Spring picnics

When the warmer days of spring sunshine arrive, we find it difficult to stay indoors. The urge to hibernate - to cuggle by the fire - gives way to a need for freedom and the open air. Meals become more simple and lighter. Clothing becomes more colourful and layering the norm. Breakfast in the courtyard is suggested, followed by school on the cubby deck. It is not soon after that we begin finding excuses for picnics further afield.

To our family this is what spring's all about. It's why homeschooling fits our lifestyle so well. We can make decisions about what to do with our days based on how we feel and not what we need to do. We're not dependent upon a bureaucratic machine. We can change our plans based on the sky that greets us when we open the curtains.

And more often than not, when it looks like this we escape.

We still do school. We learn so many things. We talk about poppet heads and gold mining and the regeneration of bushland after fire and why it's not good to write your name on the rocks. We make daisy chains. We discuss sandstone and pigments and colour. We admire God's amazing creation and we paint.

Mostly, though, we walk hand-in-hand, my young daughter and I, trying to see the world as the other sees it, quiet with out own thoughts. We laugh together and talk about the frivolous nothings that make up our days. And we feel happy. And contented. And blessed.

Ah yes, life is mighty fine indeed.