The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah: A Book Review

It has been a LONG time since I shared a book review in this space. I’m reading a lot of books these days, but I haven’t spent much time actually writing out my response. I hope to change that this year, because I think I get more out of a book if I sit down and process it just a bit in written form—and because I can be a bit bossy at times and I like telling you what I think you should (and shouldn’t) read. 😂😂😂

I lucked out in getting Kristin Hannah’s brand new release, The Four Winds, a day before publication day through Book of the Month. I declared the rest of the school day to be canceled—my kids had a small celebration at that—and I sat down on the couch under a blanket to begin reading just minutes after I ripped open the box. Friends … it did not disappoint.

This is Kristin Hannah’s most beautiful book yet. I have loved almost everything she’s ever written, The Nightingale being my favorite book of all time. You know, the book I always recommend when anyone asks me for a good book to read. The book I would take to a deserted island and read over and over and over again. But the thing about The Nightingale is that you don’t really completely fall in love with the characters until the very end. And then you want to re-read the whole thing all over again.

But this book!!!!! The Four Winds grips you from the very beginning and never lets you go. I threw my book across the room after the first chapter because I was so angry I could spit. I was already so emotionally invested in the main character that I just wanted to cry. As the book went on, my emotional investment continued to grow.

We are just wrapping up our History Unit on the Great Depression, so I’ve read a lot about this time period over the last few weeks. This book is one of the most captivating historical fiction books I’ve read about the Great Depression. It made me think about things in a way I never had before, and I want to sit around and talk about it with people for days and days and days. I’m missing my Woebegone Literary Society gals so much right now and am tempting an impromptu outdoor book club gathering just for this book. Except it’s winter, so I guess I’ll just have to wait a little longer to discuss.

It is Hannah’s best-written novel from start to finish. She nailed the art of writing with this one. I loved every single moment of it. Even the scenes that made me angry. No, especially the scenes that made me angry.

It goes up there right next to The Nightingale in my list of books everyone should read. Just do it. You won’t be disappointed.

Observing Ash Wednesday at Home

“There will be two virtual Ash Wednesday services, but no imposition of ashes.”

My heart sank as I read the message in my inbox. How can we have an Ash Wednesday service without the imposition of ashes? 

This feels like the hardest loss of them all. 

We did Maundy Thursday at home. We read the story of the Last Supper and drew pictures of Jesus. We washed feet and shared bread and wine. We prayed the Lord’s Prayer and asked for Your will to be done.

Then we did Good Friday at home. We turned off the lights and stripped our mantel and remembered the darkness and sadness of the day.

We celebrated Holy Saturday—planting flowers, cleaning the house, and decorating the mantel for the celebration to come.

And we cried our way through Easter Sunday. We woke up in the dark to drive to the beach to wash the sun rise above the ocean. We talked about the beauty and stillness of that morning. The majesty before us. The hope in the midst of our darkness.

We dressed up for church and sat around our coffee table and heard the story of that first Easter morn. We had scavenger hunts in our backyard and pulled out all our best ideas to make Easter a day full of happy memories.

Summer came and went.

We had a small Thanksgiving celebration and gave thanks for the good in the midst of the bad.

We had Christmas Eve snack dinner and sang Christmas carols around candles and made a Holy Communion table of our own. 

And now here we are … Ash Wednesday less than two weeks away … and we’re finding ourselves having to figure out how to do this on our own too.

It is painful for me to think about observing Ash Wednesday at home, away from my beloved Church Community. Ash Wednesday, more than any other worship service, is centered on confession and public absolution. In a normal year, we’d worship in the Sanctuary, singing together, hearing scripture together, praying together—all things that we’ve been able to do together virtually thanks to Zoom. But in a normal year, we would also walk to the altar together to share Holy Communion and remember the promise that Christ has gone before us. Remember his command to remember Him as we eat and drink this bread and wine. Later in the service, we would walk up to that very same altar and receive ashes on our forehead and be reminded that we are dust … and to dust we shall return. 

In a year like this one, that reminder that we will all return to dust is so important. In a year where we’ve seen so many challenges, so much strife, so much isolation and so much death, it’s almost a breath of fresh air to remember that we all, eventually, return to dust. But not being able to do that in the presence of other believers is heart-wrenching.

So I did what we’ve all done so many times over the last eleven months. I found my resolve and dug into my faith and put my creative juices to work. I put together a Family Worship to guide us in observing Ash Wednesday at home. It’s designed to be short and intimate and is adaptable for your family, whether you are 0 or 99+.

Maybe your church community has found a creative and safe way to hold a traditional Ash Wednesday service. Or maybe your church will have a quiet, pensive virtual service that will include a time of confession and absolution, but no imposition of ashes. Or maybe you just don’t have the energy for either of those.

Wherever you are, I feel you, friend. I’m holding you close as we embark on this weird Lenten journey together. I gift you the Ash Wednesday Family Service we will use in our home. Wherever you are, I hope this Family Service is a blessing to you. 

remember you are dust …. and to dust you shall return

Cruisin' on a Saturday Night

It’s a crisp Saturday night in the Fall of ‘97. The windows are down, the wind whips through my hair, and the music blares. The bass is way up, the treble is way low, the music plays almost as loud as the speakers can go, and we sing even louder.

We cruise through the streets of our smallish town. There’s a loop we follow every week. We drive down to the light at the Wendy’s drive-thru and take a left into the Roses parking lot. We stop for a bit, leave our cars on—with the music blaring of course—as we get out to see our friends. We talk about the things that we, at the tender ages of sixteen and seventeen, think are so important.

Who is Joe taking to Military Ball?

Why wasn’t Suzy in class yesterday? Did you know Matt dumped her AT THE FOOTBALL game?!

Dude! Charlie got a new truck! Have you seen him out here tonight? It’s suh-weeeet!

He wraps his arms around me. “Hey there Smalfry. It’s good to see you out here tonight. Been wonderin’ if you’d show up!” I blush and turn around to give him a hug. It feels so natural to show such affection out here, free from the judgment that so often shows up in the hallways at school. 

We comment on the cars as we watch them drive by. It was on these weekend nights that I first fell in love with cars. I never drove. My friends had much better cars than I had, and it was much more fun to be the passenger. The gold 1988 Nissan Maxima was my favorite. It had dark tinted windows that made us feel so cool inside, like we were rockstars driving through a crowd of adoring fans. And then there was the teal Chevrolet Beretta - not a light teal color that feels so muted, but a bold, bright teal that makes you stop in your tracks the minute you see it and makes you want to paint your teenage room that very color, right this very instant. To this day, I can’t help but stop in my tracks when I see a car painted a bold, bright color or with dark tinted windows. 

After a few minutes of chatter, we say our goodbyes and get back in the car to continue our cruising parade. We take a right out of the parking lot, and head back up to the town square. When we get to the light by the big baptist church, we turn right and drive down the quiet residential road beside Chick-Fil-A. It’s too bad Chick-Fil-A is closed at this time of night, because we could all really go for a big tub of waffle fries. We turn left to go around the median and find ourselves at the light where we started. We sit in the turn lane and crank the music just a bit louder. The bass in this one is just SOOO good!

///

Those town streets were home to me in those teenage years. We had no parties to attend, we had nowhere to go, and for some reason, those streets felt like they were standing there just waiting for us to come hang out. It wasn’t until later that I noticed the “No Loitering” signs. I suppose some businesses hung them up to keep kids like us out. But when you’re a teen, you feel invincible—the world is your oyster—and you are more daring than ever before.

If I close my eyes and breathe deeply, I can conjure those streets—that cruising route—in my mind as if it happened only yesterday. I can hear the playlist loud and clear. I still know every single word to all the songs. I am so different now, some 25 years later, but deep down, so much of that young girl still remains.

///

Some might say I grew up “on the wrong side of the tracks.” My family never had a lot of money, and I often felt jealous of my schoolmates that seemed to have more than I did. Many of the people I went to high school with attended Junior League and Cotillion—things I had never heard of. I grew up wishing I could be like them, with their perfect two-parent families, their huge, beautiful houses, and their lives that seemed like everything came so easy to them.

I went to daycare, elementary, and middle schools that were filled with predominately low-income students—many of whom were black. Many of my best memories from childhood include these black friends. My Mom and Aunt taught me that people were people, no matter their skin color. I believed it. I embraced it. I thought that I lived it. But I was wrong.

Now as I think back on those days where I thought black and white were living in harmony, I realize just how blind I was to the realities that my black friends were facing. I never once saw myself as having a privileged childhood, but now I see that although it was full of challenges, I never had to experience the things my black friends did. As a white teenager, I never even thought to ask them how their lives were different than mine.

When I listen to these songs now, they take me right back to those small town streets. I am back in that high school band room full of amazing musicians, many of whom were black. I am back in the stands of the high school football field, where the people I had the most fun with were of a different skin color than my own. And yet as many memories as I have with the black folks around me, I spent the weekends cruisin’ on the streets, with my white friends. Blaring music created by black musicians, singing words that portrayed a reality I could remain blind to, simply because I was white.

///

Now 25 years later, these songs feel no less relevant today than they were then. And while listening to this old playlist brings me so much joy and nostalgia for my high school days, it also completely tears me apart. It feels so unfair that the lyrics to Gangsta’s Paradise are still the reality for so many. I am ashamed that I even dared to think a song like Tha Crossroads was a song that I could identify with. It makes me so angry I could spit that a mass of white people were so arrogant to think they can storm the capital building with confederate flags waving high and not be immediately thrown into a police wagon and taken to jail. 

I moved away from that town long ago, but the memories remain. I’m connected to many of those black childhood friends through social media, and I’m challenged by their posts, almost every single day. I know that my kids now live the enchanted, privileged childhood that I once longed for; and it breaks my heart into pieces that their children don’t. They can’t. Not as long as our society remains blind to the inherent racism that exists.

I know if I were to drive down those streets once again, I would feel the same impulse to crank my bass, turn down the treble, and completely rock it out. But I also know that this time I’d be more aware of what’s going on around me.

Earlier this week, I wept as I heard the words of Rev. Silvester Beaman at the Inaugural Benediction,

We will seek out sin and seek forgiveness, thus grasping reconciliation.

As I look back on those teenage years of blindness, I confess my sin and seek forgiveness. I vow to move forward with eyes wide open. With a heart wide open. With ears wide open. And with arms ready to do the work of true reconciliation.

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For the full Cruisin’ experience and a true ride down Memory Lane, I present to you the playlist that inspired this post. I promise it will help you get through the weekend. Just promise me you’ll get up and do the dances when the time comes, m’kay?

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 "Playlist".

By All Means Do It!

It’s the 21st month of the year 2021. And here I am, finally ready to commit to those 21 goals that I’ve been trying to nail down over the last 21 days. I know what you’re thinking—“21 goals? Are you insane?! Shouldn’t you maybe choose one or two and really dig into those? I mean, doesn’t making 21 goals really set yourself up for failure?!”

The truth is, I probably could narrow these down a little bit, but 21 for ‘21 just sounds too good. Besides, I believe in challenging myself and dreaming big. I also believe that by speaking them into existence in a public way means I’ll actually try to work towards them, so buckle up. 2021 is going to be full of fun and excitement!

I did organize them into categories, because that made 21 feel more achievable. If you look at them in small chunks, it doesn’t feel quite so overwhelming. I’m just going to take them one step at a time—or as one of my favorite authors says, “Just take it bird by bird.”

Personal Goals

Buy new bras

You know you’re a real adult when buying bras has to be listed out as a goal in order for you to really do it. I hate buying bras. I haven’t had a good one since before I got pregnant with my oldest - and she’ll be nine in just three weeks. The last time I bought bras I got them at Costco. I can do better than that. I must. I will!

Crochet-a-long (CAL) project

For the past several years I’ve followed communities of crocheters all working on the same project and have loved watching what they make. I have a closet full of yarn that is begging to be used, so I’m going to join in this year and end up with a crocheted sampler afghan. I can’t promise it’ll be beautiful, but I can promise it will be unique.

Read—and write—more poetry

Poetry always scared me before I started homeschooling. I still have nightmares over my high school English teacher making me diagram poems and talk about their meanings. How the heck am I supposed to know what that old dead poet was thinking when he wrote this two hundred years ago?! But now that I’ve been reading and reciting poetry with my girls, I see the beauty of it. And ironically, I found a book of poems I wrote when I was in high school—so there must be a part of me that really wants to write poetry! I decided this was a personal goal instead of a writing goal, because it’s not about the writing. It’s about the appreciation of poetry.

Find a pen pal and write monthly letters

I miss the days of old-fashioned letters. I want to resurrect the habit of handwriting letters to someone, especially someone with who I may not be able to connect through social media or email. I want to find an older person—a woman I think—and share life stories through written letters. And then I want to keep them in a box until I grow old and I’ll share them with my grandkids and tell them about the time when the entire world went virtual, but I kept writing paper letters.

Disconnect from screens

Too much screentime is bad for my soul. I want to turn off my phone several days a week and on the weekends. Well, maybe not every weekend…but maybe once a month. I want to pay attention to what’s happening around me and to really be present in each moment. I want to disconnect from screens so that I can reconnect with the people and things I love.

Homeschool Goals

Teach Eden how to crochet

I’m already off to a great start with this one. It’s nice when your kids can help you achieve one of your goals right off the bat! But in all seriousness, she’s been begging me to teach her, and I just haven’t found the time to sit down with her to get her started. She’s a fast learner and is doing a great job with it, so I just need to be consistent about sitting down with her to practice several times a week.

Help Autumn make 4 outfits - 1 each season

I really struggled with writing this one down. Her greatest dream is to design and sew her own clothes. She already has a design book where she draws dress designs. I can sew pretty well, but clothes have never been something I wanted to make, so this is a challenge goal for me. Last year we found someone to give her sewing lessons, but we had to stop them because of Covid. Although ordinarily, this is something I’d find a way to outsource, for 2021 I’m going to work really hard to make this happen for her.

Write a curriculum for Nicholas mouse

I adore writing curriculum. It’s one of the things I miss most about doing ministry in a professional setting. The girls and I are reading Nicholas: A Massachusetts Tale for Geography right now, and there are so many really great opportunities to dig in. I’m making notes as we go through it and hope to be able to pull it all together in a fun little curriculum before next Fall.

Help my girls find a pen pal

Writing letters helps them practice their handwriting and composition skills in a fun and low-risk way. Besides, if I start getting mail, they’re going to want their own mail. So they’ll each need their own pen pal. Anyone interested?

Writing Goals

Write something every day

Something. Anything. Just write. If I let a day go by without writing, I will forgive myself and pick it up the very next day. The only thing that doesn’t count is a list. Because if I say writing a list counts as writing, I’ll write a book full of lists and not much of anything else. Except maybe poetry. See above.

Publish a monthly newsletter

Just as I love writing curriculum I also love writing newsletters. I love compiling all my favorite books, blog posts, recipes, and fun things to do and sharing them with the world. I have no idea if anyone will read the newsletter (you can sign up here), but I’m going to write it anyway. Because it’s fun! And it’s a way to practice writing. And because I want to.

Revamp Soul Munchies. Really think about mission, vision, and branding moving forward

This is another goal that I’ve started working on already. Soul Munchies has been around a long time and has traveled with me through many stages of life. In some ways, I still have the same vision as when I started blogging 15 years ago, but in many ways, that vision has changed. I want to spend some intentional time thinking about the purpose of this space, and start putting that vision into action.

Find places for submissions and submit at least 6 pieces of writing

This is another really scary goal for me. I’m terrified of what people think of the things I write. That fear is part of the reason I have gotten stuck so many times before when I try to be consistent in writing. But I’m learning that I have to let go of that fear so that I can be true to the person God has created me to be. And submitting writing to a publication is one way I can take a big huge risk in living into that person. If I never submit anything, I won’t ever get feedback, and I won’t ever get better. So I can do at least 6 submissions this year! Here’s to living bravely!

Financial Goals

Pay off that last credit card

Money is hard ya’ll. It’s hard to talk about, and if you don’t have a good foundation in financial planning, it’s hard to deal with. But we’ve worked hard to get to where we only have one card balance left, and this will be the year it disappears!

Pay next month’s bills with this month’s income.

This is something I’ve learned through You Need A Budget, which is the tool we use for our budgeting purposes. The goal is to pay next month’s budget with the money that comes in this month. Once you can do that, you end up with a safety net that helps tremendously when surprise expenses come your way. You know, when the car battery decides to die when you least expect it. Or the fireplace refuses to turn on when it’s the coldest day of the year. Not that either of those has happened to me already this year.

Save for a tow hitch and a camper.

Once we can meet the first two financial goals, we want to save for a camper. With family over 1000 miles away, our annual vacation typically ends up being a visit to Georgia. While we love that visit, we also want to see other parts of the country. A camper will allow us to take road trips without needing to buy flights or pay for lodging, which means we can travel more often and to more places!

Physical Goals

Exercise 5 days a week

It can be yoga. It can be hiking. It can be playing Just Dance. Just MOVE.YOUR.BODY!

Eat Breakfast every day

This is hard for me because I hate breakfast. But it’s the most important part of the day, and it makes my body function better, and it makes me be a better parent, so I’ll do it. This is going to be the year that I find creative ways to eat breakfast. Like eating leftovers from the night before. Or making tacos. Or eating beans on toast. So long boring breakfast. 2021 is the year of the Fun Breakfast!

Drink water before coffee

I’ve been working on this for several months now and I’m still not very good at it. Goals.

Food Goals

Empty my freezers before CSA season

We are heading back to our beloved Springdell Farm this season and have a huge CSA share coming starting in Spring. Although we have two chest freezers that supply our food throughout the winter, neither one was completely empty before the 2020 season began. They both need a good defrost before storing 2021 produce for next winter, so the next few months we’re eating as much as we can out of them. It’s really my favorite time of the year, because I can basically never leave the house and still eat really well.

Bake my way through my bread book.

I got an awesome new Sourdough book last year featuring recipes with a Latin American twist, and I have not been disappointed with anything I’ve made from it. I want to make every recipe in the book this year. And never have to buy any kind of bread/tortilla product ever again.

So there you have it. The 21 ways I’m going to make 2021 an excellent year. Ahhh … just writing them makes me feel like I’m going to be successful. I already feel better about life, don’t you?

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.

2021: Breathe

How about a real-life fairy tale on this rainy Saturday?

Once upon a time there was a young woman who discovered a long lost secret about herself—she loved to write. Not only did she love to write, but she was really very good at it. People would tell her how her words spoke to them, and how she really should write more often. 

One day, she found herself in a place where she loved it so much, that she gave up her entire career to focus on writing. She knew she could make a difference in the world with her words-and now was the time.

And then she got pregnant.

And she had terrible morning sickness for 42 weeks. Writing was hard, but she made time here and there to at least try.

She found a new creative stride after the baby was born, but then she got pregnant again. 

And had a miscarriage.

And got pregnant, again with terrible morning sickness for 42 weeks. This time while also caring for a toddler.

She had her second baby.

And then—just as she found her stride as a stay-at-home mama of two, her partner got a job offer and they moved across the country. 

She hated it there. Their apartment was falling apart, and the city felt too busy. There was no room for creativity here. So, in an attempt to find a place they could call home, without needing to find a new job, they moved again.

And a few months later, they moved again.

No matter how hard she tried to fall in love with this new home, she still hated it. She felt like she was dying inside. It felt like her creativity was dead. She longed to be someplace else.

So - they moved once again. And this time, for the first time in a very long time, she felt at home. At peace. Full of hope. And even a little joy.

Two years after finding this new home that brings life and love and peace, she found her stride. Her creative spark ignited once again and felt ready to be set aflame.

And then the world turned upside down.

You’ve probably guessed it by now, but I was that young woman. Had you asked me ten years ago where I’d be today, I would never tell you I’d be at home full time, homeschooling my two children, in a north shore suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. I had a much different plan. A plan to be writing full time. A plan to be widely published, in blogs, in magazines, in books. A plan to have connections near and far.

But I, like so many other parents once their babies arrive, put my own dreams on hold while I figured out what I wanted life to look like. I did it willingly—not begrudgingly. I always knew the time wasn’t right. There were too many things that made it too hard to say yes—and too easy to say no—and my heart just wasn’t completely in making those dreams a reality. 

2020 was supposed to be my year. I intentionally chose the word Story as my guiding light for the year. I started January off with a bang, and then the world started getting a little too crazy. By the time mid-February rolled around, Covid was a real threat in our community, and life began to be about survival more than anything else. I pushed my Story right to the back burner as I dug in to caring for my family. I put all my creative energy into making the small things extra special in this weird world we now found ourselves living in. Now that I look back on 2020, I see that Story did permeate through our family life but in a very different way than I intended.

I’m a lover of New Year’s Day. I love a clean slate. I love a chance to vision and dream and look forward with intention. But 2021 hit me by surprise. Perhaps it was because January 1, 2021 didn’t feel much different than December 31, 2021. The political climate was still divisive—and even downright scary. The virus numbers are worse than ever before, and the need to stay close to home is more prevalent now than it ever was in 2020. Although there’s some hope in the distance, it doesn’t look like 2021 will be the beacon of light that we’re all longing for. So I let the start of 2021 pass me by. It took me a good two weeks of living into the year before I became ready to set an intention for the year. And now here I am - finding myself in a place where I *think* I’m ready to do more than just think about being creative once again. 

This week, I took a big deep breath and took a plunge into the deep, sometimes dark, sometimes frigidly cold water of creativity. I inhaled, I exhaled, I inhaled, and I just went for it. This week I made a commitment to myself, to my family, and to my dreams - 2021 will be my year. 

2021 will be the year I breathe life back into the dream that’s been set aside for far too long. I hope you’ll come along with me and maybe even breathe some new life into dreams of your own.

Photo by Eddie Kopp on Unsplash.

Gramma's Swedish Tea Ring

In a year when it seems like so many traditions have to be put on hold, I’ve been trying to find ways to make Christmas extra special and meaningful. So this week, we dug deep and revived a family tradition that’s been lost for several years.  

When I was meal planning for Christmas Eve and Christmas, I remembered that my Gramma—and then later my Aunt—always made some kind of bread ring. I always wake up SUPER early on Christmas. I have never been an early riser, but on Christmas, my body has always had an internal alarm clock. Even now, as a 40-year-old Mom, I’m the one that wakes up at 5am and creeps down the stairs to see the magic that has appeared under the Christmas tree overnight. When I was young, we would start opening presents not long after waking, then take a break between opening presents to eat the delicious bread-ring-thingy—but before this week, I didn’t remember anything else about said bread ring.

So I did what I do whenever I want to revive a family tradition that has somehow gotten misplaced - I texted my Mom’s oldest sister, my dear Aunt Jay. She sent me the recipe—for what I now know is called a Swedish Tea Ring—and reminded me that when she was growing up, Gramma would make several batches, wrap them in foil, put them in a wagon, and walk up and down her neighborhood delivering them to her friends. Um, hello, that totally sounds like something I would do. 

And then I realized - in this weird year where it feels like nothing is normal, making dozens of Swedish Tea Rings and delivering them to all my friends is something that doesn’t have to be put on hold! Maybe I can’t have Christmas dinner with anyone outside my home, but I can absolutely provide a tasty breakfast treat to everyone I know!

And after our taste test this afternoon, I can promise you this is a family tradition that won’t be misplaced ever again.

And just in case you want to make your own Swedish Tea Ring for Christmas morning, here’s the recipe! One batch makes 2 big rings or 4 small rings - perfect for sharing with your friends and neighbors.

Gramma's Swedish Tea Ring

Beverage Family Recipe
Makes 2 large rings or 4 small

Ingredients for bread:
4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
Nuts, raisins, craisins, cherries as desired
1 cup milk, scalded
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten well
1 tsp lemon zest
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Ingredients for filling:
3 Tbsp melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon

Ingredients for glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
3 Tbsp water

Instructions:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water.

2. Pour scalded milk into large bowl (or the bowl of your Kitchenaid Mixer). Add shortening, sugar and salt to the scalded milk. Cool to lukewarm.

3. Add yeast, eggs and lemon zest to the cooled mixture. Add flour and beat well. If using a stand mixer, use the beater attachment here.

4. Switch to dough hook and knead on low for 5 minutes. If by hand, turn onto floured board to knead til smooth, satiny, and supple.

5. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise til doubled.

6. Once doubled, punch the dough down and divide into two (or four) pieces. Roll each piece into a rectangle approximately 1/4 inch thick. Brush with butter and sprinkle liberally with cinnamon and brown sugar. Add raisins and nuts if desired.

7. Now roll the dough tightly (as if you're making a cinnamon roll) and form into rings. Pinch the ends together.

8. Make cuts 1 inch apart all the way around, and fairly deep. Turn outward to open the cuts. My Gramma always put pecans and cherries in the cuts - but I left them plain this time around.

9. Cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place for an hour or so.
10. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes - until golden brown. Let cool completely. Drizzle with powdered sugar glaze.

11. Once completely cool, wrap in foil. I like to freeze them until I give them away (or until I want to eat it). Take out of the freezer before you go to bed on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning, when you make your coffee, put the foil wrapped ring directly in a 250-degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until warm and gooey.

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.