Flow

Every once in a while, it happens.  Everyone is engrossed in their work.  Thinking, planning, enjoying, not wanting to stop.  When flow hits, I want to stop long enough to recognize the moment for what it is and feel grateful.  That's why I stopped for 10 seconds and snapped this picture in the middle of a "school" morning last week.

Our work certainly doesn't look like this all the time (although snapshots from a blog can make it look like Heaven on Earth here.  Which it is.  SOMETIMES).  There are some days, or even, God help me :), a string of days, when icky moods and a lack of direction send me into a tailspin of doubt about the slightly unschooled route we've/I've opted for.   

Recognizing the almost magical moments of flow keeps us all going.  It helps remind me that the hard stuff is followed by more of the good stuff.  That flow will return. It also reassures me that the route we are on is a good one.

 In this particular case, J and C were enthralled with these paper dolls.  For three days or so, everything revolved around them, which led to looking at the map, perusing our copy of Material World, incorporating the paper dolls into our daily writing, and building homes for them.  Jenna kept going with this much longer than Caroline, so I used the opportunity to sew a pillow with Caroline. 

Caroline (staring at her camping pillow):  "I wonder how they make pillows."
A bit of talk about how they might make them and what they put in them.
Mama:  "You could make one if you want to."
Caroline:  "OKAY!  Can we do it for my school work?"
So we did.