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Monday began our eleventh homeschooling year and it marked a bittersweet moment: the last first day of school with all six of my students. (My oldest is a senior!) Sometimes I just can’t believe we’ve reached this point already. The days are long, but the years are so short.
Anyway, we began the year with our traditional cinnamon roll breakfast and were back to the books. Things went smoothly for about three days…and then the wheels fell off the wagon. Most of my kids got sick, my pigs escaped their paddocks and frolicked across the property multiple times, we had an issue with our freezer… I had to laugh because man, this is the life! If this is any indication of how the school year is going to go, we’re in a for wild ride. Bring it on.
Hoping to document the abundance around me all year long!
Around here, abundance looks like…
+ a new-to-us toaster. My oldest son was visiting a friend’s house and overheard that they were getting rid of their toaster because they upgraded to some sort of an all-in-one appliance. He asked if he could take it and they agreed! Our two-slice toaster had recently had the handle ripped off (thanks, boys) so this was great timing and even better: it was a four-slice version!
+ purchasing a new dryer after two months without one! It’s been so frustrating to have appliances wear out so quickly and not be able to fix the problem long term. I was committed to air drying our clothes until we hit two criteria: pay cash and wait for a sale. The stars collided this week with enough money in the bank and $200 off the sticker price. We jumped on it and they delivered the next day! I have never been so grateful for a piece of modern technology.
+ selling twelve unneeded items for the Car Loan Payoff Plan: eight books, three pieces of clothing, and one textbook. After shipping and fees, I made $52.42!
Reading //
- Rethinking Childhood from Mary Catherine Adams at The Interior Life
- The Transformed Child from Katherine Johnson Martinko at The Analog Family // “Your screen-addled child is a very different child than your screen-free, or even “screen-lite”, child. So, while your screen-addled child will most definitely be at loose ends initially without their device, they will not stay that way. They will undergo an inevitable transformation, as one does whenever a lifestyle change occurs, and you will soon have a different (read: easier) child to contend with, one that is slowly developing the skills to entertain themselves without a device in hand.”
- How a Kansas humanities program shaped a generation of Catholic leaders from Perry West at Catholic News Agency // “The overarching theme was to immerse the students into the good, the true, and the beautiful, so that we might ask the big questions: ‘What is life all about?’ ‘What is death?’ ‘What is eternity?’ ‘What is evil?’ ‘What is good?'”
- Disabusing the Most Abused Question in Schooling: What Am I Going to Use This For? from Aaron Ames at Circe Institute // “…when you limit education to the knowledge needed to make a living and for mere survival, you limit the meaning of life itself to these things. But surely no one actually lives only to make money. Love, friendship, beauty, laughter, family, faith, these are the things that make life worth living. These are the things that give life meaning. And the true purpose of education has everything to do with the meaning of life.”
- Inside the New Wave of Old-School Education from Julia Steinberg at The Free Press
- Project 333 Challenge: 3 Methods To Help You Get Started // Thinking of doing this challenge for autumn.
New Additions to The List //
- Black Woods, Blue Sky: A Novel by Eowyn Ivey (comes out next February 2025)
Watching/Listening //
- Some thoughts of preparedness (let’s chat) | VLOG from Roots and Refuge Farm // I agreed with so many of her thoughts, especially her feelings of defiance and this quote: “I want to live my life in such a way that I can thrive no matter what happens.”
- Paradiso Cantos 1-9 of 100 Days of Dante from Baylor Honors College
Loving //
- Shop at Sullivan: The Official Anne of Green Gables store // My daughter is on a huge Anne Shirley kick and I found this amazing website for kindred spirits. Bookmarking some ideas for her birthday.
- I Kept Track of Every Single Item That Entered Our Home Over a Month // I loved Torrie’s experiment and want to try it myself! Maybe in September…
