A walk in the park

So today I took the boys out, just to stretch and get out of the house.  Homeschool is the best and worst of times.  We signed them up for some online classes, and those have been nothing short of a nightmare.  Mostly owing to connection and compatibility issues, they've fallen behind and are struggling just to survive.  For boys who have spent their lives in public, private and homeschool earning As and an occasional B, barely surviving goes down hard.  Especially when it hasn't been their fault.  Most of it.  I admit, they've become discouraged and keeping them focused hasn't been easy.  We're praying that the school continues to work with us and give us a third or fourth chance, though as one teacher has said, they don't have to.  So we'll see. 

Sadly, that has come to dominate this school year, with their other courses almost being swallowed up in the chaos.  With the frantic nature of online courses and the pace that accompanies them anyway, add to that the myriad problems we've encountered (and not all of it has been on our side, a couple of the issues early on were on the school's side), and their other courses have almost been 'do what you have to so we can get back to troubleshooting the online courses'.  I especially hate it because this is my Junior's year to focus on Medieval studies and Medieval literature: my favorites; dare I say, my specialty.

Anyhoo, with all the chaos, stress and mad dashes for survival, I felt a little chance to get out and breath some air (and get some movies and books with gift cards from Christmas) might be in order.  The movies will keep us busy: The Lion in Winter, Blade Runner, Red Dawn (the original), The Heiress, The Martian, The Killing Fields and a season of Dr. Who (for the middle boys).  I proudly say I picked out Red Dawn and The Killing Fields, but the rest were their ideas. Then it was off to Highbanks Park to take in God's side of the art world.  There is something about looking out on wooded hills in the snow that always evokes; I get all Robert Frost and a bit melancholy, thinking of those days of old, trudging through landscapes like that, rabbit hunting with Dad.

Whose woods these are I think I know...

I could listen to water trickling through broken ice all day long

Sunset and snow, a great combination

Frozen waterfalls are never not awesome

 

The boys.  The snowing afternoon.  2016.