I think it’s pretty perfect that January starts the new year. Possibly the most depressing month, arriving just after the excitement of Christmas and in the middle of months of dreary weather.
January is the perfect time to call it quits.
So, I need some direction to keep us going. Otherwise I’m sure I would be very tempted to curl up in a cave like the bears and wait for spring. Spring is really the time of new beginnings. Seems like a good idea to just wait.
I started homeschooling year round from the beginning sort of by accident, but now I find it an enlightened choice. With a new year, the new planners, and new goals, it gives me that push I need to start a new school year.
A few new curriculum changes, a brand new schedule with incentives, and a stack of new library books are the ingredients that get us going. An open year stretching out in front of us begging to be filled. And so we begin filling it.
We pull ourselves out from under the covers, feathers in our hair, creases on our face and move to the table where our days begin. Some days, like today, I have to fight hard not to end early and get right back in bed, under the covers with a good book.
But the goals pull us forward, a bit of momentum that makes me read that next chapter aloud even if I don’t feel like it because I decided we would read a book a month this year.
I make them rewrite that paragraph because, by golly, this year they are going to stop those run on sentences and use more adjectives.
And I set the timer on my son’s math because he will lollygag all day on it unless he has a good reason to finish, like beating the clock.
Every year I think we’ll never make it through. But we always do. And it does get better.
