Well summer has finally arrived and although we haven't had a lot of sunshine it is at least officially here which means a lot of things begin to change. Ballet and piano recitals are over--no lessons until September, pant pant blow blow! I can now relax, garden a little or a lot, and read more books. There are a million things I want to read this summer and if I get through five of them I'll be happy. My list includes Wolves in Sheep's Clothing and Stop Dressing Your Six Year Old Like A Skank as well as the many blogs I need to get caught up on. Art is due home on the 10th of July, albeit only for a week. His schedule has changed half a dozen times in the past month but it now looks like he will be home for a quick break (high school reunion week) and then back to the Fort for a couple of weeks after which he'll be driving home and staying until October, which I plan on holding him to. He has a whole lot of relaxing to catch up on which I will probably have to force him to do. It will be a time for us to catch up with family and friends too as we've hardly seen anyone but our parents over the winter and spring. Speaking of friends, a very good friend of mine, Michelle, has moved away to Windsor, Ontario with her family. I'm going to miss her desperately. I hate losing my women friends. They will be back but not for 3 years, I can hardly stand it!!!

With the end of the school year came the end of the yoga class I was teaching at Cole Harbour High. What a fabulous experience that was, I have a newer appreciation for teenagers, not that I want one or anything. That will come soon enough. It was a whole new way of looking at and doing yoga for me. I take yoga pretty seriously...and also myself so I had to learn to let that go and have a bit of fun with it. Yoga has become so trendy and it's the 'exercise of the day' with so many styles being practised in ways that it seems like it's actually trying to make itself trendier. When I started doing yoga it was difficult to find a teacher around here and I didn't know many people who were actually practising then. So I guess over time yoga became way more than just about being in shape, in fact, for me it was never about that until after I had my first child. So when I first started teaching it I think I was taking the whole thing too seriously and had to learn how to make it fun while also imparting a yogic message. Although the class always remained fairly small I had regulars and I believe a few serious yogis were born. I hope that the Board decides it was all worthwhile and they offer it again next year.

I wanted to mention again for concerned parents or anyone else that one of the links I mentioned in a previous entry that was sent to me by another concerned parent is the "Smart Plastics Guide - Healthier Food Uses of Plastics for Parents and Children" from The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Someone mentioned to me that they knew of a few people who were actually looking for this guide so I wanted to mention it again and I will put the link in the sidebar which will hopefully work.

Our first homeschooling year is also winding down...or not, it depends on your perspective. Learning is continuous so technically speaking we just keep on going but we the group we meet with during the year at the Art Gallery made its final field trip until September. For the purposes of the province the year is at its end and I have to submit a report to them letting them know what we covered throughout the year. I would say we had a successful year and I have enjoyed it thoroughly and I haven't heard any complaints from Hannah. I must say I wasn't really sure how the year would play itself out nor was I sure how I would approach things but it all came together very well and feels so natural that it is as if we have been doing it forever. I was reading a story, Homeschooling to Slow Time, on a blog called http://www.lifewithoutschool.typepad.com/ which stated how I feel about it well. Although it has been a busy year for us it does seem as if time has slowed down to the point everyone's lives are much more centered around family.