homeschool, adoption, parenting, family, homemaking
First of all, have you heard our happy news from earlier this week? We finalized adoption of our two youngest kids! That’s exciting, of course, but today’s post is about how outdoor play helps our homeschool — and keeps this mama sane! Outside time improves moods! A couple of weeks ago, we got a new […]
Although Scout will happily tell you that she is now homeschooled, I’ve done nothing at all structured with the little ones because: A) It’s summertime. B) Even after just one year of public school, Scout clearly needs some de-schooling. (That’s a post for another day.) C) They are still little kids! What they need most […]
We love using these bird notebooking pages for our nature journal. These are two from Kathryn’s notebook last summer. We have one in-process on robins since we have yet another robin nest on our back porch right now! (This post contains affiliate links. See disclosure.) We already love using NotebookingPages.com for our nature journals, but […]
I often say that we don’t do as much nature study as I’d like, but what I’ve come to realize is that, although we don’t always have pretty nature journal pages to show for it, and I don’t always take my camera along to document it all, our lives have gradually become more nature-focused. I […]
We’re past Labor Day now… which means summer is unofficially gone, but it’s still feeling plenty hot around here, and I am soooo ready for fall weather. History, Math, Literature Kathryn is enjoying history (America the Beautiful). In fact, she asks to do things like vocabulary words or writing assignments so she’ll have papers to […]
Another summer week full of good and beautiful things. “You make beautiful things; You make beautiful things out of dust… You make beautiful things out of the dust. You make me new. You are making me new.” (from a favorite song, Beautiful Things by Gungor) The collage above is full of beautiful things: Birthday cards. […]
Our hummingbirds are back! Last weekend I hung a feeder and bought a colorful hanging plant for the back porch, trying to give the hummers a better chance of finding the feeder. The next morning, I got buzzed when I took Lacy outside, and this week I’ve seen them coming and going, even while I’m […]
LAST WEEK: We finished up Kathryn’s semester of enrichment classes, finally came to the end of the book Freckles (which we loooooved!), and Kathryn and I served at a soup kitchen! I’ve looked far and wide for a ministry opportunity where kids were allowed to serve, and this one dropped right in my lap. Neither […]
I love it when a nature study comes to us, rather than when we have to go looking for it. (Mostly because I have slacked big-time this year in planning for studies!) We came home one day last week to find this garden snake in our driveway, being attacked by crows. We actually like snakes […]
All is well in our homeschool: nothing new, really, but no big bumps in the road either. We’re just plugging along pleasantly through the next month and a half til we’re done with this school year. We are, however, considering the possibility of moving to a year round schedule with something along the lines of […]
SPRING BREAK! With Ken and Lindsey out of the country on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic (returning tomorrow!), this week has been all about being a Fun Mama. We started the week with a sleep over, and I took Kathryn and her friend to our favorite frozen yogurt place the following afternoon. (Can […]
We’re still doing all the usual things: math, history readings, map work, Bible study, copywork, and so on, but we’re trying to add in a bit more art and at least a little nature study. This week, we did the “three little chicks” pastel, inspired by Nana at the Hodgepodge. The resulting art: mine, with […]
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