March Marches Along

My garden is calling out to me from beneath the snow

I'll be honest with you, I am getting a little tired of the snow!

I am usually the first one to cheer when the forecast of snow comes on the news, but this year's snowy winter has put even my good nature to the test. Still, I admit that there is a slight thrill when I see the first flakes falling from the sky. This winter, however, my heart sinks a bit when I discover that we're getting more than a foot of snow at a time - yet again. The reason my heart sinks is because the snow this year has been very wet and heavy, making the shoveling a real chore. Having a home business means I need to get the driveway cleared before 8:30 in the morning. This means I could easily be shoveling heavy snow in the dark of the early morning. This can be a real challenge when we get more than a foot of snow at a time!!!

Tonight the forecast is calling for up to 15 inches of snow. I want to be thrilled about this. I want to be excited about the idea of taking the kids sledding again, but my heart is just not in it. The thought of shoveling that 15 inches brings back too many memories of each major storm we have had this winter, and the sore muscles that have accompanied hours and hours of shoveling! 

Still, I know that spring is on its way, and that is keeping my spirits up as I prepare for this latest storm.

Meanwhile, back at the homeschooling ranch.....

It has truly been a pleasure to be moving at our own pace with homeschooling. As I've posted about before, we take a bit of an eclectic approach. I *DO* include worksheets and educational games into our week, but it is only a portion of our day. A great part of the day is dedicated soley to play, and to allowing our son to choose activities that he enjoys. We like this balance, because it gives our son more control over what subjects he works on while still setting aside time for me to ensure that he is learning skills and information that I, as an educator, feel is important for him to know.

Our son truly loves getting up first thing in the morning to work on lessons, so after some circle time, that is our first (and longest) major "lesson" time. We'll have lesson time for about an hour before he "takes a break". I've outlined a typical day for our home recently, but I figured I would update that this is still fairly typical for us.

It never ceases to amaze me how excited my son now is for his "lesson work". Being at home has really been very healing for him after the experience of public school.

Isn't it great to discover that children have the natural ability to learn, without extreme measures? My lessons with our son usually comprise of me showing him once the information or skill set, and then we do a few examples together and stay with the theme every day for about a week. After a few days of working on it together, I set him loose to work more independently, and he flies right through it...asking questions when needed and then we go over it together afterwards. 

All this time outside of the school system has been very healing for my own soul, although I do miss the influence I was able to have in bringing light and joy into the schools. I have considered teaching 1 day a week next year, because I really do feel I am a good teacher who can be a positive influence in an atmosphere that desperately needs it. We'll see how things go. I may just decide that teaching for the homeschool co-op, tutoring and having fun with my family is more than fulfilling enough....and believe me, it truly already is.