Homeschooling Week In Review

So this past week, skiing/snowboarding had to be the highlight of our week. January 17 was the beginning of Anchor Academy's skiing/boarding lessons. It is something that we look forward to all day. We take in the lesson in the morning and then spend the rest of the day up there skiing. Of course this year, with my knee problems I have not been able to strap skis on. As well, Rhiannon is doing downhill instead of cross country and my knee isn't ready for that yet anyways.

So this was a big day for Rhiannon. This was the first time for her on downhill skis. I went along in my boots with her for her lesson and helped her out. She had a really hard time doing the snowplow on the little incline we were practising on. Then we were over on the proper bunny hill. The instructor took her all the way down one time at the end of the lesson and then we were on her own. It was amazing to me how she suddenly clicked. Now that she was on a real hill and she actually needed to slow down and stop, she quickly mastered it. I had brought a back pack stuffed full of things for her to do while we waited for Drew who would board until the hill closed at 3:30. But it went unopened. She skiied down that little hill all day with only a half hour break for lunch. After about an hour I was redundant and when I became thoroughly frozen, I went into the cafeteria and watched her through the window. I was truly amazed by her progress!

And I am so glad that she likes skiing. I love skiing. And being up there on Silver Star never fails to bring memories of my first skiing experiences sharply to mind. I can almost see Kitsumkalum where I learned to ski with my grade 7 class. This was not routinely done in those days. I lucked out to be in the class that my teacher (Mrs. Johnson) was the wife of the guy who ran the ski shop and whose son (Ben) was a national level skiing competitor. My parents would have never been able to afford to give me that experience and it is one of the things I really love to do.

It always seems sacred to me up there on the top of mountain - the clean, cold air, the smell of snow and trees and the silence when you find yourself alone in the middle of a run - just the sound of my skis scraping on the snow.