Wildflowers Handwork

I’ve been thinking a lot about rhythms vs traditions this December. A couple of illness and a new Nutcracker performance schedule threw off my precisely timed schedule to do the things we usually do. So, while we did all the things, the timing of them was different. This caused some stress for my daughter, but also I think knowing that the things would get done also helped move her through the difference. We kept the general rhythm, but some of the traditions were different. Our boxing day tea was the day after boxing day and we actually decorated our cookies that day.

The biggest change was that, in order to save time, we (the adults) decided to go to a different national forest to cut our tree - one that was closer. We couldn’t find a tree. There just weren’t good spaces for new growth. We ended up getting our tree at Home Depot. So many things about our tree are different this year. However, while decorating it, we noticed this tiny little nook under the branches, a little fairy hole. And, she hung some of the animal ornaments in it, like a little secret cove and we love it. We’ll return to our usual forest next year, but we’ve fallen in love with this tree.

But all this has me reflecting on what are the things that hold us when things are different and what are the things that really emphasize the difference. And how do those things work together? And how can I lean more into the rhythms vs the traditions to help us be more resilient.

I’m don’t know about you all, but for us, the first week after a long break is always a bit bumpy getting back into our homeschooling rhythm. And, we did not get any handwork done this fall (I know! I’m a handwork teacher! We have our reasons. 🙂).

So, this week, we are focusing on handwork, art, and clay modeling as subjects to get back into our rhythm. Things that we would rarely say no too - unlike geometry.

And, since my child has some perfectionist qualities, rather than jumping straight into knitting a hat in the round, we are working on an advanced second grade project to remind ourselves of knitting, purling, increasing, and changing colors. So, when we get to our hats, we’ll have fewer bumpy moments. She is just as delighted now with this project as she was when we did it three years ago!