Resources and Our Favorite Stories

I wanted to offer a list of the resources that I’ve found helpful as well as our favorite books for reading aloud!

First off, podcasts have been wonderful because I can listen while doing dishes or doing other tasks. A couple that I love are: At Home with Sally and The Homeschool Sisters.

These are both available on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Our Favorite Picture Books:

Roxaboxen

Miss Rumphius

Billy and Blaze

Blueberries for Sal

The Adventures of Scout and Kit: The Berry Patch

*These are all available on Amazon

Our Favorite Read-Alouds:

The Indian and the Cupboard

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

Tuck Everlasting

*These are all available on Amazon

Switching Gears

Hi there!

First, I just wanted to thank you if you are reading this for taking your time to read what I have to say, in these days when everyone has so much to say.

I started this blog at the very beginning of my first year as a homeschool parent, which was this year! I feel in some ways that it has been much longer that I’ve been on this journey. I’ve learned so much!

This year has been such a blessing to our family. Being involved and in control of my children’s education and learning has been so fulfilling. Honestly, there have been days when I just wanted to cry and say just forget it! There have been days when I’ve been so frustrated with all the work I put into this homeschool thing not being appreciated at all. It is a lot of work, but so worth it and I always seem to bounce back because I know this is what God has called our family to and He always gives me the grace I need to do it and do it well. Everyday may not be the greatest, but in the big picture it has been the best thing.

So, I titled this post “Switching Gears” because that’s where I am right now. I started this first year with purchasing a big curriculum package because I felt for my first year I needed that.

As the year has gone on, I’ve realized that flexibility is necessary to be successful as a Homeschool Mama. I’ve had to realize this is not working or we are going to scrap that all together. Spending the money on all that curriculum made me have big reservations about not using it all or not using it exactly like they say I should be. BUT, I’m learning how much freedom I have in making choices that are well-suited for us.

I am stepping out for the next year and hacking curriculums together as well as a heavy dose of living books and I am feeling so good and having such peace about it.

I’ve learned that if it’s not working, hit the brakes and make changes. Try different things until you find your groove and settle into your family rhythm.

I’d love to hear from you! Please let me know what changes you are making or solutions you have for ruts.

Thank you again for reading! 💗

 

Here is one resource I’ve used a lot in planning for next year and just understanding more of what I want our homeschool to look like:

Educating the WholeHearted Child https://www.amazon.com/dp/1932012958/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_mTcJAb4VG602Y

 

Love letters

Hi there!

So, I don’t know about you, but my daughter gives me little notes so often just saying she loves and appreciates me and I fuss over those notes and thank her profusely for them. So tonight I was feeling some big feelings when I was thinking about her. I was thinking about just how much I absolutely adore her and how blown away I am that I get to be her momma. While I was thinking about her, God pierced my heart to remind me about all those little notes she passes to me. I often think that there may come a day when she is less likely to share her love for me or even feel her love for me so freely. My word for this new year is “cultivate”. So, in line with that I keep thinking about what I’m cultivating and how to cultivate certain things in my home and family.

So, while I was thinking about how much I adore the person of her tonight, it occurred to me that I should write her a little note, like she does for me.

So I did!

I wrote her a little note after she was sound asleep, just telling her good morning and that I adore her and that she is a blessing in my life and I snuck in and taped it to the inside of her bedroom door so she will see it before she even has to face the day tomorrow.

I’m hoping to do this even more often and let her know just how much she means to me and to cultivate this practice between us as she grows up.

Let me know what you do to cultivate your relationships with your spouse and children. I’d love to hear!

💗

💗

New Year, New Goals

Hi There!

So in this New Year, I’ve been really challenged to make some new goals for our family and among those goals is establishing traditions. Our family has traditions that usually are based around Christmas, but I’m being nudged to want to have more traditions and celebrations throughout the year.

One thing I started last year, was the thing floating around about putting hearts on my children’s bedroom doors with words or statements of love and blessing on each one. So for the first 14 days of February, leading up to Valentines Day, I put a new heart on their doors each day. I also have little Valentines mailboxes that I have for each of them that I put little treats in each of the first 14 days of February. I’ve been working on our hearts for this year and I’ve been thinking about how fun it would be to have a Valentines Day Party on the 14th.

So, I plan to get a cheap, cute tablecloth and really make a thing of it and have a little party. We will invite retired grandparents and just have a special time of celebrating.

I want to celebrate life and family any chance I get and to pass that celebration of life and family on to my children through our traditions.

It will be simple, but fun!

I’d love to hear any traditions you all have so comment or contact me and let me know!

💗

We HIGHLY Recommend…

Hey Friends!

I wanted to tell you about one of our favorite new books! It’s called The Adventures of Scout & Kit: The Berry Patch by Elise Monsour Puckett and illustrated by Tessa Riley.

Our whole family loves it! The story and illustrations are magical and it’s a book you want to crawl under the covers and read with a flashlight (which my daughter did) 😊 We felt like we were part of the story, discovering the Berry Patch right along with Scout and Kit. Little Henry the mouse is so endearing and cute!

We hope you enjoy this treasure of a book as we do! 💗

Jamestown

We are currently learning about the Jamestown settlement. We've made a simple wigwam out of construction paper and tape – I'm ALL ABOUT keeping it simple! We also made cornbread one evening to go with our dinner and talked about how corn is ground into cornmeal. Today we completed a Jamestown Fort.

These ideas did not come from curriculum, but I like to branch out and get creative whenever we can. I've discovered that setting time aside to do more in-depth projects is way more fun and the lessons sink in so much more!

Early Thoughts on Curriculum

Hi!

I'm having some feelings about curriculum. I won't share which curriculum we use (if you really want to know, contact me personally at evolutionofahomeschoolmama@gmail.com and I'll be happy to tell you).

We are using a complete curriculum because I thought for my first year it would be best to have some strict guidelines.

Some days the curriculum is the best thing that ever happened to me and other days it is my worst enemy. I find myself, on the hard days, being completely stressed and overwhelmed that I'm going to get behind or if I veer off the plan at all I get so bumfuzzled when I try to get my ducks in a row again. I feel like I have all these weird loose ends that I have to struggle to fit in somewhere else.

There are sooooo many options for curriculum, which is great but also somewhat overwhelming when you are a beginner – like me! I'm trying to figure out my personality as far as a Homeschool Mama goes and my goals and the atmosphere I want to create within our home learning environment. I'm thinking next year I will probably go with something a bit more relaxed that will allow me to veer off occasionally without feeling overwhelmed. I think my confidence level will be able to handle a more loose plan next year.

I'm finding that so much of this journey is trial and error. There is no "right way" to homeschool just like there is no "right way" to parent. We all have different personalities, our children have different personalities and learning styles and we all have different strengths and weaknesses. So my thought on all of it is – You do YOU!

I think the comparison game is alive and well in the homeschool world just as it is everywhere else – IMAGINE THAT! So, we just need to keep our attention on the pulse of our individual families and do what's best for us.

-M

Here we go…

Hey there!

I'm a brand new Homeschool Mama and I want to use this space to document my journey honestly and hopefully encourage another Mama that needs a friend and someone to go through this experience with. It's a lot!

So far, I've felt stressed, overwhelmed, unsure, at peace and everything in between. Each day I feel differently about my journey and I think that's normal, even though on those tough days I've felt anything but normal. So, let's do this together! Are you in? Let's link arms and do this thing!

😘