Homeschooling Snow Day

Look closely for Nick at the top of the snowy clearing.

Today we got the biggest snow of the winter, and we’ve mostly been without power since the storm began. Last night, Nick brought in seven wheelbarrows of wood from the woodpile and stacked the wood outside the basement door, and I chopped kindling and brought it in by the woodstove, so we’d be ready if we had no heat.

Thanks to my husband’s hard work in hauling, splitting, and stacking wood (which I wrote about a few years ago), we’ve had a warm spot in the basement, and it does help to keep the chill off the rest of the house as well.

Without the usual distractions made possible by electricity, Nick did four chapters more than his goal in math in short time and started reading Gulliver’s Travels. I made tea and grilled cheese sandwiches atop the woodstove — thoroughly burning the first set of sandwiches, while we were talking algebra.

I had forgotten just how hot the top of the woodstove can get, but it worked pretty well once I focused on what I was doing.

(Funny, this is no different than when I cook on my fully modern electric stove in the kitchen. I frequently burn stuff when I’m also writing while cooking, but when I focus, I can cook passably enough).

While it was still snowing and blowing, Nick decided to try out his snowboard in our “back yard,” which is a hayfield in the foothhills near Shenandoah National Park. I snapped some photos from our back porch.

It was a bit of a hike up the hill without the convenience of a lift, and he had to do a little packing of the heavy, wet snow to make a trail. He also created a little ramp for fun — no comparison to the Massanutten Terrain Park he has been enjoying this winter, but of course you have to build a ramp.

So he got in some pretty good runs.

Today’s cardio workout: uphill runs in snowboarding boots.

Then it was time for a little hot chocolate for Nick and Earl Grey tea for me, warmed up on the stove, and he practiced guitar while I did some editing.

Even with the snowboarding, the lack of power and the snowed-in feeling do not combine to make Nick’s favorite kind of day. He’d rather be with more people and have more action.

The power just came back — thanks to the hard-working crews of Rappahannock Electric Cooperative – so we once again are in touch with the world via Internet. Neighbors say the roads are clearing, so maybe tomorrow we will get back to UVA for some pickup soccer.

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