Can Christmas Break Last Forever? Mid-year motivation for the winter-weary mom

I can feel my body tense up as I say the words with forced enthusiasm:

“Ok, time for school!”

They say what I know they’ll say: Do we have to? And if I’m honest, that’s exactly what I’m saying in my own mind. Do we have to?

It’s December and I’m tired and my feet are cold and there is absolutely nothing inspiring about Saxon math right now. I want to sip cocoa and snuggle under a quilt and read stories to them.

All day.

The unschooler in me says, “Go ahead! Embrace the season! All of life is school!”

The classical voice in me says, “Press through! Persevere in discipline and they’ll be better off in the end!”

The delayed-educator in me says, “Do you really even need to be doing school at all right now? They’re so young!”

Then, as if my multiple personalities weren’t confusing enough, I add comparison into the conversation:

“So-and-so’s daughter is already doing such-and-such. Dutch is falling behind.”

“Well, Dutch’s reading is several grade-levels ahead. Forget the math and let him read all day. Focus on his strengths.”

And all this internal monologue makes me want to crawl back in bed.

We all have days like this, right?  If you haven’t, you’re not allowed to comment on this post. (Smile) I think we all have days where enthusiasm dips or uncertainty sets in or we’re tired or sick or it’s that time of month, or for whatever reason we just don’t want to do school today.

What do you do when you’d really rather allow Christmas break to last until, say, June?

Here are a few ideas for the winter-weary mom in the midst of the mid-year slump: {Read the rest here…}