Labor Day Ramblings

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you! Today is Labor Day, the last day of summer vacation for my boys. They’re not happy about this. They love summer and all its possibilities. My boys love the lack of structure that summer vacation brings, the spontaneity of being able to pick up and take off at a moment’s notice. I loved that too back when I was a kid, and I have to confess, I still do.

As I look back on my life, I realize I’ve always had an aversion to structure. I see it even in my writing. I’m a “seat of my pants” writer, which means that I don’t follow an outline. I sketch out my characters and then I figure out how I want my story to begin and end. From there, I let my characters take the wheel. It’s fun to write this way, because it’s exciting to see where the story goes.

I see this in my youngest as well. He has faked being sick so that he can stay home from school. During one of those sick days, he wrote a thirty-two page story about tornadoes. He was in first grade at the time, but it was amazing to watch him do this. Each page had a couple of complete sentences and illustrations as well. He stapled the pages together and handed it to me, wanting me to read it. He was so proud and I must say so was I.

I’m excited for this new school year. I can’t wait to see how my boys grow and develop. My oldest has more confidence and that does my heart good. I hope my youngest will develop that same kind of confidence. I hope it comes with age.

With my kids in school, I’ll be able to devote more time to my writing. I’m working on a Young Adult Coming of Age Novel and I’m really enjoying it. My beta readers have given me the thumbs up on it, which makes me extremely happy. It has a great message for teens. One that I wish I had learned in my teen years.

Labor Day is kind of like a new beginning for me. I imagine other parents feel this way with the new school year looming. I’m more motivated during this time and I believe this has to do with all those years in school. We’re conditioned this way from Kindergarten on. It makes me wonder about the whispers I’ve been hearing about year round schools and online schools for elementary and middle grade children.

I wonder what will happen to our educational system if these online schools take off. Will it have a positive effect or a negative one? I can see where online schools will save money, because there won’t be a need for those brick and mortar buildings anymore. However, I wonder what the effect will be on the learning process. I wonder if it will make our kids too passive, sitting in front of a computer to learn.

Going to school offers quite a bit for kids, in my opinion, there is the social aspect of it. If we convert to online schooling, will our children miss developing the social skills that they will need in future job markets?

Thanks for stopping by and reading my Labor Day Ramblings. If you have any thoughts you’d like to share about online schooling or anything else for that matter, I’d love to read them. So, leave a comment and share your thoughts.