Homeschool Plan for 2017-2018 so far

Homeschool Outline for 2017-2018

With a 3.5 yo, 2nd grader and 4/5 grader

(4/5 grader- what seems to have worked best for my oldest is being in-between grades, giving us flexibility to be at her own pace. So while this will be her 5th year homeschooling, if she was in school, I would have waited another year before sending her to kindergarten so she would be in 4th grade so we just hang in that range.)

We are eclectic Charlotte Mason inspired homeschoolers, have done Classical Conversations in the past as well as experimenting with unschooling which is where my daughter amazed me with the growth and improvements she made in spelling and writing without being forced.  I like to cater to inspiration and delight in the moment led learning but with some great tools and resources available too where the kids can get even more inspiration and new ideas from.  Unschooling for me involved a LOT of intentional strewing and seeds planted and being observant and available.  That is why I can't have a rigid schedule so we can relax and enjoy the unexpected learning, inspiration and rabbit holes that spontaneously happen, a spontaneous lake day when the weather is too perfect to be inside all day and to accommodate our twice a year trips cross country to visit family and a variety of small trips with my husband as sometimes we tag along with him for his work travel.  But I find by having a general outline, I can modify and find a rhythm to still be intentional and make it all jive by the end of the year, even if it might make someone else go cross eyed trying to understand lol! This year I will probably be scheduling a little more than I have in the past to just wrap my head around time frames and how to get it all done with other big commitments that we may have this next year outside of the home but that is all still undetermined. I am still finalizing the details but I have lots of notes around and need to gather my thoughts in on place so I'm doing it here.

Also, I do as much combined with my 7 and 10 year old as possible and modify accordingly to make it easier for the younger one or a little more challenging for the older one.  I don't want to be going crazy doing everything different for each child and keeping track of it all, I don't think I could handle that, the thought of that makes me go cross-eyed so we will do as much learning together as we can as long as we can, accommodating each child accordingly.  When it gets to a point I feel they can't do as much together, then I'll probably start looking at hybrids, virtual classes or something lol! So without further ado, here is my working list for the upcoming school year as of now.

HISTORY 

Beautiful Feet Early American History

We began this program this year and are doing it over the course of 2 years so we ended with Pilgrims and will start the fall with Benjamin Franklin.

To go along with this we will re-download the Classical Conversations App Cycle 3 which we already bought all apps in the past. We will use cycle 3 for American History memory sentences as they tie into our BF American History.  Should be quick and easy as they will be familiar from before.

LANGUAGE ARTS

I also have gone through the book list for BF and found other great books to add in as additional reading for personal reading, read alouds or audiobooks for book reports or Arrows (by Brave Writer) that coincide with the history we will be covering. I will post a list at the end of this general outline.

*Language Lessons for Today by My Father's World (Grammar, composition, narration, picture study etc) grade 2 and grade 4 books

*Daily reading independently (partnering with 2nd grader til he's more comfortable on his own)

*Shakespeare - I will read to them Much Ado About Nothing this year followed by watching the movie, then let them help come up with a project of their choice, either their own acted out video, puppet show, art project...they'll have to determine their project.

*Friday Freewrites (they were a hit this year) from the Brave Writer lifestyle.

*Movies - another reason why I love Julie Bogart of Brave Writer! I have always found movies and tv series to be great teaching tools but she goes out of her way to give you permission and emphasizes the educational and relational value of watching good movies together! Our movie selections will also coincide with other subjects we will be covering. I am excited! (Listed below this outline with the books)

*Arrows for my 4/5 grader that go with historical books I mentioned above. Arrows use a book to teach copy work, dictation and literary elements learning from great literature. 

*Explode the Code (with spelling words coming from the code lessons) and WWT continued for my 2nd grader 

*thinking about Writing and Rhetoric also for my 4/5 grader. Will also be looking more at Brave Writers products and IEW just to see.  But I do gravitate so much towards Julie Bogart of Brave Writer.  Also may use Spelling Wisdom by Simply Charlotte Mason as I found book 1 & 2 for a steal at a used book store. But we will see my daughter has suddenly decided she loves spelling tests and Spelling Wisdom is all spelling through dictation. It was cheap enough to grab but not sure yet if I'll keep it.

*Creative Writing-whether my daughter takes a class again at enrichment for this, we will all spend time writing stories, from my preschooler where I jot it down for him, to my 7 yo where I will jot it down/partner write with him, he still gets fatigued getting it all written and will need support, to my 4/5 grader who already does this as a hobby on her typewriter.  I will also encourage song writing, as we do poetry and sing hymns and other songs.  This was/is my secret favorite hobby I started when I was around 10/11.  It's such a great way to express yourself, as well as enjoy whatever instrument you are learning.  Even for the kids being very beginner music students, it's exciting if they can take what little they know and apply it to a simple song of their own.  

*Journal Keeping my daughter started keeping a personal journal this past year. My son has a happy times journal that I write in for him. As he tells me some of his happy thoughts about the day.(basically a mini gratitude journal). As he gains more independence in his writing he can go on to do more journal keeping independently, although I'm guessing he won't gravitate to it as naturally as his sister.  We shall see.  I don't even tell my daughter to write in her journal anymore she just does that on her own and I don't read it unless she wants to show me something. She kept wanting me to read all her entries in the beginning which was sweet but I figure we are around each other A LOT, I told her it's ok to have her own thoughts that she keeps private in there. Like if she's mad at her brothers and vents in her diary, I really don't need to read it because it would probably make me annoyed and my impulse would be to get after her.  

*Beginner Blog my daughter started her own little blog so that will be another writing project where she will be motivated to complete her posts because it's fun and have a good attitude about editing as she wants my help to make sure it reads right and doesn't have lots of spelling mistakes.  We can focus more on grammar, punctuation and such as she has a reason to care.  This also will help with her computer skills and photography which she is interested in.

MATH

*CTC MATH.  We have a family subscription and my kids and I have really enjoyed this program. It is a great fit for us.

*Occasionally incorporate math games from Family Math and other hands on games like Dino Tracks, Monopoly, Battle Ships etc..there are so many games you can enjoy with your kids that reinforce math skills.

*Will use the Classical Conversations app here as well to memorize skip counting.  My daughter has them all down but now it's my 2nd graders turn.

SCIENCE

we will start our first real science program this year. In the past we have just been really organic and Charlotte Mason Nature Study focused, with being involved in a nature club and then my kids have taken science classes at an enrichment program each semester that involved lots of hands on science. We also had a little Charlotte Mason Enrichment group and did a science experiment together once a month and then in the past Classical Conversations memory work for science and using nature notebooks.  The kids watched a lot of Wild Kratt's which they have retained so much information from and we would watch documentaries on sea turtles and dolphins or whatever they were into.  I think the science we are going to do fits really well with our style of doing school and will give us a little more structure in this area.

*The Sassafras Science Adventures: Volume One: Zoology

I hope to finish this in one semester and then move onto Volume Two: Anatomy later in the year. You need the novel, the logbook and the guidebook.
 We will also pull from our Classical Conversations science materials over the 3 cycles to match up memory sentences with the main topics.  I already have all that because we did 3 cycles.  When we go back to it, it is fun for the kids as it familiar and they just need a refresher.

*We will still continue to enjoy being in nature and observing all that stuff and keeping nature journals but our main focus will be this series.

*Inventor Biographies - as a little side dish, as we cover American History we will also watch or read some inventor biographies such as Benjamin Franklin, The Wright Bros and Thomas Eddison.  We may just watch the videos created by Nest entertainment and have the kids make a narration page or oral narration. Maybe go on Pinterest to get some coordinating project ideas.  Honestly those Nest videos are great I grew up watching the animated scriptures and that is how I remember all the bible stories more than anything else I probably was taught as a kid! Either way, we will incorporate this aspect. And maybe take a projects based approach and see if the kids are inspired to invent or create something but if not, I wont force it.

CHARACTER/BIBLE/DEVOTIONAL

*We will continue to use My Brother's Keeper. We have been doing it VERY slowly even though it is designed for a couple weeks or so. But we do it every now and then and it gives the kids time to digest and practice the lessons. I tend to pull it out when siblings need to hit the reset button on the direction of their relationship...and it definitely helps!

*NEST Videos - Old and New Testament 

*The Action Bible

*Bethany Hamilton's 90 Day Devotional RISE ABOVE continued for my daughter

*His Mighty Warrior for my son

*Big book of 5 minute devotions for all three kids over breakfast or lunch and love that it all brings lessons based of lessons about animals as we will be doing zoology.

MUSIC

*Hymn Study - I will teach them a hymn and usually play the piano or ukulele as we all sing along, sometimes give the boys drums to play on.  Then later I will use a hymn we are learning as copy work and then we visual journal around it or watercolor paint over it. We do one hymn every month or two. 

*Music Practice - for all of us. daughter has taken ukulele and will practice that or piano as I have been slowly teaching her. She will be trying violin this summer so if she decides to continue with that then she will need to practice according to what her teacher says.

My son is trying guitar lessons this summer, so same with him, hopefully he will want to continue as we will have daily practice time. And I will keep recommitting to giving myself time on the piano/guitar/ukulele. I love it so much but get SO out of practice.

*Song Writing- as I mentioned under creative writing in our Language Arts but it overlaps.

*To go along with our American History we will have fun learning and singing American Folk Songs.  I can figure those out on piano or guitar but I'm hoping as my son gets comfortable he will enjoy playing the as we sing along as I'm sure there some super easy versions of them.  If possible maybe they can play guitar and violin together on easy folk songs and little brother can tap a drum.

*Musicals.  My kids haven't seen a lot of the great musicals that I have added to our movies list for the year.

*Live Blue Grass concerts.  We live in the south east, we can find some live blue grass to enjoy with the kids. And hope to get them to as much free live music events as we can.

ART/HANDICRAFTS

*We will study American Artist Thomas Cole 1830s father of American Lanscape Painting. I'll do some related art projects.

*Charlotte Mason style artist study/picture study  (I use Ambleside Online as a guide, this is quick)

*American Colonial and pioneer games and handicrafts will find on Pinterest 😘🤓😎

*Native American handicrafts-cave paintings, stonework, earthenware, feathers, clay, turquoise, silver, glass, fabric, totem poles. symbols-sun, moon, bears, eagles or people. Jewelry-rich in symbolism used to adorn, protect and honor.

*daily drawing (they have sketchbooks for practicing drawing skills either still life, following tutorial or lesson from me)

GEOGRAPHY

*Geography is part of our Beautiful Feet as we cover the beginning of the colonies and then expand westward. We will also make use of the 50 states I Want To Take a Trip YouTube video that is fun to sing, use our United States Map floor puzzle and possible work on some sort of project like making state floats, if you look that up on Pinterest it is such a neat idea but my kids would have to make 25 each over the course of the year to get all 50 states for the "float parade" which I think would be a fun crafty, hands on project but we will see if it is too ambitious or not. If so I may just have them do a few. But there are lots of resources on Pinterest for the 50 states so I will be going there for more ideas.

UPDATE: I printed off the 50 States Geography notebooking pages from the same maker of Sassafrass Science. Can be found HERE. The only thing I will do different is not bother with state seal and in that box have them draw interesting things about that state that stand out to them like a coke bottle and or peach for Georgia, the Statue of Liberty for New York or whatever the decide.

I got this book to go with it.  I love that it looks like a nature journal as you go through.  I thought it was perfect because in the notebooking pages for each state I am going to have my kids draw the state flower, state bird etc.  

*The Sassafras Science program also includes geography work as well.

BOOK LIST

This list includes all the books from Beautiful Feet as well as the ones I've added in as part of language arts to tie in. I'll note after each (BF) for Beautiful Feet or Arrow for brave writer or LA other language arts/reading projects.  There will be other books we may add in based on child's interest but these are the books that will correlate to our History.

Benjamin Franklin by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire (BF)

Ben and Me by Robert Lawson ARROW-historical setting

A More Perfect Union by Giulio and Betsy Mastro (BF)

George Washington by  Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire (BF) also watch Nest video on him

George Washington's Mother by Jean Fritz - audiobook on Epic

Daring Book for Girls p136-137 Abigail Adams' Letters with John Adams and Writing Letters p142-144 (LA) 

Johnny Tremain by Ester Forbes ARROW-Opening Hooks and probably watch the movie after

Nate Donovan Revolutionary Spy - audiobook on Epic reading app

Boys and Girls of Colonial Days by Carolyn Bailey (BF)

Moccasin Trail with ARROW-Alliteration and book project

Winter at Valley Forge by James Knight (BF)

George Washington's Breakfast by Jean Fritz (BF)

the Courage of Sarah Noble (BF)

Matchlock Gun by Walter Edwards (BF)

Carry On Mr. Bowditch  with ARROW-writers voice

Abraham Lincoln by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire (BF) watch Nest video about Abe.

Meet Abraham Lincoln by Barbara Cary (BF)

Like a River - Civil War novel (LA) book project

The Perilous Road - audiobook on EPIC (reading library app)

Caddie Woodlawn - with ARROW-conclusions

Possibly start Laura Ingalls Series

Buffalo Bill by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire (BF)

Sarah Plain and Tall - late 19th century time period with ARROW-confusing word pairs

The New Land First Year on the Prairie by Marrilyn Reynolds - (available illustrated read aloud on EPIC)

The Fourth of July Story by Alice Dalgliesh (BF)

The Indian in the Cupboard (LA reading and book project)

Your story hour CD's H1, H2, H3, H5 through audible. (BF)

Some of these extra books may also be listened to via audiobook. 

MAPS Book we already have to look up geography we will cover in Science

Inventors Secret what Thomas Edison told Henry Ford - audiobook on Epic

Kate Shelly and The Midnight Express by Margaret Wetterer - (available on epic) 

Movies- some during school time some as family movie night
many you can find on youtube, amazon, or your local library

Liberty Kids Series for free on youtube or on Amazon

Ben and Me Disney Short Film

Disney American Legends

7 Brides for 7 Brothers

Oklahoma!

Annie Get Your Gun (buffalo bill)
Calamity Jane

Much Ado About Nothing

Davy Crockett

Indian in the Cupboard

Jeremiah Johnson

AG Felicity - 1775, just before the Revolutionary War
Beyond the Mask - BEYOND THE MASK is a revolutionary new family film that brings history to life in a faith-filled adventure celebrating grace, liberty, and true freedom.

Newsies - 1899

Nest Entertainment bible and history

Tall Tale: the unbelievable adventure - Pecos Bill & The American West

Miracle at Sage Creek - 1888 Wyoming two families overcoming prejudice

The man From Snowy River - not hisotry related but for my daughter with horse interest 

Return to Snowy River also not part of american history really but want to include.

The Black Stallion

National Velvet

Long Road Home

White Fang (gold rush in Yukon)

Rocky Mountain Express (transcontinental railroad)

Mandie and the Secret Tunnel (1899-native American prejudice and African American issues)
Little House on the Prairie Series

SONGS TO LISTEN TO/LEARN

America The Beautiful 

this Land is Your Land

Go Tell it on the Mountain

Blowin in the Wind

Poor Wayfarin

She'll be Coming round the Mountain

Yankee Doodle

Amazing Grace

Buffalo Gals

Skip to ma Lou

I've been working on the railroad 

Etc...

Road Trips with Kids -12 Easy Car Activities & Tips

We aren't exactly what you would call fulltime "Worldschoolers" or "Road Schoolers" but we do try to take advantage of the flexibility homeschooling gives us to take a family road trip as often as we can. Over the past couple of years we have taken multiple family road trips where we drive between 6-10 hours in the car.  We have a DVD player in the car when all else fails but it's fun to have other things on hand that keep the kids busy and happy.  My kids are between the ages of 5-8 and my 2 year old old does his own variation on some of these activities.  There are plenty of ideas for car rides on Pinterest, however these road trip tips all require minimal preparation.  One thing I've learned from preparing things like sensory bins, basket, and other car trip activities...it can sometimes take way more time and effort to prepare than it's worth. Why run around collecting materials, assembling, printing, cutting, etc when it will only occupy the kids for a minute or two? So here are the easy car activities we resort to when we are planning a road trip.

1. FINGER LOOMING

When going on a road trip with kids, one of our kids' favorite activities that kept them busy on and off for great lengths of time was looming on their hands with craft loops.  Before a family road trip there is enough work to be done to prepare than hunt down craft loops and other little activies.  So, if you want to make life easy for yourself, take advantage of Amazon Prime, mom's best friend! Order just a few days before a family road trip and enjoy that 2 day shipping and save yourself the extra running around and preperation!  For me that gives me time to focus on all the gluten free baking I do to prepare for a road trip!

Family road trips are so fun when you can hold off on the DVD player or iphone and watch your kids get creative in entertaining themselves! After looming bracelets and scarfs, they starting looming with their toes and making "flip flops" and other various creations.  It doesn't look like much but it kept them happily entertained and it is such an easy thing to bring along!  I have all our craft loops in a gallon zip lock bag and I just throw it in the car!

2. SCRATCH OFF ART

Another great activity that will kill lots of time on a road trip with kids are these ocean animal rainbow scratch things.  I got them on amazon and they came in a pretty big pack so I'm just keeping them in the glove box for future road trips.  This was really an awesome one to be able to pull out.  It takes a long time if they want to scratch off the whole surface, or if they want to get into a meticulous design, either way...it's great for all ages and they can't seem to resist the rainbow goodness that starts to show through and it keeps them occupied!  Which makes it a fun road trip activity.  They come with blue cord to hang them up and the kids loved being able to hang their finished rainbow ocean animals on the hanger hooks next their seats.  If you don't trust your kids with the pointed untensil that comes with these, they could use their fingernail, a penny and such.

You can find these on amazon here

3. ART JOURNALING

Another great activity for road trips with kids is art journaling. Bring colored pencils, colored tape, stickers etc and let them just draw, doodle or do art with different patterned strips of tape and make a mixed media piece.  Even the baby liked this activity, he figured out how to plant his paper on the bottom of his car seat and hold it down with his feet while coloring with a colored pencil...he was like a little monkey!  Bringing an art/nature journal is not just great for the car, but can easily be pulled out to document or illustrate the various places and things they see on the road trip.  I recommend a smaller art pad for traveling as it's more portable such as this 5.5 x 8 inch pad. And the crayola twistables are the best!  You don't have to worry about marker or crayon on the car upholstery or worrying about the pencil breaking and needing to be sharpened! (or the kids coloring each other's face's in a ridiculous manner that may not easily come off once you have to get out of the car! it's happened)

Crayola Twistables Kit keeps 'em nice, tidy and portable!

Let them get creative in the car with colorful washi tape!

For those 6 and up, they may enjoy these Drawing on the Go! books to go with their art journaling on the family road trip! They are super inexpensive and my kids love them!




 My kids also enjoy having these little doddle books that are easily stashed in the glove box.

4. WAVING AND THUMBS UP

 My daughter made up this game on a family road trip.  She looked at cars licences plates and if they were from the same state as us she would wave and give them a thumbs up.  That entertained the kids for almost and hour.  The baby was cranky and fighting the nap but he started giggling and waving at cars too and then everyone was happy!  It was also during rush hour traffic so my daughter liked the idea that she was spreading good cheer to all these bored people as everyone that noticed her would smile and wave back.

5. BOOKS ON TAPE

My kids don't like watching the DVD player that much on family road trips, I wish they did sometimes!!! But they don't so I have to find other things to keep them occupied and then have the DVD player ready with a really good movie just in case things start to fall apart!  Some books on tape we have enjoyed are audio disks.  This is a great way to get some educational value and enrichment out of the long boring stretches of a road trip with kids.  Whether you homeschool or not, these disks are great to listen to for the whole family!

Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer

And better yet, keep the car clutter down! If you have a smart phone you can download the Audible App through amazon and then listen to audiobooks through your phone. If your car allows you to adapt your phone into the sound system such as this or a built in USB port...even better!

I don't have an Audible membership but if you search for books you can usually find some free or very low cost to download. Some larger volumes will cost a bit more but you can determine if it is worth the cost buy the audio download or sign up with audible to get it.  Since we don't download TOO many audiobooks, I prefer to order them a la carte, without the membership!

6. TALKING - CONNECTING

Seems obvious, but...I was getting cranky on one particular road trip with the kids and couldn't stop wishing they would just be quiet! However, something came up that I could have brushed off, turned the music up and tuned them out...instead, I turned the music OFF and we talked about random things. Several great teaching moments came up and I just listened to and went along with the kids random and odd/creative questions while trying to be more creative and playful in my answers since normally those Q and A sessions can get tiresome and I often get impatient when I'm already tired and the questions can feel exhausting...But, I just need to go with it and enjoy them, even if I secretly want a moment of silence.  If all we hope for is silence when they are young, that may be all we get when they are big, so take the opportunity to just gab and listen about whatever is on their mind, with no parental agenda in our mind.  Let them get bored and see what thoughts start to come out of them.  

7. HANG A FEW TOYS

When I took the kids on a long road trip by ALL BY MYSELF when they were both younger, I took their various toys and tied strings to them and then tied the other end of the string to different parts of their car seats or around their car seats.  That way if they dropped their toy they could pull it back up.  Or drop a toy to play when tired of it to play with another, just pull the string up.  It worked out really well and I felt pretty clever!  It was one of those things I thought of last minute when packing the car the night before.  This setup really saved me because when go on family road trips, normally daddy is driving and I can turn around and give them things and tying things to their seats and making them accessible helped them be independent so I wasn't reaching around searching while driving or listening to a child cry because he dropped his triceratops!

8. BOX OF BAND AIDS

Need to kill more time on a plane or road trip with kids?  Hand your child a box of band aids to put on their "sick" dinosaur, doll, puppy, themselves  etc.  it will take them a while to open up and apply that whole box of band aids to something!  My kids love this! And I love that it occupies them a long time!

9. CLOUD WATCHING

Ask your kids to look out their window and look for pictures in the clouds. This is a good one for when they are getting annoyed of each other and you want them not looking in each other's direction, but out their own windows!  I have to confess this one usually goes like this..."knock it off!  Stop talking to each other, everyone be quiet and look out your own window!!!!"  .....take a deep breath in... big breath out....woosa....then in a nicer voice "maybe you can see shapes in the clouds that look like animals!  I think I see a turtle over there." (Even if I don't actually see anything it will just get them looking for it). 

10. LAVENDER ESSENTIAL OIL-AROMATHERAPY

This is not really an activity, but it is essential.  I keep it close so when I start feeling stressed or tense I can quickly open the bottle and start huffing it...I mean...use aromatically.  I rub some on the air vents to diffuse into the car to help keep everyone feeling calm.  I don't go anywhere without Lavendar as it is also great for helping everyone relax and fall asleep in a hotel room, or help sooth a sunburn mixed with some Aloe.  Plant Therapy is a great brand that I have really come to enjoy as the quality is right up there with the more expensive name brands but it is less expensive because you are buying it straight from the company so there is less mark up.

Car Essential Oil Diffuser

11. FREE TRIP SOUVENIRS

If you go to a nicer rest stop that had lots of brochures for travel and local attractions, 

let your kids collect some to study in the car, use in their art journal or save as a souvenir of the road trip.

12. DVD TIME

Like I said, eventually we get to the DVD player at some point.  I think my kids favorite DVD's that made for an awesome road trip were the Liberty Kids series! They were so into it and learned a American History at the same time!

or a triple feature such as this has been good as well!

And when all else fails, Curious George is so soothing and relaxing to put on for everyone!

There a million ways to entertain your kids in the car, I've seen plenty on Pinterest... But these are some of our favorites and they are just so simple and easy and don't require much prep, just throwing it in the car with minimal packing and clutter.  Yes it would be great to make a map scavenger hunt of the road trip, make a road trip lap book and every other cool pinterest idea. I love the idea of that kind of thing but I also love just grabbing simple supplies that don't require lots of prep work on my part....sometimes in the past I think I spent more time preparing some awesome educational activity for the kids than is worth the amount of time the kids spend engaged with it....so....rather than kill myself with some amazing idea that doesn't pay off ... I'm sticking with what's easy on me!  Lesson learned!  If it takes all night to prepare some Pinterest kit for my kids and they enjoy it for 15 minutes ... Then it is not worth losing sleep over. And at the end of the day, mamma needs her rest because if mamma ain't happy, than nobody is happy!

K.I.S.S - Keep It Simple Silly!

I put together a list on Amazon to make shopping for great car activities for you family road trips super easy!

 

 

Art.Beauty.Homemaking.Motherhood.

As a sahm and especially a homeschool mom, I know for me personally, there are times I don't feel beautiful anymore.  I think of women who have to get ready for their professional career and polish up everyday or women my age who are not yet mothers and take great care of themselves with great shoes, clothes, regularly maintained and colored hair and the best makeup and nail polish!  Or especially other mothers who seem to do it ALL while looking fantastic.  Then I look down and there is pretty much ALWAYS something on my shirt, chipped uneven nails, just a little but of nail polish left on my big toes that's been wearing off for over a month, a year of highlights grown out, tired dull skin and eyes, and pretty much just feeling plain jane.  When your day starts with caring for a baby, toddler, sick or scared child who kept you up all night, rather than jump out of bed and get beautified for work and friends, it's a zombie walk to the kitchen for coffee first!  Then more kids appear, need breakfast, help, attention, direction...pets also start meowing or whimpering for a need as well.  Your day gets going and before you know it, it's well into the day, you finally catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror when you managed to get a bathroom break and it can be startling to see the tired, disheveled, unkempt, starting to age, worn out person in the mirror and feel like all traces of whatever former beauty have been lost.

I can also feel this way about creativity and art.  I wanted to be a couple things when I was in my youth...number one...I always wanted to be a mom but other dreams included being a fine artist, spending time in Italy as an apprentice to gain and polish professional skills, compose music for movie soundtracks and maybe a few other grand dreams.  When I glance in the mirror on those days and see an uglier version of myself, I sometimes feel that way about my creative and artistic abilities...lost in the wash...probably gone to the same place of no return that all those socks go to....which is why my kids wear mismatched socks a lot of the time!

BUT...as depressing and pitiful as that all sounds, thankfully those days are a small minority of the time because I am reminded that BEAUTY isn't merely a state of being and neither is art.  Both are an expression.  Both can be expressed and enjoyed in many non-tangible, non-capturable ways, all throughout our day...every day!

Motherhood and homemaking are sources of insurmountable joy and satisfaction yet at the same time very exhaustive, stressful and humbling.  Motherhood BREAKS you.  But, if approached with intention, unselfishness, humbleness, a willingness to learn from our children and pray over everything and seek out the Holy Spirit's inspiration as our main go to parenting resource that we can tap into anytime....from or brokenness, a new beautiful creature arises from within.  TRUE BEAUTY.  Expressed in our love for our children, how we teach them, treat them and give our unconditional enduring love, being teacher and students of our children.  Learning who they are, embracing who they are, cultivating their personality traits to work for their good so they can serve as strengths more than weakness...which is ultimately done through constant prayer and seeking of guidance.  This new beautiful strong creature is shed of some of her former self...and usually a lot for the better...shed of shallowness, selfishness, impatience and pride just to name a few.  

Art and creativity are also expressed in child raising and homemaking on a daily basis.  Living simply, unhurried and connected with our surroundings, creating quality time, being up to enjoy and go with the flow to enjoy the spontaneous and the planned moments together, exploring and discovering the world together, creating things together, creating an environment to cultivate their little hearts, minds and spirits....there is just so much that happens everyday that is an expression of art and creativity.  

My family and home are my canvas and God is the medium-blended into every color, coated on every brush and layered onto every part of the canvas that I work on everyday.  It all goes on smoother, blends better and has a better overall finish when He is a part of it.

Often when thoughts of not fulfilling or cultivating my gifts and passions, I'm reminded that right now, in this season, my family and my home are my canvas and my various paintbrushes are prayer, unscheduled time, nature, living books, beautiful homeschool resources, nature journaling, character development, devotional/hymn/poetry study, teachable moments, the right extra curricular activities for us, a handful of sweet friends, extended family, Holy Spirit inspiration and God is the paint medium, blended into every color, coated on every brush and layered onto every part of the canvas that I am working everyday.  It all goes on smoother, blends better and has a better finish when He is a part of it.  

Aside from drawing in our nature notebooks or doing art with my kids, using my rusty art skills, I am OK...no actually I am MORE than OK to wait until a season when more tangible art projects will be a part if my life...but for now...living art is what it is and finding the beauty and joy in the messy and mundane moments.  (Have you ever walked into an painting studio?  It's messy and simple and bare...but then, in the midst of the unglamorous setting, stands a beautiful work of art in progress with someone spending hours upon hours, diligently working on it....that is just like life!)

Taking in the simple yet complex beauty of the world as we discover it again in new and profound ways alongside our children, our beauty is expressed through our simple joy and contentment, love of nature, love for each other and ultimately love of our creator.  

My personal beauty is not exactly expressed as it was in more youthful years through youthful glowing skin, flat ironed-still naturally blond hair, push up bras and citizen jeans that fit just so...but it IS expressed through creating a peaceful, loving home and a sanctuary for my children and husband to come home to. I cannot do that so well on my own strength alone-but through Adonai-a loving, understanding and creative Father and Savior who knows me and loves me just the way I am.  

This is the season I'm in and it is full of art and beauty and when I look at it this way I am in no hurry for this season to end, sometimes I with it would never have to end. I am content.  

Charlotte Mason Nature Notebook

One of the things I really wanted to focus on this year was keeping nature notebooks and we have a little bit but not very much.  But it's hard to get the kids excited about it just by telling them "wow look at that red cardinal! Now go draw it in your notebook!" But the best way to get them excited about doing things is to set an example and do it myself. so part of making myself start a nature notebook was volunteering to lead the sketching portion of our Charlotte Mason Nature Club since a lot of the kids were bringing their sketch pads but no one was really sketching.  So I picked up my own fresh sketch pad and just that act alone was very exciting! Lol!  

I drew up 2 samples for the upcoming nature outing as we will be focusing on birds and I chose to draw a blue jay and cardinal because I have been enjoying watching those 2 birds in our yard lately.

Anyways I'm excited to get the kids excited about their nature notebooks and   Hopefully next week I can post a couple pictures of what the kids do if they let me!

Update:

I taught the kids the secret to drawing any bird is to start with an egg shape for the body and a circle for the head...and while studying the bird they can take into account the proportions and positions of head and body.  Then you add a curves line to connect the top if head to back and bottom if head to breast, add an eye. And pretty much straight out from the eye is a straight line for the middle of the beak.  Look at the bird, does it have a very short beak or a long beak like a hummingbird? Then you can draw an angled line from the tip of the beak back to the head on top and bottom. Then you add wings and a tail...again look at the bird, a cardinal has a longer almost rectangle tail, a blue jay tail is long but more full and rounded at the end, other birds have a very short tail.  After putting in the basic shapes and proportions you can render the details, make edges more soft and curved with feather shapes and erase you drawing lines that are no longer needed at the end and add color.  

The point of a nature journal is to have fun recording what you observed in nature and also experiment and have fun with as an art journal as well.  I always tell my kids to have fun with it, if they want it realistic they can but it doesn't have to be an exact representation of what they see.  Just enjoy nature, think about it and use it as inspiration in their nature notebooks/art journal.

Here are some other things my kids have done in their nature notebooks for example

Fall foliage

 Tracing a leaf

Watercolor sheep

Watercolor wild horse on beach (from Cumberland island)

Recording his playtime with the hose outside

A blue jay

Collecting chicken eggs 

???? Lol