Anyone else backward? (shut down in winter, gear up in summer)

[heatherdeg]

I cannot possibly be the only mama out there that just wants to curl up and hibernate for the winter and gets all fired up just as the rest of the community is winding down... right?

RIGHT?!?!?

Ugh... it is SO FRUSTRATING!!!!  I can't even stand to put my 7yo in swim lessons in the winter because despite being able to blow dry his hair, etc. the thought of changing clothes and being out with a newly-dried head (it's seriously not the same as never having been wet in the first place) just makes me cringe.  I want to do nothing.  I'm not motivated.  I just want to curl up.

The problems are:

1) my 7yo doesn't function well without regular, semi-structured activities outside of the house.

2) the rest of the world doesn't operate on my calendar.

Thankfully, the local homeschool coops take a nice, long break for winter because of the holidays and the freedom we have to do so.  So I get December and January "off" from that--which works.  But a lot of things just shut down for the summer.  Even my Bible Study group only meets from Oct. through April.

I DEFINITELY have a problem with winter.  I often wonder if I would be like this if I lived in the South, where I could be outside more of the year.  :/

Anyone?  Anyone?  Can ya feel me?

[Ravin]

Well, I live in Arizona, where everyone sane hibernates through most of summer. Especially when like me they don't have a car. I ship DD off to my mom for part of the summer, and when she gets back, swim lessons are about it. This summer we'll likely get a leg up on schoolwork while her friends are still hiding in air conditioned daycamps, vacations out of the desert, and alternative childcare arrangements that make them impossible to find to play with (unlike during the school year, when there are kids to play with nearly every afternoon after school and every weekend), though, so we can slack off in the winter when the weather is nice and playing outside is fun.

[zebra15]

YES! Another AZ person here who does indoor stuff in the summer.  We do lots of outside play in the winter though, cuz summer is just too dang hot!.  School "work" gets done in the summer here.  FYI summer is now til october.  UGH....

[moominmamma]

I wrote about our "upside down learning year" on my blog three years ago. It's definitely the pattern with us. It's less about winter doldrums and more about all the cool stuff that is available to us in the warmer weather: being outside, planting, biking, hiking, running, swimming in the lake, all the music workshops and theatre camps and recitals and concerts and such. The run-up to the holidays, which always involves a lot of rehearsals and performances, and a lot of gift-making and baking, is the natural conclusion to our year. January through March are down time for us. So it is, and so it always has been with us. We are of the opinion that New Year's should be at Spring Equinox and everything should start then. 

Miranda

[GnomeyNewt]

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

I wrote about our "upside down learning year" on my blog three years ago. It's definitely the pattern with us. It's less about winter doldrums and more about all the cool stuff that is available to us in the warmer weather: being outside, planting, biking, hiking, running, swimming in the lake, all the music workshops and theatre camps and recitals and concerts and such. The run-up to the holidays, which always involves a lot of rehearsals and performances, and a lot of gift-making and baking, is the natural conclusion to our year. January through March are down time for us. So it is, and so it always has been with us. We are of the opinion that New Year's should be at Spring Equinox and everything should start then. 

Miranda

Pretty much this. I hibernate during the winter too, we do a few activities and visit some museums which are indoors during the winter time. If snow comes around, we plan to stay off the roads as folks in our area just don't know how to drive in snow , so we stay home up to 2 weeks at a time. When the sun starts to show up we are outside and too busy for too many organized activities!

As for having wet hair out in the cold, I guess that depends on how cold you are talking about? And if they are going to be really outside or just walking to the car. I don't mind wet hair outside, but if we were going on a walk or extended time outside, it might be a concern.

[kathymuggle]

Yup.  

Winters are cold - getting out of the house can be a PITA. There is less light, etc. I have less energy and so do the kids...

I literally wake up in spring.

I am not frustrated by it, though,everything has a season and winter is ours to hibernate somewhat.  

If we want group activities in summer I just find ones that are not HS/school based terms.  Many sports, summer theatre, all swimming stuff, camps, etc. There might not be many HSing activities in summer, but there are plenty of community activities in summer.  

[heatherdeg]

mooninmama... Oddly, the year USED to start in March--long, long, ago.  :/

Okay... so I'm not alone.  I think I just needed a mental shift about the year and you guys gave it to me.  When mooninmama said that the holidays are the natural conclusion to the year I thought "Ummm... DUH: our school year ends when we want!"  It's a little harder because we're involved in activities (including coop) that go with the public school year, but I think I just need to mentally shift.

We do a ton in the summer.  It's where I spend the most money because he goes to camps, etc.  I just really hate winter.  On the flip side, it would drive me insane to be "locked" in the house all summer because of the heat.  Two-ish weeks at the height, fine.  Three months? Notsomuch.

[accidental_hs'er]

That's us too!!

September we get excited about the new "school" year.  But we spend more time celebrating the new season with friends; or apple picking; or hitting the museums because they are quiet again; or taking discounted vacations; or starting up the new session on activities.  We do some school work but reconnect with friends we haven't seen much of over the summer.  We keep pretty busy, socially and through various activities.  I try to squeeze in school work.  The holidays (re: most of December) are a write off.  January is okay and most of February and March involve reading, being on the computer or playing Wii, and climbing walls.  It certainly feels like the time we should be able to whip off a lot of work but none of us are really in the mood.  Making a pot of chili, baking corn bread and settling onto the couch, snuggling in front of a movie is more common than sitting at the table doing fractions.

We really hit our stride in the Spring and work most of the summer too.  The days are longer and a few hours of school work each day aren't a big deal.  Things are usually wrapped up long before lunch.  With the sunshine comes motivation and excitement. 

Our year is pretty messed up when comparing it to the regular school calendar.  It works for us though.  I've learned that it all evens out over the year and try not to worry.  The funny thing is that February and March were always bad for me in school.  This straight A student would get called in for meetings each winter to discuss my lack of motivation and concerns about slipping grades.  By the time I got the lecture, it was nearly Spring and I started to get my groove back.  They thought the tough-love worked each time, not seeing that I am cyclical with my motivation.  Thankfully I no longer have to fight it.

[kittie313]

Yup, we take winter off and then ease into school in the spring.  Right now we're in the process of easing into our lessons in fact.  I try to do lessons during the winter, really I do, but I just can't stick to it and we find it much easier to just take off from Thanksgiving week until the weekend after our wedding anniversary (in early March).  The lack of sunshine is what gets me most, I just can't seem to get up and moving and its just such a struggle.  However, in the 3 weeks we've been easing into lessons here my girls have done 2 months of math, my oldest is well on her way to mastering the first step in her spelling program, and we've completed a couple history units.  We did more in 3 weeks than we have in a 3 1/2 month period before that...... and this year's break actually started much earlier than planned because I came down with mono back in mid October and was down with it until the beginning of December.  I tried, really I did try, but all the effort I put into trying to keep up routines and do lessons just resulted in my illness lasting so much longer until I gave up and just stayed in bed.