Well, I had to think about what this person was saying. So, here is my answer. We all have things that are important to us. We all have traditions that we love. And even some we hate. But, we do them for our families.
When I had my first son who is now 19yo, I sat down and really thought about what kind of traditions we should have as a family. We got to start with a fresh clean slate. Some of those traditions didn't continue and others became so important that we could never skip them. Some even happened by accident. With all of that said, I am going to tell you a little something about my families St. Patrick's day celebrations/traditions.
Remember these have changed and morphed as the years have gone on and they look a bit different then I imagined they would 19 years later.
The day started with everyone looking for something green to wear. Then it was downstairs to our traditional Green eggs and Ham.
We then went along with our day doing school work and chores. After an hour or so our Leprechaun showed up (He was new this year. I got tired of writing cute little notes and thought this was easier and a little more fun. My littles (8 and 10), thought he was so fun. We set him on the counter in the kitchen. Within the next hour someone noticed he was missing.. Uh oh!
They soon found him on top of a pile of legos. my 10yo son wasn't thrilled. Those were his and he keeps them in such a nice order. Son cleaned them up and I took the Leprechaun back to the kitchen. While later my 8yo daughter noticed the little trickster was missing again. We found him in the living room with all of her dolls. One in particular being trapped by the Leprechaun himself!
Mean little man.
So, as the day went on we had a few more little mishaps.
A mess in the pantry.
Some very loud Irish music with the wee man in a pile of guitar picks. He had a couple of cups of Lucky Charms to share too.
Then they discovered the ever famous, Leprechaun pee in the toilet. That was always the goodbye the little messy creeps always left for us.
At this point I made homemade Shamrock Shakes. Lastly, a few golden chocolate coins are usually found around the house.
That is the end of the fun Leprechaun day for my kids. So you all know, my teenagers now have the pleasure of making the messes. So, it becomes fun for everyone. Nothing heavy. Just a fun distraction of the day.
Now often in years past we have dedicated the day to learning all about St. Patrick himself and to how the day come about. He has a very interestingly Godly story.
I feel like it is important for me to say at this point that I love to have diversions in our days. Something silly and fun, every now and then to give my kids a thrill. Something they wouldn't do if they were in regular school. I'm big on short unit studies in the grade school years. I love silly holidays to be able to learn about. National Chocolate Day, nat'l Pig day, nat'l hat day, Nat'l Apple month. There are so many. You have a choice make it fun or stressful. IF it's too stressful mom, then don't do it.
Actually, I've been writing a book on holidays, unit studies and how to have mini holidays in your school years. These are the things that make life in homeschooling so much fun. Without too much money and often very little effort, you can make a memory that will last a life time for your children, and you.
Homeschooling should be fun. And often it isn't. Often it is so hard, and scary and stressful, and upsetting, and, and, and, .....
Do things to shake it up. Throw a bucket of legos and the floor and declare it Lego day. Or pull out all the board games in the house and call it Board Olympics. We don't take the same days off that the local schools do. We make our own holidays. You can too.
I hope this was helpful.
