Its that time of year again

My kiddos have been hassling me for the last three weeks to start school. In my peaceful objective evenings, I am delighted by this nagging. In the moment I am usually totally impatient. ‘Do I look like I am ready for us to start school? Look at the state of this room! Nothing is organized!’ They gaze at me compassionately.
‘That’s ok,’ says Elphine, ‘I just want to do some math’.
‘Well,ok,’ I gave in last week, ‘here’s a worksheet from last year. Knock yourself out.’

I can’t blame them, as I’ve been putting the house slowly in order, the school/sun room has come to be more and more inviting and its hard not to drop everything and start wildly doing crafts and copy work. BUT, after so much reading, and a little tiny bit of experience, I REALLY don’t want to get started until I’m organized and have at least a vague idea of what I want to accomplish every day.

I am a little startled, to be perfectly honest, about this nagging desire on the part of my children to learn stuff. I don’t remember having any such inclination. In fact, I remember fighting my mother every step of the way through my fourth grade year (I’m really really sorry, Mommy, what an irritating child I must have been) and being bored out of my mind over the study of Rune Stones and Fjords (part of the year as a trip through Norway). And I’m pretty sure I was no more interested in fifth grade when I went to boarding school. My only thought, concerning my own children, is that they don’t know any better. At some point they will wake up in the morning and think, ‘wait a minute! Our mother is making us learn!’ and begin to revolt.

In the meantime, I am enjoying fussing around arranging all our new books, making clean crisp photocopies, making lists of websites and you tube clips on my calendar days, learning the new CC history songs, and rearranging my desk every so often. And, its a relief not to be out fighting the crowds of school supply buyers, as well as being able to assure my oldest child that if she would like to dress like an old lady for school, purse in hand and hat on her head, she may.