The Light at the End of the Tunnel

We're almost there; I can feel it! Even though we're still only halfway through Lent, we are almost out of the dark, dreary doldrums of the homeschooling year. I think everyone agrees that January and February are the worst months for homeschoolers. It's dark and cold and the festivities have come to a screeching halt as of December 26th. Many of us try to hang on and keep the faith through Epiphany, but it's difficult when everyone else gets back to "business as usual" and we're the only ones left celebrating. But after that, it's back to school along with everyone else. And it is hard.

After many years of struggling through the first few months of a new year with short tempers and sleepy children, I've given myself and the children permission to relax during this time. We try to have more fun and get out of the house to get sunshine whenever possible. I introduce more crafty stuff to the school day. This year we've been working on lapbooks together. We're reading more books together instead of just learning out of textbooks. I don't stress as much about checking off every single subject every day because there are all kinds of ways to learn and it doesn't all come from a text.

And you know what? After being more relaxed with our schooling for these past 2 months, now that the days are longer and warmer and everyone is cheerier, we're in a much better position to cross all our t's and dot our i's. I can feel how ready everyone is to get their work done and finish those textbooks so they can play----this afternoon and all summer long!


I think this part of the school year is a lot like Lent where we go into the darkness and strip away the extra stuff. We sort of hibernate and pare our school day down to a more spiritual level where we nourish our souls with books and more creative activities. We're preparing for the resurrection---the glorious resurrection of our Savior, and ours from the darkness of our homeschooling doldrums.