If you are anything like me, you never cease to be amazed at the transformations all around you every spring. It’s as if what was deemed motionless and void suddenly sprouts new life overnight. One day all is dull and gray then, on cue, you begin to notice small, red and green buds on the ends of branches. As that gets your attention, you begin to search for other signs of spring, finding that the grasses look like maybe they survived the cold and snow somehow after all. Your eyes start to scan the horizon more carefully, wondering how long until the first crocuses force their pretty little heads through the hardened soil. Like a brown bear emerging from hibernation, you begin sniffing the crisp, cool air to discover there is a hint of the warmth to come, sending a spring in your step or a chill of excitement for the long, lazy, hazy days to come.

I think homeschooling is often that way for many a mom this time of year. Like a winding road to a destination that seems to have you driving a little too long, you can feel listless, winded, and dull in your teaching. You know the pattern; the road that seems to be leading to precisely nowhere, yet you know the directions are right, even though you are convinced you passed that same line of trees and farms a hundred times already.

You may try to remind yourself each year that this is always what happens in late winter, but somehow you forget to bring that information to mind when you most need it. If only you could muster up some creative juices and jump over that wall that has you stalled in our tracks. Instead, you’re unsure how to add some spice to the staleness of the schedule you seem to be stuck in.

Well, wallow in boredom and repetition no longer! I believe I might have what you are looking for to brighten your school day without breaking the bank. How about fashioning an indoor window box, adding both colour and sunshine as well as anticipation of days spent outside watering the garden?

What you will need:

• A shoebox (preferably empty unless no one minds having decorated shoes, too!)
• Construction paper
• Paint or markers
• Pipe cleaners, straws, or popsicle sticks (anything that can act as a flower stem will do)
• Clear packing tape, masking tape, plasticine, or PlayDoh™

I hope you can already picture this craft in your mind’s eye. You will make flower petals out of the construction paper and staple, tape, or glue them together in a pleasing pattern, forming a flower. Next, attach the flower to your “stem” of choice, making as many flowers as you prefer until you have a fine standing bouquet.

Decorate your shoebox with construction paper, paint, markers, crayon (you get the idea) until it transforms into a pert little planter, ready to bear your flower bunch. You may need to help your child by trimming the height of the shoebox, depending on the length of stems you are using for your flowers.

Try drawing in vertical lines to imitate wood grain or fencing, giving the illusion that your planter is a bonafide wood project that you spent hours sawing, nailing and varnishing. I am sure no one viewing it will be the wiser You might even chose to cut strips of construction paper and glue them to the shoebox, further creating the impression of strips of wood.

Assuming you are happy with your floral arrangement, the next step is to plant. If you have plasticine or PlayDoh™, roll small amounts of either product into balls to stick the stem bottoms to the inside bottom of your shoebox flower planter. Simply push the ball of plasticine or Play Doh™ into the bottom of the shoebox, then place the popsicle stick, straw, coffee stir stick, pipe cleaner, or whatever you decided on, as a stem, into the blob of plasticine/PlayDoh™.

You could also use a strip of tape on either side of the flower stem but this is not always as stable. Clear packing tape can also work well. All you need is place part of a strip of tape on the bottom of the shoebox and run the other end up the side of your stem. Repeat on the other side of your flower stem, being sure to scrunch the tape well so it sticks to the whole popsicle stick. If you add enough tape, it can do the job of holding up your flowers just as reliably as the plasticine or PlayDoh™ can.

Last, but not least, sit the flower box in your child’s window or on a table by the sun so it can be enjoyed until the time for planting and playing out of doors arrives. I trust you will smile a little each time you walk by, maybe even with a little spring in your step!

Check out my article on page 13 of the funky flipbook edition of Heart of the Matter Magazine.

Kristina Campbell is a happily married wife in her eighth year of homeschooling the flybytheseatofyourpants method. So far her two boys seem intelligible and relatively unscathed. She also mentors with Setting Captives Free and in her spare time loves to scrapbook, paint, make linoprints and write novel study guides. In your spare time, you should check out her blog OnFire in PNG.