The Mindful Homeschool

Today we went ice skating!  We haven’t been outside on the ice for about a week.  It has been too cold.  It felt great to finally get out there.  We ended up doing quite a bit of shoveling as well. 

We skate on the pond across the street from our home.  We bring all of our stuff (skates, drinking water, snacks, bandages, etc.), get them in their skates and let the kids loose.  H-man, after getting his skates on, attacks the ice with gusto.  It is as if it is a race for him.  He doesn’t go very far before he falls, but he is not afraid to go fast.  C takes her time, settles herself on the ice and glides.  W, he goes the distance.  He will skate the loop over and over given the opportunity.  He is now teaching himself how to skate backwards and he is not afraid to fall.  All three of them are improving their skating skills and not one of them is afraid to fall.  They fall and get up right away or they fall and sit on the ice and rest.  No shame.  They know that in order to learn they will need to fall many more times.  No fear.  No problem.  We adults could learn a thing or two from them.   

I find this to be a good opportunity for the head teacher (aka mom) to make sure their Latin vocabulary gets some use.  That’s right.  ”The safest way to fall is to land on your gluteus maximus.”  Much safer than landing on your arms or your back or anything else.  Knowing how to fall is very important in skating.  And in skiing, and a lot of other sports I am sure.   And of course, they do fall, many times over, with no trouble getting back up again.  Over and over again.    

Yesterday was a good day spent reading poems to H-man in the morning and later, visiting friends at their new home.  H-man and the other kids have been found jumping on the big bed which I am not too keen on.  I know they need an outlet for their pent-up energy and we have been experiencing a lot of time indoors due to the sub-zero temps outside.  So, a couple days ago, I told H-man I will have to read him from the book, Jump-On-The-Bed Poems.  He sounded very intrigued. 

Yesterday I pulled it out and read it to him.  It’s a great book called You Be Good & I’ll Be Night; Jump-on-the Bed Poems by Eve Merriam.  He seemed to really enjoy it.  It has a lot of really wonderful poems about things kids can relate to, like releasing your pet fish into the river and hoping that he makes it to the ocean to swim free with others of his kind!

Here’s the hard part of the day.  Getting out of the house and into the van so we could drive over to our friends’ house.  It took about 45 minutes longer than I thought it would.  I am not sure why.  I had to change a stinky diaper and dress the 3 yo.   And getting out of my friend’s house took another extra 45 minutes, partly due to the fact that we were gabbing while trying to round up the kids and get jackets, boots, and mittens on.  And partly due to the fact that H-man, my 3 yo, lay down on the floor, sobbing that he didn’t want to leave.  Poor guy.  He really loves a good social outing and has a hard time with good-byes. 

We had a lot of fun; my three kids played with my friend’s three kids and everyone had a playmate.  And best of all, the moms got to gab with few interruptions.  It would be nice to have get-togethers like that more often!