November 2020

November in Utah is an interesting weather adventure. Oh look, it's sunny - lets play in the leaves and go hiking! No wait - it snowy - but the lease haven't fallen, so the branches break, but don't worry - here comes the sun again!  Just kidding - more snow!  Every day we woke up, I would eagerly look outside to see what surprise awaited us. The beauty of homeschool meant that not only could we have our own snow days when ever we wanted, but we also didn't have to rush to shovel the driveway early in the morning, and drive over icy roads to attempt to make it to school on time each morning. We got to enjoy winter at our own leisure, and it was wonderful!

One day we woke up to a layer of snow, and I'm going to just copy what I wrote on instagram: 

I had today all planned out. All my boys’ assignments were carefully written out on the white board. I woke up early, determined to get a head start on today’s schooling. However, the beauty of homeschool means we can adjust our plans to accommodate life. Last night it snowed. Not a lot - but enough to stir excitement in each boy. They all put on their snow gear and headed outside. It has been over three hours and they are still playing together. This is what homeschool looks like. They are creating imaginary ski resorts, sledding down our hill, and creating giant snow balls. Not a care in the world - this is childhood. Even though my OCD keeps thinking about all the curriculum they need to work on, I know that can wait until tomorrow. I love that they have each other and that through homeschool their relationships have grown. I’ve been overly anxious lately about test scores and making sure I teach everything they would be learning in a public school. The stress has been a bit overwhelming. However, I love days like today. It is so simple, yet so beautiful. 

 

After the big snow storm, everything melted and we got to enjoy sunny weather again for a little while. 

One of my favorite additions to our homeschool room was our little reading nook.  Every few weeks we went to the library and checked out around 20 books to place in our book nook.  The boys could read books, do their online learning, or just relax in this corner.  

Another fun part of homeschool was getting to embrace the holidays. I had a big white board where I wrote the days' assignments for each child.  I often left surprises under the board, including mini Christmas trees for desks, as well as ornaments that we got to make for our art project! 

When we were not on field trips, playing outside in the snow, or embracing the seasons through fun projects, most of our days looked like this:

Or this...

When we were not downstairs doing our work, sometimes we were taking a break upstairs eating a fun lunch like this "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" inspired lunch

After Halloween we discovered the seeds inside one of our pumpkins started sprouting.  It was so fun to learn a little about this unexpected discovery! 

I love decorating for all the seasons - even if it is exhausting! 

Homeschool took a lot out of me, especially because I poured my entire heart and soul into it. I had a lot of anxiety that year and experienced a lot of exhaustion. My favorite way to destress from the day was by taking nice warm baths at night after all the kids were in bed.  

One of my favorite parts of having kids - getting to experience these masterpieces!