid-places with fewer crowds and no lines, so it’s pretty nice! There’s just something about those long, lazy summer days that speak of fireworks, swimming pools, and sprinklers, sunscreen that smells like coconuts and making memories… that is hard to give up!

There’s a meme on Facebook or somewhere that shows a homeschooling mom with her kiddos sitting around a table, school books in front of them. The caption speaks to my heart! “I’m one of those crazy moms who actually LIKES spending time with her kiddos!” (And Homeschool-Moms, you know that means 24/7, or close to it!) It sounds a little snarky, but then I still can’t avoid the internal cringe I get every time I read posts about how parents just CAN’T WAIT to drop their kids off at the bus stop or school steps and be done with them for another ten months. It does make me sad, I’ll admit. The “Bye Felicia!” memes seem so cruel somehow, even if the original posters insist it’s all in jest.

We just had our sales tax-free weekend on school supplies and clothes here in Missouri, and although it’s not as big of a deal for us (no huge lists of required supplies!) it is nice to have. I can never really take advantage of it because I don’t know what clothes the kids have and don’t have until it’s time for cooler temps and we switch out the wardrobes! We did get a couple computer monitors tax-free this year for our school computers, so that saved us!

I have been getting class stuff organized already, so I guess that counts in the “school is coming” column. Rocketboy will be starting his first year of high school, Ottergirl will be in fourth grade with fifth-grade math and Fixergirl is a first/second grader. We are going to have a great year, I am looking forward to getting back into a routine, and hearing less of “I need something to do!” LOL!

Back to school for us usually means an easy first day.  We do the little pictures that are always fun to compare year to year, and I like to write the kidlet’s ages and what they want to be when they grow up on the concrete with sidewalk chalk and take their pictures with it.  That may change for Rocketboy this year though with high school on the horizon we may just go with a printed sign.  How disappointing that he had to grow up so quickly! *laugh!*

What about you? Does your state have a tax-free weekend? Are you getting ready for school at your house? When does your school year start? Are there any back to school traditions that your family enjoys?

Check out our “Back to School” board on Pinterest for lots of great tips, traditions, and ideas!