Easter/Earth Week/Screen-Free Week

Well, there has been a lot going on for the past seven days.  We had a whole variety of activities to celebrate Earth Day, we had our week of Easter and local produce from the Farmers Market, and we foreswore our use of the Internet or computer games for purely entertainment purposes.  I don't remember when, if ever, these events have lined up together as they did this month.

So although it was busy, I have to say that it was a really great week.  And while the Earth Day activities and Easter Egg dying and hunts and fresh strawberries were all great, I really have to admit that I believe our reduced computer time was a big contributor to our appreciation of this week.

Part of it, I will also say, is due to the fact that our academic year is winding down.  Two of our activities ended last week, which is bittersweet--we've really enjoyed them, but we're looking forward to more unstructured free time.  (Let me say that I consider us to be homeschooling year round--however, during the summer, we are more laid back, because we don't have so many scheduled activities and I don't have many classes that I'm leading for groups of children.  This allows us to do our own thing on our own schedule, which is a nice break from all our classes and coops, as much as we do need and enjoy them in their time.)

But I also have to admit that not turning to our computer for entertainment meant that we turned to each other more--which is a good thing.  We spent a lot more time together playing board games or reading together.  And I have to commend my son, who really took this challenge on and didn't try to "cheat" by sneaking in his Wii or computer games.  I know he is looking forward to getting back "online," and I plan to catch up on some of my "time wasters" I've given up this week.  However, I think it has been a valuable lesson, and I think we'll have a discussion about how to keep our electronics more in check.  I already have one day a week when I don't drive as an environmental consciousness thing; perhaps we will add on an "non-essential electronics day."  We'll see.

I hope everyone else has been enjoying this week as well, and that your family life has been enriched by this holiday (at least here in North Carolina, classes have been cancelled all week for Spring Break).