I know February can be a dreary month, but I love Candlemas and Valentine’s Day, so I try to envision glowing light and love over the days of this month even if the cold weather continues outside!  Typically February is our coldest month here in the Deep South, but we are not having cold weather and will be up in the upper 60s (F) this week.  At any rate, I am sure it will drop and be cold again!

Here are some of the days we will be celebrating in February:

February 1– The Feast of St. Brigid

February 2 – Candlemas – I recommend these two back posts:  The Magic of Candlemas and glorious candlemas

February 14 – St. Valentine’s Day – try this back post:  Celebrating Valentine’s Day in the Waldorf Home

We don’t mark Chinese New Year very well on our own, but we used to with friends and it was always wonderful.  If you have an opportunity to go to a Chinese New Year celebration, I highly recommend it!  You can see this back post from 2009 about how my friend would lead a wonderful celebration that included our family:  The Chinese New Year in the Waldorf Home

Homeschooling in February:

I am taking things easy.  We have some outside testing and doctor’s appointments this month, and that always messes up our rhythm, so I am planning on being happy with whatever we accomplish this month and not worry.

I have thought time and time again that perhaps our homeschooling journey is coming to an end …. It will be interesting to see things that happen and am resting in these thoughts for the future this month.

third grade – we will be finishing up our  block of Hebrew Stories/Old Testament tales as traditional in the Waldorf curriculum in this grade, and we will be moving into a block about We are using All About Reading for practice as well since reading has been a struggle and will continue daily work in math.  Please follow me on Instagram @theparentingpassageway as that is where I will be posting third grade work this month.

eighth grade – we are continuing with our year round course of pre-algebra, and  finishing our  block on Revolutions that  included the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, The French Revolution, Simon Bolivar, and the Mexican Revolution.

eleventh grade – we are continuing with our year-long courses in Chemistry and in American Government/Social Justice from Oak Meadow.  Our eleventh grader also has AP Psychology, Pre-Calculus,and  AP Language and Composition outside of the home.  We are busy arranging the end of year AP tests,  taking the SAT (she already took the ACT), and looking at colleges.

Self-Care:

This is the MOST important part of the rhythm!  If I am not on, I cannot lead anyone else. If I am unmotivated and dragging, I cannot homeschool effectively. If I am not feeling any energy, then it will be harder to nurture our home or to invest time in the relationships that matter the most!

I sit down and plan my self-care that has to be outside of the home for the week on Sundays.  Simple things I do at home that don’t require as much planning include journaling, meditating, tapping (EFT), use of The Book of Common Prayer daily, and epsom salt baths.

For this month, I am very focused on meal planning and exercising.  My health is improving each month, and I think by April I will be feeling much better!

The other thing I am focused on is getting back into my career. I did pediatric physical therapy for years, but am thinking about switching into Women’s Health and this will require quite a  lot of work, but I think the calling is there!

Home-care

I am sticking with very simple cleaning and decluttering routines and asking for help. I cannot homeschool and do everything we do outside the home and do continue taking care of the house as if it is my ful-time job. However,  I also cannot stand a messy or dirty house as I am a very visual person, and we really don’t have the money for an outside cleaning person.  So, that leaves simplicity and asking for help as our family is a team!

Crafting – I love the little crafts in the “Earthways” book. I know it is an Early Years book, but I love the transparencies, the little Valentine’s Day crafts…. I hope to post pictures of some of our processes on Instagram @theparentingpassageway and on The Parenting Passageway’s Facebook page.

I would love to hear what you are up to this month!

Blessings and love always,

Carrie