Baby it's Cold outside!

As my experience in homeschooling increases, I'm finding it increasingly easier to find creative ways of logging in learning time. For instance, this week it has been cold here, really cold! However, Friday the sun was shining. Poor 6yo is so ready for outside play and began to be excited that the sun was shining! She just had to know if she was permitted to go out to play. The way she was asking made me feel at first that she feels like she's never allowed outside until I realized that she's used to not being permitted to play computer or watch tv during "office hours."

I had to encourage her to be sure to bundle up! The sunshine is deceptive. When the sun is shining and the sky looks so blue, it's easy to forget that the thermometer may only read 12*.

As I watched her bundle up I was suddenly aware of my own cooped up feeling. Too much time indoors with no sunshine makes for a gloomy feeling. So I bundled up and went out with her. As soon as we stepped outside the cold hit us like a brick wall. It may have been sunny but it was so cold and windy. We had to warm up and my mind immediately thought of a book I had just read about a girl surviving alone on the Northern Tundra ("Julie of the Wolves" ...good read!)

"1,2, 3, GO!" I yelled and we took off! Running and running races back and forth in the yard until the cold air made it too difficult to breath. By that time 12yo had heard all the excitement and decided to join us. Just in time for a nature walk.

Remembering what I had read about winter challenges we set off in the direction of some cattails. Just about that time the wind whipped up even stronger. The cold began to really sink in, but still we pressed on.

We managed to make it to the cattails and have a quick look, but the girls and I were SO COLD. Hastily I reached out and snapped one off to bring inside.

Once inside we inspected it and 6yo promptly decided to keep it forever! The rest of the day was spent leisurely working through a few subjects. Yes we accomplished some "book work" and I didn't even feel guilty about how little we actually covered. I'm learning to sit back, and enjoy all the small moments. Next time, I hope I have a better camera to take along. If we're going to suffer through all that wind it would be nice to have a picture or two to help document it!