Life Lately + Homeschool Update

9.02.2017


September is officially here! I can't believe it! Today we have a 3 mo (update post coming soon) and we have a month of homeschooling behind us. The weather is starting to cool down (which means highs of 80's instead of 90-100) and it all feels wonderful. The promise of autumn always does.

This last month of homeschooling has held days of us getting into the groove of co-op, mini-field trips (and one big one to the ATL Aquarium!) and doing our school work. We saw some fun strides with our girl starting to grow confident in her work and we're seeing little man follow along suprisingly well. The two have grown in their friendship at super warp speeds and that makes me thrilled. Eowyn is having a blast at co-op and being around other homeschooling parents is both encouraging and enriching (I've loved to see the different teaching styles and have benefited from  all the clever songs parents know for teaching concepts.) Eowyn has been asking to do school time even on days that aren't official homeschool days, which is encouraging. The hurtles are still there: keeping Elias entertained when we have written work to do, accomplishing what we need to do while having a newborn, balancing the whole mom + teacher +home-keeper act, but each week it gets easier. We're feeling comfortable enough to add some fun crafts to the already assigned schoolwork.

Some of our favorite activities have been making raisins from grapes, understanding a sun dial, playing astronauts and being "space geologists" by collecting 'samples' of dirt from the moon (and getting a bit too much moon dirt on our faces.) ;) Our girl is a huge fan of math and science. She loves processes and comprehends anything she gets to act out. When certain work is proving difficult, chocolate chips per page completed have saved the day!

Basically we're keeping it fun.

Our school time doesn't take much time every day (2 or so hours max-with interruptions.) This befuddled me for a little while until I realized that traditional teachers have to spend a great deal of time in classroom management. So I'm grateful we get to spend the extra time doing fun things like going on adventures to the parks, making 'moon cakes' etc.

In other realms, we're finding ourselves officially settled in. We had our first game night a week ago and I feel grateful to have dear friends to invite over. We're finding our budget, routine and the like normalizing.  Everything seems to feel very ordinary. What a gift! Rowan is the best baby we've had yet (more about why in the 3 month post!) and the other two are pretty awesome too. We've a great triad of kids. All our library visits have given me opportunity to pick up some good reads, and so I'm enjoying some cleverly written YA novels in our evenings alone (we J-type introverts schedule our alone time :P) Ben is back to building video games, and I'm completing more craft projects.

There's a calming feel about this season of ordinary. Especially after years of everything being new, I'm grateful that it doesn't feel quite so intense anymore. I'm ready to catch my breath and see it as a deliberate act of God's kindness that the transition into three kids and homeschooling hasn't left us feeling like we're drowning.

The autumn holds pumpkin patches, science museums, and other mini adventures. We won't be on social media as much as we have been for the remainder of the year. So be sure to check here on the blog from time to time for updates.

Have a wonderful labor day weekend!

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