March has had such strange weather – hot temperatures, freezing cold, rain, sunshine. March has a little bit of sunshine and a little bit of wild, much like all of us. Maybe March is the ultimate human experience personified in weather!

The daffodils and tulips are blooming where I live, and things are greening up. In farm life, we are busy starting seedlings, grading our arena for riding, thinking about other house projects (it’s such a long journey there! So much of what we have done no one can see – things like plumbing, roofing, heat, hot water heater, A/C,etc). Our next project is going to be our laundry room and then we will be working outside to create a dry lot for the animals to go on when it is so muddy and rainy, which seems par for the course throughout the winter.

Most of all though, spring is a time of renewal. I find myself drawn to the spring greens to eat, the ideas of new beginnings and fresh starts, and craving the sunshine. My mood is one of checking in with my word of the year (#bold for this year) and seeing where my intentions lie. Have you checked in with your word of the year? How are things coming?

This month, we are celebrating:

Lent (Try this back post Observing Lent | The Parenting Passageway that has many links in it to even more back posts!)

March 1- Feast of St. David (here is a wet on wet painting idea: First Grade Wet On Wet Painting For Saint David’s Day | The Parenting Passageway)

March 20- Spring Equinox (Try this back post: Celebrations of Spring in the Waldorf Home | The Parenting Passageway)

March 25- Feast of The Annunciation

Are you hunting ideas for Easter? You might already be preparing: Ideas for Easter Baskets | The Parenting Passageway –

The Ever Shifting Homeschool Round Up-

Child #1 – is a junior at an out of state university and is graduating college in December. No more homeschooling, but intentionally forging close bonds with our adult child – new facets and new discoveries to our relationship. There are still important milestones to be had and all the connection and understanding your child’s temperament and personality really pays off when they are in their 20s!

Child #2 – is technically and legally a homeschool student but is enrolled at a four day a week hybrid program for this 12th grade year. She will be graduating in May and attending an out of state university in the fall (different university than child #1).

Child #3 – homeschooled seventh grader! I feel like this year has been a year of gaining skills, but also uneven in terms of work produced. We don’t have a lot of pretty main lesson books for sure. We have done a lot of math and spelling as those were catch up areas, but also more geography and cultures of the world, which is a subject Rudolf Steiner suggested and usually is seen in seventh grade.

One thing I often think about is that original idea of Waldorf Education – goodness, beauty, truth (and yes, I put it that way because it corresponds to ages 0-7, 7-14, and 14-21) or to think about hands, heart, and head (yes, put in that order on purpose). Ralph Waldo Emerson is probably the best American representative for this model with his ideas of imagination, inspiration, and intellect. These simple, aligned ideas can help guide so much of the way we educate and parent our children. There are times and seasons for all things.

Planning ahead for homeschooling: In the fall, we will only have an eighth grader at home, but I am starting to prepare and see what will best work for him.

Fun Around the Home

Spring is the time of letting go of the material objects in our home that don’t serve us any longer, and for spring cleaner and eating in accordance with that impulse of spring with lighter and brighter foods.

Springtime Renewal –

Some ideas for Renewal! I hope you enjoy reading back through these as much as I did!

Renewal: Staying Home | The Parenting Passageway

Renewal: Mission Statements | The Parenting Passageway

Renewal: Personal Development | The Parenting Passageway (as a parent)

Renewal: Relationship With Your Spouse | The Parenting Passageway

Renewal: Computer Time | The Parenting Passageway

Renewal: Commit Yourself to Gentle Discipline | The Parenting Passageway

Renewal: Rhythm | The Parenting Passageway

It’s so fun to look back and see that snapshot of where life was, and to commit myself to renewal in these areas again.

How is March going for you?

Blessings,
Carrie

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