The Winter Break of Our Discontent

We’re at the end of winter break. It’s been two weeks, but it feels like the kids have been home since March of last year.

We’re worried for when school starts again on Monday (aka tomorrow).

No, not worried. Terrified.

Our schedule has become… irregular. No one goes to bed on time. No one gets up when they’re supposed to. Well, no one is supposed to get up at any particular time — it’s winter break — and we have NOWHERE to go and NOTHING to do. You can sleep in like a teen without a summer job. But breakfast is generally 9ish. And lunch happens before 1, maybe 1:30. The time in between is something we call FREE TIME.

(Originally this was slotted for putting together puzzles and making art. We were going to have popcorn read-ins, dance parties, and conduct experiments with food coloring and baking soda. But by the second day we decided maybe FREE TIME was best. Also safer, and easier to clean up after.)

It’s cold out, but if the sun makes an appearance we encourage the children to go outside. By encourage, I mean force.

“GUYS, GO, YOU NEED SUNLIGHT!”

They’ll begrudgingly put on their winter gear and shuffle out the door. Then they shield their eyes and hiss at the sky as they step off the front porch into the light.