Holding on and Letting Go
March, April and May have been full months for us. We’ve celebrated birthdays and death and all had some growing pains.
My kids turned 6 and 9. As I do every year I struggled with them getting older. Anika’s birthday really hit me this year. I vividly remember 9. It feels so old. We are in big kid territory now. She reads Babysitter’s Club Books, does multiplication and division and no longer wants to hold my hand in parking lots.
Tweak turned 17 and not longer after decided she had done her work on this Earth and went on to doggie heaven.
Jamie turned 40. He joined me in official middle age. No midlife crisis to report yet, from either of us.
All of these things…watching: my kids get older, my last dog from pre-children days die and my husband join me in the 40 club makes my own mortality front and center. It is potential anxiety attack fuel for the fire.
But I focus on the trees having leaves on them again to extinguish that fire. We’ve watched them for a full cycle now at this brand new house. Seen them green, seen them turn colors, seen them fall off, seen them bud and seen them come back. This process amazes me, every. single. year. It never gets old. After a full cycle of tree leaves in our new home I can confidently say I love it here. I have a sense of peace and calmness to our life choices that I haven’t had for some time. As our world becomes crazier and crazier and the news more painful to watch each day, I find comfort in our cozy home and this intentional life we have created. I’m in love with my career, where my primary purpose is to love my children and family. I’m in love with this home, that is humble, safe, sweet and simple and everything that we need. I’m in love with the area we live in. It feels like home. It is home.
After our dog passed my good friend sent me the kindest, most thoughtful gift package and in it was a card with this quote…
“Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.” ~Rumi
Perfection. Every death, every birth, every tree cycle is life. “This too shall pass” as will we all. My clinging to past moments will prevent the enjoyment of current ones. The only thing for me to do is let go and accept this. Allow myself to feel those good moments and also feel those bad ones. Like really feel them all. Feel all those feelings.
Instead of stewing over baby pictures of the past, I’m re-reading Babysitter’s Club books with Anika and enjoying the fact I have a free hand in the parking lot now. Embracing this new big kid season of life we have entered, which is pretty freakin awesome…where all that hard work of those early parenting years start to pay off and that foundation that you have laid to help your kid become a decent human being starts to show.
We stepped outside this morning and Anika excitedly replied, “The leaves, their back! Look how beautiful they are!”
Thats my girl.
Homeschool April and May
Extracurriculars
The kids wrapped up rock climbing for the year, Anika had her final homeschool theater class and performance until next fall, her last Zoom Art Class for the school year and they finished up this session of STEAM class at the library. Jacob began his third year of T-Ball!
Field Trips
We’ve had a couple of field trips including a show at the Planetarium and a Meet the Scientist’s Event to celebrate Earth Day. The kids visited different tables that discussed various science topics related to the environment with activities led by experts in their field. We learned about everything from environmental writing, birds, ticks to potatoes.
Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets Unit Study
The kids and I decided to finish up our school year with something we’ve been talking about doing for awhile…starting the Harry Potter book series.
When creating a unit study I channel Walt Disney World, where even the trash cans fit the theme and create a multi-sensory experience that fully immerses the kids in what we are learning.
These two books were the anchor for this Unit. We read both Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
We choose to listen to the Audiobooks.
Movies
We watched the first and second Harry Potter movies after we finished each book.
Music
We’ve only recently joined the paid Spotify club. It’s been handy for homeschool as I like to add music to our learning whenever possible. We played the Harry Potter Soundtrack frequently as background music throughout this unit study.
Pottermore
We created a free Pottermore account at the Wizarding World website. The Kids got to be placed in a house by the sorting hat, created their own portraits, got a wand and a pet.
Here’s a small sampling of some of the favorite things we did this unit…
We learned a little bit about the countries where Harry Potter takes place.
We also spent some time designing our own wands, creating a new sport for Hogwarts, creating a fifth Hogwarts House and creating a new candy to be sold at Honeydukes.
Harry Potter Inspired Mad Libs from Rock Your Homeschool
Potion Making Class
We watched this video and did some of our own potion making learning about solutions and suspensions as we did it.
We completed some Harry Potter Sudoku and Harry Potter Logic Puzzles.
Anika continues to use Right Start Math and Exploring Math with Creation. Jacob is finishing Eureka Math.
We are approaching our final days of our first year of homeschool. Woo Hoo!!
This was lovely, thank you for sharing.
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A Wonderful reminder to start each day with a Grateful Heart! Such an uplifting beautiful read! I laughed and I cried. Some day you’ll be writing movie scripts! In such troubling times it’s wise to remember to come home to one’s center, that is where ones true nature and peace and strength are found. Your simplified life is abundant and rich. The children’s learning programs you have chosen are over the top! Thank you for sharing this with us so we can share with others!
Thank you! I like that “come home to one’s center…”
I first came across your blog when you read my blog and liked it. So I started reading your blog. Our lives couldn’t be more different – I’m retired and step-grandmother of 12. I never raised children and, when I would have been having children, home school wasn’t a thing that people did. Reading your blog makes me feel as though I’m grandmother to your children and I’m watching them grow up. Your creativity as you home school them makes my heart just sing! Your children are learning so much more than just the curriculum that is taught in schools – they are learning curiosity and how to experiment. They are learning you can use humble supplies, such as paper and crayons, and create wonderful, fun things. They go in your kitchen and do all kinds of experiments with the tools on hand. To me, this is priceless for the children to know. They won’t need fancy, store bought tools to do what they need in the future. They will figure out ways to do what they want with the tools available. I look forward to reading more about your adventures. Thank you for sharing them with me.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a beautiful comment. This made me cry in all the best ways. Your words of support and encouragement in our homeschooling process means so much.