Posted in relaxed homeschooling

Today is a beautiful, balmy day in Florida.  We have a brisk breeze and, though it is a bit muggier than I like for this time of year, I decided to open up the house and get the boys working with me to straighten things up a bit.  You see, we still have our Christmas tree up, decorations scattered everywhere and stuff sitting around from our trip north to see family over the holidays!

I've been a bit under the weather and we have just been getting by since coming home on 1/8.  So, this morning we did a bit of history reading, devotions and my oldest finished an assignment from Literary Lessons From Lord of the Rings (we're trying really hard to stay on track).  While he studied, N. and I got to work un-decorating the tree, putting away all the Christmas knick-knacks, etc.  We're also in the middle of some major re-arranging of rooms, so some of the clutter will have to stay until my husband finishes building shelves, etc. -- but the house looks so much better after a couple of hours of concentrated effort.  PTL!

As I wrote yesterday, we're really trying to get back on track with our school work.  I had quite the conversation with myself this morning as to whether to do school or clean today.  I finally decided that we would get more done the rest of the week if we had a more organized, clean house to work in.  I'm NOT very skilled in homemaking (no Martha Stewart here!), but when things really get out of hand, even I have to get a grip on the situation  !

All has not been lost in the learning department though - life skills were definitely built today.  Also, our weekly worldview/logic class meets at our house tonight (another motivation to clean up, though they're used to my dust bunnies).  The kids also started working on their own projects creating animated cursors yesterday and early this morming, so art & computer skills were covered today too!  I'm always amazed how much learning happens even when we don't "hit the books"

So, if you're having one of THOSE days, and you think that school didn't happen - sit down and make a list of your family's activities (even those things that seemed like work, play or wasted time).  You might be surprised to find that your kids were more productive than you thought!  Then invite the kids to play a board game - they're sure to reinforce math, reading and many other skills while enjoying a family game and you can add that bit of learning to your list, too!

Learning All the Time,

Cindy