Homeschool Learnings: Waiting for your Brain to Grow

Homeschool Learnings: Waiting for your Brain to Grow

Dearest Dragon, you and I are now fully ensconced in the first grade curricula. And, just like your sister, we are having conversations like this.

“This is too hard!”

“I know my love, but they only way to get better at this is to practice, just four more words then we can run around the house for five minutes before math.”

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Homeschool Learnings: Brain Coherence and the Rock Cycle

Homeschool Learnings: Brain Coherence and the Rock Cycle

“No wait Momma, we need to get our names back before we start!”

“Oh right, what is your name again?”

“Umbrella, unicorn, lemonade.” Bean started laughing. “You Momma, you are Sailed Muppet Icicle.”

“Okay Umbrella, let’s see if we can get your name back.”

“Super fast.”

“Okay, super fast.”

In chorus, both of our hands clapping and slapping we started. “Avocado Avocado is the name of the game, if you mess up once you change your name! A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H…”

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Letter to my children: A Life Skill List

Letter to my children: A Life Skill List

Dragon, you ask us, “What do you talk about on your dates?”

Bean, you implore us, “Momma, no! Stay home with us! Don’t go out!”

“Can’t my loves, we need some time just the two of us. If it makes you feel better - usually we end up talking about you.”

“Really?” Wide happy faces.

Really, my beloveds, really.

Recently, we talked about our vision for our family and our goals for your homeschooling homesteading (schoolsteading) life with us before you venture out on your own.

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Homeschool Learnings: Bookworms, Spelling Practice, and Snow Play

Homeschool Learnings: Bookworms, Spelling Practice, and Snow Play

“Can we go to the library?”

“Sure. Great idea. Have you read all of the books on the pile?”

“Yup. I am going after books like crazy now. I read books all the time.”

It was only 18 months I wrote about the Bean learning to read. The prodding and the pushing and the cajoling and the soft lips forming individual sounds.

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Letters to my children: Homeschool Circle Time learnings

Letters to my children: Homeschool Circle Time learnings

Dearest Beloveds,

The effects of covid range from the tragic to the ridiculous. Tragic - thousands dead. Ridiculous - Dragon you do not know the words or the hand movements to children’s songs.

I had assumed you would know them and was rather shocked and sad at your first Kindergarten circle time.

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Homeschool learnings: Settling in

Homeschool learnings: Settling in

Officially it is our third year homeschooling and for some reason the whole endeavor this year feels more solid and secure.

It feels like we are plants - the first year settling in after planting, the next year building strong roots, and the third year SURGING forth with abundance - a verdant explosion. It feels like we are surging forth from a very grounded place.

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Homeschool learnings: First Landing vs Plymouth Rock

Homeschool learnings: First Landing vs Plymouth Rock

Recently we visited the number one state park in Virginia: First Landing State Park. So named in honor of the “English colonists” who first landed in 1607. The beach was warm, the cabins were delightful, the bicycling under the fir trees was peaceful and magical, and my brain exploded with the history.

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Homeschool Learnings: Why I love homeschooling

Homeschool Learnings: Why I love homeschooling

It may be someone evident by now I am a bit of an academic, a bibliophile, an intellectual, a lover of thoughts, ideas, history, and curious to learn more always of humanity and our shared history. All of these traits are continually being fed as a homeschooling momma. I was taught to always go back to the original documents so that is what we have been doing for the 3rd grader in the house. Dr. Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream, Sojourner Truth’s Ain’t I a woman? speech,* rereading The Declaration of Independence for the 4th of July.

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Letter to my children: Greased Pigs and Loud Yawns

Dearest Beloveds,

We were a puppy pile in bed early on Saturday morning. Two of us were giggling and wrestling while the other two snuggled deep and soft in the expansive warmth. Your father extricated himself from tickling limbs and sat up. “Okay children, it is time to get dressed for breakfast. Who is ready?”

Dragon fired a response, “I am as ready as a greased pig!”

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Letter to my children: These are not normal times (and yet...)

Letter to my children: These are not normal times (and yet...)

Dearest Beloveds,

Before I dive into the list of what makes this time so different than any other time on our planet… I want to relive the morning with you.

First, it is an odd day (as in today is the 11th), so the Dragon gets to open the door of the advent calendar. After finding a snowplow to attach to one of the Matchbox cards (thank you Mimi!), you both wanted to put on your Colombian dancing outfits from last year’s talent show.

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