Here's my randomness for the week:
Homeschooling is going pretty well. We’re adjusting, but that was to be expected.
I’m surprised about how much I’m loving reading The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. I’ve never read it before.
Planning another visit to Tree Adventure, but this time with friends.
Migraines suck. Especially when attempting to homeschool…
Looking forward to hot tea season.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Reading: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Oh so good and super creepy!
Watching: We finally started The Orville S1. Not bad, not bad.
Listening: I’ve put Black Veil Brides’s new album Restitch These Wounds on repeat this week. So good!
Making: This week we are studying history, archaeology, and evolution. For the archaeology bit, I’m making a small archaeological dig for us to practice. Should be fun.
Feeling: The first week of homeschooling is over and I feel like I’ve made some good choices for our schooling. Feeling much more prepared for the coming weeks.
Planning: Along with our homeschool plans, I’m planning a little field trip for next week’s nature play day. We’re going to get out into nature (and not just the neighborhood)!
Loving: I’ve made plum cake twice in the last two weeks. Oh so good!
Next up on the TBR pile:
We officially started homeschooling on Monday. And I feel like I’ve started a full time job… because I have.
Overall, we managed to get a great start on all our subjects. I’m hoping to keep the momentum up into next week.
Literature and Poetry
We started reading The Tale of the Despereaux for our literature selection. We will be continuing this read aloud into next week.
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
Math
We started Singapore Math 1A Common Core edition and realized very quickly that Arthur knows the entire book. So we’re going to treat 1A as a review. In our first week, we have reviewed and worked through Units 1-3. Good thing that I bought 1B two weeks ago. We’ll be there by week 3. We also have daily ELA and Math pages that we are doing. The above page will make an appearance a few times a week. Each time, I will pick a random number to work through. Arthur really likes working with numbers.
Social Studies
We didn’t have a formal history unit this week, but we did do some map skills work. We read some books about maps, did some review about maps, and created a few maps of our own. This was a nice easy start to our social studies year.
Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney
Follow that Map by Scot Richie
A Child’s Introduction to the World by Heather Alexander
Geography A to Z by Jack Knowlton
Science
For science, we started a few different things. We started Blossom and Root’s Charles Darwin Book Seed. The boys learned about Darwin and aspects of evolution and natural selection. The kids really got into a lesson about beak adaptations amongst birds. We also started working through the Nature Connection book for our basic nature science. And we reviewed some basic concepts relating to doing science and being a scientist.
Charles Darwin’s Around the World Adventure by Jennifer Thermes
Art
Our art projects were related to our unit theme or science this week. My personal favorite was our watercolor resist iguanas for our Charles Darwin unit.
Music
We started listening to Classic for Kids podcast. My plan is to choose one composer each week. We will listen to the podcast episodes and then do a small listening journaling with a few of the composer’s famous pieces. This week we listened to Aaron Copland. Arthur’s (and my) favorite piece was “Appalachian Spring. “ He seems to really enjoy this subject.
Barn Dance by Pat Hutchins
Looking at a grasshopper
Faux Tinkergarten Nature Play Day (not sure what I want to call this)
Every Wednesday, we plan on having a friend and her daughter over for some lessons and play time. The little girl is 2, so we’re doing activities that can involve all three kids (and ages). We'll probably tweak the schedule in the next few weeks, but this first one went pretty well. We started with a science lesson, created a nature journal and talked about being a naturalist. We went on a walk around our yard investigating. The kids really seemed to enjoy themselves.
Then we came back inside to do a few art projects. We made watercolor resist iguanas (part of the Darwin unit) and did a more open-ended art lesson about the month of August.
Finally, we read a few Mo Willems books and created a paper plate Piggie while Arthur made a bus for our pigeon, duckling, and bus driver cutouts.
So much fun! We had lunch and the kids got to play for awhile. So nice during this quarantine time.
A Big Garden by Gilles Clement
Unit Theme
Our unit theme was Mo Willems. We ended up reading almost every Mo Williems book and doing some fun activities. This was our easing into school unit. I purposefully picked a theme that I knew the kids would love. We love the pigeon in this house!
All the Mo Willems books
Misc.
Every morning we started our day with the calendar and a podcast. We started (and are loving) The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd. Plus we listened to a episode of WOW in the World (Arthur really loves) and an episode of Tumble Science (less of a fan). Quentin worked with the letter A this week. He got into the Letter A song, daubing the various papers with the Bingo daubers, and reading the alphabet books.
A Busy Creature’s Day Eating by Mo Willems
Decent attitudes all through the week. I was concerned with Arthur, but we only had a few small meltdowns. I’d say this week was a win.
Quentin is excited to do his letter work. We don’t do a ton, but we’re focusing on one letter every week. He really got into doing some fun things associated with the Letter A.
Our faux Tinkergarten Wednesday with a friend was a big hit! All the kids seemed to enjoy themselves and I got to spend time with a friend. Looking forward to our next time.
Not so much a high point, but an exciting point. Right as we started school on Monday, a derecho storm blew through our area. It was over and done with in 15 minutes, but it was a scary 15 minutes with very high wind gusts.
I’m so tired… seriously. We had a very lax routine throughout the summer. We added more things and it’s taking more work for me to prep everything. I know that things will get better as we settle in.
Friday we ran out of steam in the afternoon. Not a huge deal, but it meant that we ended up doing some science on Saturday morning.
Next Week
We are starting our more formal history curriculum next week with History Quest. Before we dive into a time period, we are going to talk about the concepts of history, archaeology and then evolution. In addition, we will be finishing our Book Seed: Profile in Science Charles Darwin unit and The Tale of Despereaux read aloud. For our unit theme, we are going to study colors. This will be a huge part of our Wednesday day. Quentin will be covering the Letter B.
Next up on the TBR pile:
So now I have the supplies, it’s time to start planning and gathering everything I want to do. I’m a Type A planner that always feels better with a good plan going in. I’m always up for flexibility and change in the spur of the moment, but I need a plan to reference when things change.
My general approach to the days will be subjects flowing from one to another often integrated into one block. However, it’s always good to start with a basic schedule to map everything out. My first pass at scheduling our day looked like this:
As I started really putting together the curriculum, things didn’t quite work out like the schedule above. I ended up using a variety of items to help me plan each week:
A Big Planner
Weekly Pull Lists
Blank notebook
Book List Pages
Unit Study Planning Pages
Craft Supply List Pages
A Year Calendar
Let’s start with the planner. I have a personal planner full of house tasks, appointments, meals, and other misc notes to myself. I didn’t want to cram in homeschooling, so I bought a cheaper planner. I sketched out a few different planning styles and ideas and this is where I landed.
First, I went through and mapped out all the big history chapters and unit themes (those are in purple). Some weeks, we won’t have a formalized unit theme, but that’s fine by me. I purposefully left a few weeks open to help me have some wiggle room as it becomes needed. I also notated what I needed to source and when (blue and brown). The orange notes are silly random holidays I found. We might randomly celebrate some of these. We will be having a mini party on Thursday August 13th for Left Hander’s Day. Arthur and I are both lefties! Schedule days off will be notated in pink (none in August of course!).
Then, I started diving into my weeks. There was a bit of writing and erasing until I figured out a system that made sense to me.
I broke down the columns into Podcasts (breakfast or morning basket time), Unit Theme (none extra for W1), Math, Biography (incorporated into one of the other subject blocks), Art/Music, History, Literature/Poetry, Computers/Philosophy, Science, and PE/Cook/Extra. I just started plugging in ideas or plans for the first week. Some come directly from Build Your Library’s lessons and some are just me throwing items on the plan. There’s not a lot of detail, but I can look at this planner and get an overall view of the week. This helps me wrap my brain around all the different subjects without getting overwhelmed in the details.
From there, I started writing a document with more details and notes. The document is a simple Pages document, but helps me flesh out all the stuff. It’s not a formalized lesson plan, but I don’t really need one of those. I just need to be able to check things off or refer to what’s coming next. This document includes links to videos and crafts as well as notes for vocab, supplies, and discussion questions.
From there, I started sourcing extra materials (books, videos, worksheets, etc) for the first two weeks or so. As I sourced, I inevitably ran across things that I can use later in the year. And so the folders on the computer and lists on paper began. I have lists of interesting picture books by broad topic (math, history, etc) and by time of the year. I have bookmarked links and various other resources. I started a weekly book pull list to organize which books I want to check out from the library. If I put them on hold about two weeks before the week I need, most of them should arrive for curbside pickup. I also use a simple blank notebook to make notes and such as I’m working on other things.
It sounds like a lot of planning, but that’s the way I work best. I like having a detailed plan to work from. Plans will change, items will be dropped and/or added, and things will go wrong. But my anxiety is tamed by spending time laying out what I want to happen. Now it’s time to actually get teaching!
Next up on the TBR pile:
Things are still very much up in the air at the moment. Various places have reopened, but many with heavy restrictions. Our summer bucket list is going to look very different this year. No fun trips and very few outings to places. Instead, we are focusing on activities at home.
Visit Heron Haven
Comic Book Day
Make Ice Cream Sundaes
Hitchcock Nature Center
Read aloud 5 chapter books ✓
Oh Say, I Can’t See by Jon Scieszka
Amazon in the Afternoon by Mary Pope Osborne
Dolphins at Daybreak by Mary Pope Osborne
Buffalo Before Breakfast by Mary Pope Osborne
Tornadoes on Tuesday by Mary Pope Osborne
Board Game Day
Scatter Joy Acres
Finger Paint
Read 50 books (36/50)
Have a Backyard Picnic ✓
Weekly Sprinkler Time ✓
Go to the Zoo 5x (2/5)
Make S’mores
Tie Dye Something
Hopscotch in Driveway
Hike at the River
Complete Two Jigsaw Puzzles
Make Doughnuts
Next up on the TBR pile:
Once we decided our style and what we wanted to teach, I dove into the wild world of homeschool curriculum. There is so much out there, it can be easy to get lost. I jotted down some criteria to help me narrow down the choices:
secular
rigorous
wide world perspective
not necessarily all-in-one
at least some physical items, not all online
cheap (not necessarily the cheapest, but not expensive)
We didn’t create a strict budget, but I was mindful of the cost of various options to get the best deal for what we wanted. I also was mindful of systems that presumed continued homeschooling versus being able to dip in and out. I read a ton of blogs. I made multiple lists of options. I crossed off some items and added others. And eventually I decided on a collection of items and supplies to buy.
As we started buying, I knew that my eclectic approach would require coordinating many different sources and suppliers. No box curriculum for us! Even some of the more box-like items I purchased, I made changes along the way. Here’s what we have purchased for our homeschooling adventure.
Math
Singapore Math 1A and 1B Common Core Edition - I bought just the textbook and workbook for each level. I didn’t feel it was necessary to buy the teacher’s textbook or test booklet. After receiving the materials, Arthur seems like he could jump right to 1B, but we decided to spend August and September doing a big review before moving up. We will probably buy 2A after Christmas if our schedule holds.
Lollipop Logic Book 1 - I love the idea of teaching logic in a more formalized way. We’ll work through book 1 and if we like it, we’ll get book 2.
TinkerActive Math Grade 1 and 2 - These will mainly be used as daily math practice pages, but I also love that they have STEM activities for each unit.
Language Arts
Arthur has started reading, so we don’t necessarily want curriculum to teach the basics. I wanted items that would build his reading comprehension and writing skills. The books in the picture will be used for daily ELA practice. I bought:
Phonics G1-2
Beyond the grammar components, we are planning weekly read alouds with discussions, daily poetry reading, and various picture books for night reading. Our first read aloud is going to be The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo. We happened to own the book, but most of our read alouds will be checked out from the library. (Here the libraries are closed, but they do offer curbside pickups of holds) Writing will often be incorporated into one of the other subjects.
Social Studies - The Hard One!
I went back and forth when it came to Social Studies. In schools, SS is often only taught 1-2 days a week for about 20 minutes each time. This is a travesty in my mind! I wanted something where we would be working with social studies (and science, see next section) almost every day. After wading through, we ended up buying Build Your Library Level 1. BYL is a set of 36 weekly lesson plans coordinating history, literature, poetry, science, and art. They were created by a homeschooler utilizing a more eclectic approach but grounded in Charlotte Mason philosophy. I liked the idea of a framework to keep me grounded, but like that BYL is very flexible. Most of our read alouds will be taken from the plans, as well as most of the basic nature science. I liked the history, but the spine featured, Story of the World, is not a secular spine. I searched around and found out that Pandia Press has created a truly secular version called HistoryQuest. Right now they have the ancient world released. So I bought that! The textbook, history told in a narrative style, and the study guide are in a pdf format (so no picture!). We are only printing the pages that Arthur needs to work with and keeping the rest on the iPad. I am switching around some of the chapters to make more sense of the timeline in my mind, but we will be following a lot of the activities and discussions provided. Beyond the spine, BYL has a book list of suggested volumes to purchase. I went through, pulled out ones that were featured for more than 3 weeks and seriously thought about buying them all. A took a moment to look at how they were being used and made a few changes. I ended up buying the volumes above to act as supplementary materials to the main HistoryQuest text. We will also be utilizing a ton of videos and internet resources for each chapter. And the library will be the main source of supplementary texts both fiction and nonfiction.
After thinking about it some more, I went back and bought Blossom and Root’s A River of Voices U.S. History curriculum. I was hesitant at first, but after reading more about it, thought it would be a good fit for us. The PDF’s cover 36 lessons from the earliest North American explorers to 1791. The big draw is that RoV is told from an inclusive standpoint. We get a majority of lessons featuring marginalized communities. We are planning on checking out the spines and suggested reading books from the library, but may end up buying some of theme as the year progresses. Using RoV with HQ, we are going to do split weeks. Most Mondays, Tuesday, and Wednesdays, we will focus on the HQ chapter. Most Thursdays and Fridays, we will focus on a RoV lesson. We will also have random weeks in there where Thursday and Friday is being reserved for a continent study. I’m really hoping this works!
Curiositree’s The Human World - BYL had their Natural World volume in the book list, but I found this one at an outlet sale and decided to grab it.
When on Earth - Great maps through time!
Explorers - The illustrations are amazing and the bios are wide-ranging.
The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia - BYL has Usborne’s version on the list. I found this one at an outlet sale and decided to sub.
Ancient Civilizations History Pockets - I’ve alway loved this series, so I had to add this one to our curriculum. I might end up picking up a few different ones to supplement.
Science
Science will mainly be coming from BYL’s plan utilizing Nature Connection, but we will also be doing unit studies of various subjects. I know that there are science topics Arthur has expressed interest in (biomes for one) and some others that J and I want to teach (basic chemistry concepts, physics, etc). BYL’s science curriculum is very nature based and hands-on. That is a part of Charlotte Mason that I really enjoy. I want Arthur to be able to outside and connect to the Earth almost every day.
I also ended up buying Blossom and Root’s Book Seeds: Profiles in Science. This pack includes 6 two-week lessons featuring a famous scientist paired with a picture book, STEAM activities, art activities, and nature studies. I wasn’t going to buy B&R’s big science curriculum, but loved these small units. Our first Book Seed: Profiles in Science is about Charles Darwin. Perfect to align with Week 2’s History, Archaeology, and Evolution theme! I will be sprinkling these in throughout the year. I also ended up grabbing B&R’s Book Seed: Mittens and Book Seed: Rainbows for a discounted price. Two more little science units to add into our year.
Animals of the World - Target Dollar Spot find for extra fun
Tinkeractive G1 and G2 Science - This will be added lessons when we cannot go outside.
One Small Square: Backyard - Featured in BYL lessons. Decided to actually buy it.
Nature Connection - BYL science spine. I checked it out from the library and then decided it was a jam packed workbook that we had to own.
Heroes of the Environment - Another BYL listed item. I found it for just a few dollars, so we bought it.
Other Curriculum
We wanted to include a variety of subjects beyond the basics, so I scoured our own libraries for choices and then bought a few things. The items above are ones that I hope to sprinkle through our weeks. Art is not really listed separately, but we will be doing almost daily art either it’s a free create day, tied to one of our unit studies or history or literature other subject, or a more formal art history lesson (those will mainly come from online and library books). Similarly, music will be coming in the form of Classics for Kids podcast and supplementary library books. I want Arthur to gain an awareness of music through time right now, not necessarily a formal music education.
Children’s Dictionary - This is for reference of course, but we didn’t own a physical one.
I Can Draw books - I picked up these two for Christmas and we never opened them. They are going to be used for the occasional free draw day.
Human Body Activity Book - Hoping to work this into our science curriculum on bad weather days.
Philosophy for Kids - J picked this up a few years ago. I think it’s now the time to break it open. The book includes 40 large philosophy questions with readings, discussions, and activities. We will be tackling a question each week.
Early Spanish - Target Dollar Spot find
Measuring and Cooking - Another Target Dollar Spot find. We are planning on at least one cooking project a week. Sometimes it will relate to our units and other times it will just be helping me make dinner or cookies.
Coding Book About Ruby - J really wants Arthur to learn coding soon…
Q&A a Day Journal - Thought this would be a fun way to start our days.
Supplementary Curriculum
Over the past year, I have acquired a few more summer bridge style workbooks. These will mostly be used as math and language arts daily pages. Just 3-4 pages a day to keep up some skills.
As for supplementary material, I have found a ton of free printables online and have even bought a few things from various educators on Teachers Pay Teachers. As we move through the year, I’ll be sourcing other items for specific lessons and subjects, but don’t anticipate a lot of big expenses moving forward.
I love back-to-school shopping! But I knew that I needed to focus on other needs this year. Still, I did grab some basic supplies for our upcoming year. Not all items are pictured above.
Notebooks and paper - just a few of each including some grid paper, handwriting paper, blank sketchpads, and lined notebooks
Dry erase boards - I found a blank one and one with lines at the Target dollar spot
Dry erase markers
Pencils - Ticonderoga of course!
Glue sticks
Upper and Lower Case Alphabet Stamps - For extra fun and for Quentin (prewriting)
Dry erase pockets - Another Target Dollar Spot find! These are amazing!
File folders - To make history pockets
Highlighters, markers, and crayons
Index cards - Used for a variety of things
Rulers
Post-it Notes
Binders - To control the chaos!
Over the course of the year, I know I will pick up some things here and there, but we’ve mostly got our stuff in order!
Next up on the TBR pile:
Here's my randomness for the week:
These cooler temperatures are such a delight!
So glad I scheduled a break week in between summer units and the start of our homeschooling year. I need a few days to gather my thoughts.
Couple of dud books this week
Next up on the TBR pile:
As August approached, we started realizing that school was not going to look “normal.” . I kept waiting for the local school district to release some kind of plan that would carry a low enough risk to send Arthur to physical school. Unfortunately, the district never met my threshold. And so I turned my mind to really considering homeschool as an option. I started researching our state’s (Nebraska) rules and regulations when it came to homeschooling. Nebraska has a very low threshold when it comes to homeschooling. Basically you submit a form to the state with a birth certificate and you are good to go. Some states require the logging of hours, details on curriculum used, and other things. Nebraska does not. A point that I think is working in my favor (i.e. not quite having a cemented plan), but could cause large gaps in achievement for certain kids. That is a whole other debate and discussion that I’m not getting into right now. For my purposes, I submitted my documents to the state and turned to the hard parts…
Thanks to my education degree, I did come to this question from square one. I know my education philosophy. I know mostly how Arthur learns (Q is still the wild card as he’s only 3). I had things to work from. To help me solidify my thoughts, I found a great Homeschooling Style quiz. My results were:
Score for Waldorf Education: 10
Score for Traditional Education: -3
Score for Unit Studies Education: 16
Score for Montessori Education: 8
Score for Thomas Jefferson Education: 1
Score for Unschooling: 13
Score for Classical Education: 11
Score for Charlotte Mason Education: 18
I am most definitely an eclectic teacher and now homeschooler that loves to take elements from many different styles and mash them together. I will be taking some elements from Charlotte Mason, unschooling, and unit studies with a bit of Classical Education to create our plan.
more interested in fostering a love of learning and a passion for knowledge than tests and grades
atheist, but believes in learning about all cultures and religions of the world
focused on exploration and discovery leading to more learning
literature and primary source based (very few textbooks allowed!)
not opposed to computer time and screen time to help support our lessons
pro-science and rigorous inquiry
(hopefully) going out into the world to learn
supportive of daily free play and exploration
With all these things in mind, I turned from the how to the what. My first step was to look up Scope and Sequence for first grade. This can give you a basic idea of the things taught in any given year. I pulled many S and S documents from a variety of sources and started jotting down ideas for our year. Math and Language Arts is covered in almost every plan I saw, but the other subjects are harder to find. I ended up just picking through many plans and choosing what I wanted Arthur to learn this coming year. Here’s a rough brainstorming draft from this phase of planning:
I consulted with J about my list, he added a few things (philosophy and logic), and we narrowed down the focus in a few areas. Once I had a big idea list, the next step was to research and source curriculum. And my goodness! There are so many choices out there. I’ll share what we decided on in Part 3.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Let’s check in on July’s goals and my progress.
Plan for homeschool through August ✓ - Some blog posts are coming with our plans, but I have finished the planning for the first two months!
Read 20 books ✓
Send out July cards ✓
Make fall plan for home renovation and repairs - Fail. Trying to get J to nail down a plan is a bit difficult.
Walk 30 miles on the treadmill ✓
August’s Goals:
Read 20 books
Send out Exchange Cards - 22 thank you cards to prep and send this first week.
Walk 30 miles on the treadmill - Trying to keep this up!
Start homeschooling! - We plan to dive in on Aug. 10th. Crossing our fingers that everything goes well.
Next up on the TBR list:
After a very long discussion about the current state of the world and the immediate future, J and I decided to pull Arthur from public school and homeschool this year. We did not make this decision lightly, but feel like it is the best one for our family right now. We’re hoping that next year things will improve and we can send him back to public school for 2nd grade.
Once we decided, the hard questions came. What do we teach? How do we teach? What do we buy? What is this going to look like? What about Quentin? These and many more questions arose…
To start off, we’ve been doing some informal weekly unit studies since school shut down in March. The school closing was very abrupt and remote learning did not offer much for Arthur to continue learning. Through no fault of his teacher, we were just given a few basic math and language arts worksheets plus a few class zoom calls. Lots of frustration! In April, I started thinking about unit studies to give our weeks a bit of structure and routine. We were foreseeing lots of closings and most days in the house. And thank goodness I started planning early! For 11 weeks now, we’ve started most weekdays with a few language arts and math pages and moved on to videos, books, activities, and projects related to a broad topic. We’ve covered:
Art History - including our own versions of Starry Night, prehistoric cave paintings, and Water Lilies
Ancient Greece
Farms
Space and Planets
Aesop’s Fables and Fairy Tales
U.S. Geography
Fourth of July (American Symbols, Revolutionary War, etc)
Rainforests
Moving West
Ponds, Lakes, and Rivers
Bugs and Bees
These simple unit studies have kept Arthur (and even Quentin) engaged in learning something even when we’ve been stuck in the house. Most of our materials came from googling free resources online. The library opened back up for curbside pickup of holds only in June, so we’ve been utilizing that every week for read alouds and nonfiction books on the topics. I bought a few things here or there, but mostly have kept our expenses near $0. This plan has been working well for us, but August is going to be a different beast to tackle.
Research and decisions coming soon in Part 2…
Next up on the TBR pile:
Here's my randomness for the week:
Finally getting close to acquiring my materials for homeschooling…
I need to pop into Target next week for the last of our school supplies.
So much food in our fridge and it’s a colossal mess. Really need to clean things up a bit.
Working on my August TBR pile. So many choices!
Just scheduled a pool day with a friend for next week. Seriously, it’s just so hot outside lately…
Next up on the TBR pile:
Things are still very much up in the air at the moment. Various places have reopened, but many with heavy restrictions. Our summer bucket list is going to look very different this year. No fun trips and very few outings to places. Instead, we are focusing on activities at home.
Visit Heron Haven
Comic Book Day
Make Ice Cream Sundaes
Hitchcock Nature Center
Read aloud 5 chapter books (2/5)
Oh Say, I Can’t See by Jon Scieszka
Amazon in the Afternoon by Mary Pope Osborne
Board Game Day
Scatter Joy Acres
Finger Paint
Read 50 books (16/50)
Have a Backyard Picnic
Weekly Sprinkler Time ✓
Go to the Zoo 5x (1/5)
Make S’mores
Tie Dye Something
Hopscotch in Driveway
Hike at the River
Complete Two Jigsaw Puzzles
Make Doughnuts
Next up on the TBR pile:
Here's my randomness for the week:
Deep into homeschool planning and it makes my little planner heart so happy!
My picture may be up somewhere in the library. I checked out another 55 books yesterday for curbside pickup. Plus we got our summer reading program prizes.
I don’t want the Murderbot Diaries series to end! I know there’s another book coming, but not until like next year. I need more now!
All the grocery stores were out of chicken breasts which means I need to rework our meal plan for this week. Thankfully one had an abundance of salmon fillets, so we have tonight taken care of.
Lists and piles all over my craft room. That seems normal.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Reading: Network Effect by Martha Wells - I’m so in love with the Murderbot Diaries. So sad that this is the last one that has been published…
Watching: I finally started S7 of The 100. It’s the last season! I’m sneaking in episodes during my workout sessions.
Listening: So many podcasts this past week. I need more music in my life.
Making: I’m working on homeschool curriculum and packets for the fall.
Feeling: So hot and sweaty! Our treadmill was delivered on July 1st. I’m aiming to walk 30 miles in July. So far, I’ve walked over 6 miles!
Planning: As we’re homeschooling this coming year, I’ve been spending a bit of time every day pulling resources, making lists, and working out our plan. I’ve got a ton of stuff, but now I need to narrow everything down for August.
Loving: Walking the treadmill makes me hungry, but I don’t want to eat crap. Instead, I’ve been grabbing a little handful of nuts after my workout. Honey Roasted Peanuts are my treat.
Next up on the TBR pile:
Week 18: Fesenjan (Pomegranate Walnut Chicken) from Iran
I don’t think I’ve ever had anything quite like this, but it was so so good! We might put this in regular rotation.
Recipe used from Simply Recipes
Week 19: Sancocho from Panama
Pretty decent chicken corn chowder. I did have to substitute sweet potatoes for cassava as I could not find any around here.
Recipe used from 196 Flavors
Week 20: Gazpacho from Spain
Incredibly delicious! This is most definitely a keeper! I will be pulling this out when it’s 90 degrees here.
Recipe used from The Suburban Soapbox
Week 21: Miso from Japan
Simple to make and super tasty. I didn’t know that it was so easy to make miso. We will have to do this again when we get takeout sushi next time.
Recipe used from Eat Plant Based
Week 22: Khao Soi from Laos
A Laotian take on ramen? A pork noodle soup? Either way, this was really really good! I think we will have to make it again.
Recipe used from Food & Wine
Week 23: Coconut Sweet Potato Soup with Spicy Shrimp from Vanuatu
I had some reservations about this recipe, but it tasted amazing! We loved the sweet coconut flavored broth mixed with the spiciness from the shrimp. Next time, I am going to try to thicken the broth a bit, but overall, this was delicious.
Recipe used from Panning the Globe
Week 24: Butha-Buthe (Spinach and Tangerine Soup) from Lesotho
Pretty bland… the broth was tasty, but the starch really overwhelmed it.
Recipe used from 196 Flavors
Let’s check in on June’s goals and my progress.
Read 15 books ✓
Create weekly theme units for Arthur ✓
Next Round of Soups and Stews ✓
Send out June birthday and pick-me-up cards ✓
Figure out end of summer ✓
July’s Goals:
Plan for homeschool through August - We’ve made the decision to pull Arthur for this coming year due to all the uncertainty. I am able to stay home and teach him, so that’s what we’re doing.
Read 20 books - Need to up my goal apparently.
Send out July cards
Make fall plan for home renovations and repairs
**Added: Walk at least 30 miles on the treadmill
Next up on the TBR list:
Here's my randomness for the week:
After a few cooler days, the temps are going back up today. Ugh!
The paper work has been submitted, we are officially homeschooling Arthur next year.
So I’m now deep into resource sourcing mode.
Super excited about my delivery of new underwear. I’m such an adult.
Flat Stanley is not a great book… We need a better choice for next time.
And finally, it’s not a videos week, but I just had to include this one. Who else is squealing in joy?
Next up on the TBR pile:
Things are still very much up in the air at the moment. Various places have reopened, but many with heavy restrictions. Our summer bucket list is going to look very different this year. No fun trips and very few outings to places. Instead, we are focusing on activities at home.
Visit Heron Haven
Comic Book Day
Make Ice Cream Sundaes
Hitchcock Nature Center
Read aloud 5 chapter books
Board Game Day
Scatter Joy Acres
Finger Paint
Read 50 books
Have a Backyard Picnic
Weekly Sprinkler Time
Go to the Zoo 5x
Make S’mores
Tie Dye Something
Hopscotch in Driveway
Hike at the River
Complete Two Jigsaw Puzzles
Make Doughnuts
Next up on the TBR pile:
A new season has begun! The global pandemic has really put an interesting twist on planning for the spring. We didn’t end up traveling anywhere this month and have loaded up on home activities and schedules. And due to the uncertainty of the near future, I’m shortening the Spring Bucket List to create some manageable goals.
We are still at home and we haven’t really accomplished most of the items on this list. 3/15 items completed. This season of life was really not great at all.
Read 50 books ✓
Make fun cupcakes
Create an Easter Egg Hunt ✓
Make a planter for the front porch
Find two good parks
Tie Dye Shirts with the boys
Create a spring Spotify playlist
Mini golf family night
Go berry picking ✓ - Our local berry farm opened just in time. They had multiple restrictions, but we still got to go and get some strawberries.
Sign Arthur up for summer camps - Camps have been canceled.
Go on a hike
Have a picnic
Put together the littles’s room - In progress
Monthly Massage - The place the I got my birthday massage and then bought a membership has officially closed.
Go antiquing
Next up on the TBR pile:
Here's my randomness for the week:
The drop in temperatures yesterday was glorious. I am so over 90-100 degree days.
I’ve been averaging almost a book a day lately and goodness… My anxiety is manifesting in very weird ways.
Speaking of, the littles and I are heading to the zoo today for our first big outing since quarantine. There are many restrictions, but we hope that we can see some great animals and have a good time.
I’ve fallen behind on on the new (and last) season of The 100. I really want to catch up, but gotta find the time.
Next up on the TBR pile:
