Spring Break is a little bit hard for me.  I get to this point in the school year and I am so looking forward to the end of school that I don't want to take a break, not with the end in site.  I want to push through and then enjoy the summer starting in May.  I get burnt out, the kids get burnt out and the days get nicer and nicer.  It becomes hard to concentrate on school with nice weather.  About spring break time we take a look at what needs to get done before the end of school and we map out ending dates for various subjects.  Some subjects get done sooner than others and so when one is finished then lessons are doubled for other subjects to cut down even more time until all the subjects are completed and we are done, done, done. However there is spring break and it isn't often that the weather is good enough to do things outside.  I realize that it's a great time to get together with friends and have sleep overs and play dates but it's hard for me.  The play dates I can handle because they are in the afternoons.  It's the sleep overs I have a hard time with.  I just want to be done with the nagging about school work. With sleep overs we don't get in school the next day and so the end drags on and on.  When we take a break, it is just that much harder to get back into the groove of getting up, chores, and school time.  A week break means two weeks of catch up and return to normal routine.  I don't want to say no and cut off time with friends because it is important but spring break for others doesn't mean its spring break for us.  Every year I try to figure this out. Then throw in the fact that all the kids are together because two go to school.  I want to have a day to do something as a family too.  In years past we've participated in soccer camps so it made it that much more hectic.  This year I said no hoping to cut down on the hecticness, but it didn't help it just became crazier because things were unscheduled.  I struggle and end up hating spring break. I don't understand why we have a week of it.  Why not a Friday and Monday and then cut off that much more time at the end of school?  I guess spring break is something that is breaking me.  It's a struggle that I'm working on finding balance. I'm not trying to be a downer just articulate how I feel.  I am trying to be real about my life, it's not all roses and bon bons.  It ups and downs.