It’s official. As of today, we are halfway through the school year and I’m feeling a great sense of accomplishment. This is particularly important because the February doldrums are due to set in any minute — so I need some sort of declaration that despite how blah I’m likely to feel at some point in the next few weeks, we’re actually in a really good place.

Working at the kids’ individual paces on subjects has been an interesting experience; it means that weekly plans often get thrown out by Tuesday when we discover that we either need to move more quickly through material (math, I’m looking at you!) or we’re so caught up in the topic that we need more time (that would be history on a regular basis). Either way, it’s gratifying to look at my overall plans for the year and see that, on average, we’re pretty much on track.

We’ve just started reading The Voyage of the Dawn Treader this morning — it’s been years since I read through the Chronicles of Narnia and I think I’m actually enjoying them more as an adult than I ever did as a child. Leah tends to wander around a little while I read but Adam usually sits, rather spellbound, as I share these much-loved stories. Since we’ll finish up the seven volumes before school ends, I need to find our next great read-aloud book. Adam has voted for The Hobbit but I’m not convinced Leah’s ready for it yet and I want the books we choose to be enjoyable for both of them.

Of course, as I reflect on the past five months, the best part of homeschooling has been watching Adam and Leah grow closer. Even if this is largely due to playmates being scarce during the day, I’ll take it. This afternoon they’re outside playing in the sad little bit of snow we’ve got, fighting with lightsabers and building snowmen. A year ago, I would have had to bribe them to play together.

And while they’re playing outside, I get to take advantage of the quiet and knit. And even drink my coffee while it’s still hot.

Really, it doesn’t get much better than this — I can’t wait to see what the second half of our school year brings.