Sometimes when the grey and dreary days of winter hit, we find ourselves equally uninspired by the homeschool curricula we have stashed in our white homeschool cupboards. There’s a feeling of inertia. “I don’t wannas” are in the air.
To reboot the system, try one of these ideas:
- People watch. Get out of the house and head to Barnes and Noble or the local mall. Take your journals with you and do a little people observing. Suggest that each child pick several features of people they see (hair color, clothing, glasses, mustaches, hoop earrings, hats, keys hanging off the belt loop, boots, high heels) and combine them to make a new person. What might that person be doing in the bookstore or mall?
- Ice skate or ski. Getting the blood moving is a great way to break out of monotony. Math will keep. So will writing.
- Light fires. Both the real kind and figuratively. You can light a real fire in your fireplace and roast marshmallows or hot dogs. You can light a figurative fire by rearranging your book shelves or adding a new afghan to a corner of the couch. You might try rearraning the artwork on your walls or adding an ottoman to a comfortable chair and then stocking a basket with yarn, library books, crochet hooks, knitting needles and a new box of Legos. Get the creative surge working for you during this “in the house” time of year.
- Buy muffin mixes. I’ve been a scratch cooker most of my life, but lately, a good mix or two is really handy when I want to change the mood or add ambiance to a lifeless setting. The smell of pumpkin muffins makes the morning less foreboding and dreary. Don’t forget to light candles on the table.
What does all this have to do with writing? Not much, if we think in terms of writing “assignments.” But remember, rich living leads to happier people. Happier people have more stories to tell, more experiences from which to draw when they do write. Happy people like to share themselves with others. If you give some reasons for smiles in the middle of winter, you are creating a climate that will lead to risk taking which leads to writing, eventually. 🙂
