When Little Things Add Up

I am sitting on a beat-up yellow vintage couch surrounded by toys. There’s a small mouse finger puppet, a mouse beanie baby, an owl finger puppet, a dalmatian puppet, and a small plastic sheep that came in a farm set years ago. We are beginning a new book about Nicholas, a mouse who is taking a journey from the Berkshire Mountains in Western Massachusetts all the way to Cape Cod; and we are going to travel along beside him.

I have big plans to create a beautiful curriculum to go along with the book. I want to visit the places Nicholas visits. I want to learn the things Nicholas learns. Explore the animals Nicholas meets. I want to create memories with my children of taking the same journey Nicholas takes. 

As I read, I use the toys to act out the story. Pausing every few paragraphs, I ask them to narrate it back to me, offering the toys as props. I make mental notes about activities that might connect with the chapters we read, and for the first few weeks, I think I might actually write this curriculum as I had planned.

But weeks go by and I drop the ball. We no longer use toys as prompts. I no longer take notes about field trips or nature study topics that connect to what we read. We occasionally look at our state map when Nicholas finds himself in a new place, but my desire to be intentional about incorporating activities with our weekly reading has fallen to the wayside.

Instead, we read in small increments of 15 minutes three days a week. My children narrate the story back to me as we go. Along the way, we discover that Nicholas has become a friend. His journey an adventure we are on too—not because of the activities we do—but simply because of the words we read.

*****

A few months after we’ve finished reading Nicholas, we are sitting in a restaurant in Provincetown waiting on our lunch to arrive. We are on our annual camping trip in Cape Cod and this year we took a day trip to the very tip. When my oldest asks if they are going to re-use the placemats we were given when we sat down at the table, I immediately know where her mind is. “I don’t think so,” I tell her; “Why? Would you like to bring it home?” “Yes,” she replies, “I’d like to hang it on my wall. It’s a really cool map.” 

Knowing the placemat will likely be ruined by the condensation on her glass or the ketchup she will drop, I ask our server if we can have a few extras. “They’d like to bring one home,” I say. A few moments later, he walks over with 4 new placemats, rolled like a scroll and securely fastened with a paper wrapper. “I brought you a few extra,” he says, smiling at these two darling girls who are intrigued by the maps in front of them. 

I carefully put the scroll in my bag, promising they can take a look at them when we get back to the car. We look at the maps in front of us, pointing out the places we had been to earlier that week, and the places we still want to see.

After lunch, when they are safely buckled in their car seat boosters, they ask if they can see the placemats. Taking them from my bag, I pass them to the backseat. Eager to get another look, my oldest carefully removes the paper holding the placemats in their rolled-up form. She passes one to her sister and stares at the map in her own hands for the rest of the 30-minute ride back to our campground. I had no idea a simple placemat could bring a child so much entertainment and joy.

*****

“Mommy, look at my map of Cape Cod!”

I feel tiny grains of sand on the bottom of my bare feet as I walk over to the corner of the living room. The girls are playing with Kinetic sand and glass aquarium beads. The oldest has created a landmass of sand, surrounded it with glass beads and carefully placed jacks for the lighthouses we saw in Woods Hole and Orleans. As I stand over it to get a better look, she says, “Wait, I need to add something else.” She runs into the other room to grab a toy candy stick, returning to strategically place it at the top right edge of the sand. 

We have just come home from a week’s vacation in Cape Cod and she is excited to show me the 3-D map she has created with her hands. “This is the Pilgrim Monument,” she tells me, pointing to the candy stick. “It was here, right?” I nod my head.

“This is incredible,” I say. “Did you copy that from the map we brought home?” 

“No,” she replies, “I had the map in my head, so I did it from memory.”

I am amazed at her ability to re-create this map. For as long as we’ve been homeschooling, I’ve been wondering if I was doing enough when it came to Geography. Looking at state standards for what they should know, I feel uncertainty over my ability to teach the things they would learn if they were in school. All we do is read books. Occasionally, we look at maps. And yet here she is, in her free time, creating a map of our most recent vacation out of kinetic sand and glass beads.

*****

“Trust the process,” a homeschooling friend told me years ago. I had just begun homeschooling and recently discovered the writings of Charlotte Mason. I loved what I read—start small, short lessons, varied throughout the week. I wanted our homeschool life to happen organically, but I knew it needed a backbone of sorts, or I would feel like a complete failure. 

“Just let them play until they turn 6,” I read, over and over again; but the pictures of friends sending their kids off to school made me feel like “just letting them play” would mean putting them behind. Charlotte Mason became a gift. A compromise of sorts. I could read stories to them, have them tell me what they heard, and be done with school in an hour a day. Or less! My oldest was 5 at the time. It was her Kindergarten year, so we took it slow. We read Beatrix Potter. Madeline. Night of the Moonjellies. We drew pictures together. Went on field trips. I let them play. A lot. 

Each year since, I’ve added a few more books. We spend a little longer each day reading books and doing narrations. We spend time learning phonics, grammar, writing, and math. But still, no lesson last longer than 15-20 minutes. And most days, we are done with our lessons before lunch. 

I have learned to trust the process. And I’ve fallen in love with the process. We may only spend just a couple of hours each day doing lessons, but they bring those lessons into their free play. And when they invite me in to see what they’ve done, I see just how much they learn through small increments several times a week. 

Sometimes the days feel monotonous and it's hard to believe that tiny moments make a big impact. It’s so easy to get caught up in planning great experiences that I often forget the little things add up. In focusing on all the things I want to do—or all the things I’ve failed to do—I neglect to see the things we are doing.

And then, all of a sudden, when I least expect it, they pull toys out of the closet and create a project that I couldn’t have planned better myself.

This post is part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to view the next post in this series "Minutiae".

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ten things to do when your homeschool day needs a reset

Some days homeschooling is beautiful. We cherish our time together. We read good books, the narrations are near perfect, we breeze through math and copywork, and everyone has a wonderful attitude. These are the best days. The ones where we simply enjoy one another’s company.

And then there are the other days.

The days I feel like a failure almost from the time we get started. The days of constant complaints. 

“I just don’t remember!” 
“I can’t do it!” 
“I don’t know the answer!” 

The ones where I think, “Why am I doing this? Why don’t I just send them to school and let someone else deal with these obstinate attitudes? Isn’t that part of why I pay taxes? So that someone else can teach my kids and I can do whatever I want?!”

Although this year, sending my kids to school doesn’t feel like a real option, so instead I think, “I wonder how long school will be part-time. I wonder how many years they’ll have to wear masks. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll send them next year. And then I can spend my time writing!”

Is that you? 

Sometimes it’s me.

We have a solid homeschool vision. There are good reasons why we chose this life. But sometimes it’s hard not to lose myself in the endless list of to-dos. There’s always something new to learn. Always another book to read.

Sometimes I wake up and feel like doing none of it at all. Some days the pressure of being Mom and Teacher and Chef and Lover and Writer squeezes me so tight it feels hard to breathe.

Some days, I’ve simply had enough. My temper is short; I didn’t sleep well enough; I feel irritable and not my best self. Discouragement and a lack of clear steps forward cloud my mind. I don’t want to read another chapter. Don’t want to hear another narration. Don’t even really want to be in the same room as anyone else.

It is on these days I most want to give up. On these days, I find myself so frustrated I don’t know how to move forward. I start second guessing every decision we’ve made. Are our lessons too advanced? Are they not challenging enough? Is there a learning disability that I can’t figure out? Are they bored? Am I pushing them too hard—or maybe I don’t require enough? 

As I was talking to David about this one day over our morning cup of tea, he said, “Isn’t that why we homeschool? So you can leave the to-dos undone and shake things up a little when the days feel too rough? So you can focus on relationships rather than specific information to be learned?”

He was right. This is why we homeschool. Or at least part of why. Because we value family relationships above all else. Because we know if the relationship is broken, the learning will be too. 

My computer-loving husband then continued, “If we have a computer that feels sluggish when we add just one more tab, we don’t consider giving it away. Instead we turn it off for awhile—we reboot so it can clear it’s brain and work again feeling fresh and new.” 

At that moment I realized my second-guessing does nothing but harm. In the five years we’ve been homeschooling, I’ve learned there will be good days and there will be bad. It is important for us to reevaluate our homeschool plans from time to time, but not on the days when we feel like a failure. 

Like a sluggish computer, on the days we are feeling frustrated and down, we simply need a reboot. 

The next time you find yourself in a tough day, or maybe a tough moment in a regular day, consider putting the curriculum on the shelf and focus on your relationships instead. Not sure where to start?

Here are ten ideas for resetting your homeschool day.

1—Go outside.

I always underestimated the power of going outside until COVID hit and we were stuck at home. The last year has taught me that just a few minutes outside can reset everyone’s attitude. I’m thankful we have a yard to play in and woods behind our house to hike in. Even on terrible weather days, we’ve found just 15-20 minutes of being outside can help us get out of any funk we might be in. If you don’t have a yard, consider taking a drive, or find just a corner of a park where you can throw down a blanket and watch your kids play. I like to leave a bag in my car with blankets, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, a frisbee, a notepad and some pens, and a few books so that we always have a few activities if they feel like they are bored when we get to wherever we may be going. But usually, we get distracted by nature around us and just the act of getting outside puts us all in a better mood.

2—Put on some music

We have this entire set and my girls love them all. I love that there’s a learning component as well as the music, itself, so I can feel like they’re doing music class, and I don’t have to do a thing except press play. Sometimes I’ll put on music that makes us dance, or sometimes we’ll listen to our hymn or composer for the term. No matter what I choose, I’m always amazed at how music lifts our spirits. 

3—Study Nature

Some days this means going outside (see #1.) Other days, when it just feels too cold or the weather is just too gross, we play nature I-Spy. To play, one person looks out the window and finds something in nature that they think is beautiful or exceptionally cool. As they describe it, everyone else looks out the window to try to find what they are describing. And sometimes we just stare out the window and watch the birds at the feeders. There’s something mesmerizing about getting outside of your own head and remembering that you are just one tiny piece of the greater world that God has created. When you can’t go outside, looking outside seems to help too.

4—Start a new read aloud

At any given moment, we have at least 5 books going for school—one of which is a book that we read just for fun. Sometimes just the thought of starting something new can add some spunk into your day and get everything excited about learning again. Adventures with Waffles is one of our recent favorites. If you need some other ideas for good books to read aloud, check out my “Favorite Books to Read Aloud” over at Bookshop.

5—Make tea and turn lessons into a tea party

This is probably one of my favorite ways to “do school.” I have to admit, when we’re in the midst of a challenging day, I seem to forget that a tea party can pretty much cure all woes. Which is kind of a shame, because it really is one of the easiest tricks in my book! We love Trader Joe’s for their tea selection, but you can also use lemonade or apple cider if tea just isn’t your thing.

6—Play a game

Games make people laugh. They make you have fun, even when you don’t really want to. Games offer a way to connect and build relationships even in the midst of a trying day. I could give you a list of our favorite educational games, but it really doesn’t matter what game you choose. No matter what, you’ll spend time together, your attitude will shift, and everyone will learn a little something new. 

7—Make a snack

Quite often the bad attitudes arise when the hunger strikes. I try to keep my fridge stocked with easy snacks—fruit and cheese are one of my favorite things to pull out when the crankiness starts to appear. Popcorn is another great snack. It’s easy to make, includes a brief science observation, and you can turn any leftovers into a handicraft using a needle and thread!

8—Do chores

Some days we just need to move our bodies a little more. We keep a chore chart on our wall, and when I’m feeling like I just can’t listen to one more narration or lead one more lesson, I pull a chore or two off the chart and get us all in action. Laundry is a favorite chore—we like to put audiobooks on and travel to a far away land all alone. The girls also really love vacuuming and cleaning the toilet. Two things I hate, so I outsource it to them as much as possible!

9—Check your attitude

Let’s be real. Sometimes we are our own biggest problems, #amiright? Maybe we didn’t get enough sleep last night. Or maybe we’re stressed over money, a full calendar, a sick family member. Adulting can be hard and if we don’t take time to check our own attitude and own up to our faults, our homeschooling days will suffer because of it.

10—Take a break

This is not one I recommend if you have more failure days than successes. Sometimes taking a break is exactly what you need to get you over a hump—but if you fall into the habit of taking a break every time things get tough, you’ll never have successful days. If you have more bad days than good, maybe something isn’t working and you need to make a shift. For today, give yourself some grace to fall behind on the reading schedule and just love your kids for the day. Tomorrow, reassess to decide if you need a more long-term shift.

Whatever you do, be gentle with yourself. Remember it’s okay to leave some things undone. At the end of your homeschooling years, “The question is not,—how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education—but how much does he care?” (Charlotte Mason). 

I’m confident our children will care a lot more about their education and the people around them if we don’t spend quite as much time harping on what they are supposed to learn, and instead spend time loving on each other and the world around us.

How have you reset your homeschool day lately?

An Inauguration Day Lesson Plan

The first time I really paid any attention to the Presidential Inauguration was when George W. Bush was inaugurated in 2005. I was in law school and had spent months debating with other law students—and professors—about various political issues. I remember sitting in the lobby and watching the news as Bush took the Inaugural oath. In 2009, my sister and I made the trek to D.C. and met my aunt for Obama’s first inauguration. Although there was a huge mishap and we never made it to our seats to watch the swearing-in or the inaugural address, we will always have the memory of being bundled up, in the national capital on that historic day—and we DID get to see the We Are One Concert the Sunday before!

Four years ago I was feeling rather sad over where we were as a country and didn’t pay much attention to the Inaugural events. I was caught up in my own disappointments and struggles, and the state of the country just brought on more anxiety than I could handle. I was trying to live a life of hope, but everything I saw in politics shattered any hope I was clinging to.

The events of 2020 have put the Presidential election in the forefront of our home. This is the first Presidential election where my children are old enough to really understand what’s happening. We’ve spent three years learning about early American history, and they’ve seen the frustrations and hurts the world has experienced over the last four years. We have talked about the positive things that have happened over the last few years (not many in the world of politics), and we’ve talked about the struggles. We’ve talked about Black Lives Matter, we’ve put signs up in our yard, we’ve donated to campaigns. We’ve worn masks, we’ve stayed home. We read books about candidates, we walked to vote, and we cried when we heard the news saying Biden would be President. We watched the capitol insurrection just two weeks ago, and we continue to talk about the many struggles that our country will continue to face over the next 4 years.

It feels only right that this year, we celebrate Inauguration Day as the start of something new. As a day of hope in moving forward. I decided to postpone our normal lessons for the day and make it a day of “Presidential learning”. If you are looking for ways to incorporate Inauguration Day into your week, here are a few ideas to get you started.

Photo by David Rowe.

Read

I love using Picture Books in our Morning Time together. They help us center our thoughts and good snuggles on the couch first thing in the morning always help our day go a little smoother. Here are some of my favorite books to consider for this week. If you can’t grab any of these from your library before Wednesday, you can find almost all of them all online.

Joey: The Story of Joe Biden—This is a biography about Joe Biden written by Jill Biden, and it’s just delightful. It talks about Joe as a kid, and my girls found it very relatable. You can find a read-aloud video here.

Kamala & Maya’s Big Idea—A delightful story written by Kamala Harris’ niece about a big idea Kamala and her sister Maya had as kids and how they implemented it. It’s a great book for empowering kids to have dreams and work towards making them happen. The author does an online read-aloud here.  

Blue Sky White Stars—The images in this book are incredible. The words are simple, but when combined with the illustrations by Kadir Nelson, it becomes a profound book. This is one of my favorite children’s books about America. I highly recommend finding a copy of this one so you can look at the stunning images in person, but you can also watch a read-aloud here.

So You Want to Be President - This is a longer book works best with older elementary students. It has fun facts and great illustrations about every President through George W. Bush. We really enjoy reading this one together. You can watch a read-aloud here.

Sofia Valdez, Future Prez - SUCH a fun book about a girl who wants to make her neighborhood a better place. She learns about the many different steps one has to go through to make a difference, and how much determination it takes to become a leader. Especially President! Online read-aloud is available here.

The Buck Stops Here - This is the only one I couldn’t find as a read-aloud online. I found this one to be a little dry when we read it together, but my kids actually love it. They requested it from the library so many times that I finally just bought them their own copy! It has fun facts about all the Presidents through Clinton.

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash.

Writing Exercise

Challenge your kids with this writing prompt: You’re president of the United States. What do you say in your inaugural address to help bring people together?

If you have younger elementary kids, or kids who struggle with the mechanics of writing, I encourage you to make this an oral composition exercise. Have them tell you what they’d say and you write it down as they go. You’ll be surprised how well they can compose something in their head, even though they may struggle with actually putting it down on paper!

Photo by Manki Kim on Unsplash.

Tea Time

We love to have Family Tea Time once a month or so. It’s a time when we sit around and drink tea (or sometimes hot chocolate or lemonade or whatever else we can find in the house) and read poetry together. This month we’ll have Tea Time on Inauguration Day, and we’ll read the Inaugural Oath, as well as a few poems like I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman and On the Pulse of Morning by Maya Angelou. There’s a great Youtube Video of Maya Angelou reading her poem at the 1993 Inauguration. We’ll sing the Star Spangled Banner with Lady Gaga and maybe even America the Beautiful because singing is good for our hearts and our lungs. And of course, we’ll have a yummy snack to munch on. Maybe popcorn with strawberries and blueberries?

Photo by ramya_aiyappan on Flickr.

Art

No lesson plan is complete without a little bit of Art! Part of the Inauguration week kick-off included Kolam, a traditional Indian artwork, created by more than 1800 people all over the world. i can’t wait to take a look at some of the designs, and maybe even create Kolam of our own!

We are also huge fans of Chalk Pastels with Nana. If you have some chalk and some paper, you can follow along with her and paint your very own American flag. If you are a member of her art club, you can explore the three branches of government. I have to say I splurged on a membership in a fit of COVID-induced rage back in March, and it was my best impulse purchase of 2020! I can’t wait to paint the branches of government picture … whether my kids do it with me or not!

Photo by David Rowe.

Play

Play is such an important part of a child’s learning, as well as being an important way for us parents to foster connections with them. I have seen firsthand how my girls incorporate the things they are learning in their imaginative play. This week, consider putting on a puppet show together. Or if you don’t have puppets, pull out all of your stuffed animals.

Who will be the next Puppet President?

How will they address their audience?

Will there be music? Other speakers?

Don’t forget the swearing in!

Watch

Honestly, you can do none of the other things listed here and watch the Inauguration and you’ve done a great job of incorporating this historic day. There’s no official start time—the swearing in happens at Noon EST, but you can expect news coverage to happen all morning. Typically things start sometime around 11:30am EST.

And if you’re looking for some background music while you’re making dinner, check out this playlist the Biden-Harris team put together. I’ve been jamming to it all day!

Have so much fun in your Presidential Learning! This truly is an inaugural year like none other.

Learning History Through A Timeline

One of the things I love most about the way we learn history is our Timeline Book. When I first read about the idea of a history timeline or book of centuries, I was kind of intimidated. I don’t remember much that I learned in history class growing up, so the idea of filling in blanks in a big book of empty dates was terrifying. How in the world was I going to teach my children history if I, myself, couldn’t tell you what happened when?!

When we used The Playful Pioneers last year, I found the idea of timeline cards. The original intent was to have one timeline card and create a big visual timeline somewhere on the wall - but I knew my kids would want to complete their OWN timeline cards, and I didn’t want two big visual timelines, so I came up with the idea of a Timeline Book.

Once a week, we cut a piece of cardstock into 4x6 pieces, choose something from our readings and add a year and a brief caption. The girls draw whatever they want to help them remember the tidbit and then we add it to their timeline books.

We use 4x6 “brag books” for storing printed photographs that I picked up at a thrift store. We don’t necessarily do the timeline cards in order - two weeks ago we added one for 1902, and today we made one for the Statue of Liberty in 1886. One of the reasons I do it this way, even though we are mostly learning history chronologically, is because it encourages them to go back through their books and review what’s already there. Sometimes they have to rearrange cards to make space for an older card - and it gives them a little glimpse of how we learn things over the years. As adults, we often looking back to different times in a nonsequential order. When I have them add a timeline card for a previous decade we’ve studied, it helps them make a connection between what we’ve just read and what we read about last year.

Because they loved this part of our week so much last year, I decided to continue with it this year as we shifted into using A Gentle Feast - and I’m so glad I did! We’ve been able to see how different life was in the late 1800s New York City compared to the life the Wilders were living on the prairie in the late 1800s.

This is one of their favorite activities - and I’m always so encouraged by how excited they get to add a new card to their books. They also love to show it off to anyone who comes to visit. I guess this makes sense - I mean, they’ve created their own really cool history picture books - why wouldn’t they want to share it with the world?

Links in this post are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small amount if you purchase something.

Homeschooling 101: Choosing Curriculum

Another very commonly asked question I’ve been getting lately is

How in the world do you choose curriculum?!

It has taken me a good five years to choose a curriculum that I really love and feel like will work for us for the long term. I bought my first homeschool curriculum when my oldest was 3, and have learned a thing or two about choosing something to work for us since then. There are SO many curriculum options out there that it can be overwhelming, especially if you can’t quite figure out which one looks like the right one.

Before you choose curriculum, keep in mind your priorities and your vision. You’ll also want to make a list of subjects that you want to tackle this year. If you’re having trouble with this list, you can use your state’s standards as a guide, or World Book has a helpful page as well. As you make this list, remember that you don’t have to cover every subject every single day. Some families choose to learn 2-3 subjects for 6 weeks at a time and then move on to something else. The beauty of homeschooling is that you get to create something that works for you. Don’t think of homeschooling as “school at home” - but instead think of it as an opportunity to create an environment of lifelong learning.

So now that I’ve told you all of that, I’m going to suggest something that might sound crazy to you. If you’re reading this, it’s likely because this is your first year homeschooling. For many of you, it may be your only homeschooling year. Or maybe you’re reading this because you’re overwhelmed by curriculum and can’t figure out what your next step should be. I’ve been where you are. And trust me on this … don’t stress over curriculum. Instead, focus on creating a memorable learning year for your children. Focus less on making sure you meet all the guidelines and more in creating an environment where your children love to learn.

About this time last year, I was spending hours pouring over curriculum trying to figure out how to teach both of my girls - at different levels - at the same time. After many weeks - even months - of this, I took my own advice. I stopped stressing about curriculum and found something that would help us create meaningful memories together. We had the most amazing year. My kids - and I - learned a ton, we loved our year, and it helped sustain us even through the COVID shutdowns in early Spring. The best part? When I sat down to write our progress report for this year, I realized that we hit just about every subject I wanted us to, without me having to spend hours finding the right curriculum. I realized that my kids met most of the state standards simply by learning to love learning!

It’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole of good curriculum, so I’m sharing my favorite resources with you here. There are so many other great choices out there, but I’m keeping this limited because curriculum fatigue is real. These are resources that I think can work for just about anyone. The Overall Resources listed below cover almost all of your subjects - you’ll need to add in a separate Math program and, depending on the age of your child, maybe a Language Arts program. I have found these resources to be some of the best for an introductory year of homeschooling. They are flexible and fun, they foster family connection, they are literature based, and they make meaningful memories.

Some of My Favorite Overall Resources:

The Peaceful Press

I used the Peaceful Preschool for my youngest’s PreK year, and we used The Playful Pioneers last year for a K/2nd grade year. I love every single bit about both of these curricula. They are easy to follow, super flexible, and we were able to fit in lots of time for free exploration and independent learning. The Playful Pioneers uses the Little House on the Prairie Books (as an alternate you can use Little Britches) as the main read aloud, and different activities are built around various parts of Early American History. There’s also a curriculum based on the Narnia books (The Kind Kingdom) that looks at European History. If you’re looking for an easy curriculum that will help your kids foster a love of learning and make meaningful memories, this is an excellent choice.

Five in a Row

We used Five in a Row for my oldest’s Kindergarten year. I love it because it uses picture books to explore all of the different subjects. Each week has a different picture book as it’s main book, and there are various activities built around it. We had SO much fun learning about human anatomy and France thanks to Madeline, about Japan and California thanks to Grandfather’s Journey, and about jellyfish and ocean life thanks to Night of the Moonjellies. I think this curriculum is best suited for the early Elementary ages - but I think it has enough meat in it to be used with older Elementary kids as well. We still use Five in a Row at times - I just adore it!

A Gentle Feast

A Gentle Feast is what we are using this year. After searching all over the place for a good way to teach Modern American History, I landed on A Gentle Feast, because it combined most of the things we were already trying to do in one curriculum. I ordered the book list first, and then decided to buy the full curriculum. A Gentle Feast is based on a 4-year history cycle. When you purchase a Cycle’s curriculum, you have access to it forever - so in 4 years I’ll be able to reuse the material I paid for this year. If you’re considering homeschooling for the long haul, this is a wonderful curriculum to take a look at. The creator of A Gentle Feast did what I spent so many hours trying to do two years ago, so I’m thrilled that I was able to find someone who did it for me!

Chalk Pastels with Nana

I don’t consider this a formal curriculum, but we use it so often with our other curricula that I couldn’t leave it out. Nana is a Grandma who teaches kids art through the use of chalk pastels. There’s an entire collection of “I drew it then I knew it” lessons that correspond with different parts of history, nature, maps, literature, and so much more. I love her lessons so much - she really empowers kids (and adults!) to become artists, and I’m amazed at how much my kids’ artistic ability has increased just through weekly lessons with Nana. We do 1-3 lessons a week - sometimes I directly connect it to something that we’re learning, and other times I let the girls choose what they want to paint.

Let’s Talk About Math

No matter what overall curriculum you choose, you’ll want to make sure you have an additional plan for Math. Again, there are TONS of options out there - I’ve narrowed it here to the few I like best.

Life of Fred

This isn’t an ordinary Math curriculum. It’s a story-based curriculum that jumps all over the place and makes my kids laugh like crazy. I’m amazed at how much math they learn from it, and they constantly pull the books off the shelf to read on their own. You can do it as a read aloud, or if they are readers, you can let them work at their own pace.

The Good and the Beautiful

This is what we use for our regular Math curriculum. We had a hard time finding a Math curriculum that didn’t bring tears, and The Good and the Beautiful does an amazing job of using games, stories, and fun manipulatives to teach Math. This is a parent-led Math, but is very open and go, so I find it super easy to follow. My girls love this Math - and that’s enough reason for me to keep using it.

Horizon Math

I haven’t used this, but I have friends who have. It’s a workbook based Math program that I believe is mostly student-led. If your kiddos love workbooks, this may be a good choice for you.

Grade level workbooks

Amazon and Costco are full of Homeschooling helps right now. Any grade level workbook will include Math at the Common Core Standards for that grade, so if you’re looking for an easy way to keep your kids at level for this year, this can be an easy option.

Prodigy Math

This is a video game where kids answer Math questions to complete quests. We don’t use a lot of screen curriculum, but when I need a few moments of quiet, this is a great way for them to boost their math skills and get some tablet time all at the same time.

Beast Academy

Comic-book based, Beast Academy has a workbook and an online option. I have friends who have used this for their comic-loving kids, and it gets rave reviews.

Games

Don’t underestimate the power of board games. There are tons of games out there that use Math. When my oldest decided she hated Math and couldn’t get through a lesson without crying, we put a pause on formal Math lessons and just played board games for a few weeks. Her math skills improved, and she was ready to jump back into formal lessons. Sometimes our brains just need to learn in a creative way, and board games do just that.

Let’s talk about Reading and Spelling

Bob Books

My youngest taught herself to read using Bob Books. I highly recommend them. I found the entire set at Costco a couple of years ago, and it was one of the best curriculum purchases I made.

Picture Books

I’m a firm believer that if you read to your kids, they will eventually learn to read. Kids learn to read at different ages, but if they are read to, they will almost always figure out how to read themselves. Sometimes it’s just like a light switch in their brain. There’s an actual curriculum that you can purchase to teach your child to read using picture books, but you could also just use one of those overall curriculum listed above and have your child read over your shoulder. (As a side note, I want to acknowledge that there are children that need extra assistance with reading, and there are specific learning disorders where your child may need something more than this.)

Teach Monster

This is another technology tool my kids used to bolster their learning of phonics. We didn’t do any formal phonics instruction, but this video game on the tablet did that work for me. I’ve heard many stories of kids teaching themselves to read through this game, and I’m a huge fan.

Teach Your Kid to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

If you’re looking for a formal reading program, this is a great one. Many of my friends have used it successfully, and for several children in their families - all with different learning styles. It’s inexpensive, and easy to follow, and you can get it on Amazon.

but what if my kids fall behind?

I’m going to say this to you over and over again. You aren’t going to screw up your child’s education. You’re going to foster a love of learning in them - you’re going to show them that learning is fun and rewarding, and you’re going to make so many awesome memories that you’ll look back on this year as one of your favorites. You’re going to create the most meaningful relationship with your kids that when they do go back to school, they are going to be just fine. In all likelihood, they aren’t going to fall behind. But let’s say they do. Take a deep breath. Because of this time you’ve spent together, they will know they can catch up with your help. You will have learned how to learn together. And don’t forget - your family is not the only one trying to learn at home this year. Education is going to look differently in the foreseeable future. Please trust me on this - stress less on how far ahead or behind they are and just love your kids. They will be fine.

See More Homeschooling 101 here.

Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means I get a very small commission if you choose to purchase. It costs you nothing, and I don’t recommend them because I’m an affiliate, but I am an affiliate because I think it’s a wonderful choice!

Photo by Thomas Kolnowski on Unsplash.

Homeschooling 101: Creating a Schedule

This is probably one of the most common questions people ask me about homeschooling.

What does your schedule look like? How do you teach multiple different levels at the same time?

The hard work you did yesterday in listing your priorities and creating your vision will vastly help you in thinking about your homeschool schedule. I am sharing my schedule with you here, but it’s important to remember that I don’t work. I have a lot of hobbies, and I make time for them most days, but I don’t have to build in time in our homeschool days for specific work hours. If you’re one of the many parents who is trying to figure out how to juggle working and homeschooling, I hope these tips can help you in thinking about your own schedule - but that list of priorities and your homeschool vision will be critical in making a schedule actually work for you.

Our Schedule

The honest truth is, we don’t really have a “schedule.” We do have a daily routine, but that routine remains flexible each day, and there’s a certain ebb and flow to it depending on what’s happening in our family on any given day. One of the things I’ve learned over the last few years is that none of us work very well on sticking to a certain time table, so we instead create a routine and have a checklist, and mark off the things we’ve done each day. If anything is left undone, we move it to the next day in the week. I try to leave one day a week for “catch up.”

Now - are you ready for a really big secret about how we create that routine in our house?

We do it around food. Because let’s be real … everyone has to eat - several times a day. Instead of using meal and snack times as breaks from lessons, we do the opposite - we use those times as launching times for our lessons. And I’m always amazed at how much more engaged my kids are if they’re snacking on something. Our day goes something like this:

Wake up, individual play

We have a slow morning. The girls wake up when they wake up - sometimes that’s 6:30, other times it’s 8:00. Occasionally it’s even earlier. They know that until I’ve had my coffee, they have time to do whatever they’d like.

First Breakfast

This is an easy bowl of cereal, that happens soon after they first wake up. Most mornings, they fix it themselves, and it gives me the flexibility I need to drink coffee, read a few pages of my book, or do a little bit of writing. Most times this ends up being individual reading time, because they’ve gotten into the habit of always having a book next to them as they eat their cereal. Now they mostly read chapter books, but even before they could read, they would grab stacks of picture books to look at as they eat.

Free time

Depending on how early they wake up, after they’ve finished their cereal they have an hour or two of time to do whatever they’d like. We have a closet that has various activities in it - lots of puzzles, games, legos, playdough, blocks, magnet dress up dolls, etc. They also have free reign to craft supplies, and bookshelves full of books. A few times a week I’ll try to leave a certain activity or stack of books on our coffee table the night before. This entices them to explore it after their breakfast time, and it’s a way I sneak in some learning connected to other themes for the day or week.

Morning Chores

Around 9:00 every morning, it’s time to “Get Ready for the Day.” Several years ago we made a chore chart as part of one of our lessons, and it’s something they still use when thinking about what they need to do in the morning. We all use this time to get dressed, brush hair and teeth, make our beds, clean up our dirty clothes, start a load of laundry, tidy up our bedrooms, and then head back down the stairs for the start of our lessons. We’re working on shortening the amount of time this takes - sometimes they do it fairly quickly. Other times it takes an inordinate amount of time, and I have to entice them to finish up by promising them something to eat when they’re done. See? Food is the secret.

Morning Tea Time/Second Breakfast

This is the start of large chunk of together learning. I make them a second breakfast - usually it’s omelettes, scrambled eggs, cheese grits, or oatmeal. Something hearty that will fill their bellies so we can move on to a big chunk of learning for the day. As they are eating, I begin our read alouds for the day. Sometimes we listen to an audiobook, other times I read to them. Each lessons is short - most lessons last between 10-15 minutes, and no lesson is longer than 20 minutes at a time. If I can tell they’re getting antsy, we end sooner and move on to a different type of lesson. During this chunk of time, we do our main subjects together - Fables/Hero Tales, History, Geography, Literature, Natural History/Nature Study, Foreign Language, Bible, Music, Art Study, Composer Study. We don’t do every single subject every day. We typically do 3-4 subjects each morning - with each subject happening 2-3 times each week.

Morning Snack

Typically an hour and a half or so after they’ve eaten their second breakfast, they begin complaining about being hungry again, so we take a quick break between lessons and I put together a snack of fruit, raw veggies, nuts, cheese, or anything else I can find in my fridge. This is a quick grab and go snack - one that doesn’t take a lot of time. As they are munching on it, we move on to individual subjects. This is the only time that the girls are separated for their own levels. We do Math, Handwriting Instruction for the younger, Language Arts for the older (Handwriting practice, grammar, spelling), and Individual Reading Practice. I work with each of them directly for Math, and have differing levels of interaction with them for the other subjects during this time. These are subjects that happen daily, 4-5 times a week.

Free Time/Lunch/Quiet Time

When they finish their morning lessons, they have free time until lunch. Most days our lessons go right up to lunch time - but occasionally we finish and they have time to do whatever they’d like. Most days, I send them outside at this time until I get lunch prepared. If the weather is nice, I’ll bring lunch outside. After lunch they have more outside play time. Many days I’ll make them have a quiet time - a time when they have some down time in their rooms. Time when I say “I don’t want to see you for an hour, unless there’s an emergency.” As they get older, when the weather is nice outside, this quiet time is really more like outside free time. In the colder months, it’s mostly indoor quiet time, where they can listen to an audiobook, read a book, or play quietly in their room. I’ve found this hour or two to be crucial for my own wellbeing. It’s the time I use to do my own things - some days that’s cleaning, some days it’s writing or sewing, or doing some other hobby.

Afternoon Tea Time

Sometime Mid-Afternoon, we come back together for Afternoon Tea Time. The time of this changes based on what other afternoon activities we have going on that day. It typically happens 3-4 times a week - or at least that’s my goal! “Tea Time” doesn’t always mean we’ll have tea … it’s simply a fancy name for Snack Time. This chunk of time includes the lessons they do Virtually - Piano, Art (We use Chalk Pastels with Nana - more about that tomorrow), Typing, and various other apps or online games. Many days we’ll do Handicrafts during this block of time - especially in the colder or rainier months.

Afternoon Activities

Typically by 3:30 every day, our main day winds down and we start to get ready for extracurricular activities. Sometimes we do late afternoon playdates or nature walks. Some days we have nothing on the calendar and this time is simply free time. We try to not overschedule our late afternoons - I’ve found that we ideally need 2-3 days where there’s nothing on the calendar. As the girls get older and into more things, this gets harder to do - but we try to be intentional about creating open space in their days. I’ve found that the more open space I can give them, the more creative they tend to be - and the more individual learning I see happening.

Some Helpful Hints About Scheduling:

Don’t overschedule yourself.

It’s better to do less things and do them well than it is to cram too much into one day. Remember - you aren’t going to screw up your child’s education if you don’t get to every subject every day. They are going to learn and grow and excel. Be intentional in your scheduling and give yourself space.

Don’t be afraid of boredom.

Boredom Sparks Creativity. As parents we have a great desire to engage our children and make sure they’re always learning something - but the reality is, sometimes the best learning comes from an insane amount of free time. Think of your lessons as a way to spark imagination, and then give them lots of time to process and think on those lessons in their own way. I’m always so encouraged by watching my kids in their free time - so often they are busy creating something new, or imagining themselves in far away lands or historical times that we’ve been reading about. It’s absolutely okay for your kids to be bored. Build in time every day for that to happen. It may be hard at first, as they get used to it - especially for older kids - but in time, they’ll learn how to use that free time to create.

Be Flexible.

This is the ultimate rule in creating your schedule. The schedule I’ve shared with you here is my ideal schedule. It’s what our ideal day looks like. There are many days that look just like this. But there are also many days when we don’t get through the things I’d hoped we’d get through. Days when Morning Chores take an inordinate amount of time and it’s lunch time before we’ve even tackled Math and Reading. Days when we skip all morning lessons and move straight to individual lessons and free time, simply because someone didn’t sleep well and everyone feels off kilter. Days when we ditch the lessons to go play in the yard, because the weather is glorious and it’s been raining (or snowing) for weeks on end. Flexibility is key when everyone is at home all day every day. Your home is your safe space - it should be a place where everyone feels loved and comforted. Keep that in mind as you go through your days, and give yourself the grace and flexibility to not get it all done every single day.

Don’t let your schedule be the master of you, but instead, use it as a tool to help you create calm and beautiful days with each other.

More Homeschooling 101 here.

Photo by NORTHFOLK on Unsplash.

Homeschooling 101: Where Do I Start?

Several weeks ago my inbox was flooded with messages from frantic parents. The message was always something like this …

I think I’m going to have to homeschool this year. Can you help me figure out what to do?

So I put together a survey, and did a short Zoom call. Would you believe that up to this point, I had successfully avoided using Zoom during #corona?? But this seemed like a good reason to give in and go virtual. With parents all across America trying to figure out how to best set up their home environments for learning, I felt like maybe I had a few things to share. I promised to share much of that information in a blog series, so today I bring you Part One, with many other posts to follow this week.

I’m no expert in homeschooling, but after 4 years of trying to figure things out, I have learned a thing or two, and am happy to share what I know with those of you feeling overwhelmed and out of sorts. Whether you are feeling like you want to go all in with homeschooling, or your kids will be home for Virtual/Remote Learning, I hope this series of posts can give you some helpful hints and help you feel more at peace.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Homeschooling 101: Where Do I Start?

First of all, take a deep breath. You can do this. Remember that we are living in a unique time in our life. This is a historical time - we’ve never lived through something like this. Some of our great-grandparents may have experienced something similar back during the Spanish Flu of 1918, but the world was vastly different then. This is a temporary time in our lives. We will come out of it changed, for sure, but this year (or two, depending on how long it takes), will not ruin our children’s education. Or their socialization. So stop what you’re doing, and just breathe.

One of the best pieces of advice someone gave me 4 years ago was to not get caught up in the many years of education ahead of us, but to simply focus on making a decision for the most immediate school year. Every year circumstances change, and educational needs of each child change, and there may be a time when homeschooling doesn’t fit for one or both of our children. So we give ourselves a lot of flexibility to change things as needed. Many of you are looking at homeschooling for just one year, due to COVID-19, and this advice is crucial for you. Don’t stress about your child’s educational plan past this year. Focus only on this year ahead of you.

Now that you’re laser focused on just the 2020-2021 school year, sit down and list out your priorities and vision for your year together. Remember, these are YOUR priorities. The choice you make is 100% okay - this is a no judgment zone! Some questions to think about:

Do you have to work while also schooling your child? Do you have to go into an office? Do you have to work at home, and if so, is it a flexible schedule - or do you have certain hours?

If you have to work do you have people that can help while you work?

Does Virtual Learning through the school system mean your kids will be on the computer 5 hours a day instead of in a classroom? If so, is that something you’re okay with?

Do you have the freedom to forget about standardized education for a year and create something different?

Do you have babies or toddlers to care for in addition to school-aged children?

What do you want your days to look like? Do you want freedom in your days (and do you have the ability to create that freedom), or is it better for your family to have a stricter routine/schedule each day?

Once you’ve thought about your family priorities, sit down and create a Vision for your homeschool year. We choose to homeschool, year after year, because we want a different lifestyle than the one traditional schooling forces upon us. This year, many of us are forced into a different lifestyle, so if you have the freedom to stay home with your kids and a work schedule that can be flexible, I encourage you to think of this year as a year of living intentionally together. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to create a year of learning and a year of memories that you can look back on as a special time together - even in the midst of turmoil around our world.

I know I know …. but you’re worried about whether or not your kids will be able to transition back to public/private school after this year, right? Trust me on this … they will be fine. There are tons of studies that show that kids who are homeschooled transition just fine into a regular school setting - and many times they actually go back to school ahead of their peers. And besides that, listen to me when I say this …. this is ONE year. You are not going to completely screw up your kids’ education in one year.

Yes, you can do this. It’s going to be hard, but it’s going to be so rewarding in the end. I’m going to walk you through creating one of the most memorable years of your children’s childhood  - so take a step back, and just breathe. Nothing worth doing well is ever easy.

Today’s Assignments:

1. List your Priorities

2. Create a Vision

Then come back here tomorrow and we’ll talk about creating a schedule for your year of learning together.

More Homeschooling 101 here.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash.

Creating a Homeschool Vision

If you asked me before I had children if I would one day stay home and homeschool them, I would have given you a very quick answer: “Absolutely not!” I have always been a huge supporter of public schools - after all, I grew up in a relatively poor, underperforming school, and I turned out just fine. I may not have been the smartest kid in the state, but I had an appreciation for people different than me - and I thought that was the most important thing about school. Of course I’ll send my kids to public school!

And yet when I had children, I couldn’t help but wonder what life might be like if we chose to homeschool. I’ve shared part of that story before - along with why we chose the Charlotte Mason philosophy to guide us in defining our curriculum over the years.

As we promised, we reassessed at the end of our first year, and made the decision to continue homeschool for the foreseeable future. This Charlotte Mason homeschooling life is so rich and full of beauty - and we just can’t imagine sending our children to learn in any other setting. That doesn’t mean there won’t come a time when we choose a year or more of public or private school - but for now, we are all in to this crazy homeschooling life.

There’s a lot of talk about “homeschool philosophies” - there’s even a quiz you can take to see what type of homeschooling model will fit you best. But there’s so much more to homeschooling than simply a philosophy. So, like any good visionary leader, I didn’t want to begin this all-in approach to homeschooling without a Vision and Mission Statement. Inspired by a sermon on “Family” this summer, I spent a good chunk of time trying to create a vision for homeschooling based around the following question:

“How does homeschooling allow us to enter into the mission of Christ in a unique way?”

I did a lot of brainstorming about why we wanted to homeschool, what our goals were for our homeschool days and years, and what our major influences were in creating curriculum and learning experiences. We want to homeschool because we long for a different pace of life than what we see in the world around us. We want family relationships to be more important than external ones. We want to engage in hard things together - to learn together - to love one another and the world around us.

We want our children to grow up to be confident but humble people. Independent but empathetic. Well-rounded Fine Arts lovers as well as mathmeticians and scientists. We want our children to see glimpses of God in the subjects that we study and the people that we meet.

After several days and lots of prayers, this is what we came up with for our homeschool vision.

“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ~Philippians 4:8”

Vision of Rowe Academy:

We will offer a different lifestyle than the one society pushes on us. We will embrace time together as a family. We will encourage tough conversations, forgiveness, encouragement, lifting one another up, cherishing our bonds with each other. We want our lives to illustrate our calling to live in this world but not of this world.

We will equip our children to become independent thinkers, with the ability to critically evaluate information they are given as well as empathize with people who live a lifestyle that may look different than their own.

We will enter into the mission of Christ in a way that the typical public school schedule does not. (We are still trying to figure out what this looks like. My dream is for us to find ways to engage in regular volunteering during the week, connecting with people who don’t look like us, being active in a community in an intergenerational way, etc.)

We will gift our children with an age-appropriate, faith-based, liberal arts education that spreads a feast of information. We will strive to craft a curriculum that acknowledges the importance of good literature, creativity, and art as well as science, math, and technology.

We will foster an environment of lifelong learning. We believe it’s just as important for the adults among us to engage in formal learning exercises as it is for the youth among us. We will engage in family learning activities, where we as parents model learning by example.

We’re nearing the “end” of our first formal year of schooling, and I love that I have this vision statement that I can turn to when I’m evaluating how the year went, and what I want to do differently next year. It’s incredibly helpful for me to keep it posted near my computer, so that when I plan each term, our vision stays front and center. Because we spent the time to create this big picture of what we want homeschooling to be about in our family, I feel more confident saying “NO” when opportunities arise that might not fit in with the vision we have for our children’s education.

This was a fun exercise for me, and one that I encourage you to spend some time thinking about in your own homeschool planning sessions. I’m no expert in homeschooling - but I am the closest thing to an expert in my family. And that, my friends, is all you need to come up with your own homeschooling vision.

So tell me … what IS your homeschool vision?

An Incredible Journey Begins

It’s 8:00pm. The kids have just gone to bed and my sweet husband is downstairs cleaning the kitchen. I tiptoe down the stairs, relishing the first calm and quiet of the day. I climb onto the barstool at the counter, take a deep breath, and throw out an idea I’ve been mulling over for a day or two.

“I have a crazy idea. You don’t have to say yes if you don’t want to … but you should want to.”

“Um, okay … what is it?”

“Well, I spend a lot of time teaching our children, right? Why don’t we spend some time teaching ourselves? We can use a mid-level curriculum from Ambleside, and set our own reading schedule. We can use the same Composer, Poet, Artist, and Geography lessons as I’m already using for the girls - and we can add in some higher level History and Literature. It’ll be fun!”

“Okay. Sure.”

“Wait. What? Okay? Really?! You’ll do it with me?!”

And just like that, we committed to not only educating our children at home, but also doing some intentional work on educating ourselves.

Our entire educational philosophy centers around the idea that “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.” (Charlotte Mason, Vol. 6) I’ve spent hours coming up with a curriculum and schedule that puts that philosophy into action for our children. An atmosphere of appreciating rich ideas. One in which we live a life slower than the one society tries to push on us. An atmosphere where we are learning from every little thing we do. An atmosphere that is God-focused and Christ-centered.

Discipline to do hard things. To try new things. To persevere in the midst of adversity. Grace to make mistakes, and then discipline to do the hard work of fixing those mistakes - or to do better the next time around. Discipline to form the habits we need to keep ourselves healthy - in mind, body, and soul.

A life that is continually growing, shifting, and learning something new. A life in which we are not afraid to be wrong - one where we intentionally engage in meaningful conversations and dialogue with others. A life where we are open to new ideas in a variety of subjects. A life in which we are not afraid to change our mind once we hear or read a story that enlightens us to a new point of view.

It came to me, one night as I was lying with my 4-year-old waiting for her to fall asleep … if that is the education we are striving to provide for our children - shouldn’t we be providing it for ourselves as well?

The truth is, I have always loved learning. You know how when you ask most kids what they love most about school, they answer “Recess or P.E.”? Well, those were my least favorite. My favorite part of school were the books. I always loved to learn something new. I loved to read books about faraway places. I was a true Rory Gilmore. I can remember a time when my aunt told me I would end up being a "professional student.” And in so many ways, that prediction has come true. I guess my excitement over learning is contagious - because somehow I convinced my husband to come along with me for the ride.

So I started doing some research and we decided to start with the booklist for Ambleside Year 6 (which for most homeschooling families is somewhere around 6th or 7th grade). We have chosen to focus on History, Biography and Literature in addition to supplementing the Bible, Poetry, Art, Composer, Nature Study, and Geography that we are already using with the girls. We’re one week in, and I think I can speak for both of us when I say that we’re really loving the experience.

For history, we’re alternating between Augustus Caesar’s World and The Story of the Greeks. For Biography, we’re looking at Never Give In: The Extraordinary Character of Winston Churchill. And for Literature we’re reading The Age of Fable as well as The Hobbit. In one week - and after narrating just a few chapters (side note: have you ever tried narrating a book? It’s HARD!) - I’ve already begun to learn more about the world than I remember learning in high school. I’m piecing things together in a way I never did as a younger me. I suspect that has more to do with my age and life experiences than it does with the curriculum itself - but what I am sure of is that we were never created to stop learning. I’m excited to see where this journey takes us over the coming weeks, months, and years.

How are you educating yourself these days?

Snow Day Maple Candy

When we made the decision to stay in Massachusetts instead of moving back to Georgia, we agreed that we had to do something to embrace the change of seasons. By now ya'll know winter is the hardest for me - it's cold ... snowy ... and it consists of bundling and unbundling small children any time you have to go outside. But I'm committed to this place ... and so this Winter I've been committed to appreciating the season that we're in, and finding the good things. After all ... There is a season for everything, right? (Cue the music...)

One of the ways we've embraced Winter this year is by making a list of all the snow-day activities we want to do. Then when there's snow on the ground, we can bundle ourselves up and make some fun out of it. After all - my kids adore the snow - and I just can't imagine their little lives without it anymore. So one day this week, when we were surprised by a couple of inches of snow, we decided to take a cue from Ma and Pa in our Little House in the Big Woods book and try our hand at making Maple Candy.

As you can see here, I poured way too much maple syrup in our pie pan of snow, so then we rushed outside to add more snow, thinking that would help it solidify; but all it really did was turn it into a big pie plan of mush. We ended up with something that resembled maple snow cream ... but we did end up with a few pieces of soft taffy at the bottom. Next time I'll use less syrup and boil it a bit longer so it hardens a little more. Regardless, it was delicious, and we made a happy Winter memory - so all in all, I'd say it was a big win.