It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been able to post….we’ve had a multitude of yearly appointments and busyness that has been taken over most of my days. October is always our busiest month of the year. Between Stephen’s birthday, Halloween,parties, fall activities (pumpkin patch, etc), yearly check-ups, etc I always feel like I just survive October. It ends up making it hard to slow down and really enjoy the fall season, but when you combine that with an early cold snap that gave us our first measurable snowfall….well I’m left with the thought, “Where did fall go?”
This is nothing super unusual because I live in Ohio….and it’s Ohio. The weather is often wacky! There’s a joke about how you can experience all 4 seasons in one day here sometimes and it’s true, but this year seemed to have an extra short fall season. Yes I know it’s technically still fall, but the weather hasn’t really felt like it lately and the leaves being at peak color didn’t last long before the storms blew most of it down or turned it brown.
Next week is Thanksgiving though and I’m looking forward to it for a couple of reasons, one of those being a break from homeschool. We don’t get a lot of those in our homeschool as we school year round. Some families do the year round schedule and take a week off every 5 or 6 weeks. We however take the month of August, one week in the fall (Thanksgiving), 2 weeks at Christmas and 1 week in the spring (typically the home school convention week). That’s it. We take off a few holidays and occasionally have a 3 day weekend because of one reason or another, but for the most part we know our son works best on an uninterrupted schedule and that’s what we try to maintain.
The second reason I am looking forward to our week off next week is that I need a reset. I guess this goes hand in hand with my first reason because without the time off I could not get a reset. I need a time to regroup, evaluate some things we are doing and figure out where to go from here. A time where I can really focus on planning some things out and finishing some things up so that I feel back on top of things and not constantly behind the 8 ball. It’s been almost 3 months since we’ve had any measurable time off and I’m looking forward to clearing up the to do lists and re-focusing my mind.
This year for Thanksgiving we’re not going anywhere and we’re not hosting anyone. It’s just going to be a small Thanksgiving for us, but I think that’s what we need right now….low key, family time with little external pressures. Don’t get me wrong, I love having extended family time, but as I get older I see more value in less stressful, less crazy holidays from time to time. Big families are messy and complicated and trying to navigate those waters as someone who feels deeply and seeks harmony where there isn’t any is very hard for me. Sometimes those events can zap more emotional and mental energy than you realize until afterwards when you’re exhausted and have tears streaming down your face for one reason or another.
So this year it’s just us 3, a turkey and a few trimmings for Thanksgiving and I’m looking forward to relaxing and enjoying my family and spending some time finding some peace of mind by getting back on top of a few things in our lives. What are your Thanksgiving plans? Does it still feel like fall where you are at? I wish you all a peaceful Thanksgiving week next week and if you’re taking time off from homeschool, I wish you get that needed recharge to your batteries! ❤
Thanks for reading!
