January 2024

A warm welcome to everyone from a very cold and snowy Scottish woodland.  As a new year has begun we embrace the fresh start but the weather reminds us that we are still in the deepest of winter.  Days are short and nights are long and chilly, many of the animals on our wood are still deep in hibernation and in many ways we are too.

During the January days our children spend hours immersed in their play, breaking for winter walks and snowball fights, we have a rhyth, its like breathing, they enjoy the familiarity, the routine, it feels comfortable and safe.

As the snow falls, it reminds us how our life revolves around the weather, we react to the elements and our children are very aware of this, tuned in. The wilded family weather wheel compliments our home education learning, we have it attached to the wall low enough for our youngest to reach and move the hand to the weather for each day, he loves the routine, the drawings are soft and natural to reflect the changing elements, it’s used everyday in our cabin and becomes familiar and so friendly.

It feels like a long time ago since our children planted the indoor hyacinths and after months of hibernation the shoots are through and they are in full flower, white and purple, reminding us that spring is on its way once we have rested through the winter.  They are the centerpiece to our January nature table.

As a family we enjoy celebrations throughout the year, but sometimes if things get hectic it can be tricky to remember them, I absolutely love the Wilded Family Through the Year book, its a month by month guide which i keep by my calendar, full of thoughtful celebrations and meaningful ways to celebrate them, this will be a great resource for the coming home education year.

Projects.  January feels like a perfect time to immerse in projects, our son is no exception, he loves wood, and loves to work with wood, this month he is sanding and oiling slabs of hardwood to make chopping boards, meaningful work which requires patience and hard work.

Our family loves board games.  Our children were gifted some new ones this Christmas and we have spent many of our January days testing out new games and playing old familiar ones.  Children use so many skills playing games, they are an integral part of our home education, but moreover they are fun and build family relationships too. 

At a time when winter colours are limited, we often think of spring and the burst of colour that awaits us, green leaves, purple bluebells, pink foxglves, oh the yellow daffodils.  To bring colours into our cabin we paint regularly with the children though January, normally wet on wet painting, exploring vibrant yellow, red and blue on wet paper, a beautiful mix of colours which soak into each other and create a vision of spring in the dark days of winter.

As we sit at our dinner table, the real heart of our home, we feast on warm home made raspberry jam muffins fresh from the oven and hot cups of tea, they warm our hearts and our soul, we are thankful for the new year but are reminded that for us the new year really starts when the wood bursts into life in the coming months, for now we are content to relax, rest and enjoy the slow days of winter.

A warm welcome to everyone from a very cold and snowy Scottish woodland. As a new year has begun we embrace the fresh start but the weather reminds us that we are still in the deepest of winter. Days are short and nights are long and chilly, many of the animals on our wood are still deep in hibernation and in many ways we are too.