February Slump

Considering that we only have two more days of February, I think I've done pretty well on making it through the month without my annual slump. The one that I get when we haven't been able to go outside and burn off energy. The thing is, I love winter. I love the cold and being bundled in my sweatshirts. I love the chance of flurries and the possibility of slick roads so we have to stay home. But living where we do, we don't typically have months of this kind of cold. Tennessee is good for a 60 degree day to pop in every few weeks for a bit of a reprieve that helps one endure winter with a bit more ease.



When I feel the slump coming on, it's time for an easy day.

• We did lessons this morning and I switched them up so I lots of time to work individually with everyone first thing (getting any schoolwork battles out of the way instead of saving them until later when I would be tired and might give in too easy).
• We saved our favorite things until after lunch - reading aloud from Story of the World (volume 2) and These Happy Golden Years ("are Almonzo and Laura going to get married or not in this book?!?" ... and I won't answer the question). : )
• We delivered a meal to a friend this afternoon and the boy and I took a small detour to swing by Grandpa and Grandma's where he got to deliver some cookies to them. So fun to be able to surprise your grandparents when you are a 3 year old boy.
• We came home and since it was way too cold to play outside, we got a snack, curled up under blankets and watched the first Toy Story movie.

Tonight's Awana so while the kids spend time with other adults that love them and they get a hearty dose of God's word, I'm going to go shop for a one of the girls' little friend's birthday and quite possibly pick up something warm to drink. Back home with kids in jammies, maybe a little more Laura and Almonzo to read if we're lucky, and then everyone tucked into bed with me not far behind after a little hanging out with my favorite person in the world.

A slow day is sometimes the best antidote to the winter slump no matter what the reason on when the season.



PS. One of my favorite homeschooling books of all time is Real Learning by Elizabeth Foss. This book is out of print, but this winter, she has taken the time to turn a few of my favorite chapters into a six week workshop on both avoiding as well as battling back from burnout for the homeschool mom. I'm very much hoping to participate in this!