HomeSchooling
That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not alone and isolated from anyone. You belong. - F. Scott Fitzgerald
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Tricks of the Trade. 2.
Clearly, after my questions post yesterday, it is evident that I am still treading water most days in the parenting realm. But, like any profession, there are a few bits and pieces I’ve picked up here and there that seem to be working – at the moment. And those are the types of morsels I’m sharing in this Tricks of the Trade posts. Here it is . . . . Consider carefully what posters/art/decorations you hang around the bed of your sweet child. It’s subtle – but those wall hangings will probably be etched on their brains and as familiar to them as the sound of their own nickname when…
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book reviews, other blogs, helping hands
I’ve been singing the praises of our favorite children’s museum for as long as we’ve been living in South Carolina. We’ve been visiting Hands On! with friends and alone for years now. And I’ve often joked that they should pay me to support them. In fact, I make that joke a lot with any company/brand/organization of which I am overly fond. (Keen. Nalgene bottles. You name it.) But this time, my joke is sort of working out. I’ve been partnering with Hands On! since February to help promote the museum through social media. (Yep – be my pal and hop over to their Facebook page and like them. And, if…
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haphazard. erratic. random.
How cute is this kid when he’s wearing only a pair of pants? I’ve been trying out a handful of recipes from my “cook this” Pinterest board. This weekend I made the recipe for Oatmeal Sandwich bread. I laughed when one commenter said, “Our family devoured this in three days.” Our family devoured this, warm from the oven, piled with butter and strawberry jam, in about eight minutes. It was the best bread recipe I’ve come across in a long time. (And another great way to use some of the fifty pounds of oatmeal I bought in bulk. Yeah – fifty pounds.) I also created our own taco seasoning. We’re having…
Keep Reading . . .
one of those . . . weeks
I just want to do it all.
The Deal With Me & Low Cost Flights
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Outdoor Hour Challenge X.
I don’t think I actually completed an outdoor challenge last week. At least not in an official way. But I know the kids spent so much real-time good hours upon hours of outside time. While our family was visiting we trimmed branches, built forts, made wreaths and frames out of grape vines and spent long hours in the rope swing. And I absolutely believe that time counts. Besides, in truth, a large portion of the reason I joined in the Outdoor Hour Challenge was to gain direction, focus and inspiration to promote consistency in our outdoor times as a school assignment. All that to say, I might not have recorded…
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everything.
Yesterday we spent the entire afternoon at a friend’s house. The kids played peacefully the entire time. Inside. Outside. In the hammock. On the grass. On the floor. Reading books. Laughing. Exploring. Waffles. Strawberries. Sunshine. Popcorn. Frozen yogurt. Sun tea. It was just so darn pleasant. The little girls were princesses, played princesses, dressed princesses. Piper Finn wore the sweetest crown made just for her. Books were read. My friend Jo taught London and Mosely (and me) how to finger knit. And the girls are wild about their new skill. (They stayed in bed last night and created long long long strings of finger knitted doll scarves and garlands and…
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Outdoor Hour Challenge. IX.
With the completion of our last Outdoor Hour Challenge we have found ourselves caught up the weekly challenges presented on the Outdoor Hour Challenge website. This week we are looking at pansies. Because I actually read ahead and prepared for our Tuesday Nature Study I was able to be proactive and pick up a few potted pansies at Lowe’s on the way home from Riley’s soccer game Monday. (That’s the primary reason I love following along with the Outdoor Hour Challenge. It’s enables me to take a book I have had sitting on my shelf for all my years of homeschooling – a book I have been idealistic about but never…
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let them play
Sometimes I feel so guilty when I don’t “do” school. When hours creep by and we haven’t read a book, drawn imitation Picassos, blown up a volcano, mapped out the radius of the Mayflower in our front yard, explored geography, performed interpretive dance movements to Mozart’s compositions, crafted an afghan from the hair of goats .. . Ha – like we’re doing any of those things! But still, I feel guilty for all that I should be doing. (And sometimes it’s the exact right kind of guilt that I should feel. I know that.) But sometimes, sometimes, it’s not. And a friend reminded me, a friend who has seven lovely…
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Outdoor Hour Challenge. VIII.
Man, I don’t know why I decided to title each of these Outdoor Hour Challenge posts with Roman Numerals. My skills are pretty weak once you pass the Roman Numeral V. My little band and I reached Challenge Numero Ten. (Yikes – I must be typing late at night because I am just hopping from Roman Numerals to Spanish and back again. You know what’s even funnier than that though? These sentences are making me laugh right now because it is late while I’m typing this but it probably won’t be late when you are reading this which will mean that this is not in the least bit comical to…
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Outdoor Hour Challenge. VII.
We’re about to wrap up our “getting started” segment of our Outdoor Hour Challenge. (We are on Number 9 of the 10 steps to getting started!) And that really makes me happy! It’s not that I haven’t enjoyed the first ten steps to get us started. I have. It’s just that I subscribe to the newsletters for the website and each week super appealing outdoor ideas come across my screen and I want to to do them instead. But this form of discipline, of patience, is something that is lacking in my life and in our homeschool routine so sticking to the plan is pretty vital practice for me right…
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Outdoor Hour Challenge. VI.
This week, it was cold. And a few things delayed the prompt beginning of our walk for our weekly Outdoor Hour Challenge. (A filthy wretched poop in a swimmie. Not because we’d been swimming, but because Fox saw the swimmie had Nemo on it and asked to wear it. And I was thinking no farther ahead than that moment so I consented.) I actually didn’t feel like trekking out. It was a hard sell this week – to me. But although delayed and sort of half heartily, I put on gloves, a scarf and a huge sweater and headed out of doors. The pressure of children knowing our schedule and…
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Outdoor Hour Challenge. V.
We’re up to lesson number seven in our Outdoor Hour Challenge. Despite the picture that may imply otherwise, the kids are still completely engaged. And – equally exciting – are coming to expect this Nature Walk as part of our Tuesday routine. This week we took our stroll through the woods surrounding our house. We practiced being quiet and listening. We looked for signs of birds. We spotted another bird’s nest and witnessed quite a few birds enjoying our new feeder. And then we headed in with a handful of items for our collecting mantle – a pair of pine cones and some conjoined acorn lids. Our assignment was to begin…
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The Bean Store
I don’t do a lot of sticker charts. I can’t remember to keep up with them. I’m not all that great at rewards systems. But sometime last year I found myself answering the same question one trillion and two times each day. “Can I play a game on the computer?” And I was always making up and then breaking various rules and guidelines. I’d try to time the kids but then forget to see how many minutes they’d actually been on that day. What eventually developed out of my frustration was a counting system of sorts. The kids could earn beans for various tasks – chores, completing schoolwork without being…
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fly like an eagle. (steve miller band reference anyone?)
Life is just full to the brim of change. Seasons of busy and seasons of slow. Years of diapers and years of dentist appointments and years of watching kids play fill-in-the-blank sport. Seasons of something. Seasons of nothing. And I have known days in my life that I have felt as if time was going backwards. Seasons of such slow progress and such lethargic pace that I felt I had time to waste. Time to spare. Time to place hastily in a black trash bag and drop off at the Goodwill box in the parking lot outside of Target. But this time, this season, this present life I am shaping…
