If January is a month of reflection, then I think of February as the time to act and to start putting into action the things we discovered in January that could be helpful to ourselves and our families this year. This might be things about our health, our relationships, our families, our homeschooling, our jobs and finances.
If you can envision a wheel divided into categories such as health, friends and family, your significant other, spiritual/personal growth, fun and joy, your home, your career, money – are all these things divided equally? There are some seasons that one category may outweigh the other. However, I have found over the course of parenting that if one sector is neglected too long, it makes for an unbalanced household and an unhappy parent. We can create our own attitude and our own reality through those attitudes. Hold the positive. It’s not the negative doesn’t exist; it always will in some form as that is just the yin and yang of life so to speak, but to able to flow with those opposites and find the balance in the middle is so important.
If you can picture it, think of the most beautiful bubble of light that could surround you and your family. Think of everyone in your family as being happy, healthy, and smiling. This, to me, is the essence of February. It’s a month that is often in the Northern Hemisphere is dark and cold, but if we can imagine a brillance and radiance into it, it can become a beautiful glimmering light. After all, we begin the month with Candlemas, a celebration of light. We think of the first beginnings of light, and a beautiful candle festival helps mark this occasion. There are so many ways to make candles, including rolling beeswax sheets, dipping candles, pouring beeswax into half of a walnut shell (and you can push in a little candle in order to have little floating lights, which are always fun for children), and you can make earth candles where you pour a candle and place a wick directly into a hole into the earth.
More than the visible signs of light, where is the light in your heart and home? Where are your connections with the people you love?
This is a wonderful time to change over your nature table if you have one to mark the seasons. Flower fairies, branches in water that are budding, a single candle, perhaps leading up to the markings of St. Valentine’s Day and then a little Lenten dish Garden to begin the beginning of March, as Lent begins on March 5 this year, are all appropriate. All winter greenery is taken down.
This month in 2022 we are celebrating:
Black History Month – Of course Black History IS World history and American history and should be in every subject we teach EVERY month, but it’s also wonderful to take a renewed look at wonderful books and biographies this month.
February 1 – Lunar New Year for those celebrating and also the Festival of St. Brigid
February – Mardi Gras! (until Lent, of course) Fat Tuesday is on March 4 this year with Lent beginning on March 5.
February 2 – Candlemas and also Groundhog Day.
February 14 – St. Valentine’s Day (you can see this post about Celebrating Valentine’s Day in the Waldorf Home
February 21- Presidents Day
Lovely things to do with children this month:
Make Valentine’s Day cards ; plan little treats and crafts for Valentine’s Day; make window transparencies; dip candles; roll candles; play board games or card games with your children; draw, paint, model; whittle wood; make popcorn together; bake together; play in the snow – build snow forts; have snowball fights; snowshoe; downhill or cross country ski; ice skate on a pond; read and tell stories; build forts inside; take a walk outside in the cold – look for animal tracks or berries or birds or all of the above; knit, crochet, cross stitch, finger knit, spin, sew; sing and make music together – learn some new songs; clean, scrub, dust, work around the house – rearrange furniture; go bowling or find an indoor swimming pool to swim in; write letters to family and friends; write stories together; snuggle on the coach with hot chocolate and marshmellows; cook for a neighbor; find a place of worship to attend and get involved; throw a party; clicker train your dog, cat, or other animal; take care of plants; start seeds indoors when it it is time, grow sprouts in the kitchen or a little microgarden.
Homeschooling – Do you need a little check in? Try this back post!
f you are looking for a little re-boot to your rhythm, please do try the above back post! There are so many wonderful posts about rhythm to look at. So, whilst February is a month in which many homeschoolers can feel in a rut and ready to just give up, try instead to think what would be the perfect reset and recharge for you and your family? Maybe it is a great month for a book study, a project that the whole family can be involved in or something else!
Our homeschooling this month: Our older children are out living their own lives and long since graduated, but our 15 year old is still home and a freshman in high school due to where his birthday falls for our state. He is at a two day a week school, which still legally counts as homeschooling in our state, but our curriculum and work is largely dictated by the hybrid school. It’s a classical school, so definitely different than Waldorf Education, but still having good discussions and debating and learning to think.
Farm Life- We have been doing a bathroom upstairs in an attic space, which is coming along, and we completed the addition to the barn right before the cold weather set in. We have six horses now, and cats and dogs and bees. Still hoping for a garden space this spring!
Work Life- Work is always busy, although summer is the busiest time in general. I am still doing a mix of pediatric physical therapy patients, pelvic health patients, and lactation patients, so some days it feels like I am all over our metro area. I am working towards a certificate in Peri/Menopause Coaching and next up is delving into fertility to help patients working with fertility issues have a more holistic approach and to fill in the gaps of Western medicine.
#Commit2025 – my word of the year! Mainly I am committing to myself and to showing up for myself. That means exercising, nourishing food, bookstore and library dates, painting and writing, and being out in nature. It may not sound like much, but when every day is busy taking care of other people and farm animals, it can be a challenge. The whole day can go by without really any thought of myself at all! I made a vision board and I have a prayer list and prayer meditations to go with my word, so I am working on this daily. Commit and show up!
I would love to hear from you! Drop me a line at admin@theparentingpassageway.com!
Cheers,
Carrie
