9 Weeks Left

This has been our best year of school yet.  There are still so many things I wish we could incorporate, and hopefully as the children continue to get older, we will work towards those goals.  With only nine weeks left in our school year, I am feeling quite nostalgic and not wanting to finish.  I'm shocked by how quickly the time is passing.  E is going to be nine this summer and in fourth grade next year.  Fourth Grade.  That is terribly old.  We've developed such a lovely routine, and overall, I would say we are all enjoying it.  Of course, they grumble about school, but I think that is partly because they hear other kids do it and also because they would really rather just play with each other.  

We've been doing Morning Time much more regularly than in the past, and everyone looks forward to it, probably for the snack, but still, it is a special something that they enjoy doing together.  

I'm working on learning about watercolor painting so that we can begin to do that better.  I'd like to get some sketch books that we can take with paints and actually paint what we see.  Nature study is something I'd like to see us do better.  The children enjoy being out in nature immensely, but there is no contemplative part of them.  They run and climb and are relatively wild.  I'd like to see them learn to sit still long enough to really look at something and see it.  It'll come.

With time blowing by like a hurricane, I'm struck by how much I do not want to regret when they are older.  I don't want to regret not giving them my attention because I was playing a silly game or doing something purely for self.  There are times when I need to focus on something, but I find that I am wasting a great deal of time.  Charlotte Mason would not approve.  Intentionality is on my mind.