Life circumstances gave our family the invaluable gift of providing me the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mother to our children. For more than a decade, I was away from my beloved profession of teaching and my favorite part of that profession: curriculum development. My lucky kids! They became my students! This started out of necessity when our son received an autism diagnosis at 20 months, and the materials and approaches suggested to us needed an overhaul to make them interesting and challenging enough to keep his learning going. As the kids got older, the specter of the dreaded summer slide loomed as a motivating factor, and summer clubs started, including math club, Spanish club and family book club. Whining and unhappiness accompanied having to attend Mama’s summer school, but when our daughter’s friend asked if she could join the book club, this summer ritual suddenly got a reputation makeover. As young adults, both enrolled in college, our children now want me to hold our family summer book club, and interest in it has grown. More friends are joining and sharing our enjoyment of the books we read and the accompanying activities that make our meetings fun and engaging.