Yuletide Tea at Dawn's ❤

Hello, my friends and welcome to another spot of Tea at Dawn's! I am so happy you are joining me today, even if it's just virtually. As crazy as it seems, virtual is more a "reality" than ever these days, isn't it?

Coronavirus and other global stresses aside, I'm greeting you on this last Sunday of Advent with a feeling of hope in my heart that better days are ahead. I hope, too, that this post finds you, and your loved ones, all well and safe. How are you faring as this year comes to a close? Are you hanging in there? Are your holiday plans (like mine) very much altered in light of the pandemic?

Well, today I have a few things to share with you, including some festive holiday tea pictures, a peek at a few of our recent Advent activities AND ... the name of the winner of my homemade planner giveaway! I will make my announcement a little further along in this post, but first, let's take a look at today's Tea ...

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Now, if you were coming to my house on an afternoon such as this, I would invite you in out of the cold New England weather to take a seat at my breakfast nook table. I have set it with our favorite "homeschool tea" china - a charming little pinecone set I bought when my boys were very young ...

(Before you ask - I found these dishes at a local "Christmas Tree Shoppe" many years ago, and it was not only *just* my style, but also, incredibly inexpensive! In hindsight I wish I had bought more than I did because it is very hard to find such woodland-themed china in a reasonable price range!)

On my table is a "colonial blue" woven tablecloth that originally belonged to my maternal grandmother, as well as a barn red braided pad, a gift from a dear friend who knows I adore braided rugs! There is also a pair of blue and cream spongeware mixing bowls holding an assortment of fruits. I just love all these soft cozy colors - the way the blues and soft reds complement the pale gray-green of my kitchen. :-)

And in our little pinecone pot I have a spicy warming brew awaiting us ...

Trader Joe's Winter Wake Up Tea!

As yummy and seasonally on-point as this tea is, truth be told, I am sticking with a plainer tea these days. (Spice gives me heartburn, alas!) So I also have plenty of that sort available for those who would prefer it, as well as mulled cider on the stovetop - and between the beverages and the baked goodies fresh out of my oven - boy does it smell good in here!

Speaking of those goodies, the treats I baked up for today's gathering are some of my very favorite holiday pastries ...

Mincemeat-filled, buttery, orangey tarts! Here is a peek at the preparation ...

The pastry dough is a blend of flour, cinnamon and orange zest ...

Using a kitchen glass I cut out 3-inch circles of dough, and set each circle inside a greased muffin tin well, gently pressing on the bottom and along the sides. I then spooned a tablespoon of prepared mincemeat filling into each well. (For those who are not familiar with "mincemeat" there is actually no meat at all in most modern blends. The brand I use (Nonesuch) has raisins, apples and spices - plus a wee bit of brandy and rum flavoring.)

Next I used a small star-shaped cookie cutter to make little pastry stars ...

And then I topped each tart with a star!

Last step - a light egg wash and they were ready for the oven.

About 15 minutes later:

All done and ready for a light coating of "winter snow" - aka powdered sugar!

The perfect Yuletide confection, these would also be lovely at New Year's or on The Epiphany.

The full recipe can be found here. (Baker's note: this dough also makes a wonderful jam-filled turnover, wonderful for Christmas breakfast!)

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Ok, now for the lovely photos sent to me by my dear readers! I was thrilled to get a peek at your favorite special drinks ...

From Jennifer:

The mug is from a homeschool field trip about six years ago to New Melleray Abbey just outside of Dubuque, Iowa. The Trappist monks were so kind and I loved the peacefulness of the Abbey. This mug reminds me of that peace : )  I had to go caffeine-free about 6 months ago and am really liking peppermint herbal tea for the winter (I like something fruity for the warmer months).

From Shelly:

Here is a picture of my current favorite mug! In the morning it is usually filled with tea, Oolong or Eggnogg’n. Sometimes in the afternoon I squeeze in a cup of Tazo’s Glazed Lemon Loaf tea. If you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend it! In the evening, after dinner, you’ll find it filled with warm and creamy cocoa.

From Mary:

My favorite Christmas beverage is - Bonfire Mulled Honey Wine! I tried it for the for the first time last year.  Produced and bottled by Spirit Hills Ltd, in Millarville, Alberta, Canada this wine is delicious! This is what the the blurb says:

"Christmas in your mouth! A warm blanket around your heart!"

I have never like mulled anything before, but this is really, really good!! And it sure makes it easy to support local, when their product is absolutely delicious! And even though I am gushing about this product, really, the only time I drink wine, is when someone brings us wine for a dinner party gift!

From Penelope:

Black coffee in my lovely mug made by Annie Quigley (you can find her easily on IG), sitting on my desk with books reflected ... The text reads, “Trust in God & do the next thing.” 

From Stacey:

I am attaching a photo of one of my favorite mugs for this season. When I am sitting down with a book, reflecting or planning, I often have coffee. This time of year, I love to have a peppermint coffee with a dash of cocoa. Our oldest, age 11, is on the spectrum and he loves penguins. I have learned so much from him when he shares his knowledge about his interests. Seeing this little penguin brings me joy each time I use it. 

 

I often find seasonal mugs or fancy teacups & saucers secondhand and switch them out, which all of my kids enjoy. We homeschool and often have poetry teatime, so using "fancy" cups make it extra special for them. Our older daughter, age 8, is my crafty one & loves to set a pretty table! In the last year, our little lady (2.5 years) doesn't want to miss out, so we even have a little teacup set for her to use. She's mostly there for the treats and sugar cubes in her tea!

 

From @makefeast on Instagram:

 

"A warm cuppa hot cinnamon sunset (from Harney & Sons Tea) and some festive, inspirational fare to browse by the twinkle lights . . ."

And this cozy scene comes from @blessedandbusy also on Instagram!

And last but certainly not least, from Holly:

Now my favorite tea ... It is hands down without a doubt Russian tea. When I was little we lived in Houston and all of our grandparents were in Alabama. During Christmas we would drive to Alabama to spend the holidays. Often times my sister and I would have a night with my Mamacite (grand mom) and our Aunt Susan. Mamacite would always make us Russian tea. Now when I make a cup and get that first smell of it, oh the memories flood back. It immediately takes me to those nights drinking Russian tea and listening to Jingle Bell Rock by Brenda Lee on my Mamacite’s record player, tree lights sparkling and my sister and I feeling oh so mature to have a girls night without mom and dad there! I've since introduced it to my two little ones and they love it just as much. I am now making sweet memories having tea with them and reading a good book or some poems.

There were also several thoughtful comments shared in my most recent blog post - pop on over to read them there! :-)

But now, without further ado, here is the randomly selected winner of my homemade planner giveaway ...

MARY MASON LESKOWITZ!!! 

Congratulations Mary! I am very happy for you and will be in touch soon to arrange mailing details. Thank you to everyone who participated in my giveaway - it was so lovely to "have tea" with you all in this virtual way. To all my friends who are interested in my homemade planner, I will be posting the edited 2021 sheets here for everyone to print just as soon as I have them all finished! (Hoping, fingers crossed, that will be next Sunday!) I will also have a post coming next month about further plans for my planner - but we'll leave all of that for 2021. ;-)

For now, let's get back to Advent and a peek at some of our recent activities!

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Today we added the last bit of creation to our Advent Garden - a tiny tin cabin. Just to recap, the first week of Advent we added the first layer which was stones and shells placed on the bottom of the bowl. The following week we covered those stones and shells with some soft moss from our backyard, as well as planted a couple of pinecone "trees," also from the backyard. Last week, an assortment of wooden animals gathered along the outside of the bowl to wait along with us ... and now finally as we head into this last week of Advent, we focus on the highest of all the natural kingdoms, that of humankind. (I have the candle turned on for the picture, but it won't be lit in reality until Christmas Eve.)

In the meantime, our windowsill Advent journey is progressing along nicely ...

Every day of Advent, our figures move forward (towards the creche in the far right corner) and a stone is replaced with a star!

We had some lovely nature experiences these past couple of weeks - including a beautiful blizzard!

I love watching the birds in the snow, but the absolute highlight for me was getting to feed our own backyard chickadees by hand!

The kids and I have done this at our local Audubon sanctuary, but the birds there are practically tame. They need no coaxing to hand-feed! Here at home however, our chickadees are much more cautious, but on this snowy afternoon, they decided to trust me ... what a gift! ❤

How I love this quiet, cold and candle-lit late autumn season. With the Winter Solstice (aka Yule) arriving tomorrow, we are seeing the shortest and darkest of days ...

I just feel this is such a special time of year ... a time to really hunker down and turn homeward ... to respect our natural human instinct to rest and hibernate. To reflect on the rituals of our ancestors as one season blended into the next.

But as the sun finally "returns" tomorrow - growing stronger every day until June - we are reminded to wait patiently for brighter days. To fire up our own inner lights by caring for ourselves and each other ... and of course, as well, the magnificent creation we are surrounded and inspired by every day!

Ahhh ... this is my little Narnia spot. :-)

And now here a few pictures from our Audubon homeschool nature program this past Friday. We took a wintry seaside trek on a blustery dark day!

Little Bear and I just love our Audubon adventures ... the one "outside the home" activity we participate in, we look forward to it each week!

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Now of course we got up to some nature crafting which is absolutely my favorite Advent activity! 

These are ornaments we made using natural materials we found in our backyard (and in our spice cabinet). It was fun to turn personal treasures into meaningful mementos!

I started with tiny grapevine craft wreaths as a base, and found some plain twine for hanging, then sorted through the materials for inspiration ...

Treasures from nature included: acorn caps of various sizes, hemlock cones (which look just like roses when open), dried lavender buds from the garden, anise stars, cinnamon sticks and whole cloves from the pantry, bumblebees (expired but intact, found on cold early autumn mornings), feathers found beneath the feeders, rose hips, pine branches, and a few wooden snowflakes I had in my craft stash!

The first ornament is made with an assortment of feathers we've found this year (Oriole, Cardinal, Hawk, Mourning Dove, Owl). I glued an anise star at the bottom and then added Little Bear's picture ...

For the reindeer ...

... I just used cinnamon sticks for the face shape, and hemlock cones for the eyes ... a rosehip for the nose (must be Rudolph!) and added evergreen branches for the antlers!

Next I created a "summer memories" ornament ...

I spread glue on the wreath first and then shook dried lavender buds all over ...

(I used the hot glue gun for all of these crafts, by the way!)

I added two of our preserved bumblebees to the sides ...

And finally, a picture of the monarch butterfly who "hung out" with us one lovely August afternoon. :-)

This next ornament was made up very simply with bunches of clove buds ...

... plus an anise star and a tiny sprig of evergreen topped with a "rosebud" hemlock cone.

To the back of this ornaments we added a picture of the beautiful barred owl who calls our woods home!

Now this next ornament was actually the one I made first - so inspired was I by the hemlock cones natural rose shape!

And to this lovely "frame" I added an old photo of my maternal grandparents when they were first married:

And the next ornament was almost an afterthought - I just had one more wreath to use!

And lastly, this wreath was adorned with two acorn "bells" made with a double cap, rose hips and evergreen sprigs.

And this could only be fitted with a precious photo of Little Bear and his cousin strolling along our road hand-in-hand. This photo was taken one day this past summer - the last time we visited as it happens. Boy do I miss seeing our loved ones!

Here's a glimpse of a craft I'm working on this weekend, little gifts for a couple of special little girls in my life:

During our second week of Advent, the younger boys listened to a story about an evergreen farm and then painted pinecones for the tree ...

There was a little bit of glitter involved, too!

Another day we made woodland candleholders with materials we harvested ourselves and slices of a birch log we had on hand (felled in a storm a few years ago). And while the boys worked on this craft I read aloud another favorite Yuletide story ...

There was cookie-making one chilly morning ...

... and on a sunny Sunday afternoon we made a yummy cake for a couple of special fellas' special day!

Finally, before I go, I would like to share the images from our family's 2020 Christmas card:

Here you see our tree:

(Plus my goofy husband, lol.)

And here's the picture on the front of our Christmas card ...

Can you believe how big these kids are getting?!

(Bookworm (25), Crackerjack (21), Earlybird (19) and Little Bear (7))

And not to be forgotten - our cats, Archie and Ollie (9) are on the back of the card!

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Well my friends, at long last I will finally wrap up this rather long post ... but before I go I would like to wish you all a wonder-full winter, the merriest of holidays, and a peaceful and joyous new year ...

Take care of yourselves and your loved ones and I will see you here again very soon!

This Year's Lesson Planner ... and HELLO!

My goodness, my friends! I cannot believe it has been so very long since I've been here sharing and just chatting with you. What a long, strange several months it's been, and I sincerely hope you (and your loved ones) are all doing well ... staying safe, keeping healthy, feeling positive and finding peace and joy when and where you can. 🧡

So I have a fun little lesson planner post for you all today, but first I want to just give you a little update on how we are all doing here. And I'm glad to say we are all doing fine. All of us are home ... working at home, remote learning at home and (of course) homeschooling at home! I cannot believe however, I have been away from this blog as long as I have. This is definitely a record for me. I hope to be back to blogging a little more consistently in the season ahead, because there is always so much to talk about! 

Unfortunately I've had to slow way down when it comes to enjoying my favorite activities - reading, writing, journaling, close-up work of any kind etc. - due to some rather extreme eye strain and tension headaches I developed this summer. It's a long and boring story but I'm glad to say I am finally on the mend and slowly finding my way back to "normal" (or as normal as we can be in these trying times!).

Anyhoo - let's talk about that planner! You might have seen my post on Instagram back in May after I purchased this pretty thing at Target. (Or through Target (.com) because back in May we were still barely leaving the house):

So as you might remember, I am a HUGE fan of Blue Sky Planners - and I always find their academic year lesson planners especially impressive. And I really like the extremely reasonable price of these planners which is generally around $13. This one came with a multi-colored polka dot cover as you can see - definitely cute, but not really my style. Happily though, it turned out the cover was actually removable! So inside the front clear pocket I slipped a piece of my favorite “vintage style” scrapbooking paper which I plan to change up every month. 

 

(This particular planner does not seem to be available anymore, but there are similar versions still available at www.target.com.)

 

Now, since I’m a homeschool mom, I tweaked a few pages to better suit my needs. So here’s a little flip-through with deets on each pic:

 

 

Inside the front cover (showing the pretty back of the October design), is the planner title page. I wasn't a huge fan of the polka dots, but I really love those rainbow stripes!

 

Next two pages:

 

 

I used the dated calendars to highlight time "in school" and our "off" days. Quick tip - my highlighters wouldn't dry properly on the laminated page so I covered the area with some clear packing tape. This kept things set!

 

The righthand page was for recording school information and contacts, which isn't really something I need as a homeschooler, so ... I covered it up with some dot-grid paper (fastened to the page with some cute alphabet washi tape) and set up a tracker for recording days spent homeschooling. 

 

Here's a closer look:

 

 

Ok, next spread:

 

 

A bunch of monthly holidays and special dates are outlined on these pages, to which I added family birthdays, feast days and full moons. :-)

 

And then we have, one of my favorite spreads!

 

 

The page on the left was for "class birthdays" but I decided it would be a great space for listing out my weekly seasonal themes!

 

 

(I'll have a post about these themes coming up soon - I hope!)

 

And the right hand page of the spread is for mapping out your weekly activity schedule, and so that's just what I did ... :-)

 

 

After this page comes the monthly calendars of May, June and July at which point the weekly spreads kick in. Here is how my October calendar looks:

 

 

Obviously I had fun with those seasonal stickers! 🎃

 

And here is a look at the colorful weekly lesson planning spread:

 

 

I am a big fan of this colorful spread!

 

 

And then the rest of the planner is filled with monthly calendars and weekly planning spreads through June 2021, followed by a final laminated page showing annual holidays (through 2023) and a map of the United States and capital cities. 

 

And there you have it, my "tweaked" lesson planner for the academic year 2020-2021!

 

In my next post I will share my Early Autumn Bullet Journal in which I flesh out all those seasonal themes - aka the heart of our nature-based learning at home!

 

Thanks so much for joining me here today, my friends and as always, I thank you for your patience! Please drop me a note if you have time and let me know how you are doing and of course, if you have any questions!

 

Stay safe and well everyone ... I will hope to be back here again very soon!

Spring Learning Week 3: "Quiet Eggs & Noisy Nests"

Hello my friends, and Happy Holy Saturday! I hope this post find you (and your loved ones) safe and well. ❤

I apologize this post is so very late, but although we are all doing fine here, Earlybird has been having a little trouble this past week and most of my attention has been focused on just getting through the days and not rocking the boat! (Ever so grateful for our home ABA - she's a life saver in so many ways!)

Anyhoo, I'm here today to share my latest seasonal lesson plan with you all, and this one coincides with Holy Week, a time of new life and miracles ... a time of emerging from the darkness into the light. A perfect time to learn about and celebrate the return of life and loveliness to the land. (And as it happens this year, a really good time to embrace the concept of the family nest!)

So here is the PDF, fresh off the morning presses:

April 6-12, 2020: "Quiet Eggs & Noisy Nests"

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Please let me know if you have any questions or problems with any of the links. (I've had some trouble getting mail from Typepad, so feel free to email me directly: drhanigan AT gmail DOT com.) As I mention in my plans, I have a Pinterest board for each week's activities and you can find this week's pins here. :-)

As always my PDF is printable and free for your personal use and is filled with many links to stories, activities and recipes, etc. Also, as always, I must note that we do not plan to do everything on this plan! But I do find it fun to brainstorm these ideas and I do hope you find it useful for you and your own dear ones!

Ok then, I'll be off - but thanks so much for stopping by today ... I pray your week ahead is a good (safe and healthy) one! And if you celebrate, I hope you have a very Happy Easter. We will be at home tomorrow (of course) but hoping to "join" our family at an afternoon Zoom Easter gathering. 

 Take care of yourselves and your loves ones, my friends ...

I'll see you here again very soon!

Seasonal Learning, Spring Week 2: "Spring Is Soft"

(A free printable!)

March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb ... (traditional folklore)

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Hello, my friends ... I hope this post finds you and your loved ones safe and well. What a long strange week it's been ...

We're all doing fine here ... still hunkered down of course, as is most of the world these days. Counting our blessings, while praying fervently for an end to this awful virus ... 

Anyhoo, I wanted to pop in today to share the next installment in my Seasonal Learning series, and this week we're exploring the idea that "Spring is Soft." You'll have to check out my PDF (linked below) to find out just what I mean by that!

A few highlights: pussy willows, lambs and baby animals, gentle rain, warm sun, soft earth and fresh air! Plus we're getting ready for Easter and we're doing some spring cleaning as well!

Ok, here 'tis:

March 30-April 5, 2020: "Spring Is Soft"

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Please let me know if you have any questions or problems with any of the links. (I've had some trouble getting mail from Typepad, so feel free to email me directly: drhanigan AT gmail DOT com.) As I mention in my plans, I have a Pinterest board for each week's activities and you can find this week's pins here. :-)

As always my PDF is printable and free for your personal use and is filled with many links to stories, activities and recipes, etc. Also, as always, I must note that we do not plan to do everything on this plan! But I do find it fun to brainstorm these ideas and I do hope you find it useful for you and your own dear ones!

Ok then, I'll be off - but thanks so much for stopping by today ... I pray your week ahead is a good (safe and healthy) one!

Take care of yourselves and your loves ones, my friends ...

I'll see you here again very soon!

Seasonal Learning, Spring Week 1: "Sleepy Seeds"

(A free printable!)

Hello, my friends ... I hope this post finds you well.

And, my .... what a few weeks it's been. I hope and pray you are all safe at home with your loved ones and that you're all feeling well. We are all ok here - just taking things day by day and trying to be as careful as we can be. Massachusetts, like many other states and countries around the world, is now under a stay-at-home advisory, so aside from going out for groceries and essential supplies (medications and such) we are just not leaving our home these days. Thankfully, Bill can work from home and the older boys are doing their college classes online, and Earlybird is working with his ABA each day for several hours. Renee has been an amazing support for us through all of this and we are grateful ABA is considered an "essential business."

In the meantime, Little Bear and I are plugging along with our homeschooling, enjoying the novelty of having everybody home at the same time as well as the lovely surprise of an early spring. As I mentioned in my last post, I am going to be sharing our nature-based lesson plans with you all here, in case they might be helpful to someone, especially those who are new to the whole homeschooling gig! Most of our activities and books are geared toward younger children but as you will see, some of the ideas can be easily adapted to include older kids, too. For reference, Little Bear is six years old and we are doing first grade at home.

My hope (and my goal) is to publish these posts weekly, as we go along in our own homeschool journey. The PDF below is for this current week, but aside from the connection to The Feast of the Annunciation, the theme of "seeds" can be explored at any time throughout the spring.

Ok, here it is, the first weekly installment:

March 23-29, 2020: "Sleepy Seeds"

Please let me know if you have any questions or problems with any of the links. (I've had some trouble getting mail from Typepad, so feel free to email me directly: drhanigan AT gmail DOT com.) As I mention in my plans, I have a Pinterest board for each week's activities and you can find my sleepy seeds pins here. :-)

Well, I'll be off for now, my friends, but thank you as always for stopping by. I say this every time, but I've never meant it so sincerely: please take care of yourselves and your loved ones ...

I'll see you here again very soon!

My Printable Lesson Planning Spreadsheet ❤

Good morning, my friends. I hope you are all feeling well and safe.

❤

I'm popping in today to share a printable lesson planning sheet I created a few years ago, in case it might be helpful to anyone currently or suddenly homeschooling:

Seasonal Journey: A Lesson Planning Worksheet

You could use this form to sketch out your weekly plans, or use the "theme" column for the days of the week (M-S/S). Please see this post in which I share a few other forms and describe my thoughts behind using this particular planning worksheet.

As I mentioned on Instagram and Facebook yesterday, I am working on a resource which will outline the weekly themes Little Bear and I will be exploring throughout the spring and summer. This printable PDF will include some suggestions for books (and/or story prompts), nature study, crafts, family activities, etc. I hope to have that resource available here at the blog within the next week to so, so please stay tuned!

Blessings to all ... and please be safe and stay well!

 

XoXo

~ Dawn

A Peek at Our Week - and My Lesson Planner!

Hello my friends, and Happy October! Boy, it's a crazy-windy autumn day here in New England, and many local communities lost power overnight! Thankfully - *knock on wood* - we did not lose power on my street, so we're simply listening to the fierce wind howl, watching the colorful leaves whirl past our windows, and wondering at the beauty and power of a blustery autumn day ...

Anyhoo, I took some pictures of my lesson planner recently, in order to share how I'm merging our Oak Meadow curriculum with our weekly homeschool rhythm and my own seasonal homeschooling plans. Since I tend to get fairly wordy when I share things like this, I thought it best to post my pictures here rather than over at my social media sites. Actually, I'm sure I'll post some of it over there, too, but here is where I can get into the real nitty-gritty!

So as you see above, I'm using a rather straight-forward lesson planner this year. It's made by Blue Sky Planners and I purchased it at Target back in August. Mind you - AFTER I had already purchased a darling, smaller lesson planner at Staples - also made by Blue Sky - and in the interest of economy, perhaps I should have stuck with my original choice, but there are two things I prefer about this particular planner:

Larger format -- > room for more details!

Hard covers (front and back) -- > easier to write in!

Unfortunately I can't find this exact planner online - I believe they are sold exclusively at Target and are no longer in stock - but this one at Amazon is very similar - as well as more colorful!

(Fyi, I'm using the smaller planner as a place to record extra weekly notes.)

To give you a closer look at the inside of this planner, here is this week's spread, open on my desk this past weekend:

I'm not a huge fan of the blue-grey design, but this spread gives me a solid template for planning out what we'll be doing (or hope to be doing) each day of the week. 

Best of all - and an absolute MUST in any lesson planner I purchase - the blocks are LINED! I love how they keep my handwriting neat and tidy.

A few more pics of the spread:

I added a little washi tape for fun and a sticker to highlight this week's seasonal theme.

In addition to our traditional first grade curriculum (Oak Meadow), I like to weave into our week my own style of seasonal homeschooling. I've talked about this concept many times before, so I won't bore you with the story of how this came to be our thing - but basically, I work off an outline of 52 weekly themes, and each of these themes reflect a particular nuance of the current season.

My primary goals for seasonal homeschooling are this:

• organizing meaningful (and memorable) family activities

• forging a connection between nature and home

• instilling in my children an attitude of wonder and respect for the world around us

• increasing our knowledge of and comfort in our own local habitat

• linking the rhythm of the natural year with the liturgical calendar whenever possible

Really, I see "seasonal homeschooling" as more than just a way of teaching my children - I see it as a whole family lifestyle. Like nature itself, I repeat most of my themes year to year, but I try to tweak our activities to reflect my kids' changing interests and abilities.

Back to the planner then, and here's a little peek at our week! I like to use the first column (after the calendar) for recording my seasonal ideas. I like to keep them right up front! Our theme this week is "The Magic of the Autumn Woods."

We didn't "do school" on Monday as it was a holiday and everyone (Daddy, brothers) was home. Instead we took advantage of glorious autumn weather and explored the changing woodland habitat around us.

On Tuesday morning my folks and I took Little Bear to a local apple orchard.

This tied in nicely with our Oak Meadow science lesson this week (observing plants and seeds). At home we took advantage of the brisk and bright fall day to scour our yard for small twigs for future craft projects. (We're making up a nature treasure chest.)

Yesterday we attended our weekly nature class at a local Audubon sanctuary ...

The kids and teachers searched the woods and fields for spiders and their webs, and I wove a funny little arachnid into our afternoon story time . Apples from the orchard were served alongside!

As I mentioned at the start of my post, we had a crazy rain-and-wind storm today, so our outside time was limited. (We quickly ran out to dig up a plant to sketch, filled the bird feeders, and grabbed the mail!) Tomorrow's weather promises to be much better, and so as "homekeeping day" during "autumn woods week," we will ...

• spend some time tidying things up - particularly toys!

• open up the windows to let in all that fresh, rain-swept air

• sweep our front steps and back deck of fallen leaves and debris

(and)

• polish our wood surfaces with some natural, lemony polish!  :-)

(Over the weekend we will have an evening bonfire to take care of larger branches and take a woodland walk as a family before Sunday lunch.)

Well my friends, that in a rather large nutshell is a tour of my lesson planner! I thank you, as always, for stopping by and if you have any questions at all, please drop a comment below. As ever, I'm slow on replying (and posting ...) but I am trying my best to keep up! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your autumn whatever it brings to your world. I have more blog posts in mind for the upcoming months - including a series of Late Autumn and Holiday Teas!

So please stay tuned and I thank you for your patience! Take care of yourselves and your loved ones and I will see you here again sometime soon ... ❤

A (New) Learning Corner for Little Bear!

Hello my friends, and Happy Monday!

I was working in our little learning corner this weekend - decluttering and wiping and rearranging just a bit - and as I worked, it dawned on me, except for the little peeks I've given you on Instagram, I've yet to share our "new" corner here at the blog!

So after I finished tidying, I took a bunch of pictures (and made a cup of tea) ... and sat down to post all about it!

Now, you might remember that for the past few years our primary learning space has been in a large sunroom off the back of our home ... and the thing is ...  I do absolutely love that room! It's bright and roomy and I love how it kind of feels like we're actually learning outside. It's been an excellent play space for the younger boys, too. The only drawback is, it's a 3-season room - which means in that 4th season (the one that lasts longest here in New England) it gets DANG cold out in that room! Between early November right on through late March, it's really hard to keep that space heated sufficiently for everyday use. I found that on cold days I'd end up grabbing what we needed for the day and working with the boys at the kitchen table, or on the family room couch, OR out in the library where I've set up my own cozy-happy mama nest.

So as the new academic year approached, I tried to be thoughtful about where I wanted to do most of our learning - it's just me and my Little Bear now, after all, now that Earlybird attends school, and of course our older two have "graduated" - and I decided we needed a dedicated workspace that would actually be convenient to use - and WARM all winter long!

So I ended up choosing a relatively empty corner of the library, just behind my "thinking chair" and across from my desk - and then I set to work making it over for Little Bear. And I'm very happy with how it turned out!

I kept a few "goals" in mind as I set up our learning corner ...

✏️ I wanted the space to be close to a window so we had a good amount of natural light and access to fresh air. I also wanted a bird feeder hanging outside that window!

✏️ I wanted the arrangement to blend in with the decor of the room and yet still be comfortable and child-friendly. 

✏️ I wanted to use (as much as possible) things we already had on hand. I tried very hard to "shop" my own house for furniture and baskets/bins to (re)use in our little corner.

✏️ I wanted Little Bear to like it!

Ok, so are you ready for a tour? Here we go!

As you can see in my pictures, this space exists in a corner of our library, between the fireplace and the back window. That rather ratty, rose-covered chair is MY chair (Mama's chair) - the place I go whenever I have a chance to sit down. It's also where I enjoy reading to Little Bear - it's a roomy chair and we can still both fit in that warm and soft spot!

Ok, first stop, the fireplace mantle ...

I strung twine along here so we could hang Little Bear's crafts and lesson work.

Small wooden clothespins (stored in the decorative tins shown above the mantel, just behind the "kindness" sign) hold items securely along the twine. I also made the "grade one" star garland, just for fun.

After the fireplace is one of two bookcases devoted to homeschooling resources. (The other one stands in the corner directly across the room. I haven't finished organizing that one yet!)

On the top of the bookcase I have a small assortment of things ...

Globe, weekly rhythm schedule, current read-alouds, a hummingbird nest inside a slim cloche, a nature walk basket filled with dried flowers and weeds (kept out of kitty cat reach) and a little wooden perpetual calendar.

A closer look at the bookshelves:

The top shelf (not shown) holds curriculum support materials - including a book of seasonal verses, a vintage book about wildflowers for children, and a vintage book of seasonal lessons for young children, folders holding information for Little Bear and Earlybird, Little Bear's main lesson book and a small flower-press. 

The next shelf down (shown above) is our "seasons shelf," which is basically just an assortment of things representing the current month and season (September/early autumn). Here we have wooden elements, nature treasures, felt items, peg dolls ...

... and fire-breathing dragons. ;-)

The lower two shelves hold the books we use for our seasonal homeschooling ...

I re-used file folders to stand as dividers between each weekly theme grouping. This has worked out really well! Each weekend as I do my lesson planning I can easily pull the books I'll need for the coming week, and then refile last week's selections.

Right after the bookcase I have our trusty ol' chalkboard/easel.

This has been one of my greatest homeschool "finds" - I actually spotted it in front of a neighbor's house one day a few years ago, and it has been a wonderful addition to our home learning environment! Not shown below the easel is a large basket containing finger and hand puppets.

A little supply-and-display corner comes next ...

Two "new" display shelves sit on the wall above this space - these were made by Bill!

The top shelf displays this week's theme books and the lower shelf holds the current season's selections.

Just underneath is a real hodgepodge of things ...

A basket of early readers, a repurposed desk organizer for course books, lesson planner, verse cards, and not shown (because they were in use!) art supplies. Tucked in the corner on a wooden slab pedestal are jars and mugs filled with pencils, glue sticks, ruler, pointer, pencil sharpener, markers, etc.

On display, a lovely picture book to flip through and a nature-themed alphabet book, open to this week's letters.

(A gift from a sweet reader many years ago!)

Turn the corner and we have our classroom calendar ...

Now, this WAS a new purchase! I found it at Michael's Arts & Crafts at the end of the summer and I have to say, it was on sale 50% off AND I had a coupon to use on sale items! I did buy some new liquid chalk markers to use and as you can see, I list special events and weekly themes here.

Just below is a board with vintage binder clips (clamps?) - Bill made this for me, too! I'm using it to display seasonal postcards, homemade alphabet posters (these used to live in the sunroom above the windows!) and Little Bear's homemade calendar. :-)

And then we have Little Bear's desk!

The vintage-look world map was indeed a new purchase (Amazon), but the small table, chair and wooden crayon box were all hand-me-downs from Bill's family. It's not a large desk, but just right for the occasional seat work Little Bear has now that he is in first grade.

On the other side of the window (the one with that bird feeder on my wish list!) is a small basket parked next to my desk. This belonged to my grandmother and was always in her den, right beside her own "thinking" chair. I'm using it to hold geography materials such as children's atlases and maps.

Ok, last stop! In front of the window and behind my thinking chair is a cozy little space ...

I moved one of the little white cubby cases from the sunroom here and filled it in with an assortment of learning toys, puzzles, games, flash cards, bean bags, etc. It fits perfectly behind the chair! (On the floor is a soft area rug and a basket of board books we still love to read.)

On top of the cubby case ...

(And just behind the cat) ... I have our beloved nature poetry book open to the current day's poem. (Another gift from a dear friend.) It's kept at the perfect height for Little Bear - and in fact, he's in charge of checking which page (and poem) we should be on! Next to the open book is our little wooden hundred chart with pouch of number tiles. 

Methinks Oliver approves ...

Now, in a follow-up post I will show and tell more about my own little spaces - my chair, my desk, my baskets and bins! But for now I will be off ...

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Thanks so much for joining me today, friends! See you here again very soon!

Hello, my name is ... and Happy September!

Hello my friends, HELLO! 😊

Goodness, it's been a long, long while since I last posted ... and I'm pretty sure I started my most recent post that way (way back in May!), but I am checking in today to share something I posted over on Instagram this morning, a little update on our homeschooling status, since so much has changed in recent years!

I hope you are all doing well and that you had a nice summer. Ours was really nice and fairly relaxing, even if I didn't get back into the blogging groove as I'd hoped. This first week of September we've been in "re-entry" mode, getting everyone started off on their various educational paths (see below for details) and I am now REALLY ready for the weekend! Whew, as much as I love getting "back to routine" in the fall, I'm finding it a challenge to adjust my mindset and energies - to keep everyone on track and still find time for myself and my own personal routines. 

Well, I have so much to talk about - I mean, are you as excited for DOWNTON ABBEY this month as I am??? We must discuss - but for today I'll just share this update, and hope to be back again soon to continue catching up. I have a new PDF booklet to share - "Early Autumn Homekeeping" - and with just a few more tweaks I should have that ready to go this weekend. I hate to promise anything these days but I will do my very best to be here more often ... in the meantime, you can find me on Instagram where I post a little something just about every day. I'm a little slower at Facebook, but I am over there too on occasion!

Ok, see you all soon ... I hope you enjoy this post and I hope you will stop by the comments box below and drop me a note! I'd love to know how you are doing and what kinds of changes this fall might be bringing to your life!

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✨Happy Friday, everyone! It's been a while since I've done this, so I thought I'd post a little #fridayintroduction today. I wanted to catch you all up with where I'm at as a homeschooling mom these days!

Well, first of all, my name is Dawn, and I am a mom from Massachusetts. 😊And since this begins our 20th year of homeschooling, I guess you could call me a "veteran," but these days our homeschool looks mighty different than it once did! If you followed my blog "back in the day," when our older boys were all little and homeschooling, you might be surprised to learn their current ages: 24, 20 and 17! (Believe me, I'm just as shocked as you are.)

So this year I am homeschooling just one "student" - our youngest (affectionately known as Little Bear in social media circles 😉), who is now six years old and just starting out on his homeschool journey. How happy it makes me, to do this all over again ...

Teaching first grade for the fourth time around may look very different, but it feels absolutely wonderful!

So how are our older boys doing? Well, Bookworm graduated from Boston College in 2017 and is now pursuing his master's degree in Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts. Crackerjack is now a college sophomore, studying Sociology at Emmanuel College in Boston, with a minor in Spanish. He hopes to enter the field of social work when he graduates in 2020.

Earlybird, our 17 yo son with autism, is now enrolled at our local high school. Having been homeschooled his entire life (as were all our boys up until college) this was a HUGE decision, and though it seemed to happen rather suddenly last spring (a speech eval at the school turned into an invitation to "try things out") it just seemed to really make sense for our son whose needs had outgrown what we were able to provide. And this is really a topic for a whole separate post (meeting special needs when homeschooling), but let me just say that I am 100% content with our decision to put EB in school - just as I am forever grateful we were able to homeschool him for his first 17 years of life.

I truly believe it was all meant to be - his experiences at home and within our family (as well as the past five years of home ABA) brought him where he needed to be in order to be ready for THIS new experience. And he is doing so well at school and is considered such a joy and a "ray of sunshine" to his peers and teachers. I post often about our "life with Riley" and I try to be as open as I can about the struggles as well as the triumphs. The journey is full of ups and downs, but as I like to remember - every day is a gift and we hope for progress not perfection!

And so all this brings me to Little Bear, my little homeschool fledgling! As I mentioned above this year we begin first grade at home, and we are using Oak Meadow Curriculum - as well as many other things! We've used Oak Meadow with all of our children, combined with my own "seasonal homeschooling" curriculum. I would call us "eclectic" homeschoolers with a leaning towards Waldorf and Charlotte Mason philosophies.

I will be posting a lot about our homeschool journey as we move through the year (and God willing, years) ... so I hope you'll check in and take a peek, say hello, let me know how your days are going! I'm a pretty active poster on Instagram and it is my goal this coming school year to be more active at my blog again as well.

A couple of quick things before I go ...

I am absolutely still blogging - I hope to pick things up over here this autumn!

I will have my 2020 planning sheets ready to go just as soon as possible!

I am super excited to see the Downton exhibit this month AS WELL AS the movie, and I will definitely be posting about all THAT!

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Thanks so much for reading, my friends, and as always ...

I hope to be back here again very soon!

Welcome Spring Week!

(A peek at how I plan my seasonal homeschooling!)

A few days ago I shared a picture on Instagram which shows the primary picture books I'll be using with Little Bear this week. Our seasonal homeschooling theme is "Welcome, Spring!" (in honor of the Vernal Equinox this Wednesday) and so I chose five favorite books that highlight the spirit (and science) of the new season ahead. I also promised to follow up with a breakdown of how I used these books to create an easy and enjoyable lesson plan for the week. So today I'm here to describe my proposed plans for the week, and chat a bit about our style of homeschooling in general.

Now, the heart of our seasonal homeschooling is really found in embracing annual traditions, observing subtle changes in our habitat, acquainting ourselves with local flora and fauna, and enjoying our large collection of seasonal picture books. Reading the same stories at the same time of year, year after year, reinforces family memories while connecting us with the cycle of seasons.

So the books I chose for this first week of spring are:

Monday: And Then It's Spring by Julie Fogliano

Tuesday: When the Earth Wakes by Ani Rucki

Wednesday: The Spring Equinox: Celebrating the Greening of the Earth by Ellen Jackson

Thursday: The Seasons: Spring by Nuria Roca

Friday: A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox by Wendy Pfeiffer

I keep the current season's books in a special basket, but I like displaying the "books of the week" on a separate shelf ...

When I started formulating my seasonal lessons - and this all goes back MANY years seeing as how my oldest is now 23 years old! - one of the first things I did was to begin collecting high quality books that reflect the seasons and natural phenomena. I buy as many books as I can, but I also make note of titles we can reliably borrow from our local library. All these books (divided by season into bins) provide a wonderful base for our seasonal homeschooling. These days we have a rather large collection,  but I am always happy to add a new book if it has a meaningful message and lovely illustrations. For instance, I just purchased this book because we so enjoyed the winter tale by this same author!

Equally important to my planning is our established weekly rhythm and pre-selected weekly seasonal themes. With all of this in place I am able to organize my ideas more efficiently and realistically.

You can find a list of my 52 weekly seasonal themes in this post from 2016, and below is the weekly rhythm I pin our home lessons around:

• Monday: Nature Walk
• Tuesday: Crafting
• Wednesday: Storytelling
• Thursday: Cleaning
• Friday: Tea
• Weekend: Family Time

Once I've chosen the stories for the week's theme, I flip through each book to get ideas for follow-up activities. I write things down on sticky notes and then arrange those notes in my planner (see photos below). Here's what I jotted down for each book this week:

And Then It's Spring - observing the brown all around, planting seeds

When the Earth Wakes -  wooden bear mama & cub, drawing of four seasons

The Spring Equinox - Anglo-Saxon legend of Ostara, goddess of spring and dawn

The Seasons: Spring - making a weather chart

A New Beginning - special food celebrations including eggs

Next I expand on each day's activities, giving thought to our schedule, as well as the holidays and events that will shape our week.

🌱Take pictures of backyard; repeat each Monday throughout spring. (Mon)

🌱Bake donuts for St. Joseph's Day, an annual tradition. (Tues)

🌱Sing a sweet "Winter Goodbye" song (found in this book) on the last day of Winter. (Tues)

🌱Carefully pack away our winter books. Bring out the Spring Book Basket. (Tues)

🌱Make a pretty spring wreath for the front door. (Wed)

🌱Sweep and clean up our front entryway, in anticipation of spring visitors. (Wed)

🌱Tidy the nature table - make room for spring treasures. (Wed)

🌱Prep vegetables for Pasta Primavera (our traditional spring equinox dinner). (Wed)

🌱Use my story apron and wooden animals to retell the story of "The Rabbit and the Carrot" (as found in this book). (Wed)

🌱Create a paper chain countdown - just one month to Easter! (Note: I keep a list of daily activities in my planner for this countdown.)

🌱Paper chain day 1: Make birdseed eggs to hang in our garden (Thurs)

🌱Begin spring cleaning! Start by organizing our natural cleaning supplies. (Thurs)

🌱Paper chain day 2: Let's have an Early Spring Tea. Perhaps invite nana and papa? (Fri)

🌱Bake seed bread/cake and mix up honey butter. (Fri)

🌱Slice boiled eggs. (Fri)

🌱Brew Spring Tea with Mama. (Fri)

🌱Listen to Vivaldi's "Spring" during teatime. (Fri)

🌱Paper chain day 3: Set up greenhouses in sunroom with Daddy (Sat)

🌱Paper chain day 4: Do yard work with Daddy; rake the yard clean! (Sun)

If you notice, many of these ideas involve the whole family or parent and child working together. I feel these kinds of learning/living activities are every bit of important as more "child-centered" things they might do on their own. This instills a sense of how important the season is to the household at large and the family's sense of togetherness and well being.

Here are some pictures of my planner page showing how I organize my week:

Left side of the weekly spread shown above - where I make note of weekly events, theme, dinner menus, homekeeping, crafty/comforting ideas and to-dos.

And then on the right-hand side ...

I have the week's agenda in a vertical column and next to that, a lined note-space. I added a bit of washi tape just for fun. :-)

Now, this week I am using my homemade planner for lesson plans. Recently I've shown you how I use the Erin Condren teacher's planner as well as my bullet journal for lesson planning. The EC planner is very specific to academics while my bujo is a rather free-form kind of planner/journal. The planner shown above falls somewhere in between. It's less structured than the EC planner, but it also has more writing space than my bujo. Needless to say I'm still trying to figure out which platform works best for my planning!

Well my friends, I hope you've enjoyed a peek into our "Welcome Spring" week, as well as a breakdown of how I work out our seasonal homeschooling. Let me know if you have any questions! Drop a note here or email me at drhanigan AT gmail DOT com. And if you are interested in my homemade seasonal planner, check out this post for my 2019 printable planning sheets. 

As always I thank you all for stopping by! I hope to see you here again very soon ...

HAPPY SPRING!

Blending Curriculum + Seasonal Lesson Plans

As I mentioned in my last post, I have not been using my Erin Condren teacher's planner on a regular basis this year. It is a beautiful planner to be sure, but sometimes it's just a little TOO much planning for me, if you know what I mean! Some weeks I appreciate the freedom of working off a big "brainstorm" list - no plans set in stone, just working within our own happy weekly rhythm. And honestly, some weeks I just don't have enough time to fill in yet one more planner!

All that said though, I feel like our homeschooling has been off-track since the holidays - those big lists aren't translating into productive days - so I thought perhaps I'd return to a more structured planning format and see if that gets our weeks running a little more smoothly.

So since it was a very pretty, sunny weekend, I took pictures of my lesson planner as I worked, and popped over here to share! I also am including pictures from my seasonal bullet journal where I began our weekly planning with a little seasonal brainstorming!

(Reminder - we are doing kindergarten this year with our youngest (5yo Little Bear), while our 17yo Earlybird (who has autism) joins in (with support from his ABA therapist) as he can. Big news on the EB front however, there are some very big changes for our boy coming up in a few weeks and I will share more on that very soon!)

Ok, here is my planner spread, alongside our battered and beloved Oak Meadow Kindergarten syllabus. (I think it's about 15 years old!) As you can see in the top picture, as I worked here at the kitchen table I was joined by the ever-helpful (yet, napping) Archibald Fred.😸

Left-hand side of the spread ...

I love how this planner shades its pages in correspondence with the month - eg., blue for January, pink for February and then green for March, etc.

Right-hand side of the spread which I "gussied up" a bit with some stickers. I don't usually do this but since I knew I was going to post my spread this week I was inspired!

I do love seeing all those plans all neat and tidy. The lined boxes and smooth paper make for a very nice writing experience. As the week goes along I will check off lessons as we complete them, ✅ cross things off that we skip ❎ and put an arrow next to those items we'll push forward.➡️

Close up of how nice the blocks look all filled in!

As you can see, I also like to incorporate seasonal homeschooling activities into our weekly plan. This week's theme is "winter citrus," and I hope to balance our Oak Meadow lessons with some activities that let us explore this particular theme.

Here are some pics to show you how I organized those ideas late last week ...

1. Gather resources: storybooks, recipes, verses, playthings, craft materials, snack ingredients and instructions.

2. Make and organize photocopies for activities.

3. File photocopies into weekly lesson plan folder.

4. Write out seasonal ideas in my "Deep Winter" bullet journal.

5. Request books we'll need from the library. (I did this late last week. Orange in January is "in transit" as I type!)

Once I had my seasonal homeschooling ideas in order, I checked our schedule for the coming week and any "events of note." Then I
looked through our current Oak Meadow lesson, identified individual actions and jotted them down on small sticky notes. 

(I know this seems like maybe a bit of extra work and even a waste of paper, but it really helps me fill in my planner when all I have to do is sort those sticky notes!)

Referencing both the citrus ideas and OM lessons I then filled out the EC teacher planner.

And then I took pictures, natch, and threw everything in my teacher tote. Next week I will launch into our plans and do my very best to keep up with them!

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Well my friends, as always I thank you for stopping by and hope you are all doing well! I have a tour of my "planning spaces" coming up ... as well as a peek at some of my plans for our early spring living and learning, so for now I will say goodbye ...

... but hope to see you here again very soon!

❄️ Picture Books in Winter ❄️

Hello my friends, and Happy Wednesday-before-Christmas! It's a bright and chilly day here and I'm taking a little break from my holiday prep to think about winter homeschooling. The new season begins this Friday at 5:23 p.m., although our winter lessons begin after New Year's. 😉

Not to rush things, but after Christmas Day (which is now less than a week away - not that I'm panicking or anything) I plan to re-organize our learning room, revise our resources and basically, refresh our little homeschool for the new year. That is, in fact, my word for 2019 - REFRESH!

But more on that soon ... for today I thought I'd share some of our favorite winter resources. :)

Books for celebrating the season itself:

The Shortest Day: Celebrating the Winter Solstice by Wendy Pfeiffer

Let's Look at the Seasons: Wintertime by Ann Shweninger

Winter: A Collection of Poems, Songs and Stories for Young Children by Wynstones Press

Winter by Nuria Roca

Winter by Eva-Maria Ott-Heidmann

Winter by Gerda Muller

(Not shown, but on request from the library: The Winter Solstice by Ellen Jackson ... and another great title we own - but can't find at the moment! - is Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter by Kenard Pak.)

Cozy, happy, homey tales ... and as you can see, Jan Brett is a BIG winter favorite!

Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner

Flannel Kisses by Linda Crotta Brennan

Annie and the Wild Animals by Jan Brett

Peek-a-Boo Bunny by Mary Melcher (a favorite greeting card illustrator!)

The Hat and The Mitten by Jan Brett

AND ... the newest from Ms. Brett: The Snowy Nap

I love these fairy tales with a wintry feel ...

The Snow Queen illustrated by Bernadette Watts

The Elves and the Shoemaker illustrated by Bernadette Watts

And this beautiful hardcover storybook is a longtime favorite - as you can see from the spine, it's been well read through the years!

The Story of the Snow Children by Sibylle von Olfers

I'll be back later this month with more about our winter homeschooling plans, and of course, I will also be back this coming Monday (Christmas eve), for our weekly tea. Until then I wish you all a nice week and thank you for stopping by!

See you here again very soon ...

Seasonal Homeschooling: Using a Lesson Planner

Hello my friends, and Happy Wednesday! 

Today I'd like to talk a little more about my seasonal homeschooling routine, specifically - how I plan out an individual week. I addressed this issue to a degree during last Friday's Inspire webinar (the replay of which you can watch here), and the short answer is: there are lots of layers to seasonal planning! But since I'm not known for my short answers, here is the long answer ... :)

I start with the big picture, dividing a year into thoughtful segments. And by thoughtful I mean ... well, they make sense to me! So for this New England girl there are not four, but six seasons in a year, and two months per season. (September and October are "early autumn," for example.)

Next I brainstorm ideas to capture all the nuances and blessings that return to us again and again. This takes some thinking and imagining and reviewing of nature notes, retired calendars and favorite seasonal resources. (I made up printables for doing this, and they can be found here.)

Finally, I assign the most interesting ideas, or themes, to the weeks themselves and then I work said themes into the individual days of the week! All according to our weekly homeschooling rhythm ...

Phew, right? Lol. Well, it sounds more complicated than it really is and I will talk more about it in future posts, but for today I'm showing you how today I planned ONE week of seasonal activities, revolving around an assigned theme, and using a (really cool) lesson planner to do it!

• One week: September 3-September 9, 2018
• Assigned Theme: "Crows & Corn"
• Really cool lesson planner: Erin Condren Teacher Planner

Best of all - and the point of this post! - I found this particular planner spread allowed me to easily merge our Oak Meadow Kindergarten curriculum with my own seasonal homeschooling plans! So without further ado, here's a look at week one:

This was the first time I put paper to pen! It's such a big lovely planner, I was a little intimidated to start writing in it to be perfectly honest. I am using my preferred Frixion Erasable Pen here in bright blue ink. Plus some Frixion pastel highlighters (also erasable!).

I sat down with my OM Kindergarten syllabus, open to Lesson One, and my seasonal planner (the one I'm GIVING AWAY tomorrow, as you might remember!) open to my "corn and crows" notes.

Then I set about filling this baby in!

True confession: I wrote all of this information out on sticky notes first - moved those around where they belonged - and then wrote on the paper itself. I don't think I'll do that each week - 😜 - but it gave me a little flexibility while I figured out where I wanted certain information to "live."

First thing I did was write our weekly homeschooling rhythm along the left hand side of the planner:

• Monday: Nature Walk
• Tuesday: Crafting
• Wednesday: Storytelling
• Thursday: Out & About
• Friday: Home & Garden

Then I wrote in our activities for each day in the first column:

I used a highlighter to designate the type of activity, something I do in all my planners. So here, yellow means a special activity at home, blue is for EB's therapy, and green means we are going somewhere. 

The planner spread features six columns for planning subjects. Our homeschool subjects this year are as follows:

• Language Arts
• Math
• Social Studies
• Nature/Science
• Arts & Crafts
• Other

These pertain to our OM curriculum as well as our seasonal living/learning, and I utilized the far right column for specifically seasonal notes!

I listed notes here for ...

• Circle Time
• Book Basket
• Home & Family

Circle Time will be done each morning and this is influenced by our Oak Meadow curriculum, with a little music and movement, a fingerplay to learn and some calendar and weather discussion. We will also begin our day with a short blessing, not listed here.

Reading from our seasonal Book Basket can happen anytime, but I like to have a designated reading time in the afternoon, after lunch. It tends to happen when Mama gets her first cup of tea made! The titles listed here are ones we own (√), ones we can get at the library (L) and ones I plan to purchase (+).

A lot of people ask me how to involve older students in seasonal learning/living and one way to do this is to plan activities that the whole family can do together. (That's not to say seasonally-inspired academics can't be done at a higher level, but obviously there is just so much more that can be done with younger children in the family!) Celebrating the seasons as a family can be such a meaningful and rewarding lifestyle - making memories and encouraging our kids to slow down and savor the simple things in life. To look for the little gifts that return to us every year, while keeping our eyes open for new discoveries! These kinds of activities bring a family together, and fill a home with a touch of comfort and joy ...

So under Home & Family I included things like - foods we can enjoy, places we can go, seasonal decorations to put up, fun activities we can all do together:

fresh corn from the farm stand • popcorn balls  • corn muffins at Sunday breakfast • the cornfield or corn maze • tying up cornstalks at the front door • how about a taste test! which tastes better: boiled or grilled? • watching a favorite movie with a batch of freshly popped popcorn

Honestly, I think too many families stop doing things together as the kids get older and busy with their friends. But to my mind, our older kids should always feel welcome to join in - but not pressured. It might not be easy to get an older kid to come along on an outing, but they will probably enjoy sharing a special meal or snack, or seeing favorite decorations go up around the house. It's important to keep these kids in the loop in even the smallest ways. 

Shown beneath the planner here is a folder for my weekly seasonal materials, mostly things I've printed out: directions for making a corn husk doll, a corn maze printable, library request sheets, etc.

Here's a close up of one square (Language arts on Wednesday, our storytelling day):

Our morning circle time will include oral exercises and a little nature writing (on the chalkboard). I then chose one suggested OM language arts activity as well as a seasonal/rhythm activity of my own.

OM offers several language-related activities to spread throughout the week and many are wonderful examples of creative, active, outdoor learning. I figure the boys can work on their stick/yarn letter As while a crow finger puppet shares some news from our woods. This story will be part of an ongoing nature tale, taking cues from our backyard critters and the current weather. I enjoy using my storytelling apron for this activity as well as the lovely nature mailbox my mother painted for our learning room.

I added afternoon and bedtime reading selections to my language box - some are filled in, for example, we'll be reading The Popcorn Book on this particular afternoon because on this day we are also doing "popcorn math" and making popcorn balls for a family snack. :)

By the way, if you are not familiar with the Oak Meadow School (located in Vermont), it is a wonderful, Waldorf-inspired curriculum - one we've used for many years, at all grade levels, and this is my fourth time cracking open this Kindergarten syllabus! OM really works well with the addition of my seasonal homeschooling plans - the trick will be trying to have realistic expectations!

This spread here is for one week - and as most of us know, five days fly by very quickly! During this first week of September, if all (or most) goes to plan, we will be reading the Tale of Peter Rabbit and learning to recognize and write the letter A. We'll be remembering Summer and setting up a Nature Corner with which we can welcome upcoming seasons. We'll learn a body-parts song and a sweet finger play and set up a Science Scrapbook. As a family we'll discuss chore division and allowance, an annual Labor Day tradition! We'll learn the difference between crows and ravens, and listen to Native American lullabies. We'll brave a corn maze and soak in the particular allure of a whispering cornfield in late summer. There will be reading and playing and baking and plenty of time spent in nature ... 

All in all, a great start to a brand new homeschooling year!

(And it might sound/look like a lot, but when you view my lesson planner spread, you can see that most days have a pretty good balance of activities. This is not to say that each and every day will go smoothly or to plan! But this is what I have prepared, and will have ready for my Earlybird and Little Bear, and hopefully we will not only learn a lot of interesting things together - but also have LOTS of fun!)

Now, don't forget! This Friday I'll be announcing the winner of my Seasonal Planner! I will be posting sometime later in the day - roundabouts teatime - so there's still plenty of time to leave me a comment and throw your hat in the ring. (Please see this post for all the details!)

Enjoy the rest of your evening, my friends - and as always, thanks so much for stopping by! Take care of yourselves and your loved ones ...

I will see you here again very soon!

Seasonal Homeschooling: Favorite Resources

Hello again my friends! Why yes ... this would indeed be the 2nd post from me to you in one day! Crazy, I know - but I have lots of things I want to share in regards to my talk for the Inspire Virtual Conference this Friday - sign up is FREE and open to all! So I'm trying to get as many posts up before my afternoon chat, "Seasonal Homeschooling: Cultivating a Gentle, Grateful Year." :)

(Oh, and for those who asked, I will be able to share a link post-webinar for those who can't join us on Friday ... so, yay!)

For this evening's post though, I'd like to share some of my favorite "go-to" resources when it comes to our seasonal homeschooling. I've had most of these books for many years - many are nature-based, some are Waldorf-inspired and several are geared toward Catholic tradition. ALL have been wonderful as I brainstorm ideas for exploring our themes for the year!

All Year Round • Festivals, Family and Food • Making the Children's Year • Naturally Fun Parties for Kids • Findus, Food & Fun: Seasonal Crafts and Nature Activities • A Child's Seasonal Treasury • Usborne Book of the Seasons • Mrs. Sharp's Traditions • When the Moon is Full: A Lunar Year • Be Blest • Festivals with Children • Storytelling with Children 

The Butt'ry Shelf Almanac • China Bayle's Book of Days • Mary's Flowers: Gardens, Legends & Meditations • Catholic Traditions in the Garden • Holidays & Holy Nights • A Book of Feasts and Seasons • A Continual Feast • Catholic Traditions in the Home and Classroom • Earth Psalms: Reflections on How God Speaks through Nature • All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings • Earthways: Simple Environmental Activities for Young Children • The Catholic Parent Book of Feasts • The Big Book of Catholic Customs and Traditions

I have lots of other resources for seasonal planning, but these are the ones I tend to reach for most often. I'd love to hear about yours, too!

(Note - in full disclosure, as explained on my right-hand sidebar - I am a member of the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. If you click though to Amazon from a link on this blog and make a purchase, I will receive a commission from Amazon. Thanks in advance if you click through my links!)

 

❤

 

Have a wonderful Thursday, my friends! More "seasonal planning" posts to come in the next day or so! And please let me know if you have any specific questions you'd like me to address in my talk!

Seasonal Homeschooling: A Few Printable PDFs!

Hello my friends and Happy Wednesday!

I'm popping in again, just two days before the FREE "Inspire" Virtual Homeschooling Conference (mentioned in Monday's post), to share a few PDF's with you all that will assist with my talk on Seasonal Homeschooling: Cultivating a Gentle, Grateful Year. :)

First, here is a simple SEASONSKEEPING WORKBOOK (click on the link - it's a printable PDF!). In this packet you could brainstorm ideas for embracing the seasons of the year:

There are two pages devoted to each season - one for listing monthly events and one for brainstorming ideas. (In my view, every two months make up a season - so I see the year as divided into six seasons rather than four.)

On the Events page you could list holidays, feast days, full moons, birthdays, anniversaries, sporting events (like the Superbowl or World Series), natural phenomena (such as meteor showers or lunar eclipses) ... really, anything goes! As for the Brainstorming page - well, it could look like a narrative ("Dear Deep Winter, here is what I love about you ...") or it could be filled with words that pop into your mind when you imagine that time of year. For example in the case of Deep Winter, those might be:

snow days • warm mittens • hot cocoa • handmade valentines • birds at the feeders • ETC.

You could ask your family to participate in this activity! The seasons are meaningful to each of us in individual ways. If you're stumped for ideas and looking for inspiration, you might consult your own nature journal or personal diary if you have a habit of jotting down lots of seasonal details (as I do!) or you could thumb through favorite resources or you could even google it! (Pinterest is full of inspiration for the seasons of the year!)

Next, here is the SEASONAL THEMES planning outline I use in my homemade planner:

You're welcome to use my outline for guidance, but I also have a BLANK version for you to use since you'll probably want to come up with your own themes and ideas. Seasonal themes really resonate when inspired by one's local habitat as well as fond family traditions.example, in a deep and snowy New England winter, exploring themes like "hearthside delights," "glass gardens" and stormy weather all make sense and bring joy - but February might look and feel very different where you live! And of course, each family enjoys its own seasonal pastimes. Maybe you all like to ski in the winter? Well, "hearthside delights" would work great! But what if you'd prefer to escape to the tropics? Well, how about a week devoted to exploring "winter citrus?"

Now, I personally like to break down the year into 52 weekly themes because this just works well with my kids and our homeschooling style. But that might seem like a bit much for some folks, so instead you could simplify things and choose 12 monthly themes for the year. Say, "the autumn orchard" in September," "planting time" in May, or "hibernation" in November.

Also on my outline you can see that I list pertinent monthly events below the themes (in green text) and I use little keys to signify in which week the full moon falls as well as when liturgical events tie into our seasonal theme. For example -

✝️ I connect St. Martin's Day (aka Martinmas) with the darkening days of late fall, and the need to light our own inner lights. (This also ties in with Daylight Savings Time ending on 11/4.)

✝️ I tie in the "sticks and stones" of the early December garden with St. Barbara's Day (and the traditional gathering of branches for Christmas bloom).

✝️ The week of the Annunciation is devoted to "sleepy seeds," and we not only plant our own spring hopes in a potting tray, but we make a sweet seed cake to serve on that feast day.

✝️ For St. George's Day we learn about "dragons of the wood" - aka spring salamanders! (Which were once thought to actually BE tiny dragons!)

The liturgical year has such a beautiful rhythm - a time for all things and a reassuring repetition - and I am often overjoyed to find how neatly it dovetails with the familiar framework of the natural year! Both calendars bring me much peace and by following them with my family, we are continually reminding ourselves of the many blessings to behold in any given year. The very gift of another 365 days on this earth is perhaps the best blessing of all - something to remember as the year turns and we take delight in another first snowfall, first crocus, first branch of fiery foliage, or first bat fluttering across a summer night sky ... :)

Ok, moving on now - here is a SEASONAL PLANNING SPREADSHEET, a new form I made up for myself this year:

I'm sharing this two-page planning spread even though I realize it's quite personalized, re homeschooling subjects and all. For each theme I have a box in which to plan:

• Events of Note
• Nature Study
• Outings/Field Trips
• Creative Play
• Reading ...
• Verse to learn
• Language Arts
• Science/Math
• Social Studies
• Crafting
• Home/Family (bringing everyone into it!)
• Art/Music
• Notes

This list represents the elements of our weekly rhythm - one day is for nature study, one day is for crafting, etc. This is the framework of our kindergarten at home - but at present we are still working out a few scheduling details for our new homeschooling year. I may be adjusting our weekly rhythm as September rolls around ...

Well my friends, I am running out of time, so in tomorrow's post I will share a few more things in preparation for Friday's talk. Please let me know if there are any points you'd like me to clarify or expand upon! I'm off for now, but as always, I thank you for joining me and will look forward to seeing you here again very soon ...

Blessings! 

August Plans & News!

Hello my friends, and Happy Monday! I hope all is well with you all!:)

I'm popping in today to share my August 2018 planning sheets ... and to say I'm very sorry it's taken me so long to post them! The good news is - it's not QUITE August yet, lol! The better news is - I'll have September through December sheets to share with you within a week or so. :)

But more on my planner situation a little further below, first I thought I'd share a little about our seasonal themes for next month ...

Our August Seasonal Themes

7/30-8/5: bats at dusk

8/6-8/12: shooting stars

8/13-8/19: blueberries

8/20-8/26: seashells by the seashore

8/27-9/2: sunflowers

Here is a look at the "spreadsheet" I designed for planning out our weeks:

It probably seems like a lot of information overload, but I find it very helpful to see all these variables in one place - though I feel compelled to add, we won't get ALL these ideas done! These are all possibilities ... :)

I get asked about my seasonal homeschooling quite often, and so here's a peek at my list of weekly themes:

I'm also frequently asked about the themes themselves - do I repeat them from year to year?

Well the answer to that question is yes - mostly. Because for one thing, we almost never explore a theme to the depth it might be explored (and some particularly busy weeks we miss out entirely) but also, the point of this rhythm is to nurture a fond familiarity with the nuances of each season, as well as a sense of happy anticipation throughout the year.

I do change things up sometimes though - for instance, this week we are doing "bats at dusk" but it could have been "first grains" to go along with Lammas Day. Though they won't be our focus, we will be exploring grains a bit - reading The Little Red Hen, baking corn muffins and observing this lovely poster, a gift from a friend:

Meanwhile, just across the learning room, on display are the books we're using this week:

Now, why bats you might ask? Well, at this time of year we spend most evenings watching tiny bats swoop over our yard! (And I know that because of the nature notes I keep from year to year, reminding me what to look for when.) Bat-watching has become something of a sweet, simple ritual - sitting on the front steps after supper, watching those tiny dark forms flit about the lavender sky, noticing the warm air and the lingering light ...

It's a fun and interesting activity to be certain, but more than that, this happy pastime reminds the whole family to slow down, pay attention, share in the blessings of each season, and TAKE JOY in the time we've been granted!

✨✨✨

OK, at long last, here in the nick of time are my:

August 2018 Planner Pages !!!

Yep, that's just ONE PDF for the whole month! I finally figured out how to create multi-page PDFs and that makes it so much easier to print out the planning sheets! Please let me know if you have any trouble opening this file - and I hope you enjoy! (I've changed this just a bit ...)

As I said above, I will have the rest of my 2018 planning sheets available to print with the next week. As for my 2019 planner ...

Well, I am trying my best to get that organized, too - and to figure out if this is something I might sell (!) or continue to share here as I've done the past couple of years. The good news is, I have about half the year done already ... so it shouldn't be too long before I have something to share with you.

Ok, and finally - here's some really fun news! On August 17th I will be taking part in a "Homeschool Connections" webinar hosted by Mary Ellen Barrett! I'll share more details in the next couple of weeks, but wanted to let you all know that I'll be talking about my homemade planner, my seasonal themes and kindergarten plans for the year ahead ... plus a few other things, depending upon what questions are asked!

So please stay tuned and thanks so much for your patience ... and as always, for stopping by! I hope you all enjoy these last few days of July ... :)

I will see you here again very soon!

This, That and A Few Million Other Things ...

Hello my friends, and Happy July! 🎆 I hope your new month is off to a great start!

I'm popping in today to wish you all well and share a little bit of our past few weeks. Now, here's your fair warning - this is a very BIG post with a LOT of pictures and a few (ok, a lot) of notes. I feel like too much time and too many events are passing and I hardly ever get to pop in here and say hi and share with you all what's going on with my family. And that's always been the heart of my blog, really - sharing our days and the big and little moments for which we are so grateful. 💛

Back in my blogging heyday (say, mid to late 2000s) I was blogging ALL the time and pretty much "reporting in" every day! Well, time is not as flexible for me these days, though I refuse to say my energy is not what it once was - ahem! But anyhoo, enough of my babbling, here is a look at some of the things we got up to last month! It was quite a fun and busy June!

First we start with this ...

Our Crackerjack GRADUATED!!!

On Saturday, June 16th, our second son, Crackerjack (this boy!) officially finished his homeschooling journey. (Please excuse me while I sob for a moment.)

Now, not all homeschoolers have a graduation ceremony when they are done with their high schooling, but we were very grateful to be part of a beautiful one. For many years we've been members of a wonderful homeschooling organization, a place that offers small classes for middle and high school-age homeschoolers. Crackerjack took classes here for seven years - Art, Spanish and, just this past year, Karate. We will miss this community so much now that we no longer have kids enrolled here ... but I dearly hope that perhaps someday Little Bear will be ready to join!

Anyhoo - all to say, above is our young man walking in to the ceremony hall. There were 12 kids in all who graduated, and the event was entirely organized by the kids themselves and their parents. It was so fun to be part of the planning!

(By the way, the kids chose to walk in to this song instead of the traditional "Pomp and Circumstance.")

We were very blessed to have many family members attend Jack's graduation, including ...

Mum and Dad, and Bill's Mom and Dad - aka, Nana & Papa, and Grandma and Grandpa!

And here's the rest of our crew, awaiting the start of the ceremony:

Bill, his folks, my brother Matt, my folks, and my Auntie Marcia and Uncle Karl. 

(Bookworm had Little Bear outside, "keeping busy" - aka "quiet," lol.)

Here is our young man, giving a speech called, "Reflecting on the Year."

And here we are with our graduate, presenting him with his diploma and sharing our pride and joy in a speech given through a few tears!

Each pair of parents came up on stage to talk about, and to, their beloved child. And as you can imagine, the speeches were very personal and moving! Another nice touch, the kids all handed their mothers a flower before leaving the stage. We had discussed getting roses or daisies for this activity, but happily, our own peonies were overflowing our garden! So plush, pink peonies it was!

Here are two of my fellas ...

One who'll be off to college in the fall, and the other who's just starting his homeschooling journey!

Family photo!

A note about my dress - I had all of about 20 minutes one morning to pop into Macy's and find SOMETHING to wear to the graduation!! Amazingly, I found this one in about five minutes, and tried it on right away.

A. it fit, B. it was marked down, and, C. ... triple bonus! ... the colors matched not only the graduation but also Cj's college's colors as well!

(You all know I'm all about color-coordination, lol!)

After the ceremony, we returned home, and enjoyed a simple luncheon. (We plan to throw our boy an official party in August.)

Here is our Earlybird who was kept company at home during the ceremony with his ABA therapist. (It would have been very hard for EB to sit through the graduation - too much noise and way too much emotion!) But while EB and Hannah waited for our return, they baked some lovely graduation cupcakes!

It was such a wonderful day, a lovely way to celebrate and honor the end of our homeschooling journey with our son. It was (and still is) very hard to grasp that "new reality" - but two days later he was off to Emmanuel College for Orientation! And we now have the Summer to enjoy being "done" and prepare our son for his freshman year  ... meanwhile, I have a few scant months to prepare this mama's heart for the big changes to come this September!

Ok, are you up for more stories?? (I warned you this was a big one!)

Speaking of Earlybird, he's been doing very well with his therapy (and med) and making some nice strides with community outings! Here are some pics from a recent Stop 'N Shop trip ...

He's even been making his own lunch!

Now, this being (almost) Friday, I'm going to include a little "full disclosure" in my post - because I just had to walk away from this draft for over an hour. Earlybird had a very hard time today - the heat is brutal, his therapists are on holiday break, he's had way too much down time, not to mention, screen time - and it all added up to a bored, hot, restless, grumpy, tech-addicted kid, and he just now had a really ugly, 45 minute meltdown. The kind that involves shouting and crying and stomping and has us sending Little Bear downstairs with his brother because it's just way too upsetting for him to witness ...

So, you see, EB's making some awesome progress and the good times (and good moods) are stretching out longer and getting more complex - in that, he can handle more challenges now - shopping at the grocery store, getting a haircut, walking near a busy street, listening to his little brother sing "Bingo" in the car - but it's not all figured out just yet. Not even close. I'm not sure it will ever ALL be figured out - his special needs and challenges will change through the years just as they have up to this point. But I share both sides of the coin with you in this post because I want other special needs parents to take heart not just from our good times, but also from our not-so-good times. We have them, too ... and we struggle a lot. (And it's just as easy to feel disheartened by someone else's good times in light of one's own curent struggles.)

Truth be told, special needs parenting is the hardest thing I've ever had to handle in my life ... hands down. Thankfully, God blessed me with the support team I needed - a loving and understanding family, amazing therapists, and most especially a strong and nurturing marriage. I don't know how I'd ever do this alone ...

But, let me say this: I am SO encouraged by how much EB's been able to handle and the new things he can do. I KNOW we have only more progress to make in the days (and years) ahead. I try not to let the tough times (like this past hour) rattle me too much. Tomorrow is a new day and our therapists will be here and we will get back on track ... in fact, as I continue to type, EB is here with me in the family room, and all is calm. All is going to be alright ...

We're all in this together, after all! Case in point ...

All six of us at my cousin's party on the 4th of July! What a GREAT day that was! (More pics below.)

💙

Ok, here I am with the older boys, my folks and my brother enjoying a birthday lunch for Bookworm last week ... and eep, can you believe he turned 23?!

Honestly, how is it I now have a child who is a TWENTY-THREE YEAR OLD MAN? #holymoly #timeflies #toofast

At 23, I was engaged to be married and only three years away from motherhood ... and seriously, all of that doesn't seem that long ago ... sigh. But don't get me started, on the whole where-has-the-time-gone thing, lol! That's a whole n'other post.

So in this pic, we had just come from seeing Jurassic World: Fallen World - which was really good! - and tucked in to lunch at Legal Sea Foods - also really good! (And Bookworm's favorite restaurant.) Bill was working at home so he watched the younger boys ... but I plan to take him to dinner next week for HIS birthday! :)

💙

Ok, forward we go - on to the Fourth!! And how was your holiday, dear (American) friends? I just LOVE this holiday, and it was a really nice one this year. Of course, it was hotter than blue blazes here in New England but just lovely all the same. Sunny, breezy and everything was just so green and bright!

I love to celebrate even when it's "just us," so before the boys woke up, I arranged a festive breakfast buffet ...

(My 4th grade music class book!)

And flowers from the yard - picked by Little Bear (still in his pjs) and me. We searched for "red, white and blue" blossoms!

It might be all small potatoes in the scheme of things, but I just love doing this kind of stuff. (Hence, my homemade planner so I can work these kinds of things into our busy family schedule!) I think it will make for nice memories ...

But then, in the afternoon it was time to head over to my cousin's house for our family's annual 4th of July party. Mike and Krista host a fantastic party, and we always look forward to this get-together! And this year, Earlybird's therapist came with us to support him - help him socialize and handle the heat. (It was in the 90°s!) It was wonderful that he was able to join us!

Here are some peeks at our day:

EB keeping his therapist, Hannah, cool. :)

Little Bear, who decided to "sit with the girls" and come to their rescue with his battery-operated misting fan.

My older boys! Bookworm (23) and Crackerjack (18).

Beautiful holiday signs made by  my cousins, Emily and Elizabeth. 💙

The tree swing is always a big hit with my boys!

Bill with my Uncle Karl. :)

Little Bear with handsome DumDum, wearing his holiday finery ... :) 

Lovely to see my Auntie Marcia, Cousin Sue, Auntie Pat, Mum, and my cousin (by marriage) Vicki.

My lovely Mum with my dear cousin, Kara. This beautiful young woman was my flower girl!!

Dad (on the left) with his brother, my Uncle Dave. 💙

And ohmygoodness, he was SO pleased to be allowed to eat cheese puffs!!

Some more yummy things from the party ...

My mum's "triple-layer brownies." They are legendary ...

A gorgeous and delicious strawberry trifle made by my cousin, Elizabeth. (This was the dessert I chose, and there were a LOT to choose from!)

Cute candies!!

Krista's beautiful dessert station. The cake in the front center was Little Bear's contribution! :)

This here is Hannah, who is Earlybird's ABA therapist and, without a doubt, an angel sent from heaven to guide us. She has such a beautiful way of reaching our son, guiding our journey, and showing us how things can be ... she has also become dear friend. 💙

More swinging!! What a fun day this was ...

It's such a gift to be able to attend an event like this, all of us together. Usually we have to spit up and take shifts, or one of us (Bill, myself or my mum) has to just sit out an event if EB's having a particularly hard day. Thanks to Hannah, we felt confident we could bring EB and we could relax while we were there. Happily, our boy not only handled the party beautifully - he ENJOYED himself, too!

And just look at that smile!!

💙 💙 💙 💙 💙 💙

Alrighty, I think I should wrap things up now, seeing as how I've kept you here so very long! I'm so grateful you joined me, and allowed me to share a little bit of our June ... and my rambles!! I'd love to hear from you, too, if you have a moment!

A quick bit of business before I go: our next Mitten Strings book study will be delayed ONE week. (I'll bet you're not surprised, lol.) I just have not had a chance to re-read the chapter yet! ("Nature") My posting goal is a week from Sunday - July 15th. (St. Swithin's Day!)

Ok, I'm off for now, truly - but I wish you all well, and a peaceful day (or evening) ahead. Thanks so much for stopping by ...

I will see you here again very soon!

p.s. BIG planner news coming next month!

Mitten Strings for God, ch. 15: "Listening"

Hello my friends, and Happy Tuesday! I hope this week is going well for you so far!

Now, before digging into our book study, I must first apologize that this post has arrived much later than promised ... and that my posting in general has slowed down so much lately. I feel like a broken record, but it's been such a busy season for us and I really haven't had a lot of time to spend on my favorite "mama" things (blogging, journaling, reading, making planners). You know, all the fun things that get highlighted in pink in said planners!

Anyhoo, we've finally made it through all that busy-ness! Because just this past week we not only wrapped up our school year, but we also celebrated Crackerjack's graduation AND attended Orientation at Emmanuel College! And these are all good and happy things ... leading up to what I hope will be a fairly quiet and restful summer. Because I'm not one for busy-ness to be perfectly honest ... needing to "hustle" does not make me happy, lol!

But let's get on with our Mitten Strings for God chapter discussion, shall we? This week we are talking about the concept of "Listening," and what a wonderful thing for a parent to consider ...

How often do I make time to stop and listen - not just to my children, but with them?

When I (re)read this chapter I immediately thought of a particular homeschool memory - an activity I blogged about 10 years ago that illustrated the value in slowing down and opening our ears (and hearts) to the natural world around us.

Longtime readers might remember this picture ... ?

 

"In order to listen, we must be quiet." (MSfG, p. 104)

This picture was taken during one of my favorite homeschooling adventures, a Nature Club meeting back in April 2008. These are my older two boys, "on the trail," and the theme of this excursion, organized by two fellow homeschooling moms, was "Silent Spring." The purpose of the outing was to encourage our large and boisterous group to enter the woods in total and complete silence, so that we might:

"... amplify our other senses, and catch things we might otherwise miss. We could sketch, draw, take pictures, write notes or even poetry ... but not a word was to be passed - until we met back up again an hour later to compare findings." (A quote from my original post.)

It was such an amazing walk! Our kids who loved running about and climbing and shouting and chasing and pretty much doing absolutely nothing to entice wildlife out of hiding - took right away to the idea of silence, and enjoyed figuring out how to share their thoughts without words. They developed signals and used sketchbooks to communicate their questions about - and impressions of - the nature they encountered.

We moms could have told the kids all about the things they'd see, but instead we left it to them to make their own observations and form their own opinions. Many times our wide eyes would meet across the trail as a sudden sound caught our attention - but we expressed our wonder and awe in ways that required careful attention. I think it was a richer experience for us all, immersing our silent selves in that not-so-silent woodland on that beautiful, unforgettable, spring day ...

Rereading this chapter (and reminiscing over that nature walk) reminded me of a vow I once held dear in my heart - to raise my children to be aware of the more subtle (yet plentiful) joys of our world. Day in or day out. Rain or shine. Whatever the season might be. Such an awareness doesn't just happen - it needs to be cultivated and maintained. I realized then (if I've sometimes forgotten it now) that it's up to we parents to show them the way through the years ...

There is so much joy to be found in the activity of listening itself! We all know how wonderful it is to share a special moment with a child, to listen together for either a specific sound or perhaps await a surprise. The giggles, the hushing, the eyes that widen when at last a sound reaches our eager ears ...

How wonderful to encourage this type of quiet activity - and to engage in it ourselves! Children may be noisy creatures, but they also love to conspire. :)

"... within each child there is also an innate talent for listening that deserves to be honored and encouraged." (p. 105)

(Now, this might look like an action shot, but actually, Little Bear and I were staying as quiet and still as possible here, perched on our herb garden, "communing with" the chipmunks all around us. I also have a neat little video you can watch (and listen to!) here ...)

For certain our world is a noisy one, and kids are, by and large, just that. Noisy. My house, for example (and as you might imagine), is not always (or often) quiet. (Reminder: We have four boys - 22, 18, 16 and 5 - and all of them (happily) live at home.)

The laughter and chatter of my children, the sounds of our home doing its thing - feet on the stairs, a coffeepot perking, the hens squawking, the birds singing, a toilet flushing, a door closing (perhaps slamming) ... these are loud sounds sometimes, yes, but life is just FULL of such happy, life-living sounds. (Well the door slamming isn't really happy and believe you me, some sounds are not as cheerful as others, but all in all, I am grateful for all these noises that represent a full and family-oriented life!

Our house, like many others I would guess, can also be full of just plain old noise, because there are audio/video devices everywhere - on our walls, in our cars, in our hands. Text alerts, tv shows, radio news, video games ... part of life, yes, but not necessarily the sounds I'd like to surround myself with frequently.

Too much artificial noise not only drowns out the "muted sounds of earth and sky, soul and spirit," but it can alter our listening "palate." Softer sounds like the wind in the trees, a distant bird call, the soft drip of rain off a roof - these might not hold much appeal if a child is not first shown how to appreciate them.

But oh, how they respond when they're let in on nature's secrets ... :)

Quiet times spent together are such a gift - for both parent and child. We slow down, they absorb - we all enjoy each other. What a life-long gift to not only teach our children how to enjoy such times, but how to find a little quiet where they can. 

"We can all find a moment in every day for listening, a moment in which we gather our children close, open our ears, and luxuriate in the sounds of our world, wherever we may be." (p. 107)

I so enjoyed this chapter - as I do every chapter - and I deeply appreciate the lessons it reminds me of, veteran mom that I am now. ;-) I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic, too! Please drop a note if you have time ... but as always, I thank you for stopping by and reading. 

I had all intention of setting a Mitten Strings for God book study schedule with this post, but alas - I'm cautious to do so. I do anticipate a quiet and laid back summer and in theory I should have more time for blogging, but I'm hesitant to set myself up for failure!

That said, the next chapter is a topic near and dear to my heart - Nature - and I am really excited to delve into it. I am going to propose Sunday, July 8th for our next Mitten Strings Tea ... but if I need to tweak the timing a bit I will let you know as soon as I'm able. (I generally announce things like that on Facebook and Instagram.)

For now though, I will be off ... take care of yourselves and your loved ones, my friends ...

I will see you here again very soon!

My Review: Blue Sky Teacher's Planner

Hello my friends and Happy Thursday! I hope your week is going well! :-)

Today I'd like to share a review of The Blue Sky Teacher's Weekly Plan Book, the planner I'll be using for our homeschooling next year (as well as throughout the summer). I've shared a couple of peeks over at Instagram and Facebook, but I thought I'd go into deeper detail here, since many of us are currently "in the market" for helpful homeschooling tools!

But first, a full (Thursday) disclosure! I sort of used last year's version of this planner, but abandoned it after a few weeks. Unfortunately, as much as I loved that planner, it just didn't fit the bill for me. It was (and is) an excellent planner, but I really didn't need so much structure this past year. Not only is Little Bear's prek-at-home VERY low key, but I really can't plan out nitty-gritty daily details for Earlybird. (He's more a "big picture" kind of kid - so I plan lots of "potentials" and then choose what works day-by-day.) Meanwhile, Crackerjack is doing all of his studies outside the home this year. (Save for math - and who needs to plan math? Lol, not me. We use Teaching Textbooks.)

All that said, I have a different PLAN in mind for how I PLAN to organize this year!

Ok. Here we go ...

I bought this pretty planner at Staples a couple of weeks ago. Funnily enough, I didn't stop at Staples for a planner, but one look at those new Blue Sky displays and I was a goner. This is the time of year when academic year planners are available as well as those dedicated to lesson planning. Most are made for professional teachers but I find many can be easily adapted to a homeschooling mom's needs. 

Now, there were several versions of this particular planner available - identical layouts, varied designs - but the "Ditsy Dapple Floral" cover really caught my eye. I'm partial to florals anyway, but couldn't help noticing how nicely it matched my new Day Designer personal planner!

The planner cover is protected by a "frosted" plastic sheet, under which the colors appear a little less vibrant (a bit more pastel). As someone who lives in a house with four not-always-careful-or-neat boys, I am very appreciative of that protective cover! The cover itself is made of a thick cardstock material.

(If you can't tell in these pictures, the word "teach" is done in a metallic gold. Sparkly and fun!)

The spiral "twin-wire" binding is very sturdy ...

A spiral binding is a MUST for me. I need to lay my planner flat when I write in it or prop it up on display! And since my planners get knocked around a good bit, I need them to be well-made and forgiving - and reasonably priced!

Just before the title page there is a double-sided, clear plastic pocket ...

I plan to file school correspondence here, including submitted education plans. The title page, like the cover, is made of a heavier cardstock.

After the title page shown above, there are dated calendars for 2018 and 2019, followed by a page for recording contact numbers and emergency information ...

I'll mark these dated calendars with highlighters to indicate time on and off throughout the year - aka vacation days and such.

Next comes a spread for organizing monthly holidays and special dates:

As you can see, there are lots of suggestions listed here for fun, random things to celebrate such as "Tell a Joke Day" (August 16th), "Make a Friend Day" (February 11th) and "Children's Good Manners Month" (September). There is also plenty of space for recording your own ideas!

The next spread is set up for recording "Class Birthdays," but as you can see, I'm using it for listing our seasonal homeschooling themes:

This is the only planner page I have filled out so far! I'll admit setting up these themes is my favorite aspect of annual lesson planning!

The right hand page is for organizing a weekly schedule. I will use this for listing out ABA times and our homeschooling rhythm. (For example, storytelling day, crafting day, nature walk day, etc.)

And now we get to the meat of the planner - the monthly and weekly spreads!

Soft green and white shades, and a lovely and neutral design. I like my covers bright, but my planning pages soft on the eye!

And I love, love, LOVE a lined monthly grid! It really helps keep the handwriting neat. This month-at-a-glance has generously-sized blocks which are another must for me. (I write small, but I write A LOT!)

Now the thing I perhaps love best about this planner is that it provides a FULL year of planning! There are 14 monthly calendars (12 are tabbed), beginning with May 2018 and ending with June 2019. There are weekly planning spreads for EVERY week of the academic year, June 25th, 2018 through June 28th, 2019. So if you homeschool year-round this is pretty perfect for you!:

And here is that weekly spread:

A closer look ...

Nice tabs, too. I tend to use paper clips and/or binder clips with my planners for marking my page and/or attaching notes and lists.

My strategy for this two-page spread is to use the left side for our routine/rhythm (first, green column) and then notes for each of my younger boys (2 columns each). The right side will be for "big picture" planning and notes. (That probably sounds confusing, so I'll share more details on my plans for this spread in a future post!)

At the very end of the planner, after the last weekly spread (June 24-28, 2019) there are a few note pages ...

My "plan" at this time is to use these three pages for trimester reviews (in November, March and June).

The very last page is a listing of official holidays for each of the next four years (including 2018).

And finally we have a very pretty back cover!

(Also protected by a frosted plastic cover.)

I also bought a matching wall calendar for the learning room wall, since the one we have now runs out of pages after June!

And there you have it! A full tour of my new lesson planner ... with more nitty-gritty details to come soon!

Are you thinking about next year yet? Do you have a teacher's planner in mind (or in hand)? If so I'd love to hear about it!

I'm off for now, but take care of yourselves and your loved ones, my friends ...

See you here again very soon!

Here's a Look at Our Day!

Hello my friends, and Happy Thursday! I hope your week's been going well!

I thought it would be fun to share a "day in our life" with you all, so as we went through our day, one day last week, I took pictures and jotted down notes. Here then is a little recap of last Thursday, March 1st. :)

(Note: Our weekdays are currently quite similar in that, Bill goes to work and I stay home with the kids. Another constant these days is we have two ABA therapists who work here at home with our 16 yo son, for a total of four hours a day. And then some days Bill works from home, and four days a week our 18 yo son has outside-the-home classes - to (and from) which Bill or I must drive him because he does not yet have his license! But hopefully he will by the end of this month!)

Ok, here we go ...

GOOD MORNING! 🌞

5:00 a.m.

I wake up and realize I'm the first one up, which is quite surprising because usually Earlybird is the first to rise. (He has in fact been my alarm clock for the past 16 years!) I look over to see if Bill is still sleeping, and am not all that surprised to notice that the body softly snoring next to me is not my husband's but that of our four year old son's - with his head draped across my pillows, mind you! And this would explain the crick in my neck ...

I then realize Bill has already gotten out of bed, so I grab my phone and send off a text:

As you can see our texting skills are not at their best this early in the morning! (Per family tradition, we always say RABBIT RABBIT on the first of the month - it's supposed to bring you good luck!)

Within a few minutes I hear Earlybird get up and head downstairs, and Bill sees to EB's needs (a snack, a water cup, the family room TV clicker) while starting a fresh pot of coffee. Then I wait, in the darkness, with as much patience as I can muster (which isn't a lot), until Bill brings me that first blessed cup of coffee. sigh ... JOY!

So while I savor my first cup, curled up in the rocking chair by my bed, Little Bear sleeps on with hefty pillows piled up on either side of him. (Our bed is quite high and I don't like to leave him alone in it - yet I'm loathe to move him for fear he'd wake and be up for the day!)

It's quiet, it's peaceful, and there's a purring cat in my lap ... ❤ 

Soon enough, Bill starts getting ready for work - though he often takes calls at home until mid-morning - and Earlybird is happy as a clam in the family room with his Kindle Fire and breakfast snacks. 

(Note: EB usually wakes up VERY early - he always has! Sleeping past six is rare for him. He can't be left unsupervised however, so Bill and I always rise just as early as he does.)

Now some (perhaps many!) might cringe at starting one's day so very early in the morning, but honestly, I don't mind. In fact, I actually like it! As long as I have my coffee, of course, I appreciate these early hours before the day truly begins, when I can gather my thoughts and launch the day slowly ...

So the next few hours are spent in this way - I'm upstairs watching the room go from pitch dark to soft light, savoring cup (after cup) of freshly brewed coffee, working on my phone until it's light enough to see and then I start working in my planners. (Checking email, social media, news, etc.) I also use this time to think quietly and say my morning prayers. I love catching the sunrise when I'm able ... 🌅

* Morning planning: I start with my little Katie Daisy planner, at the monthly spread, crossing off yesterday's block (February 28th). Since it's the first of the month, I readjust my binder clip to the March page. Isn't it fun when you get to start a new monthly spread? I then open my seasonal planner and consult the weekly spread - where are we at, what's what for today? Thursdays are "nature walk" days, per our weekly homeschooling rhythm - and as this is "thaw/sap" week we'll be looking for signs of winter-melt and possibly, any maple trees in our neighborhood. It's supposed to be a clear and very mild day so this is perfect! Finally I move on to my Day Designer and set up my daily page. If time permits I use a highlighter to visually target drive-times and outings.

(Note: During these early hours, spring through fall, I try to grab a quick 30 minute walk before Little Bear wakes. These days however, winter weather (and dark mornings) keep me inside. I do have a treadmill in our bedroom but I don't use it regularly ever.)

8:45 a.m.

Little Bear seems to be sleeping in, so I wake Crackerjack (first reminding him to say RABBIT RABBIT) so he can keep an eye on LB and an ear out for EB while I grab a quick shower and get dressed. 

(Note: I think it would be fun to do a post on our grooming/health/beauty routines, don't you?)

Once I'm done with my "primp and prep" (such as it is) Crackerjack goes off to get himself ready for class, and Little Bear wakes up soon thereafter.

9:00 a.m.

We head downstairs to officially begin our day! This is about an hour later than usual for us, so I'm running a little behind. Earlybird heads upstairs to his bedroom since he no longer has to be quiet, but first I give him his (anti-seizure) meds. Little Bear and I feed the cats and start making breakfast ... I always tune into the TODAY show throughout the morning. I can't sit and really digest it, but I like to catch a few segments here and there. :)

BREAKFAST: whole wheat waffles, apple cider, cheese and vitamins.

I now switch to decaffeinated tea. I try not to drink caffeine after 10 a.m.

9:30 a.m.

I drive Crackerjack to Spanish class, leaving the rest of the boys at home with Bill. Just before leaving I receive an email from a good friend of mine who is organizing our March Nature Club activity (maple sugaring!). She needs me to get back to her ASAP on a few dates/times so that gets me thinking and strategizing on the drive.

I drop CJ at his class, and head back home (a five-minute drive). Kiss Bill on my way in (and his way out) and then scramble to get things ready for Earlybird's first therapist who arrives at 10 a.m.

10:00 a.m.

Earlybird is working on his daily routine with his ABA therapist, Michael. First he showers, shaves and dresses - then he works on chores like cleaning his room, changing his bedding, doing his laundry, taking out the trash, emptying the dishwasher, etc. All these tasks build good skills but are also important for working on the concept of compliance. (Doing activities that are not preferred.)

Meanwhile, I return my friend's email, letting her know the dates that work for us, give my Mum a call, and then do some preschool activities with Little Bear ... and this is where I first start taking pictures!

Here's Little Bear coloring a Welsh dragon for St. David's Day! We also read a book, and make a paper plate cloud - in honor of March coming in like a lamb. Little Bear says he's "still hungry" and wants toast, so we pop some bread in the toaster and start working on a Peppa Pig puzzle. 

Suddenly, a telltale rumble on the road tells us mail has arrived! So we decide to head outside for a bit to retrieve said mail, check on the hens and have ourselves a little nature walk.

But first we pop downstairs to change up the laundry and see if Bookworm is busy. (He's not working full-time at the moment, but doing computer design/site building at home currently, while studying for java certification.) We find him on his computer, but he tells us he'll join us outside for a bit. (While Bookworm looks for full-time employment he has been a HUGE help to us with childcare. I feel so blessed to have this time with ALL my boys at home!)

11:00 a.m. 

Outside now, and what a beautiful day! Bright and warm, nearly 60°! Not at all usual for New England at this time of year. (But we'll take it!)

After checking on the hens' needs, we walk around a bit. I love our yard because it's a good size and there are always interesting and new things to "discover!" Some things are new but familiar ...

Such as the first daffodil shoots of the year! We found these growing by the front walk, beneath the dog rose bush.

Other things are not new, but perhaps unnoticed, and definitely not familiar!

Such as this orange and green "fur" growing between the cracks in the stairwell. (It's actually moss - aka Hairy Moss!) Little Bear, as you can see here, made sure he grabbed his shovel, because ... you never know when you might need to dig.

I leave LB with BW and head inside to place a call and check on EB and Michael ...

Oops, but first I remember to grab the mail!

How I love a good mail day! New books, catalogs and magazines and ok, yes, bills. But still - I love when our mailbox is full!

Back inside I find Earlybird and his therapist taking a break in the family room. (EB gets five minute breaks between tasks and usually he likes to watch a little TV during this time.) I decide to place a call I need to make ... rescheduling a long overdue eye exam!

After earning that check, I decide to work on some chores, since Little Bear and Bookworm are still outside and Earlybird and Michael have left on a bike ride. It seems VERY quiet in the house, lol! Just me and the cats ...

... who are intently observing a chipmunk perched just outside the patio doors!

According to my weekly housekeeping schedule, on Thursdays I clean the "back rooms" - meaning, the sunroom (aka the learning room) and family room. I decide to start in the sunroom since it's just SO lovely out I can have the windows open while I work ...

My cleaning routine goes something like this: de-clutter/tidy, sweep, vacuum, dust/wipe.

If I'm able to have windows open all the better for airing out the room, too!

I leave the table set with things for Earlybird to see and work on today ...

Just as I finish tidying this room, I am hailed by Bookworm and Little Bear to "Come see what they found!" I will spare you this picture though, since what they found was most surely a rather disgusting owl pellet! Fascinating, for sure ... but also, quite gross. 

NOONTIME

Michael is off and it's time for lunch! Bookworm brings Little Bear inside and sees to his washing up, while I set about making lunch for the younger boys.

LUNCH: popcorn, lemonade, cheese quesadillas, apple slices and fig cookies.

I also keep an eye on the noontime news - it seems we have quite a storm heading our way!

Earlybird's second therapy session begins once Gideon arrives. They head out to the sunroom to start in on his homeschool assignments and various other life skills activities. I clean up after lunch - with Little Bear's help, natch - and then LB and I settle in for a bit of reading time in the living room. He's really into "The Magic School Bus" right now and as you can imagine we have quite a few of those in our collection!

(Note: I need to read with Little Bear where Earlybird can't hear us since he has a strong aversion to people reading aloud, singing, talking too much. We're actually working on desensitizing him of this sensory challenge and some days one of his therapy activities is simply to listen to me read aloud (with or without LB present, depending on EB's current mood). We do this for a few minutes or pages at a time. Otherwise, LB and I read aloud when EB is elsewhere in the house or otherwise engaged with his therapists.) 

1:00 p.m.

I leave Bookworm home with EB and Gideon while Little Bear and I head out to pick up Crackerjack from class and run to the library. But first, I pour my fresh cup of tea into a travel mug! Here is my bag sitting on the seat next to me:

It's not the most interesting picture, I just really love that bag! We have a few books and videos to return and I have a couple of holds waiting for me.

We pick up CJ - who as you can probably tell from this picture, had a karate lesson after Spanish!

(We're very fortunate to have an active homeschooling community where we live. CJ, like Bookworm before him, has been able to take classes with other homeschoolers at a couple of different locations. This has made a huge impact on our high school homeschooling. I plan to do a separate post about our homeschool approach in the high school years ... now that Bookworm is actually OUT of college and Crackerjack is making plans to attend in the fall.)

Ok, we're now off to the library! We are here at least once a week - to make returns, pick up holds and sometimes just to browse. Today I allow Little Bear to pick out a video or two. He has a hard time choosing and finally decides on Reading Rainbow and The Adventures of Clutch Powers. (He is SO into Legos right now!)

Before we leave, Crackerjack points out a book he thinks looks nice for Little Bear, Shelter. It is indeed absolutely lovely, and I make a note to add it to my November planner for "hibernation" week. (I scribble myself a note on the index card attached to my little planner and then transfer that note to my seasonal planner back home.)

A few minutes later we are back home, and heading inside, but Little Bear wants to feel the soft buds of the magnolia tree ...

He is enchanted by the texture - though somewhat dismayed when he plucks the bud off the tree without meaning to! I reassure him the tree is fine and suggest he place the bud on our nature table. 

First though, LB takes a closer look under his "microscope!"

He places the bud on top of his bowl of moss-dirt.

"Doing science." 😉 This little magnifyer was a wonderful purchase! It has served us very well for several years.

Btw, here are the books I had on the hold shelf:

The Dance of Time is right up my alley - I LOVE learning about the calendar! I forget where I heard about it, but I decided it would be an interesting book to check out! The Vanity Fair Diaries is not something I'd normally read, but I saw its author, VF editor-in-chief Tina Brown interviewed on Greater Boston one evening last month and thought it all sounded quite intriguing! (We don't watch a lot of TV, but Bill and try to catch GB every weeknight - plus Beat the Press on Fridays as well as the wonderful Rick Steves' Europe also on PBS!)

3:00 p.m.

Now, time for a break! We sit in the family room for a bit - and yes, the TV goes on! Nature Cat and Wild Kratts are favorites and while Little Bear watches, I work on my plans for next week (and the weekend) and enjoy a rather large cup of tea!

Here's where we crash for a bit ...

I just love this east-facing window - it gets wonderful morning light, and the cardinals just love those spruce trees! The couch is a bit beaten up (though only a few years old) but it's quite comfy. :)

Just as I decide to put off the rest of my "Thursday chores" I hear a car pull up the drive ... and we are all thrilled to see it's my brother - aka Uncle Matt!

We have SUCH a nice visit with my brother ... as usual, he spoils us with a bunch of Trader Joes treats (he's a TJ's manager) and a new game for family game night! He doesn't need to bring a thing of course, it's just great to spend time with him. :)

And this right here is why I'm so grateful to be at home, and that I live close to my family. My life is a simple one, but it brings me tremendous joy! 

❤•❤•❤•❤•❤•❤•❤•❤•❤•❤•❤•❤•❤ 

Now I will confess, I got off track a little at this point - I stopped taking pictures and jotting down notes! But here's my recollection of the rest of our Thursday, March 1st ... :)

4:00 p.m.

After Matt left, I started in on my usual afternoon tidy. And by started in on, I mean, I didn't get through it all. (I almost never do!) "Afternoon tidying" includes sweeping the kitchen, prepping supper, neatening the kitchen sink and counters and wiping up the half-bath in the foyer. It's really great when I do make time for these simple tasks because they greatly impact not only the way I feel in the evening but especially how my next morning goes. 

Meanwhile, the boys were all over the house doing their usual things. I can (and do) often ask the older boys to keep an eye on Little Bear if I need to take a shower or work on a project of one kind or another.

I neatened up the learning room a little, by organizing the materials used and lessons completed. Then I turned off the space heater and lights and locked the door for the night.

6:00 p.m.

Bill got home around 6 p.m. and as usual, we sat down to supper right away. This is one of my favorite moments of the day - when we can all catch up and chat.

SUPPER: potato-leek soup (not homemade), grilled ham and cheese panini, steak fries, salad.

Once supper was eaten and dishes cleared, we all retreated to our comfort zones - the boys to their devices and Bill, Little Bear and I to the family room. Generally Bill and I like to watch a little TV at this time of night (as described above) before I head upstairs (planner bag in hand!) to tuck Earlybird in bed. (Because unsurprisingly, Earlybird loves an early bedtime!)

My planner bag with all the things I'll need in the morning!

8:00 p.m.

Tucking EB can be a process - some nights he needs "two more minutes" multiple times! - but usually it doesn't take too long, since he's such an early riser. After washing up and getting my own "PJs" on, I readied all the beds for sleep and then let Bill know it was time to bring Little Bear upstairs. After washing up and donning "footie" pajamas, he snuggled into Mama and Daddy's bed to hear his special bed stories. Currently he loves hearing these three books before bed. :)

While Bill and Little Bear read, I read my own book until my lids grow heavy ... and next thing I know, everyone's asleep, save for the older two boys who are in charge of their own bedtimes these days! 

10:00

Zzzzzzz ....

GOOD NIGHT!

Well my friends, I hope you enjoyed this peek into our day! It was a very long post to be sure, but then - our days tend to be pretty long! (And of course, I tend to be wordy!) But as always, I thank you very much for joining me here today, and I wish you all a pleasant week's end ...

See you here again very soon!