Breakfast, anyone?
I have found that breakfast makes a huge difference in the level of learning that takes place in my home school. Yesterday, against my better judgment, I allowed waffles. Homemade, mind you. But waffles, nonetheless. Even my 10yo, who is normally independently motivated, sat slumped in her chair with a dazed expression. And I was SO tired when I went to bed that night, even though I, in mature wisdom, chose something OTHER than waffles for breakfast. (I think I just broke my arm, trying to pat my back!)
I have long observed this ritual of the American breakfast. Food was given to us by God for nourishment. It is meant to give life. But the wrong foods can put us in a state of unwellness and cause our minds to operate on haphazard connections. If the mind won't connect, no real learning is happening.
Another thing that I have seen as helpful is taking a walk. We go one mile, with the dogs. The activity gets our blood flowing, the cold air wakes us up, and, I don't know, I can just think better when we get home. Not to mention the stimulation of our creative juices as we look at the beauty that God has spun in the trees and the sky. Oh, and then there's that spike of adrenaline that kicks in when a deer or elk thumps suddenly onto the road in front of us. And the amazing strength that my Scooby-Doo look-alike dog has when a saucy squirrel mocks him from the base of a tall tree. But you get the point.
The other day, my 13ds was walking the neighbors' dogs through the woods, when they happened on an elk. It's amazing how such a large creature can disappear in woods populated by pines and Aspens that stand on narrow trunks. At any rate, the elk suddenly snorted, right next to them. Both dogs AND the boy holding the leashes nearly jumped out of there, uh, fur.
Pop Tarts anyone? (Ewww!)
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