The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

No.41: Intentions for the End of October

After eight straight weeks of school, I declared to the kids that today was a Teacher In-service Day, or more accurately, “Mama needs a little break to get her life in order”.  Our days have felt SO full lately, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I know myself.  If I don’t take some intentional time to slow down and catch up on laundry, bills, lesson plans, and a few much over-due projects (or even just half of that list!), I’ll start spiraling into anxiety.  And ain’t nobody got time for that, hah.     

INTENTIONS FOR THE END OF OCTOBER:

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  • Habit of the Month: Orderliness
  • buy stamps
  • buy or borrow a weed-wacker (ours broke last weekend)
  • pick pumpkins
  • start jotting down ideas for Term Two
  • bake a new quick bread (100LT #6)
  • make a list of Christmas picture books to look for
  • make a homemade muffin or brownie mix for J to bake independently
  • finish Dorothy Day’s The Long Loneliness (100LT #82)
  • order new foundation and blush
  • clean my makeup brushes (100LT #44)
  • learn a new card game (100LT #33)
  • send hair off to Pantene Beautiful Lengths 
  • start training plan for November 10K and “complete what you came to do” (my running motto)
  • start four weeks of No Sugar (my habit’s gotten a little out of control and it’s time to make some changes)

PREVIOUS INTENTIONS:

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If you’re reading on your phone or in a reader, click through to see what I crossed off the list!
  • take out a few go-to fall dinner recipes to make for dinner
  • try one new dinner recipe
  • bake pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (using our favorite recipe)
  • wrap D’s birthday presents (he got a bike and this)
  • get to the DMV to renew driver’s license (I even took Sophie with me and we came out relatively unscathed!)
  • start jotting down ideas for an upcoming WWI history unit for M
  • finish Dorothy Day’s The Long Loneliness (100LT #82)
  • organize my closet
  • try a new tea flavor (100LT #94)
  • order new foundation and blush
  • bring unneeded clothes to donation (almost ready to go…I keep adding more things)
  • schedule S & TJ well-check appointments 
  • learn a new card game (100LT #33)
  • buy a mailing envelope and send hair off to Pantene Beautiful Lengths 
  • clean my makeup brushes (100LT #44)

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What about you?  What’s on your to-do list for the next few weeks?

No.40: Our Farmhouse Schoolhouse in Photos (Week 08)

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Holy cow, this week flew!  Mark was away on business, my mom slept over to celebrate my birthday, I was able to get in my last couple runs before the race on Sunday and we had a great week of school too, of course.  Our life seems full and exciting and exhausting all at once, but I really wouldn’t trade it.  If only the (teething! again!!) baby would let me sleep, hah.

Notes and highlights:

KINDERGARTEN

+ Despite the weather being so warm and muggy, I pulled out and read some of our favorite fall books:
– The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything
– Those Darn Squirrels!
– How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World (we even made the apple pie from the recipe in the back!)

+ We started a little apple unit with A Year of Playing Skillfully and the biggest hit of the week was making homemade play dough for the first time.  Sophia and TJ played with it for days!  Recording the recipe here, so I don’t forget:
Whisk 1 cup flour, 1 cup water, 1/3 cup salt, 1 T. oil, 3 T cream of tartar and a few drops of food coloring in a medium saucepan until smooth.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly.  When it comes together in a lump, remove from the pan and let it cool.


SCIENCE

+ Sassafras Science took us to the Amazon rainforest, where we learned about sloths and toucans.  We fell down a little Youtube rabbit hole, listening to toucan sounds!  The kids also drew both the sloth and the toucan from Art for Kids tutorials – we’d be so lost without those tutorials.

+ M began a Medieval Science section in his History of Science course.  The first scientist was Johann Gutenberg and his printing press.  We watched a really interesting documentary called The Machine that Made Us and it inspired him to try to make his own “type” from oven-bake clay.  I love when that happens without any prompting.


READING

+ I started a little reading challenge to help J (1st grade) with his fluency.  He’s at that hard stage where he can read, but it’s still a lot of work.  Lots of sounding out and the going is slooooow.  We have these little books and he reads one book every day: once to me and once to any family member he chooses.  Once completed, he can color in the number on his challenge sheet.  And when he’s gone through all 27 books, he can pick out a candy of his choice.  (And he doesn’t even have to share with his siblings, which is huge.)


MISCELLANEOUS

+ D has been reading through the Series of Unfortunate Events books – we started reading them together this summer and I just couldn’t keep up!  He finished the last book on Monday and I was able to watch him as he read the very last page.  I will never forget the look on his face…it was almost like saying goodbye to good friends.  Next up on his reading list: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library.

Current 1000 Books Project Total: 48/1000
Poetry Teatime Treat: Apple Pie

MOTHER CULTURE & SELF-CARE

+ Health: I’m starting to get those anxious butterflies in my stomach – first 10K on Sunday!
+ Reading: All the Little Children and The Long Loneliness
+ Fun: I’ve been largely off-line this week and it felt good.  I think I need to add that into my life on a regular basis.

No.39: Our Farmhouse Schoolhouse in Photos (Week 07)

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Another week complete.  I spent the majority of Thursday morning at the DMV, renewing my driver’s license.  It’s been about ten years since I’ve entered one (thank goodness for the internet!) and it was interesting to see what had changed (…not much).  While I did enjoy the people watching, I’m looking forward to another decade before I have to go back, haha!

Notes and highlights:

KINDERGARTEN

+ My kindergartner wants more school.  MORE.  She tearfully told me that she wasn’t getting enough time with me during school time and maybe, could she just have a little bit more to do?  Oh my heart.  She’s just newly five, so I was content with a little bit of formal lessons and a lot of play…but I guess that’s not going to fly with my girl.  My little overachiever…Mark said, “Hmm, I wonder who that sounds like?”  #guilty

+ I changed her math to the (free!) MEP program and she seems to enjoy it.  I’m thinking it’s because it’s more teacher/student interaction and less workbook?  I’m starting at the beginning with Reception, but I think she’ll zip right through it.  We’re adding more MathStart stories to the mix too.

+ I’m also taking care to add more A Year of Playing Skillfully activities to our day.  This week, she made an “All About Me” minibook, played “Mother, May I?” with her brothers and made a life-size Sophie by tracing her on butcher paper.  A solid start for October.


HISTORY

+ M (5th grade) has started a mini-unit on Abraham Lincoln.  He and I are reading Lincoln’s Last Days together and are narrating each (short) chapter in the form of a one or two sentence review.  (I’m narrating in my own notebook too!)  Condensing a chapter into its main point has been an effective method for processing information for both of us.  
+ The littler kids and I finished Viking Adventure – this book proved much more exciting (and a tiny bit scarier) than we expected!  Now we’re back in our Beautiful Feet guide and starting on Columbus.

RELIGION

+ Once or twice a week, I have the big boys read about a saint and then narrate about his/her life.  They usually draw the picture in their book (we use this one for third grade and this one for fifth) and will color with watercolors or colored pencils.  This week, we changed things up and made trading cards.  The smaller size has been less intimidating for written narration and they really have to concentrate while drawing.  When they finish, I cover them in packing tape (until I get myself a laminator…someday!) and they look really cool.


MISCELLANEOUS

+ Favorite art supply of the week: Sculpey oven-bake clay!

Current 1000 Books Project Total: 40/1000
Poetry Teatime Treat: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

MOTHER CULTURE & SELF-CARE

+ Health: Strong running week!  I’m adding more speed and incline work on the treadmill in preparation for my first 10K next week.  I don’t think I’m ready for these Virginia hills (I’ve been a scaredy cat about running outdoors because BEARS.)
+ Reading: The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Long Loneliness, Lincoln’s Lasts Days and I just started All the Little Children, a Kindle book I got for free from Amazon.
+ Fun: On October 1, I started a personal photography project called “33: A Collection of Days” and I hope to document my home and life throughout the my 33rd year.  More to come soon.  

No.38: New Habits, Little by Little – Cooking at Home (September 2017)

This month was crazy.  I definitely hit a culinary mental block and it shows – we ate the same things over and over.  Our two birthday kiddos even requested almost the same exact meal!  But just like months before, I feel like the dinners tell a story: a story about a mom trying to juggle all of the balls, and after adding homeschooling to the mix, had to choose one of those balls to drop – dinner.  No time for new, complex recipes that she meticulously curated from Pinterest!  But her kids were happy and healthy, her husband jumped in when he could, and it was good.  It was all good.   

Week 9 (cont.):
Friday, September 1: roasted chicken legs for the kids, Home Chef for date night (coq au vin)

Week 10:
Saturday, September 2: leftovers
Sunday, September 3: barbecue ribs, coleslaw and macaroni & cheese
Monday, September 4: pork chili verde
Tuesday, September 5: tacos
Wednesday, September 6: Refrigerator Clean-out Night
Thursday, September 7: A Taste of Ghana: meat pies (but made with ground beef) and watermelon lemonade
Friday, September 8: out for burgers and fries! (but honestly, Mark’s are so much better)

Week 11:
Saturday, September 9: breakfast for dinner for the kids, Home Chef for date night (Bo Ssam Steak Burrito with pickled onions, cucumber, and slaw)
Sunday, September 10: frozen pizza after working on the playset all afternoon
Monday, September 11: crispy baked chicken thighs, salad and rosemary bread
Tuesday, September 12: tacos
Wednesday, September 13: kielbasa and veggie pasta skillet
Thursday, September 14: A Taste of Liberia: smoked ham and green bean jollof, plantain gingerbread upside down cake
Friday, September 15: pizza for the kids, Home Chef for date night (steak marsala with parmesan mash and cremini mushrooms)

Week 12:
Saturday, September 16: leftovers
Sunday, September 17: sandwiches for the kids, Home Chef for the adults (crispy rice chicken katsu with roasted Chinese broccoli)
Monday, September 18: crispy baked chicken thighs (again!) and salad
Tuesday, September 19: TJ’s birthday! roasted chicken legs, mashed potatoes and cupcakes
Wednesday, September 20: tacos
Thursday, September 21: leftovers & A Taste of Senegal with peanut butter sugar cookies for dessert
Friday, September 22: taquitos for the kids, Home Chef for date night (Parisian bistro steak with dauphinoise potatoes and green beans)

Week 13:
Saturday, September 23: out to celebrate our nephew’s baptism!
Sunday, September 24: Sophie’s birthday! chicken legs on the grill, fresh bread, macaroni and cheese, and birthday cake
Monday, September 25: tacos
Tuesday, September 26: Refrigerator Clean-out Night
Wednesday, September 27: grilled chicken and salad
Thursday, September 28: pasta and homemade meat sauce & A Taste of Mali with maasa for dessert
Friday, September 29: frozen pizza for the kids, Home Chef for date night (chicken florentine with wild rice and marinated heirloom tomatoes)

Week 14:
Saturday, September 30: pulled pork and Mark’s homemade macaroni and cheese

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