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| "Spider sliders" with hand-cut fries from Chef Princess |
We should be doing this...
We could be doing this...
What would happen if we did this...or go there...or read that...or do those things...?
So what I've been aspiring to do this year is to just enjoy what IS.
What we ARE doing.
What we ARE enjoying.
Right here.
Right now.
Because it won't always be like this.
The kids will be older.
Our interests might be different.
We might have other responsibilities.
We might have different time or budgetary constraints.
So, we are going to enjoy the NOW.
Today, I'd love to share with you just a few things that are rockin' our homeschool world right NOW. I hope and pray it would not only serve to encourage and inspire you, but that it would also be a catalyst for YOU to look at what YOU are currently doing in the now and appreciate it for all that it is, too!
So, here they are--our homeschooling joys--in no particular order:
We have enjoyed this cooking club for nine months now, and all I can say each and every time one of the kids cooks something up is, "YOU HIT IT OUTTA THE BALL PARK!" This month's kit was especially fun, being Halloween themed! We've made the chocolate creature cookies TWICE already and the month is not even close to being over. Each kit comes with a cooking tool, laminated instructional recipe cards, educational activity cards (so you can expand the learning about the food's region, culture, etc), an apron patch, and a themed Spotify playlist (also especially fun this month!).
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| Chocolate creature cookies |
Nana's chalk pastel classes have inspired even my most reluctant artists to try their hand at something new with AMAZING results! I love how Nana's classes span the range of history to nature and everything in between, including good 'ole Charlie Brown and The Green Ember. Definitely check out her classes and her Facebook page (You ARE an Artist or chalkpastel.com), where there are always a ton of FREE classes to chose from! We enjoyed this blue jay class last week--the video is already up on YouTube (here) if you are interested in joining in, too!
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| Turbo's Blue Jay (10 years old) |
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| Sunshine's Blue Jay (11 years old) |
- Comic books
We have all been inhaling Garfield comic books as of late. We have checked out almost a dozen different books from our local library, and each one is better than the last! It keeps the humor in our day, and encourages even my most timid reader to read late into the evenings until bedtime. Definitely a great way to reset the day or offer something fun to enjoy instead of screen time!
- Audiobooks
I'm forever amazed at the volume of books my kids are plowing through with the help of audio books. My littlest one (7 years old) is over halfway through the Harry Potter series, while my older two are nearly through with the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series (one of my all-time favs!). While they are all reading other books, I feel like audiobooks have allowed them to "read" a wider variety a books, while also freeing up their hands to cross-stitch, build with Legos, draw, or sketch, giving them some built-in creative time in their day. Our favorite way to listen to audiobooks is still the old-fashioned way: checking out audio CDs from our local library and playing them in CD players in the kids' bedrooms. However, we do use Hoopla digital streaming on our portable devices through our local library upon occasion.
- Nature study
While most times our nature study is more formal (curriculum-based like this one), lately we've been enjoying the nature we see around us--even the spider outside the den window! Yesterday morning, we watched as the house spider came toward a struggling hover fly in the web, inject it with venom (we could see the dew-like drop hanging off the fly), and then wrap it up. Gross...but cool! My oldest daughter has also enjoyed watching the Downy woodpecker at our feeder. She painted a picture of him last week, and then penned a poem about Downy woodpeckers today. Very special...and very organic. I LOVE to see self-directed and inspired learning like this going on this!
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| (My mother-in-law's window sills would never be this dirty LOL!) |
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| Sunshine's Downy woodpecker |
Most recently, this has been in the form of making shaker cards. These super cute cards were made from this *uber* easy kit by Close to My Heart (easily purchased here, through my consultant, Lisa Stenz). They made for a fun "crafternoon" in which all three of my kids got involved, with no need for a paper trimmer or liquid adhesive (it uses punched out paper shapes and foam tape), and therefore, resulted in no mess and easy clean-up. Score!
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| Holiday Sparkle Cut Above Card kit (makes 12 cards) |
- Fitness App
It is a struggle for me to be consistent with exercise when school starts back up (and if I'm honest, this summer was a struggle, too!). Lately we've been enjoying Seven, a workout app where you go through various prompted exercise drills for seven minutes. It just seems very doable in a busy schedule and doesn't require a lot of planning or thought. I started doing it just for myself, but the kids have really enjoyed joining in, too. Another win-win.
So, there it is!
Just a few things we are enjoying...right here, right now.
I hope this post finds you and yours doing fun things, too, even if you are just enjoying being in the moment, and not necessarily doing a lot of "productive" things!
May you, too, enjoy where you are at, RIGHT now!
Not where you NEED to be...
Not where you COULD be...
But right where you are!
God bless!
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