Welcoming of Winter

It feels like few and far between for snow here in Maryland. Honestly, when we have an outdoor adventure like we had two days ago, snow is typically not in sight. But, today was an exception, because WE HAVE SNOW! D's comment was "Finally winter has come!" For my kids, winter equals snow and outdoors we go. The kids could barely finish their snack once we peered out the window and saw the snow was finally sticking. We raced to put on our coats, hats, sneakers, and accessories and next thing I know I see three smiles on my children's faces and I am snapping away. Here are some of the precious moments I was able to capture. 

Our first encounter with snow as we headed to the library...we had no idea what the day would bring.

The second glimpse from our window.

Outdoors we go

"Ready guys, we are going to..."

our "backyard"

Look Mom at all this snow...if I could only see it. ;)

Peek A Boo!

A progression of big brother leading the way of rolling around in the snow.

I love watching big brother care for his sisters.

Thank You Lord for making me white as snow!

We also tried something new with our school day. I read an article two days ago discussing some wisdom about reading to young kids and not having them sit for book work. Now, I will admit I always wanted to be a teacher, so book work is not something I am totally against. (Although, I am not a fan of assigning work that is "busy work"). But lately, I had truly been struggling with watching my six year old wrestle with school. He used to get so much delight out of waking up and beginning the school day. But this past week, it would take him all day to get 3, maybe 4 subjects finished. Should I set a timer and be strict with him? Should I begin taking away his precious Star Wars legos? My hearts desire was to bring learning again in a light that was fun and not a checklist for him and admittedly me as well. So today we tried something new. I woke up and asked the Lord for guidance and wisdom as to where to start. I had the idea of reading on the couch all morning. So we started our day with Bible just like always, but instead of diving into Math, we curled up on the couch and read our whole real aloud book for history. I even pulled out a puzzle and tangrams for the kids to quietly work on while they listened. We also have our girls castle near the couch so I got a glimpse of some princess and princes riding throughout the land. It was so peaceful and as we ran a couple of errands in the afternoon I noticed a change in his demeanor. He was relaxed and even asked me a few questions about the book while we were checking out at the grocery store. I definitely had the thoughts like, he was listening! When we were loading up the van from the store he even gave me a hug and just cuddled with me. We haven't had a moment like that in  awhile. When we got home after our snow adventure we did about 20 minutes of book work that included handwriting and math. His attitude about math was positive and wanted to make sure I was close just in case he needed help, but he did it all on his own. I don't know what we will do tomorrow, but I will admit I enjoyed the change in terms of his attitude, our battling to get "everything" done, and the relaxed nature of the day where we were able to transition smoothly and get things done with precious, tender moments throughout. What a wonderful wintery day!


P.S. The link to the article is here: http://www.likeawarmcupofcoffee.com/home/2012/01/homeschool-wisdom-worth-interrupting-the-blog-break/