Another month in the books. March was not quite a whirlwind – more like a, well, march. We could maybe call it a trudge. We kept on keeping on, refusing to give in to the temptation to scrap the entire plan, eat chocolate, and forget about everything.
So, maybe I learned a little lesson in perseverance. I guess.
#1 – Spring was hiding underneath the snow.
We had late snow and lots of it this year, with it still coming down at the first of March. But by the end of March not only was it gone, but the spring bulbs were actually ready and waiting underneath.
We’re still not quite at sandal weather like it seems we ought to be, but at least the winter gear is finally put away.
Of course, spring wasn’t the only thing hiding under the snow, either. As the snow melted, you could tell the layers it fell in by the items that were uncovered. A sled, two hats, a glove, and even a spoon were revealed as the snow caps in our yard ebbed.
#2 – Our homeschool efforts have been validated.
Woot! Our homeschool plans have long been to have our kids do the dual enrollment program in our state with the community college, which is what both my husband and I did, graduating from high school with a 2 year degree.
Indeed, part of the motivation to have my husband take over math a couple years ago was the ensure steady progress so that it wouldn’t be due to our negligence that our kids couldn’t qualify for college math. If they aren’t ready for it, that’s one thing. But it’s also a thing to not be ready because math instruction wasn’t rigorous or diligent enough.
Much to my relief, Hans passed the assessment with flying colors and qualifies for Running Start. His English score was 299/300, he got an 8/8 on his auto-graded essay (on the topic “Does success come from luck or hard work?”), and he can start with PreCalc II at the community college.
So now we just figure out how to enroll him in the school district and the high school….bureaucracy and paperwork, here we come.
#3 – Having meal pieces in the freezer helps a lot.
I know this because this last term I had none. All previous PREP weeks, I had done *some* kitchen work to at least have some cooked ground beef or chicken enchilada filling in the freezer for quick weeknight meals. Last PREP week, however, we were snowed in and I didn’t leave the house, so there were no extra groceries.
Lesson learned: that’s totally a worthwhile use of PREP week time.
So you better be sure that this week I cooked up numerous pounds of ground beef for the freezer. Worth it.
#4 – It’s better to have goals that don’t depend on other people.
It’s funny. Last year I put as a goal to redo all 3 of the bathrooms in our house. Turns out, not only did I very much underestimate the work it would be but it wasn’t even my work to do, so it didn’t belong on my goal list at all.
This year I put things like: frame and hang Melanie’s art, frame my cross stitch piece, and finish cataloguing books. Less dramatic and fun, but realistic and my responsibility.
#5 – It’s easy for the trudge of life to push out reading time.
I didn’t finish any books in March at all. I didn’t spend much time reading. I have no real excuses – my habits, the times I had working for reading, were still infant, and I went into coast mode instead of shepherding them into strong habits.
Now I know. I must be intentional about my reading if I want it to happen.