Summer fun? by Kerri Grace

As the school year came to a close, we asked the boys to pick a summer project to keep their reading and writing skills sharp. Owen surprised us by deciding that he wanted to start a family newspaper, and Jacob surprised us even more by eagerly jumping on the bandwagon. When the boys pointed out that it wouldn't be a family newspaper if the whole family didn't contribute articles, Chris and I threw ourselves into the fray. The teacher in me thrilled at the notion of my children engaged in "authentic literacy tasks," so I happily took on the job of publishing our little rag.

We had hopes of publishing a newsletter every week. Then reality reared her businesslike head, and the first three weeks of summer slipped by without anyone writing anything. Also, I discovered that our little publishing house was never going to get off the ground if we had to wait for me to type the articles, format them into a newsletter, copy them, and mail them off -- especially since the boys stood firm in their insistence that I actually contribute my writing to the endeavor. Hopefully, publishing a blog will be at least a teeny bit simpler than what we'd originally envisioned. And, hopefully, I won't suffer so terribly from writer's block for the rest of the summer. It's humbling to have one's six year old say, "I've finished my article, Mom. How come you've only written one sentence?"