Q of the Week : How excited are you by back-to-school?

Image courtesy of D Sharon Pruitt via Flickr.For NYC, it’s back-to-school week (and I know many others are in the same boat), while some of you have had it in session for a few weeks already.  We’re running a bit behind my intended start date of today, but I’ll have it put together in the next couple of days.  We started up morning Checklists again at least so there was some little bit of a return to routine this morning! 

I’m going to Attempt something this fall, and no I don’t have terribly high hopes, but as laid back homeschoolers we’re going to try to get things rolling at the same time every morning.  Don’t groan, I know most of you are clock-driven by necessity, and I truly feel for you!  I also envy the forced routine a wee bit, but not enough to go back to it though!  I’m not shooting for a 6am breakfast, but if I don’t start getting them up and at’em earlier, we don’t get enough done before lunch, and end up missing out on outdoor time and sunshine more often than we need to.  I might have to bribe them for a few days with some special breakfasts :).

As a kid, I had mostly positive feelings about going back to school, and it didn’t hurt that I was well on my way to office-supply-addiction and could be easily lured to the bus with a box of 64 crayons, you know the special one with the built in sharpener?  It was so enticing, alongside new notebooks and pencils and packages of lined paper that I was equally excited about/intimidated by at the thought of filling them with words.  Great possibilities woven with minor apprehensions (first day outfit, oh the stress!), but it always came out on the positive end of things.  I kind of feel that way still … it’s a chance for fresh starts, new routines (maybe!) and learning new things which still excites me as much as it ever did.

But back to the actual question, how excited are you by back-to-school?  Shedding a few tears over the loss of time with your kids?  Dying of frustration over the last few weeks and dreaming about putting them on the bus extra early?  Dreading the schedule and commuting, but gleeful about having some free time again?  I’m sure there are a lot of mixed feelings, I have some even though I homeschool now.  And are your kids in the same boat, or moaning and groaning about it?  Do share!