Back to school

School starts in a week. I'm never quite prepared for the end of summer. I wish there were some way to put a recording under my kids' pillows and have them learn through osmosis while they're sleeping so they could just stay home and we could play all the time.

I'm only sending three back to school this year which is a little weird. My sophomore is excited to go back and see all her friends, but not so much for the actual school part of things. She's got a tough course load this year including two advanced placement classes. My seventh grader has been ready to go back since the middle of July. She's starting at a new school this year and says she's looking forward to the opportunity to start over. My fourth grader would be content to sit at home and play video games for the rest of his life. He told me over the summer that he could learn everything he needed from his ps2 and DS so why does he even need to go to school? That was one the best laughs I had all summer...

They all love back to school shopping though. My two younger children are attending a charter school so they get uniforms. I love that, it puts everyone on a level playing field that way. I learned a long time ago to give my high schooler money and let her do her thing when it comes to buying clothes. Fortunately she has good taste and knows our standards when it comes to fashion. Not to mention she's one of those girls who could put on a potato sack and make it look good. They all love buying school supplies though. There's something satisfying about new binders and pencils. You can learn a lot about a kid by the folders they pick out.

So $400 later, it's time for them to go and I'm back to an empty house for the majority of the day. It takes me a bit to adjust to that, I get lonely the first few weeks of school. Don't get me wrong, I'm not just sitting around being bored. There's just no one to stand across the bed and laugh while we fold laundry now.