That February Feeling :/

While I've noticed the days are starting to get a little longer, I've also noticed that I'm feeling a lot grumpier. I thought it was just me but there was a whole thread of grumpy feeling Home Edders on one of the forums I'm on. It made me feel a lot better knowing that I'm not alone.
That's one of the beauties of modern technology I suppose, the awareness that there are so many other people to 'talk' to. People that you've never even met in real life, people that you are walking a similar path with nonetheless. It's all so different to when my eldest was a teenager. I used to look forward to the monthly local group meeting even more than he did and I was even more eager to hear the bi-monthly EO newsletter pop through the letterbox. I'd make myself a cup of tea and wouldn't emerge again until I'd read it from cover to cover.
Now, I can turn on my computer or check my phone, log on to facebook or A Little Bit of Structure, or any number of other HE forums and ask for advice and give advice. I can share links, jokes and photos with people not only all over Britain but all over the world. This is great in a way, but can also become cumbersome if I allow myself to get caught up in hot debates or find that the really long post I've just written has completely disappeared, never to be seen again.
While I sometimes feel that my life is dominated by the internet - especially since I started writing Picture Book Explorers - I don't think I would like to go back to the old days, although I still miss that old EO newsletter arriving with the postman. I love the ease with which we can share information and point each other to new and interesting websites. I love how much easier it is to organise Home Ed meetings and trips via yahoo groups and email. I love those spur of the moment invites people put up on the local facebook group. It's so much easier than the old phone tree we had that meant the message never quite made its way round to everyone.
I feel like a bit of a Luddite in lots of ways when it comes to new technology. But my current teenager has it all down pat. She can Skype on her phone with a friend while they play minecraft together. I have to confess the Skype thing baffles me a bit. I might have to get her to see if she can show me how to do it on my phone.....
Anyhow, today it was a bit brighter and I even did some weeding which means it must be nearly Spring :) I also got rid of some clutter and now have 3 bags to go to the charity shop :) My house is too full and I am determined to make it less so this year :/
Boykin did a page of maths - he's working on long multiplication right now and seems to have got it pretty sussed. He also did some handwriting and has announced he needs another book as he only has one page left to go. He found a renewed interest in it after buying himself a fountain pen with his birthday money. He also did a page in his grammar book, all about adjectives. He'd had enough of writing by that time though and cheated showed great initiative by drawing linking lines from the words to the spaces. Other than that, he has sorted Lego, tried to make a motorbike garage, played minecraft, and visited friends.
The Girl has also done maths today. Her section involved looking at volume so she spent ages making cubes and other 3D shapes from the unit cubes in the cuisenaire rods. Then she practised her cornet, had her first piano lesson, then later a singing lesson. She spent a long time with her phone looking up piano tutorials on youtube and practising with those. Then she Skyped and minecrafted simultaneously....