Building relationships with our children, and between siblings is still one of the big motivations for our homeschool, but this year in our homeschool and family my focus has been on a few different things than in the past-
This trifecta of a goal has led us to do a few things differently this year.
We are still doing our No Sweat Nature Study regularly. This is just something we love, and I find so much value in as a homeschooler and mama. I love owning the kids to work in my own nature notebook. It’s just a great time all around.
Read Aloud Revival is still a guiding light in our homeschool. I love the read alouds, the writing workshops, the author access, and the many other benefits RAR brings to our home. It enriches my own life as a homeschool mama, and even if I didn’t use to for enriching our homeschool, I would probably get it just for me ????
This year we have added 2 things that I *love.* They help me add beauty and wonder to our homeschool days, the encourage me when I need it the most and more importantly, when I don’t know I need it.
Morning Virtues provides so much in their bimonthly subscription. I will leave a link here, but this is where we get our folk song, Bible readings, poetry, Shakespeare, music and art studies, as well as our virtue focus which also lines up with our Charlotte Mason habits I’ve lined out from Laying Down the Rails. ???? (was that a giant run on sentence? ???? )
Now we are also back to using the Wild + Free content bundles to enrich our homeschool as well. It’s hard to say that, because our homeschool is every day life for us. Yes we sit down and do table work for a while in the mornings (most) days, but overall, we learn all. day. long. So while Wild + Free is enriching our homeschool, it is one of my favorite additions to our home in general. I just love everything they stand for, and it is my biggest reminder that this is it. This is our time with our children, 12 to 2 years old (y’all, my youngest is already 2!).
Not time for Facebook, the news, tv, or running around like crazy from one activity to another.
This is it. In 6 years our oldest will be 18, and I know how fast that is going to go.
So we are using all these resources to slow down, focus on the little things, enjoy one another, and grow in Christ. It’s been a fun switch up, and even though it looks like a lot, it has simplified our life so much because I don’t have to waste time searching for what I need. It’s all right here and we use it at our leisure.
Giving our children a simple, slow, old-fashioned childhood is hopefully one of the best gifts they will get from us.
I pray they grow up to be adults that seek slow, peaceful lives, set goals that are not only financially motivated, and love the Lord. That will all be up to them, but we can certainly lay the foundation for it now.
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I’ve been sitting outside this morning, listening to the birds and enjoying the crisp air that tells me fall will be here soon. Too soon.
and I have to wonder, when does it stop being magical? When does it stop being full of wonder? Do we grow up, and it changes?
I remember being 13 and 14, and still wanting to play, still wanting to be in my own world, while all my friends were “dating,” and saying yes to boys they didn’t know … while I was the outsider that said no. While I still longed for being in the woods with my brother, fishing with my Memaw, and riding 4 wheelers at the lake.
Like it used to be.
I don’t think it changes though.
We don’t lose a sense of wonder. I don’t think we become grown ups who don’t remember what it is like to be a little kid. We start to feel an obligation to the world, and it quickly becomes difficult to be in the world but not of it… and with the world and its problems we leave behind all the things we knew as a child.
We grow up, but our imaginations can keep growing. We can continue to grow into who God made us to be, and quite frankly, you have to have a big imagination to do that! Because who could actually think the amazing blessings of the Lord- the sunrise, the birds singing, your perfectly matched to you spouse, your children, watching seeds become plants in the garden- could become reality? and He uses it all to grow us.
I’d also like to add, if you haven’t checked out the 1,000 Outside Podcast, it is phenomenal! Whether you have kids at home or not, the people she interviews and their massive amounts of information are fascinating. There is so much happening to our children and young adults because of technology. The world is changing in BIG ways (80% of jobs in 2030 haven’t even been created yet!), and knowledge about how and why is one of our greatest weapon to protecting our kids. And she has it!
What is your Why? Why are you homeschooling? What have you done, or used, to meet the needs of your people and help you along with your why?
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