Dec 18, 2017

Seasonschooling: Winter

What is Seasonschooling?

Using the 4 seasons to help determine what areas of life we focus on as Unschoolers.

Winter We are covered in Winter's glorious cold, white blankets and reminded once again of how lucky we are to live in a part of the world that has such vast weather changes from season to season. Not 3 months ago I was sweltering in the heat of a day's work and play, and now I am usuallysporting 2 pairs of socks, slippers and long john's (plus other clothes) just in the house.

What a difference! The season of winter is welcomed in by the Holidays; a cheery, love filled reminder that even in the darkest, most frigid nights there is somewhere warm, happy and loving to retreat to.

For us, on our homestead, there is still work to be done, but we are on our offseason/downtime so it's a relaxing, recharging time for our family. Our horse is getting older (he'll be 22 in April) and he isn't keeping weight on properly with just hay so we ventured to our local feed store where we learned what to start with and came home with a complimentary bag of feed. River's paddock gets icy and uncomfortable to navigate for him so we work daily at clearing paths and leveling his barn floor out.

We take stock of what we have and what we need around the homestead, do the mending, deep cleaning, purging and general assessment of our home operations and businesses to seek optimal functionality.

Sledding, Snowshoeing and other winter pastimes are almost more relaxing than summer time as we don't have the constant needy call of the endless tasks around the property. The snow not only freezes the earth, but seemingly time itself, as it impedes most outdoor work. We take advantage greedily.

We plan our social connections for the coming year and visit with good friends, taking a purposeful step back from the hustle and bustle of busy, event filled warmer months. There's more time for reading, writing, artwork and crafts.

Soon it will be time to plan the 2018 garden as well, something that is totally fun and necessary to do.

I actually love Winter, though I don't love the cold, so layers and more layers are my friends that help me embrace, rather than brace myself for, the cold of sometimes -40 temperatures we can see here in Ontario, Canada.

Happy Seasonschooling from your friendly neighbourhood Freeschoolin' Family!