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
-
Five Finds Friday (24) (playing dangerously & a shortcake recipe)
The Fridays – they just keep coming so fast, don’t you know? FUNNY As he rushes past me through the dining room Otto shouts in proclamation — “TRUTH! Never run with scissors.” I stop what I am doing and ask, “Otto. Are you running with scissors?” A quick pause of his rapid foot movement. “Yes.” FASHIONABLE I know I have shared something from title nine before but their clothing is just so fun and functional and I wouldn’t mind owning almost any of it. Most of their skirts have shorts sewn into the base of them and I love that as I prefer wearing skirts all summer instead of wearing…
-
what lies ahead: adventure and the connection between the new ads and our family
Do you remember that time our family spent a year reading all of the Little House on the Prairie books? And how, at the end of that year, we loaded up the kids and drove north and then west and then some more west and then south and then east and made a big sloppy loop back to our home? It was a good good year loaded and piled with sweet and lasting memories and it’s lodged squarely and safely inside my heart. The next year we read through the Narnia series. (Which proved to be timely and profound and emotionally perfect for our hearts that year.) This year we…
-
Studying Longfellow: A Poetry Study Tutorial
We tend to choose a poet to study for a term (or a season, or a few weeks or month – whatever fits your routine). During that time I basically repeat this same general format, substituting a new poem for each session together. Generally – this style of poetry study would be done a few times each month – weekly or bi-weekly. I do this routine with my own kids individually, but it also the format I use to teach a small co-op of sorts that Jo and I do together weekly. Step One: Choose your poet. I chose Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Step Two: Gather your biographical information. (I used…
-
Mobi Max Math Game: A Review
(Cheers and party emoticons, you guys – it’s my first Timberdoodle review. Thanks to Timberdoodle I have the opportunity to receive this math game at no cost in exchange for my honest review – with opinions all of my own. The opinions — that’s the easy part!) Math and I aren’t BFFs so when I see anything that can make math seem fun or attractive or appealing — I’ll give it a shot. The Mobi Max Game arrived in the mail and the first impressions were of its cool packaging. Eh. Maybe fun packaging shouldn’t matter – but we all know, it does. The whale is cute, has a hook for hanging…
-
Book Review: Homecoming
There are some characters in novels that stick with you all of your life. Do you know what I mean? We all remember Ramona Quimby – right? People fall in love with Harry Potter and Frodo and Lucy Pevensie. Maybe you can’t forget Oliver Twist or that one big guy in Of Mice and Men. I remember a girl named Dicey as if we were next door neighbors or first cousins. She and her siblings are the main characters in a book series by Cynthia Voight. The first novel is Homecoming and the storyline shocked me as a kid and stuck right in my gut somewhere and I’ve never forgotten…
-
writing without a plan. (rambling, in other words)
I had a web hosting snafu this week and the blog was down and out for a while. But I’m all back now and I think I have a plan. (It was actually very comforting to receive the texts and messages alerting me that my blog was unavailable. Made me feel loved by you guys, knowing that you read the words and click over to this space. Thank you, friends.) I’m a little here and there with a handful of loose ends these days so I don’t have a stopping or a starting point tonight as I write this. Last Sunday we had baptisms at church. Man. I start to…
Keep Reading . . .
Stitch Fix: We Tried It!
rocks & roots
five finds friday (avett. curl cream. views.)
-
Hiking With Kids: John Rock Trail
Last week there was a funk permeating our home. The reasons were multiple and included but were not limited to strep throat for one, an infection for another, a handful of extra editing deadlines for me and a schedule with a bit too much Go and not enough Stay. Midweek we had a little Family Meeting (complete with The Rolling Pin That Allows The Holder To Speak) and we refocused our efforts, made a list of what we could Say No to, added in a Family Night of movies and pillows and pasta fagiole and we all left the table feeling a bit more hopeful with the promise of a restful…
-
How to Create Family Nature Notes
Yearly traditions are fun. They are a kind of glue for a family. The holiday traditions — Christmas Eve pajamas and Books on the Bed. The quirky traditions — The Wildwood Snow Day Policy and Pizza & Red Kool-Aid Night. (This was a recent repeated celebration. It’s our family’s celebration of the first day Riley ever lived with us. And yes, it was actually what I served that six-year-old for dinner for her first meal at our home. It was before Pinterest, you guys. I was working full time. Shoot, it was before the iPhone. Whatever. I gave the entire family red dye (and I have once a year since…
-
sleep education
I love how when you are teaching homeschool and you are studying one topic in particular, you hear references to it throughout everything else you are reading. (It’s sort of like when you buy a new car or get a new pair of shoes and you think you’ve never seen them anywhere before and suddenly they are showing up everywhere. Or if you are on a road trip and you just lost at the alphabet game because the word “antique” was only on one sign during the last two hundred miles but after one person wins then you see signs at every exit for quilts and quizzes and quarries. What…
-
let your kids do hard things.
I am finding that it is so good to carefully place your kids in situations where something difficult is asked of them. (Certainly life does does that for all of us in giant ways – death of grandparents and loved ones, death of family pets, divorce, moving, friendships failing, broken relationships, change of plans, disappointments and more.) But I’m talking about smaller ways. Almost in preparation – it’s like we have an opportunity to provide a dress rehearsal of sorts. When the kids and I visited the corn maze last month we were kind of lost. Not hopelessly lost and not really dangerously lost as you could always call it…
-
Field Trip: School on the Trail
Last week I studied the weather forecast. I saw the glorious autumn days we would potentially be allowed to enjoy and the threat of the cold and the rain-filled days just on the edge of the horizon. I knew I had to get to the sunshine while there was sunshine to get to. Whilst the children were sleeping snug in their beds (or my bed, you know, whichever, it’s all the same any more) I wrote out a little invitation for them each. “You are invited on an adventure,” the note read. “Pack your water bottle, your notebook, a novel, your Life of Fred math book, colored pencils and grab…
-
(the first annual?) Autumn Poet Tea
Turns out it wasn’t enough to just enjoy our Poet Tea with the family. This week we welcomed with open arms the perfect loveliness of the autumn season. With open arms, sweet friends and thoughtful words from celebrated poets. And – with desserts! And tea too, of course. Oh my word, you guys. The cuteness was intoxicating. We invited a few friends and set out some fall treats in the moderate fall weather. (Pumpkin muffins and hand pies and scones and lemon curd and tea served in my mother’s tea pots.) Each of the guests were asked to come prepared to share an autumn poem. That was the best part.…
-
Field Trip: Eliada Corn Maze
The best part about writing for the local website Kidding Around Greenville has been embracing the opportunity to explore our own adventures right here where we live. Looking for article ideas for them has given me fresh eyes for discovering cool spots across the mountains in North Carolina and right here in our town too. Last week the kids and I made our favorite over-the-hill drive (I just can never get enough of those mountains, no matter the season) to Asheville to a well known annual corn maze that I had only heard about but had never visited. Eliada is an organization in Asheville that is doing really fabulous things for…
