2.28.2018

homeschool days


Second grade is coming along just fine.  Just about 2/3 of the way through, which, even though we were close to the wood stove the other night, makes me daydream of warm summer days coming.  I must say, I myself am learning (re-learning?) a lot.  It's good, the re-learning.

While there are mornings that we falter a bit to find our groove (usually the mornings I give in to that call to take things super slow and easy, which sounds so appealing but often leads to frustrations and a bit of eye-rolling when it is time to get down to work...), mostly, things are going quite smoothly.

We continue to begin the morning with a bit of math (lately multiplication, measuring, fractions) and language (a mix of spelling, cursive, grammar, creative writing, and read-aloud), and then follow those with social studies (current events, history, and our continent studies- currently Europe), science (most often nature studies and biology), and a bit of piano practice before heading to art class together for the afternoon.  Some mornings there are either horseback riding or piano lessons (the ukuleles have fallen to the side for the time being, though they still get picked up on occasion).  One morning a week we help out at a local nonprofit's food distribution market, and that has been such a wonderful and worthwhile addition to our week.  Sometimes it is just Claire and I and sometimes papa makes it, too~ I think it inspires all three of us to look for more ways we can serve our community.  It's good.

In between the actual sit-down-at-the-table-and-work parts of the morning we fit in some breaks and art and, as the weather warms, garden and outdoor chores and tasks.  I've been sifting and spreading the compost and doing a bit of prep work in the garden beds.  On Monday we readied some beds and planted spinach and peas, seeded some calendula and larkspur and poppies.  A bit early, yes, but we'll see.  Sometimes it is just too hard to resist the call to get in the soil that certain warm late-winter  days seem to put out.  I am weak when it comes to that.  I will nearly always give in and risk putting some seeds in.  The hardy ones, at least.  What can I say?  We are eating over-wintered greens out of the garden beds and spying daffodils and dandelions and violets peeking up, so there's that.  She was happy to join in, tucking peas below the warmish soil and neatening up her fairy garden to give the blooming pansies and daffodils a bit of breathing room.

Soon the phlox and primroses and tulips will bloom.  And then the hawthorne, the lilac.  Irises.  Our wisteria is covered in hundreds of buds and I watch it anxiously- hoping so much to see the long purple flowers covering the bush and the arbor it has grown up and over but knowing that if the last couple years are any indication of how things will go then the buds will bite it in a hard frost and then fall to the ground, crispy and brown.  Fingers crossed.  How pretty it could be.

6 comments:

  1. its my first year at homeschooling too. I am schooling a grade 4 this year (with snippets of a one year old under foot) I totally understand the eye rolling and the slow and steadiness of it all. I try to bring that all in every morning, every day.

    AND, i could picture your moments - primroses and tulips all in bloom. They will be with you soon and then I will be all cold and wintery here in my space. Blessings for the new month.

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    1. I imagine things can get a little wild with a wee one underfoot! we've so been enjoying homeschooling~ for her Kindergarten year we really just 'unschooled', and have taken a more scheduled and purposeful approach to things for 1st and 2nd grade. I like to think we've got a lot of flexibility built in, but the added structure seems to help her and I both. I'm hoping homeschooling continues to work for our family for years to come.

      oh I am so excited for the days to come weeks from now, when for months it'll be one thing blooming after another~ I love spending my mornings in the garden looking at the flowers :) Where are you? I suppose I can just go look and see......

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  2. Oh, Swallows and Amazons. We adore those books and have shared them with many homeschool families.

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    1. this is our first, and it was loaned to us from another homeschooling mama :) We are very much enjoying it!

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  3. I agree! sometimes you just cannot resist the urge to dig! Though life is completely different for me now living in the middle of the woods... we are sheltered from early and late frosts by the trees, but the same is true of the sunshine! Life lessons... so glad you all are doing well. Claire's penmanship is lovely!

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    1. oh yes~ the weekend before last was so warm here and I spent just about all of the daylight hours that Sat/Sun out in the garden. And then the following week it snowed and we had a couple nights in the 20s..... I think we are, for the most part, now officially and actually into Spring, though I know to expect some freezing here and there. Our peas and spinach are sprouting and there are so many flowers starting to pop up~ exciting time of year! Thanks~ she does love to write :)

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thanks for taking the time to read and comment~