T-minus-seven: Back to School countdown!

So, is anyone else thoroughly sick of summer "break" yet? We've had our fair share of fun, but twelve weeks off from school is a real momentum killer for work-from-home parents, an expensive childcare challenge for work-outside-the-home parents, and possibly a special kind of craziness for fulltime caregivers.

My daughter even says she's ready for school to start. We've been to see friends...to see family...we've visited a lake...she joined swim team...she did camp...we've just about exhausted the library...we've played with friends who we could find at home.

We thrive on the school schedule and we're now floundering without that structure! And her mind is so active, such a wonderful sponge, that I have a real challenge helping her keep her time filled all by myself. Mentally and physically, if I have to run her around all day until she's tired, I will collapse first! I am in awe of the fact that I basically did this for her first three years as a stay-at-home Mom, something I was clearly not cut out for in the super-long run.

I know it's not my job to keep Mojo Girl entertained 24/7, but she would sure like me to try! Only once did I manage to guide her to "boredom Nirvana," when she decided to stop asking to watch TV in order to make a diorama to show how people live in Japan. That was pretty cool for one evening.

If I worked in an office, I would have had to arrange firmer childcare plans. We tried an experiment of having no summer camp in August, after the comedy camp that my daughter was signed up for was cancelled.

Big mistake. As much as we love each other, we are getting on each others' nerves and starting to drive each other nuts. As a college town, Chapel Hill is a particularly boring place to be in August.

The good news is that school starts next week--ridiculously early by some people's standards, but it works for me. And, thankfully, this week I managed to sign her up for clay camp in the afternoons, which provides structure to our day and guarantees that she'll spend time with other kids and one of her favorite teachers each day.

Do you love or hate summer vacation, and how are you keeping busy if your kids are home?

Last day of school....

It's the last day of school and I am trying to be in the moment this summer.

But right now "trying" feels more like a wrestling match. All I can think about is how will I get any work done? I will have to focus my writing energy into fewer hours. Maybe that's a good thing because the effort will have to be more concentrated.

My daughter is old enough to entertain herself, but I am afraid that if I retreat into my office long enough to really write, she'll end up watching a ton of TV.

So I may be signing off until Monday, when day camp starts up and I can more easily carve out my writing time again.

I the meantime, check out my Mojo Mom page on Facebook for links and quick updates, or follow me on Twitter!

School's back!

I have a lot to write about this week but I had to start by saying that SCHOOL IS BACK in session here.

If you have seen High School Musical 2, you'll know the first scene where the kids count down the last few minutes until summer vacation starts, and then break out in song and dance when the moment arrives. I kept envisioning that scene playing out in reverse this morning as parents celebrated a return to normalcy.

We had lots of fun early in the summer, but by the second week in August we were as lifeless as the vegetation drying up in the 100 degree heat. It was too hot to play outside, and most of our playmates were out of town. Even my daughter said, "This was the worst summer ever!" I didn't take that too much to heart, because I have noticed a trend that if the last three weeks of the summer were boring, then kids will say the whole summer was boring. This was true even of my neighbors who took their teenagers to China!

But I am happy to be back at my desk, digging out from about 1001 emails I need to write back, piles of paper that you don't even want to know about, and reveling in a chance to plan my fall.

The sensation of freedom comes from not having to be accountable to anyone for my time during the day. I felt guilty all summer trying to write while my daughter was home. That is never a comfortable fit for us. Most of the summer, when I had a break, even a "break" to work, it had a definite and short time limit associated with it. I am a creature of habit and I am happy to report that I love my normal life, no extended "breaks" required.

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As a final summer fun suggestion, I wanted to say that if you haven't seen the movie version of Hairspray yet, you should really catch it before it leaves the theaters. I didn't think I would like it, but I loved it and so did my parents, husband and daughter. It was exuberant, joyous, and the music was fantastic. We bought the soundtrack right after we saw the movie, and we've been singing and dancing to it all summer. Newcomer Nikki Blonsky rocks the house as the heroine Tracy Turnblad, holding her own among the incredibly talented cast members.
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I think 7-year-olds are obsessed with disguises and reality, so just deciding which hair was real and who was wearing a wig really intrigued my daughter. She couldn't get over John Travolta as Edna Turnblad. I showed her Grease the other day and it blew her mind to try to put together a hot teenage stud and an overweight, shy, age 50+ woman (who finally channels her inner mojo!) as the same person.

And yes, High School Musical cutie Zac Efron costars in Hairspray as well, as the sweet teenage heartthrob. Even if you are completely burned out on all things HSM, don't let that stop you from seeing Hairspray. It's too much fun to miss!