Day of Rest

You know those weeks where you seem to cram waayy too much into too little time? Yeah, last week was one of those. In addition to our studies (algae and lichen) we picked up a handwork class (knitting socks!) and piano lessons; I picked up a women's bible study, and husband and I joined a weekly ballroom dance class. We had an all day field trip on Thursday. And on Friday the boy and I traveled to NC to visit middle son at college. We arrived home Sunday evening just in time for the Raven's vs. Jets kickoff at 8:20 pm, the boy's bedtime. Ravens won, yay, but guess who didn't unpack?

Middle son's tree fort he and his friends built on the college campus.
Here he's explaining the plans for expansion.

One of the things I love about home schooling is that after one of "those" weeks, we can take a day off if we need to do so. For our family taking a day off means disrupting our rhythm – not something the Boy likes, therefore, it's oftentimes easier just to plow through, even if it is only to stick to that rhythm. Other days, though, we need to give ourselves permission to just take a break. So that is what we are doing on this rainy, chilly Monday. The boy slept 2 hours late this morning, so I went with it.

I do think we need to be mindful of our time, and deliberate about the days we "take off." It would be so easy to let other things crowd out our home school day; there's always laundry, the library books, groceries, garden and animal work, graphic design jobs, holiday and festival preparations, and the list goes on. This mama needs the structure of a school day, otherwise I start to let  subjects slide, especially those I struggle with in teaching. When scheduling our activities I make sure that we have at least 3 mornings at home each week. If we are out in the morning, it is difficult to reign us in and get any main lesson work completed. I like to get the lesson work done, then have the afternoon for projects, errands, or play.

This week I plan to cover moss, ferns, and conifers. But for today, I am unpacking, catching up on email, cleaning house, and working on lesson plans. And I might just take a nap.