A little too much togetherness

We homeschool. Just thought I'd remind you. We're always together.

We have two daughters. Bet you remembered that, too.

Our two daughters have very different personalities. They're also a number of years apart in age.

Mix these ingredients together and it gets rather volatile around here some days.

L has a personality as big as the moon and craves attention like an addict. K is a quiet soul who spent the first 5 years of her life as an only child. L feels left out because K gets to do school, sit in the front seat, and hold long conversations while L gets dragged around to softball or sent to play by herself. K feels put-upon because L gets to play while K has to work. L picks at K, demanding and annoying. K can't tolerate the noise and invasion of her space. L pushes all the right buttons and K lashes back at her.

As you can tell, it's just been LOADS of fun around here with those two recently.

I think it's mostly a case of too much togetherness. They don't often get a break from each other and so each tiny thing builds up until the annoyances become all they can see. My goal this summer is to give each of them more opportunities to be away from the other. More opportunities to take advantage of their different skills and interests. More opportunities to spend time with other kids their own age.

Starting tomorrow night. My friend has 3 girls that are good friends with my girls. Her middle daughter (K's best friend) is coming to spend the day and night here and L is going to stay over at my friend's house (L and her youngest are good friends). All the girls are ecstatic and they get the added benefit of being away from their own siblings.

From there, we'll see what other things come up for me to take advantage of over the summer. K is already scheduled to be away for a week-long, out-of-town summer camp. I want to find a week-long, full-day summer camp for L. Maybe more play dates. Maybe I'll relent and let them move back into separate rooms this summer instead of waiting until fall.

Nah, there's a limit to how much work I'm willing to create for myself.