I Call That Spring!

Kite Days

A kite, a sky, and a good firm breeze,
And acres of ground away from trees,
And one hundred yards of clean, strong string —
O boy, O boy! I call that Spring!

 Mark Sawyer

We introduced our kids to the movie Mary Poppins a few weeks ago, and ever since they’ve been going around the house singing “Let’s Go Fly a Kite,” which is a very appropriate song for the beginning of spring.  We’ve been watching our yard and neighborhood for signs of spring this month and we have not been disappointed.

As March began, the branches of trees all over the neighborhood blossomed in bright white flowers.  The breeze rushing through the trees caught white petals in its breath and all month we’ve seen white petals floating down to the ground.  My California born and bred kids exclaim, “Snow!”

With the warmer weather (and the returned health after a few months of flu season ravaging through the household), Terrace Hill Academy students can be seen riding bikes, taking walks, climbing the apple tree, drawing with chalk, searching for flowers, and painting outside.

The second week of March we found a few poppies in our yard and observed first hand nyctinasty (new word for us!)- the blooms fold up (“like a carrot,” my kids say) at night and open up to the sun in the morning.  Princess K was pretty fascinated by this as we observed the flowers day and evening after day and evening.  This was also the week we started seeing a few leaves on our grape vine.  The kids found a little ladybug, decided to keep it as a pet and called it Curly, drew it in their nature journals and then lost it.   (It reminded me of A.A. Milne’s poem Forgiven.)

 At the beginning of March, all that could be seen of our apple tree (we’ve been observing all year) was dry brown branches.  Today, March 25th, when we went to examine our tree, we found a few buds and a blossom!  It was exciting.

Our roses are in bloom again, the breezes are fragrant, the rain is sporadic, the kids are barefoot, all the world is in color.  Oh boy, oh boy, I call that spring!

A Sure Sign

 Evaleen Stein

When you see upon the walk
Circles newly made of chalk,
And around them all the day
Little boys in eager play
Rolling marbles, agates fine,
Banded, polished, red as wine,
Marbles crystal as the dew,
Each with rainbows twisted through,
Marbles gay in painted clay,
Flashing, twinkling in your way,
When the walk has blossomed so,
Surely every one must know
None need wonder who has heard
Robin, wren, or Peter-bird;
Sure the sign as song or wing,
          It is spring!

Homeschooling through the Seasons of Life

Every season of the year has its charm.  Summer holds beach trips, ice cream, bare feet, and long, lazy afternoons.  Autumn brings crisp apples, crisp weather, the crunch of leaves and the mouthwatering aroma of pumpkin pie.  In winter, you blow out your breath in frosty clouds, go ice skating, and drink hot cocoa by a roaring fire.  Then spring breezes in warmly with new life, bright and beautiful blossoms, and the promise of summer break arriving before long.

Often, we describe our lives in terms of seasons.  “It’s just a season,” reminds us that the experiences of the phase of life we are in is transitory and soon a new season of life will arrive.  There are good seasons of fun and growth and happiness.  There are times of transition and change.  There are periods in life where things are difficult and sad and challenging.  And there are seasons of new life and new beginnings.

As homeschoolers, we have the challenge of trying to educate our children as we go and grow through the seasons together.  There will be exhilerating seasons of new beginnings, enthusiasm, when you plant seeds and faithfully water them.  There will be times when homeschooling and life is going well and you see the fruit of your labors blossoming in your children in their skills, understanding, or habits.  There will be times of transitions when you are trying to adjust to changes to your life or routine.  And there are seasons of difficulty, sadness, or grief, when things are hard and school seems an overwhelming burden.

So how does one homeschool through all of these changing seasons?

1.  Lean on God’s Strength– Abide in Him and let his words abide in you by spending time in prayer and in his Word, meditating on it and memorizing it.

Lean on God’s strength and abide in Him when things are going well, when life is shifting all around you, when everything is impossibly hard.  Abide.  Always.

God’s grace gives peace despite your circumstances

2.  Live in Grace– Remember that your worth, your value is not dependent upon your accomplishments or failures.  Your value is determined by the price paid for you.  The blood of the one and only Son of God.

Thank Him for his gracious provision when things are going well and trust in his sovereignty, his wisdom, power, and love, when things are hard.  It is God’s grace that enables you to be victorious and it is God’s grace that carries you when you fall.

His grace carries you

I’ve noticed that moms have that thing called Mom Guilt.  We all experience it.  We are not doing enough.  We are failing our husbands and ruining our children.  We look around at other peoples’ best, judge ourselves on that impossibly high standard and find ourselves wanting.

You know, whenever I talk to any other mom about this, I can see that Mom Guilt is ridiculous.  I encourage them to “Let it Go!”  Have grace for themselves.  But it seems that the hardest thing is to have grace for yourself.  I know.  It is for me too.

What we have to remember is that God is sovereign.  Our best efforts will fall far short.  We will fail.  We will yell at our kids unfairly.  We will neglect some important habit.   We will forget things, fail to fulfill promises, disappoint our kids from time to time.  God’s grace enables our successes in parenting and covers our failures.  If we can use our failures to point to the One who never will fail them, we will have done our job.

My two year old almost drowned a few months ago.  How I castigated myself!  I wasn’t there to watch my son.  Why wasn’t I watching?  But God was watching when I wasn’t.  He saved my son.  He’s the only one who can truly save our children.

Live in God’s grace so you can reveal God’s grace and love to your children.

3.  Rejoice Always– Give God thanks for the good times and be thankful for God’s grace and strength and sovereignty in the bad times.  This will make your good times better and your bad times a bit lighter.

4.  Record God’s Faithfulness– Write down the ways in which you see God work, in the good times and the bad.  This can later be a great encouragement when things are challenging (again).

Write down the things you do in your homeschooling.  Take pictures and make a scrapbook or a Shutterfly Yearbook.  Then when you are feeling discouraged (perhaps going through a season of illness like we recenty when through- when no school gets done for 6 weeks) and feeling like your kids are learning nothing and doing nothing valuable, you can look back at how far you’ve come and the fun things you’ve done.

5.  Be Flexible in Times of Change or Challenge– If no school gets done for a few days or weeks, that’s ok.  One of the beauties of homeschool is the wonderful flexibility with the schedule.  We school from August to June so there are plenty of weeks we can take off for travel, illness, or when we need a break.

Perhaps you need to purchase some special materials for those times of change- audiobooks, educational films, special craft kits, sticker books, computer programs or online learning website memberships.  Get help if you can.  Grandmas can do a baking “class” or read wonderful stories to their grandkids.  Perhaps Dad can help with school when he is home- or he can take the kids to the zoo or local museum for a field trip.

This is how a dad takes the kids on a field trip

You might need to shorten up your school schedule.  Times of transition or hardship call for a “just the basics” schedule, rather than worrying about all the extras we homeschoolers like to include in our days.  Make a short list of the basics- depending on your children’s current needs, and just aim to accomplish those.

In the end, the most important thing is to abide in Christ.  Abide in Him and He will carry you.