Back to Homeschool: How We Prepare

I love gathering fresh school supplies with my children! They enjoy browsing the variety of materials and selecting their favorite binder and pencils for the new school year. All the preparing cultivates expectation for each of us. This time of the year always feels a little bit like Christmas. New books arrive in mail, fresh pencils and paper fill our drawers, and full jars of paint load organizing baskets. We keep our supply list simple as well as always being conscious of space and budget when purchasing new things for the homeschool.

Prioritizing preparedness before school helps me better plan, organize, and welcome the new homeschool year with joy. The children each go through their books, organize their little spaces, sharpen pencils, arrange binders, and overall grow excited (maybe a bit nervous) for the homeschool days ahead.

It seems like so many supplies! But setting everything in its place at the beginning of the year is key to not quickly losing papers and interest altogether. I’ve noticed that we need to be stocked with the basics to better use our time and keep track of our work during the year.

Sometimes (we have plenty from last year) we’ve purchased watercolor paper and watercolor pencils, sketching notebooks, graphite pencils, wooden rulers, quick-dry modeling clay, several sizes of paint brushes, —-We like to keep a large variety of art supplies because if the children have access to the good-quality materials, they’ll naturally want to use them.

These are the specific things we did this year to prepare for school:

  • Scrubbed the desks with magic erasers. It was the only way to get rid of crayon marks and other markings.

  • We went through every book on the shelf in the schoolroom, every puzzle, game, toy, craft, etc.

  • The children started taking zinc, vitamin C, and echinacea for immune system support. It should help with the transition of being outdoors in the fresh air to a couple days a week in a room with 10 other kids.

  • We went through all the fall/winter clothes bins and filled the gaps with Old Navy or Costco basics.

  • Replaced and replenished school supplies. I threw away dried up paint brushes, old paints, broken crayons, dry markers, and bought lined paper, 3×5 cards, tracing paper, binders, notebooks, pencils, erasers, glue.

  • Stocked up on simple, quick breakfasts: oats, frozen cooked sausages, eggs, bagels, bread for toast, cereal.

  • Stocked up on easy, nutritious lunches: healthy nuggets, eggs (we love egg salad), tuna cans (we love tuna salad), crackers, sandwich bread, deli meats, sliced cheeses.

  • We (first alone and then with Nathan) went through each of the children’s daily tasks and then went over it with them.

  • Prayed alone, with Nathan, and with the children over the year as a whole, for patience, diligence, understanding, compassion, focus, growth, spiritual maturity, and joy in all the tasks.

Lastly, God is using these verses in Galatians to calm my heart as I face a fresh new year and grow my trust in Him. I pray this Scripture can be uplifting to you today too!

“Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

Galatians 6:6-10

with love, Damaris

Family Currents: What we've been up to

Happy August, dear friends! The sun is hot and the tall straight grasses have been cut down. Haying time came in July, and now the hay bales are stacked and stored in the big red barn.

We’re certainly enjoying going through the summer bucket list! We recently went to the Henry Ford Museum and to the lake. Packing a lunch and calling it an adventure day is by far our favorite summertime activity.

Isabel had a birthday in July. She’s now 8 years old, and she’s so happy about it! Isabel has always been the most easy-going, low-maintenance, even-keeled child. She only requested cupcakes, and we made these filled with vanilla pudding. Filled with jam or any pudding is always absolutely delicious.

The two younger ewes are a mixed breed and shed most of their winter coat, but not all of it. After some time of high temperature, we realized we’d need to shear them. Nathan bought a pair of shears online and had his first successful sheep shearing experience. One of these ewes follows him like a dog when he’s in the pasture. Really, all the sheep (even the ram) are gentle and skittish.

By the way, the two older ewes are due to lamb in just a couple of weeks, and I’m giddy with excitement!

We’ve been at the pool everyday (all morning) for swim lessons. I couldn’t get all the children to swim in the same timeslot, so we bring books, a basketball, snacks, and I plop myself by the poolside until lunchtime. A couple of times we’ve taken a walk though the neighborhood, but it’s easier to just play and read while we wait.

Nathan and the boys did a mid-summer honey harvest this past week. We have about 7-8 gallons of raw, unfiltered honey. Couldn’t be more fresh! It tastes so different than the late summer/early fall honey! The color is very golden and the flavor is light and mild. Our honey bees can be spotted at anytime of the day feasting in the herb garden (hyssop, thyme, oregano flowers), the white clover in the pasture, and the vining plants in the garden (cucumber and squash flowers).

We opened the farm stand again this year! Farm fresh produce are available everyday. Eggplants, cabbages, red cabbage, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, bell peppers, and jalapenos are looking good! The tomatoes are not quite there yet. We also have real maple syrup and raw, unfiltered honey. Come stop by the farm!

with love. Damaris

Family Currents: Niagra Falls, Birthdays, Doll Making

My cousin’s visit from Spain was undoubtedly the highlight of the month of June. Before he came, we had given some thought to what fun things he may have never tried or seen before, so we ate hard shell tacos, s’mores, had a bbq night, and roasted hot dogs over the fire. We took a short trip to Niagra Falls which will be memorable for everyone.

____________________________________

Both Nathan and William had birthdays in June. We usually celebrate at home and let the birthday boy or girl pick a favorite meal and dessert.

William picked this cake from a Pinterest picture, and it was delicious! Here’s the recipe if you want to make it for your crew.

_______________________________________

Nathan’s mom came over a couple of days and taught the girls some basics of the sewing machine and a few stitches. Their diligent labors produced these beautiful dolls! Thank you, Grandma for teaching, helping, and guiding the girls!

________________________________________

In the last few weeks, I also found a little bit of time to work on a couple projects. These outdoor ticking pillows and the linen throw brought be so much joy to make!

___________________________________

Watching all the plants come into their full glory with big bright blooms and tiny vegetables brings us whoops of joy. We’re enjoying delicious kale salads, but nothing else yet ready for harvest.

_______________________________________

There are 20 new young pine tress on the farm! Ten are Norway spruce and ten are white pine. They’ll be replacing dead ones and being added to the perimeter of the pasture.

with love. Damaris

The Best Summer Reading Series For Families

There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.

–Marcel Proust

As we mentioned in an earlier post, structured schooldays have ended, and we now fully embrace the new pace of summer. I confess that welcoming wide perimeters of time for each individual’s curiosities and pleasure is the sweetest gift to me as a homeschooling mother. It is satisfying physically, mentally, and emotionally for all of us in our home to rest from new lessons and long academic days. While we seek to maintain simple structures of chores, meal times, piano practice, Bible reading, family read-aloud, and bedtime, we’ve exchanged formal lessons for copywriting (from classic, favorite books that they each select) and Bible memorization. One of the ways we continue to learn is through reading which is truly the most longed for summer delight. We fill our baskets with books and also pick a long book series to listen to.

Our family loves audio books for many reasons, all of us bond with the characters, share laughs about the stories, and enjoy retelling them long after the series has been returned to the library. Sometimes the audio versions are read by the author (my favorite), or they might be dramatized. Sometimes we listened to them while the children built Legos. Sometimes we all climbed on my bed and folded laundry while enjoying the stories, but mostly we listened to the book series in the car. We took the CDs with us on road trips, to brunch, farm milk pick-up, and to the grocery store. Nonetheless, we’re never found without the next CD!

The first 7 titles that I have listed are book series that we listened to in audio form in the order in which we listened to them over the years. We listened to one series per summer. The last 3 have been recommended to me, but we have only listened to the audio book of the first in the series. We haven’t read the sequels (some may be for older children than mine are at this time).

Alexander and Eva wanted to write a short review on these book series! Here are their words:

The Magic Tree House

Jack and Annie (bother and sister) take us on countless adventures in the past. Through the 55 small books that make the series, it’s a fun way to learn history! -Eva

Ramona

The book series begins when Ramona is a very little girl and grows with her. She’s very mischievous and it’s written through her perception of life. There are 8 books in the series. -Eva

Little House in the Prairie

Laura Ingalls Wilder in the series of 9 books tells about a little girl and her family moving from the woods of Wisconsin to Iowa to Minnesota to North Dakota. It seems to be mostly autobiographical. -Alexander

The Indian in the Cupboard

Fantastic series of 5 books! A boy named Omri gets a small medicine cabinet for his 9th birthday from his brother. He thinks it’s a boring gift until he discovers the magic. -Alexander

The Boxcar Children

Four children are left orphans. The Alden siblings are afraid that their grandfather is a mean old creep. In the story, they realize otherwise. Many books have been added to the series. -Alexander

The Chronicles of Narnia

C.S. Lewis wrote the most popular children’s series (selling over 150 million copies). Four siblings, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy in order to escape the bombing of London during WWII move to a rambling country estate where they discover the secret land of Narnia in a wardrobe. There are 7 books in the series. -Alexander

Redwall

An intricately woven story with endearing characters. Brian Jacques’s realistic depiction of the animal’s stories is why the author has been compared to J.R.R. Tolkien. 22 novels in the series (we have not read them all). -Alexander

The Penderwicks

A father and four daughters take a vacation in a gardener’s cottage in Connecticut and have daily adventures with the son of the lady who owns the manor house on which the gardener’s cottage is situated. A series of 5 books. -Alexander

A Wrinkle in Time

Overpowering the evil brain with love, Meg is able to save her family from the magic’s grasp. Interesting fantasy book! 5 books in the series. -Eva

Ann of Green Gables

Ann was a girl adopted at age 11 who finds a bosom friend. It’s full of tales of dangerous dares. 7 books in the series. -Eva

with love, Damaris

The Transition to Summer – Chores, Play, and Wonder

There are no closing bells or farewell parties for summertime.

In the homeschooling home, where structures of time and space have flexible boundaries, it can be difficult to discern transitions. In spite of this, we try to make a clear contrast between summertime and the rest of the year. Making this distinction has been the sweetest gift for me as a homeschooling mother. There are natural rhythms in nature such as gardening, haying time, preserving the harvest, and new baby barnyard animals, and we attempt to allow for those rhythms to fill our days.

Homeschooling is an extension of the home, and so it flexes to the needs and curiosities of the people who inhabit it. For our home in the summer, we have a mixture of structure and unstructured time in our day. There’s a definite end to our homeschool group, but other activities continue. Like many homes, we plan to settle into the relaxed days of summer, taking a break from all subjects. We do, however, incorporate copy writing (improves their handwriting and creative writing skills) and Bible memory work (a loner passage which we may not have time for during the year – this year, we are memorizing John 14 ). The children also continue weekly music lessons. Our family also functions better when we keep daily disciplines of regular meal times, Bible reading, chores, family read-aloud, and bedtimes.

One of the beauties of summer is to allow for wide and welcoming boundaries of time for the children’s own pleasure – an invitation to re-create and enjoy time. Some summers we take trips, and some years we have newborns, and swim lessons, and outings to Barns and Noble. The single thread through all of our summers has been reading. Books have certainly been the highlight of our summer activities. We pick up loads of picture books, fiction and non-fiction from the library, and you will find books in our car, in our bags, and in every room of our home.

In an upcoming post, we’re sharing the best book series for summer!

with love, Damaris

Family Currents: Swimming, Ants, and a Baby Pig

All of life is learning. We just need to be alert.

Our homeschool group wrapped up classes a few weeks ago, and we’ve started to transition into fun, outdoor activities that we don’t have time for during the structured schoolyear. Don’t you just love the chance to switch up some routines in the summertime?

The children started swim lessons, which they say is the most fun activity because it feels like vacation. It’s helping them to gain confidence and the older ones to get better technique.

All the kids started flag football and softball on Saturday mornings. We have so much to learn! Nathan coaches softball, and the children seem to prefer it over flag football. It’s so good for them to get comfortable with the rules of the game and be a little sore the next day.

We also got an ant farm. Have you ever had one? They’re available here. It’s very interesting to watch them make tunnels and communicate in some way. Providence is so scared of the ‘man-eating ants’. Never, ever open the lid. Don’t ask how we know : )

We’re so excited to introduce you to Rose, the new baby pig. We got her the same way we got Holly at Christmastime. She was also free, so why not? The piglet is about 20 lbs. with a very curly tail. She’s purely pink, and since she came to us in May, Eva thought Rose was fitting. Isn’t she cute!

There are other big happenings at FirstFruits Farms, and we’ll be sharing more in a full farm update soon!

with love. Damaris

Family Currents: The Birds and The Bees

A couple of weeks ago, the kids and I went to the orchestra. We have been attending this program for children for years, and it never disappoints! The performance is splendid and the auditorium exquisite. The program welcomes all school groups. While we were there, Samuel hung out at Nathan’s office and pretended shy while everyone hoped for some cuteness.

We are so excited to introduce the new addition to our farm! Harry the ram is a calm male that is wooing our four ewes. Larry the llama doesn’t mind him hanging around, and they’ve welcomed him to the pasture better than we had expected. We hope to grow the flock with some lambs coming late summer!

Alexander and Nathan’s Dad attended an all-day beekeeping class last week and had fun learning some crazy facts. They came back excited to start another season of honey bees.

And that’s a wrap for syrup! Nathan and the boys boiled gallons and gallons of the last sap collected all weekend. We are so very grateful for their labor! This time, the boys got to roast marshmallows, and the girls were oh-so-jealous. We have been enjoying selling this precious amber sweetness. If you would like some 2018 local maple syrup, please contact us by replying to this post or email (under the category contact), Facebook, or Instagram. The supply is limited : )

with love. Damaris

Wondering if You've Said too Much + A Prayer

“If I know for sure that something is not the truth, I need to be quiet.

If I have a strong hunch that something is not the truth, I need to be quiet.

If I have even the slightest doubt that something might not be true, I need to be quiet.

But just because something is true does not mean I always need to say it. Motives and manners matter. And so?

If something is true but saying it to someone will needlessly hurt their feelings, I need to be quiet.

If something is true but I know that my reason for saying it is to belittle someone or make them feel guilty, I need to be quiet.

If something is true but I promised to hold it in confidence, I need to be quiet.

If something is true but I know that my reason for saying it is to cause a rift between two people, I need to be quiet.

If something is true but my motive for speaking the truth is to make myself look better by comparison, I need to be quiet.

If something is true and I just feel in my heart that saying it will do nothing but make me feel good, in a sinister sort of way, I need to be quiet.

Bottom line? more often than not, I need to learn to keep it shut. How about you?

I think I have enough duct tape for the both of us.”

[Keep It Shut: What to Say, How to Say It, and When to Say Nothing at All, Karen Ehman]

I compiled some of my favorite verses that remind me to be quiet + my favorite prayer at the end:

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

Proverbs 18:21

When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

Proverbs 10:19

Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.

Proverbs 21:23

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 15:1

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Proverbs 12:18

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Colossians 4:6

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Colossians 3:8

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Ephesians 4:29

Lastly, my favorite prayer:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. – Psalm 14:19

with love, Damaris

Family Currents: Early Spring at the Capitol

Some of you might have heard of the program called TeenPact. We were able to take Alexander this year. It is a civics program for junior high and high school students hosted at state capitals around the country. He participated in the one day political communications course and loved it so much. The students get to practice writing bills and resolutions and defend them in debates.

While we were in Lansing for Alexander to attend TeenPact at the capitol, Nathan came with us, and we spent the day with the other children at Impression 5 Science Center. The kids loved creating, experimenting, and discovering. The hands-on experience took all day with a little break to eat a packed lunch.

Nathan, his Dad and the boys boiled over 70 gallons of sap on Saturday! It was a gloriously sunny day and cold. They bottled the maple syrup, and it’s been going to happy homes. They’ll continue to make more maple syrup for the next few weeks, boiling as the collection tubs fill up. Later this month, we will have a full post on the beautiful and interesting process of making maple syrup.

We’ve been doing Whole30. We’re more three weeks in and living our best life…Who am I kidding?? It’s not any kind of fun without pizza. I’ll be writing a post very soon about the whole family’s experience, what we ate, and must-haves for survival.

with love. Damaris

When Kids are Running on Low

February is the shortest month of the year, but it always seems to drag on.

If you’ve been a reader for a little while, you’ll know that we embrace our homeschool days. Our little school room is bursting with books, puzzles, games, toys, Lincoln logs, play dough, craft supplies, paints, etc. This means that the little ones are with us while we do school. This also means we’re all together all day. Literally, we’re all in the same room for most of the day. I like it this way because I can train the littles in sharing and obedience while sitting next to the bigs and grading math lessons. But some days are terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days (we love the Alexander books!).

If we try to be sensitive to the children’s emotional and physical needs, we’ll recognize when their little brains are tired or their focus is running out. Often times, it’s mom who’s running on low because algebra, diagraming, times tables, Amelia Bedelia, and phonics are just a little too much. I’ve compiled a list (by no means exhaustive) of our favorite activities to break up the drag:

  1. Visit the local Barns and Noble kids’ section

  2. Take a walk after lunch

  3. Load them all up and go to the McDonald’s drive-thru for iced teas

  4. Take a break, pop popcorn and watch a science video (PBS) or National Geographic Kids (youtube)

  5. Visit the free Natural History Museum in town and take the day off

  6. Drive to the nearby indoor botanical gardens instead of school in the morning

  7. Stop for a break and build puzzles.

  8. Take the afternoon off and make cozy reading corners with blankets

  9. Go to Ikea for hot dog lunch and long indoor walk

  10. Play a fun Pandora station (Disney) or Piano Guys (youtube) during lunch

  11. Pause and put the kettle on. Let everyone pick a favorite tea.

  12. Climb on mom’s bed for a cooking show episode (Great British Baking Show)

Winter weeks are running out soon, but while we continue cocooned, what activities do your kids enjoy?

with love, Damaris