February 2019

In February we say good-bye

to the migrating Monarch butterfly. 

~Nicola

Dates of Interest:

These are some of the days our family is celebrating this month or simply things we are taking note of or interest in.

Birthday celebrations in our family!

February 14: St. Valentine's Day

February 15-18: Great Backyard Bird Count

Homeschooling:

Just to keep it real; homeschooling is hard right now. We are simultaneously trying to address some learning and developmental challenges, while planning for the start of high school next year for our eldest. It is clear the combination is bringing up a lot of intense feelings, worry, and confusion for all of us.

Fifth grader: He is working on weekly homework for both his Shakespeare class and Exercise Physiology class, as well as his project for his Shakespeare class. His chosen topic is the Globe Theater.  He is using Teaching Textbooks and Key To workbooks for math and we are using games to review. We are continuing to use REWARDS to support his progress with language arts differences.

Eighth grader: She is working on homework, research project, and practicing lines for her Shakespeare class. She is getting a small amount of outside support for language arts and I am trying to work with her on math. Right now, we are focusing heavily on emotional health and skill building.

Self-care:

This has continued to be very difficult for me. Due to high needs parenting, I think I have gotten depleted enough that I really need some deep care to restore myself. I am trying for daily exercise and deep breathing. (A practice of 3 slow, deep breaths, in through the nose, hold, out through the mouth. Breath 1 is just the breath. Breath 2, expanding and stretching my body. Breath 3, thinking "what is important right now?" and focusing on that.)  I need to increase my water intake. My journaling has been spotty. What I think I really need to address next is a therapist or new listening partnership.

Parenting:

Parenting and homeschooling are all so deeply woven together! I have been saying yes just about every time Brown Mouse asks me to play our made up basketball trampoline game. Laughter, connection, and physical exercise are wonderful. With Lala Bug, I am making myself available when she seeks me out and I am working to reduce the corrections and increase the positive comments. Following M's power tool accident and subsequent emergency department visit (he is okay!), our highly sensitive girl has really struggled with us. Fear is a powerful thing to a sensitive being that is both both teen and young girl in one growing, changing mind and body.

Home life:

We have made expectations more clear, limits more clear, and everyone is helping a bit more. This is something we will continue to work on! We have done a couple more chunks of purging and I have a load to bring to the donation place, although you can't see the dent! We also did a deep clean of our bathroom (we have moisture problems during winter) and you can see the difference there!

Crafting:

Brown Mouse has been building. He got interested in earthquakes again and made a shake table and some buildings. He has also been playing with his Tinker Crates. (These were a birthday present from us. They come from KiwiCo. I have no affiliation and yes, I would recommend them.)  M had to take a rest because of his hand injury. Lala Bug has favored reading over crafting the past couple weeks and I have been deep in paperwork during my "extra" time. So little crafting has happened. Just typing that motivates me to put out some crafty "morning invitations!"

Happy February to you all. I know many homeschoolers dislike February, but it is one of my favorite months. I think of it as a "red" month, full of celebrations, picking up a little cheer after "blue" January. It has been wet and cold here. We even got snow here in coastal California last night! Be well.

(You will enjoy Carrie's monthly The Parenting Passageway post, here!)