I have some good news for you today. Regardless of what you may have heard, you don’t only have “18 summers” with your kids. You also don’t need to squeeze all the juice from your summer, or “make the most of it.”

I go a little nuts when I hear this kind of messaging, actually.

First, does anyone feel relaxed, joyful, and content about the summer ahead with that kind of pressure lurking in the background?

And anyway, here’s the deal:

Most of us have more than that with our kids. Many more. They just look different at different seasons of your life. And that’s just as God intended.

Here’s the truth: You have exactly as many summers as God intends for you.

(Also—and I’m whispering here so no one else hears me—you probably won’t savor every bit of your summer if you’re spending yours with kids. It’s just… the way things go.)

Ahem.

Instead, I invite you to answer a different question… a question that will make your summer feel instantly do-able and a lot more… I don’t know… summer-ish.

The easiest way to answer this is to imagine yourself sipping coffee with a friend in September. After catching up, you sigh a big sigh and say, “Man, I am so glad I made time for _______ this summer.”

What do you think you would say?

• Not “how can you squeeze every last drop out of this summer?”
• Not “how can you fit in ALL THE MEMORIES for your kids this summer?”
• Not “how can you do enough, be enough, for your kids this summer?”

No.

…and God has given you (nobody else!) the grace for whatever comes your way in the months ahead.

Watch the Circle with Sarah On-Demand below… and then keep scrolling to find out what we’re doing in RAR Premium all summer long!

Would you like the Summer BINGO card we talked about in the video? Pop your email in below to grab it.

RAR Premium is going to be a sweet place for connection and inspiration this summer.

We’re shaking things up a bit for the summer to help you nurture your own reading life (in addition to your kids’). We’ve also got spectacular live events to coordinate with our Family Book Club Picks.

Scroll on down to see what’s on deck:

June

In June, join us to read our Family Book Club selection (with curriculum tie-ins for all ages). We’re reading  A Little More Beautiful: The Story of a Garden .

Your kids will get to meet illustrator Breezy Brookshire in a live Zoom, including a short watercolor tutorial.

July

In July, we’ll be reading Patricia Polacco’s  The Bee Tree.  As part of that Family Book Club, you’ll hear from Patricia Polacco herself on her process for illustrating books.

(🖍 Did you know most of Patricia’s art is actually done with markers?)

Teens (and mamas) will enjoy a Writers on Writing workshop with Jonathan Auxier called Three Story Mountain. This is a brand new workshop from Jonathan, and he’s excited to share it with RAR teens first!

Author Dorothy L Sayers once observed that great art simultaneously serves the needs of the artist, the audience, and the work itself. But that is easier said than done! For years, Jonathan struggled to incorporate this idea into his own work. Slowly, he began to uncover a process that involved three separate phases oriented around these three different goals. In this workshop, Jonathan teaches writers to understand where they are in their own process so they can successfully find their way to the end of their story.

In this workshop, your teens will uncover:

• Sayers’ ideas regarding the Author, Artifact, and Audience
• What to focus on as you begin, revise, and finish your story
• How to use these ideas to give and receive feedback

Of course, your kids aren’t the only ones who should be loving their reading life this summer. So should YOU!

We’re making that easier than every with our Mama Book Club where you can read for what you need. This summer, we’re reading  Little Women .

We’ll even host a watch party on July 13th. Everyone can pop a bowl of popcorn and cue up the 2019 version of the movie.

We’ll hop on Zoom to chat for a few minutes, then mute ourselves and continue chatting in the chatbox as we watch. 🍿

August

You can start reading our Family Book Club novels for the summer anytime at all. This summer, it’s all about  The Penderwicks .

In August, your kids will get to ask their question of Jeanne Birdsall herself.

(Pssst… did you know that the June book, A Little More Beautiful, was actually inspired by something Jeanne Birdsall told me while we were walking by a Northampton garden?)

And not to be missed, our first-ever Circle with Sarah Retreat. 🥰

We’ve set aside a Friday evening and all day Saturday for a guided retreat where we’ll help you fall more in love with your own reading life.

Get ready for delightful zooms, time set aside for reading, fun games, a journaling workshop, and the kind of joyful camaraderie we always share at RAR Premium’s Homeschool Coaching program, Circle with Sarah.

It’s going to be a spectacular Friday and Saturday, and you get to participate, as always, right from home.

A more detailed schedule is coming soon, but you might want to give that handsome guy you live with a heads-up: he’s gonna be on kid duty so you can pour into the homeschool teacher a little before the start of a new school year! 😉

Whatcha waiting for?