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Spring

Nearly half the school year has passed with not a word from me here. The Colton Family Schoolhouse has been busy and to be honest in my scant free time I would rather do something more brainless than blogging. I had forgotten how draining toddlerhood is! 

But I’ll use a few minutes here at the last swim lesson at the Y to write about a few highlights. 

Anya and I started a daily free write about a month ago. We don’t worry about spelling or punctuation or mechanics, instead we just write whatever we want! It has been so fun to see Anya’s creativity. She is eager to write and eager to share. 

Our morning snack time, although somewhat chaotic with Olivia’s messy and noisy eating habits, has become a favorite time for all of us—we read a Bible story, work on poetry memorization, and then read Alina’s preschool book. Both girls are quick memorizers. Alina has a flair for the dramatic in her recitations. The other day, Anya said, “let’s memorize another poem, and then another, and then another and another and another!” We usually each recite an old favorite and then spend just a minute or two on a new one. It’s amazing how such a tiny bit of daily exposure translates to well over a dozen poems memorized this year! I should count. Maybe it’s close to 20. And now we have an inside joke about one of our newest “Bed In Summer” by Robert Louis Stevenson. Every night at bedtime Alina says, flinging an arm toward the window, “but it’s still light out!” And then we launch into a dramatic rendition of the poem. Some of the poems have been about quarreling or work and have become part of our vernacular in processing those things… a way to be lighthearted but also emphasize good behavior. 

I am less and less liking the confining word “school” and trying to think of the whole day as whole-person education. Breakfast is a time for singing a hymn together, as we work our way through my many favorites in the hymnal, and for various short Scripture snippets from the psalms, proverbs, or Paul’s letters. Now they will jump in and recite along with me for many of them as I read. I love being able to point back to these verses throughout our days. 

Well, swim lesson is about over. I will return here for an end of year wrap up in mid June! 

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