There is a passage from Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine that I reflect upon at the end of every Summer. It comes as the main characters, two brothers of Logic school age, are realizing that this season of their life is coming to an end:

And they left the mellow light of the dandelion wine and went upstairs to carry out the last few rituals of summer, for they felt that now the final day, the final night had come. As the day grew late they realized that for two or three nights now, porches had emptied early of their inhabitants . . . and surely when they abandoned the conflict the war with Time was really done, there was nothing for it but that humans also forsake the battleground. (p. 281)

Summer has always felt like that to me, like “a war with Time,” where every moment is grasped tighter. This is why I always tell students that Summers are Sacred. It is a kind of Sabbath, a season when we labor through rest.

But that period of rest is temporary, not intended to last for all time. The “war with Time” is a perennial one, never finding an end but rather finding different expressions. Thus, we move from Summer into Fall, and the anticipation of school begins anew. Parents and students would do well to consider what steps will lead to success this upcoming school year. To that end, I’d like to over three pieces of advice.

First, students should renew their reading habits.

Some may have finished their Summer Boni Libri weeks ago now; it would be wise to pull it out and consider it afresh. Some may not have started their Summer Boni Libri; don’t put off for tomorrow what you ought to do today. This is only one of many books you’ll engage over the year, and you can initiate the right frame of mind by taking these books seriously. But you should pick up other books as well. Hopefully, your Summer reading has been plentiful, but if it hasn’t, there’s still time to sit under a tree and read tales of long ago, just like C. S. Lewis once advised.

Second, students should reclaim the habit of going to bed at a reasonable hour.

Summer is a time for late nights, as the prolonged sunshine beckons us until the total setting of the Sun. But man isn’t meant to subsist on minimal sleep. Teenagers of course know this, which is why November mornings can be such a burden! But if students begin practicing now, calling it a night before nine p.m. two or three nights each week, then those darker mornings in the Fall will be less of a burden when it matters.

Third, parents should ask their students about what they read every day, preferably over dinner.

Students will value school in direct proportion to how their parents value it, and the easiest way to manifest that is in conversation. Such a practice will yield at least two benefits in the home. It will give you an insight into what has formed your children’s minds and memory as Summer comes to an end, and it will remind your students that the exercises of the school day matter to you, even if school isn’t in session.

As we shift into the proper framework for school, and all that it entails, those “last few rituals of Summer” which compose the final days leading into the school year should be enjoyed. That is how we will be best prepared to find the proper habits of labor and rest come Fall. And, it is a step towards heeding St. Paul’s admonition that we ought to redeem the time, though the “war” rages ever on (Romans 5:16).