Saturday, April 30, 2011

first days of term

It's a new term! I love the start of a new school term; it reinforces everything I cherish about our choice to homeschool.

I love that on Thursday, at 9am (just as bells were ringing State-wide to start the school term), I was in my pyjamas, making chocolate crepes for my kids.

Yum!

I love that on the first day of term, we played the entire day.

Friends came over and the kids did role-playing games with their toys, scootered to the park, ate a picnic lunch at the playground and scootered home just in time to go to Homeschool group. (For more playing!)

from my phone…
the specks in this picture are
4 kids scootering madly down the street!

I love that yesterday my son recited a page-long list of all the things he wanted to get done this term, then sat for ages reading on the couch with the kitten on his lap.


I love that my girl went straight to her desk (the desk she loves and lives at) and started writing and drawing and making. Like she does every single day of her life :)

Then the kids explored an Iron Age game on the internet,
played a maths game with me,
then hopped out to the Art Gallery for our new committment—art workshops, run by a dear friend.






Our first days felt so organic. So right.

Living and learning naturally.

Living days of Flow.

(and days of Tricky too—because even on an "I love homeschool" day like yesterday you can get a parking ticket, your boy slips on a driveway and wallops his butt, and your kitten gets into, and wrecks, a brand new loaf of bread. This is when you breathe, and breathe deeply. And continue listing all that's good).

I love being with my homeschooling friends, talking about everything under the sun—from educational philosophies to what music we're listening to, and what we're having for dinner tonight. They're such an enthusiastic, devoted, supportive bunch. It feeds my heart to be around them.

I love learning creatively. Passionately. Wholeheartedly.

I love being different. Alternative and unusual and curious and special.

(and there's a kind of magic in every one of those words. Isn't there?)

I love that our first days of term

looked a lot like our days of not-term!

And every day felt…

all-the-way-through, right-to-our-very-bones,

just right.


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5 comments:

  1. I LOVE reading about your days! We have not yet gotten back into the swing of things, but I did realise that Zak has had a rather educational natural learning week. Now if I can just prize my other son away from his computer and interest him in something else, I might be as cheerful as you! LOL.

    Big hugs xoxoxox

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  2. Yes, yes yes! Completely and utterly agree with how you feel. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. I love it too! We are wrapping up our term and I must say I don't enjoy that nearly as much as beginning a term. Wrapping up means making sure we wrung the life out of something, even though we can go back and do parts over, but i still like to be sure we've really gotten the full experience of what we have done. I love beginning a term! I love your art classes and can not wait to hear more about them!!!

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  4. Ahh Helena's magic words..how I have missed them. Do you have any idea how much I love reading you? How you inspire me with every post.

    On days when I am stressed and frantic I try to channel you and your calm. Hugs my friend.

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  5. Like! We too had a nice first day of term with our homeschooling friends.

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I love hearing from you! Thank you for your heartfelt, thoughtful responses—they lift me, and give me light.