Hello, dear friends! If your homeschool is feeling the midwinter blues and could use a little sunshine to see you through to spring, we invite you to join us for a month of love and encouragement for homeschool families!
Dear Homeschool, will you be my sweetheart?
Valentines Day has never been my favorite holiday. In fact, I found it rather pointless for many years.
The year my sister threw me and my friends an unforgettable Valentine Party was an exception, of course. She saw in Highlights Magazine that you could put silver and gold glitter into pink and purple balloons to transform any carpeted room into a dazzling dancefloor, and did it ever. What Highlights Magazine didn’t mention is that glitter tends to have sharp little edges, at least when you get it at Dollar Tree. Until the day my parents moved out of that house, metallic glitter could be found in any and every corner if you got down on your hands and knees to look for it.
Another exception-year was Valentines Day my sophomore year of high school when I entered the combination into my locker to find a bouquet of twenty-four roses entirely filling it. I mean, my books weren’t even there. My hubby has always been quite the sneaky romantic. He actually talked the front desk ladies into giving him my locker combination. Who does that?
But for most of my life, Valentines Day has seemed a bit of a gimmick, and a very red and shiny one at that. It dawned on me a few years ago, however, that Valentines also happens to come at an incredibly opportune time on the school calendar; just when everything has been cold and bleak a little too long.
I don’t know about you, Mama, but I’m kind of a homeschool boss September through December.
Summer ends and I head into the new school year swinging like I’m trying out for T-Ball. There is just so much to learn and it’s all glowing golden in the late summer sun, bursting from books with fresh, shiny coats, and bright yellow pencils donning their new, velvety pink top hats.
We hit the books scribbling and our papers are still smoking by the time the holidays come around. We spend a week making the Thanksgiving meal and then, while we are still intoxicated with tryptophan, we wassail our way into advent month where snowflakes, real and paper, settle thick over our homeschool days.
Suddenly, we fall victim to the wiles of a winter wonderland. Indeed, we lose ourselves inside a sort of snow globe of baking, decorating, singing, and crafting.
About mid-January, the fluffy, swirling magic settles into a bright-white reality. We look out on the snowy tundra, and things look a bit bleak. It’s months yet until summer, we know, and our pencils and books and lessons have started looking a little drab, much like house now that the glowing Christmas tree has been dumped out in the snow.
Every year at this time, I have to remember how to yank my boots out of the drifts and walk lightly on top of it. This year, I’d like to find myself a sled instead, pull it up to the crown of the hill, locate the north-traveling sunshine, and shove off towards it with gusto.
This February… if you also find yourself in need of a pair of snowshoes or a sled (over the hills we go), join us in sparking a little romance into the homeschool routine to help see us all through to the blooming spring!
📬This month’s list of Homeschool Love Letters💌
These have now all arrived:
- For the love: 14 Perfectly Valid Reasons to Put Off Starting Homeschool Lessons!
- Settle & Savor: 14 Screen-Free Tasks for the Homeschool Mom!
- Ancient Arts; Lost and Found! (But not to be found on that standardized test!)
- Lighten up with Our “Five B’s Strategies” for Simplifying the Homeschool Routine
- Four lovely ways to quit hollering “KIDS! IT’S TIME FOR SCHOOL!”
- “They’re weirdos” and other Old-Hat Homeschooling Myths Debunked!
Need inspiration now?
💘Have a little look through our old box of valentines💝
Vintage Valentines (print and paint)!
I created these printable vintage valentines to be as fun, easy, pretty, and parent-friendly as humanly possible. I’m so happy with how they turned out and hope you and your kids have as much fun with them as we have. Enjoy!
get the free pdf link here
How Well-Rounded is your Homeschooler?
If your shoes feel anything like mine, you probably have a few homeschool critics in your life who are overly concerned with your kids’ education. Once they ascertain that indeed your child does know how to read, write, and compute, inevitably they scoot along to the net assumption: “well, then, something else must be lacking.” Surely then, our kids are to be found remiss in socialization or failing to become “properly adjusted.”
keep reading here
14 Acts of Love for the Homeschool Family
If your Homeschooling journey could use a little (or a lot of) love, take heart! It’s not all roses and sunshine for any of us! Not even on Valentine’s Day.
keep reading here
33 Reasons Why We LOVE Homeschooling!
Not only do we homeschool parents experience all the same struggles of parenthood—losing our patience, losing our tempers, losing our keys, losing our minds— we may even DISLIKE homeschooling sometimes. But at the same time, we aren’t lying when we say that we LOVE to homeschool.
keep reading here
Color-Burst Valentines your kids will LOVE!
Make a splash with your kids at art time and really just lay on the color!
keep reading here
Vegan Valentine Chocolate Cake
“I think careful cooking is love, don’t you? The loveliest thing you can cook for someone who’s close to you is about as nice a Valentine as you can give.” -Julia Child
What could be better on a freezing February day than staying cozied up in the house baking a chocolate cake with the kiddos for Valentine’s weekend?
get our recipe here
The #1 Reason Why We Homeschool
I once was accused of choosing to homeschool because of a desire to shelter my kids and shirk my responsibility of having them “be in this world and not of it.” At the time, I couldn’t tell if this statement stung so because it wasn’t true, or because it was. I realize now that it was both.
keep reading to find out our why, here
Valentine Vibes for Kids (and kids at heart)!
From our family to yours, here’s a fun Valentine Playlist to do the twist with a little sweetheart or two!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3MrISdYNL95gWOR5tsbjjJ?si=ccc3c3b8a8ca435d
55 Reasons You’re a Better Homeschool Parent than You Think You Are
No-duh newsflash: homeschooling isn’t a walk in the park! But here’s another newsflash for you: neither is “regular” schooling. Parenting and teaching are both in and of themselves each a relentless job. Put them together and wowza! It’s no small commitment. If you’re anything like me, you probably beat yourself up more than you should when the events of the day don’t meet your (admittedly high) expectations or when things go any direction other than “according to the plan.” Unfortunately, our “failings” in a homeschool day are often easy to spot, while our triumphs tend to escape our notice. We are indeed our own worst critics.
keep reading here
Thanks so much for reading, friends. Stay tuned for lots of love heading your way this month from our little homeschool! SWAK.
Much love, ~Candace Arden~
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