Thinking About Next Year, in February

I'm looking forward to next year. It might start the first week of June. (Whether I'm kidding or not, I'm not even sure.) I can't wait to have Tyler home with us. Right now I feel like I have to let them play in the mornings because he has preschool in the afternoons, and it wouldn't really be fair for him to "have school" all day. I'm ready to switch that around and do school first, and then have time for play. I'll probably still use Nolan's naptime in the afternoon for some school, but I'm really excited about what we can all do together in the morning.

We will probably end up using a lot of the books I planned on using this year. It was too much for the time we had available to us (keeping mornings for play, and working around preschool drop off and pick up and getting Nolan down for his nap in the afternoon) and to be honest, it was too much for Lucas's abilities at the beginning of the year. He has really grown a lot though. He is narrating well, and his reading is improving - I think he is actually enjoying it! Now that he has been introduced to things like narration, nature walks, and picture study, I think it will be easier to add in more subjects. Tyler will catch on quickly. He will have his own little phonics lessons, but everything else, all of the read aloud subjects, will be together. Lucas will have sacrament prep (First Reconciliation and First Communion) and more reading/phonics that Tyler will not. Even math will probably be together.

I've been thinking about how Nolan will fit into our morning time. He wants to do everything they're doing. It makes it hard for Lucas and Tyler to focus with Nolan there - who wants to be there, but is noisy and wiggly. Right now they all have open access to toys. I'm wondering if restricting that access will encourage longer, better play with whatever I get out. It seems like he would be able to entertain himself with access to so many toys, but he doesn't, so I might try something different.

So here I am, in February, thinking about next year. Typical, I know. It's not that I'm in a rut regarding this year - I actually feel like we are finally getting into a groove because there haven't been as many tears about school lately! It is finally feeling good, and I'm looking forward to including Tyler in that and having a better routine to our day.

Schoolish Outings

Recently we've done some school-ish things without doing much school. In December, we read Mr. Popper's Penguins and planned a book group for kids. It was really fun. Today we are going to a Velveteen Rabbit book group.

We've continued going on Charlotte Mason inspired nature walks. Winter walks are interesting in their own way. Not many insects or flowers to look at, but that makes the few things you do find more interesting.

We have a once a month gymnastics class, and the older boys are halfway through four swim lessons. It's good to get some exercise in winter; even when they're playing outside, it doesn't end up being as much as summer. Not coincidentally, the swim lessons were scheduled to begin after a trip to an indoor water park, which was not schoolish other than listening to James Herriott on the four hour drive.

Last weekend I took the older boys to their first symphony. It was a family friendly concert that included "Carnival of the Animals." We have two versions of it at home, so it was fun listening to both and then seeing their reactions at the concert.

Coming up in March, we will be taking a family trip to Seattle and Olympia, WA, for my grandma's 90th birthday. This will be everyone's first time to Washington except for me, so I'm hoping the weather will allow us a glimpse of Mount Rainier. We might also drive to the ocean one day, if we have a long enough chunk of unscheduled time. There is a good wildlife refuge to explore too.

In April, my oldest and I will be taking a day trip to Chicago on his birthday. Last year he got to go to monster trucks with Daddy. This year is mine. :) He was born in Chicago and is excited to take the train and see skyscrapers. I also plan to stop at the Art Institute (a Van Gogh exhibit is coming). I haven't decided yet if we'll spend the rest of the day exploring the Loop, Magnificent Mile, or Lincoln Park, where I lived for seven years. I'm really excited for us to spend the day together.

What I've Been Reading

1. I finished Pocketful of Pinecones by Karen Andreola, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm a sucker for an easy to read novel, which it was, and the bonus was getting to see a Charlotte Mason beginner ease into the methods and see her and her children fall in love with their new education. I can't say I "learned" a lot, but I found it inspirational in a yearning kind of way. Moving back to the country is my dream, too.

2. I'm about halfway through Teaching from Rest by Sarah Mackenzie. It is good, but I find I am consistently underwhelmed when I read books by bloggers. There is just not that much more they can say than what they've already written online, available for free. The words might be different, but the message is the same. I'm slightly rubbed the wrong way by writing for free, realizing you're getting famous, and then cashing in on that. I mean, I guess it's fair, it just bothers me. Anyway, I'm reading it, and I think she has a lot of good things to say, but I would probably recommend people follow her blog and podcasts instead (although now she's charging for some content there, too - makes me wonder how she can be running a growing business and still homeschooling in the way she suggests).

3. A few months ago, I stole away for a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon. I went to Barnes & Noble and sped-read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, otherwise known as the KonMari method. Again, I was familiar with it from what I had read online, but this one did have a few areas that hadn't been fleshed out fully on the various blogs, podcasts, and YouTube videos I had watched. I began decluttering after that, loosely using the touchstone of her method, of deciding what stays and what goes by whether an item "sparks joy." I have been able to part with a lot of clothes that always left me feeling annoyed that they didn't fit quite right or had some memory attached to it that made me avoid wearing it again. The same with jewelry. I kept my classic jewelry that I always fall back on and a couple newer pieces that also have a classic look. I've also gotten rid of quite a few kitchen utensils, DVDs, CDs, and surprisingly, a LOT of books! I got momentary joy from buying really great books at really great prices (or free), but after reading KonMari, I realized hanging onto them, having to constantly rearrange my bookshelves, and feeling regret about not reading so many of them, was reason to let them go back to the thrift store. I can always find them again. Most recently I went through the linen closet and got rid of so, so much old makeup and hair things that I haven't used since college. The house isn't feeling lighter yet - I haven't reach my "clicking point" - but I'm working on it. I'm now reading her follow-up book, Spark Joy, which was available for free on Kindle a few weeks ago but only through Verizon (weird promotion?). I haven't spent a penny or acquired any more books to have the world of KonMari opened up to me.

4. I'm continuing to read Charlotte Mason's Volume 3 with the local CM group. It gets better and better. Unfortunately, I find myself nodding in agreement, underling, and asterisking all over the place, but I still cannot/have not been able to implement it. Some of the methods, yes, but the atmosphere, no. I have so much work to do, mostly on myself. I feel somewhat defeated lately. My growing boys have growing personalities, and the sum of their personalities and energy levels is just so much greater than mine. I feel like there is so much to undo because we had wonderful, sweet, obedient 3 year olds, and then we gradually lost that, and now they're tyrants. At least that's how I feel today. Which really has nothing to do with Charlotte Mason, other than I believe what she writes is true and I'm frustrated that I cannot make it be true in my own home.

5. Giants in the Earth by O. E. Rolvaag - must. start. reading. I found it this weekend at a used bookstore for $2, and I read the first two pages. I have 20 days to read it before our book group, and it sounds really intriguing to me, but I am going to need a solid half hour of silence to get into it the first time. If I can't concentrate, it will never happen.

I love reading, but it's something I truly have to find time for. The days and weeks get full and busy and go fast. I will say that's something Sarah Mackenzie and Charlotte Mason have in common though - reading needs to become part of the atmosphere of our home, and it is my duty to create that.