What's Keeping Me (somewhat) Sane Right Now

Back in January (approximately 400 years ago, right?) I kept coming across all of these, "What's Saving My Life Right Now" or "What's Keeping Me Sane Right Now" blog posts and I loved reading them. They made me think about all the little things that help me get through the cold, dark days of winter and I thought it would be super fun to write a similar post of my own. Life with a very needy 2 month old baby meant that I never did get around to writing it and then came... March. Things started closing or getting cancelled and stay at home orders started rolling out. Life as we knew it had been completely shaken up. The idea of writing a blog post about the things keeping me sane seemed laughable at best because what was 'sane' anymore? Every day was different and I couldn't concentrate on anything at all. My focus, or what remains of my focus 5 kids later, was non existent. What was keeping me sane? Ummm...?

2 months (!!) later, and this idea of listing the things keeping me going right now feels relevant and doable again. My brain doesn't feel quite as chaotic, anxious place these days (most days anyway), and I feel equipped to articulate what all is helping me along day to day. My hope in sharing this post is that maybe somebody will find something that they themselves want to try, but at the very least I want to try to capture this surreal moment in time to look back on in the future.

So here we go. Here's some of the things helping me at least attempt to stay sane at home for 2 months and counting with 5 small children, in the midst of a global pandemic (yikes).

*A devotional and some scripture reading first thing in the AM.
I've always enjoyed a morning devotional, but I haven't had the brain space to dive into one of my favorite devotional books or a full Bible study lately. Besides the whole pandemic thing, there's the whole postpartum with a very needy baby thing. The app 'First 5' has been perfect. It's quick and to the point, and I can read it on my phone before I've even sat all the way up in bed yet.

*Minimal news reading, but still SOME news reading.
For a few years now I get an email from The Skimm every morning. Each email is a concise overview of some of the big news points from the last 24 hours. They include links to read more if you want to, but just skimming (see where their name comes from?) the email helps me feel knowledgeable without feeling overwhelmed.

And then of course there's John Krasinski's amazing YouTube weekly news show, Some Good News. He did 8 episodes and every single one made me cry. If you haven't watched them yet, GO NOW.

*Getting ready every day.
I don't mean like full hair and makeup. But I do mean changing out of my pjs into leggings and a clean shirt and brushing my hair before redoing my top knot. It's often really tempting to skip all of this, but the mornings I wash my face, brush my teeth, make my bed, get dressed, and brush my hair set me up for days where I don't feel like I'm going to fall asleep before lunch. It has proved important for the kids too. We do have the occasional pj day, but mostly they get fully dressed and I do the girls' hair.

*Music
I've been making a LOT of playlists. Show tunes especially have been clutch.

*Reading
My first thought when I knew we wouldn't be going anywhere for a while was, "I AM GOING TO GET SO MUCH READING DONE!" This wasn't immediately the case. I struggled to stay focused enough to finish books quickly. That has gotten better with time though, especially if I mix up the types of books I'm reading to keep things interesting. Without the library, I'm having to change my normal reading habits. The Libby app to borrow ebooks and audiobooks has been great, but since so many people are using it right now, most books have holds and some have LONG holds. I don't usually buy many books, but I've needed to lately. ThriftBooks has always been my go to for our books for school and books for Christmas/Birthday gifts for the kids, but I've ordered myself a few from there lately as well. Great prices for used books and they carry new releases too!

I also just joined Book of the Month, which I'm really excited about. I should actually be getting my first book tomorrow! The way it works is, you pay $14.99/month for a book credit. Each month they release 5 titles for you to choose from (and you also have the option of looking back into their archives and choosing from there). If you want to skip a month, you just click 'skip' instead of choosing a book and your credit rolls over to the next month. Since they're hardcover, fairly new releases, that's a good price! It's going to give me something super fun to look forward to, which is another big plus. Fully shameless plug here: I have a referral link for Book of the Month. If you want to try it out and go through my link, you can get your first month for $9.99 (and I get a book credit!) So here's my referral link if you want to try!

*Baking
Baking has always been soothing to me. It's also been helpful lately to make our groceries stretch since we're trying to only send James out for them twice a week. Every Wednesday (I am craving structure and making it wherever I can!) I make a batch of muffins to eat for breakfast the next 2 days. It's Wednesday as I type this and I'll be making blueberry muffins later this afternoon! I've been making a lot of bread (since James was able to score a bulk bag of flour and my mom was able to find me some yeast! Yeast and flour are like gold right now!) and baking different treats with the kids. They made brownies totally on their own a few weeks ago!

Here's one of my favorite muffin recipes

*Barely planned projects with the kids
I do love a planned craft and there are some seriously cute ones floating around the social media sphere right now, but what's been working best for us lately is me putting out the materials and letting them do what they will with them. Setting out paints, making a batch of play doh, getting out a couple pairs of scissors and some glue and then just letting them have at it. I shared on my Instagram recently that, when the kids are in a funk, water (bath, sprinkler, pool, etc), outside time, and art in any form can turn their moods around.  Which leads into my next thing...

*Outside
It's good for the kids and just as good for me. This past weekend it was warm enough to get out our sprinkler and fill up the little pool. Laying on a big blanket in the shade with Julia while the big kids played in the pool was amazing and I'm looking forward to a lot more of that in the future. The only thing missing from our house and yard that we love so much is easy access to a place for walks. I would absolutely love to be taking regular walks together right now, but the best I can do is loops around the yard without driving somewhere else. Our favorite place to hike has just reopened though. Hopefully soon we'll be able to hike a couple miles there on a day when it isn't too crowded.

*Deliberate mommy time outs
This is a little easier right now because Julia's in that super distracted nursing phase, so I have to go upstairs to my room a few times a day just to get her to eat well. But I've realized those deliberate quiet moments have been incredibly important to my sanity lately. Especially in the evening. James has been working late and Julia gets hungry right around dinnertime. By then I've been stretched pretty thin and one of the hardest parts of the day is still ahead of me. Putting dinner on the table for the big kids and taking 5 to 10 minutes upstairs to nurse Julia, listen to music, and take some deep breaths is very helpful. Same goes for the mid-bedtime routine breather I take while the big 3 kids are finishing cleaning up the playroom. I take the little girls upstairs to get in their pjs and have a little snuggle.

*Disney +
The kids watch 1 movie every afternoon and having all of the old classics available has been amazing.
They get stuck easily (right now its the Lion King movies over and over and over) so on Mondays we have New Movie Monday and they have to watch something they've never seen. We've also been loving the Disney Family Sing-a-Longs!

*Podcasts
My favorite time of day right now is when I'm making dinner and folding laundry while Julia is napping in the wrap and I'm listening to a podcast. Here's my favorites if you're looking for something new:

Novel Pairings
Sara and Chelsey, both high school english teachers, read a different classic every other week, talk about it a bit, and then each offer 3 book recommendations along the same theme or feeling as the classic. Since they've had some extra time on their hands lately they've been recording bonus episodes on their 'off' weeks too where they've talked about comfort reads, poetry, and a really excellent Edith Wharton short story. Their goal isn't for people to read the classics with them, and you can definitely listen if you haven't read the books, but I have really been enjoying reading along! Sprinkling some classics in with my regular classics feels like it's helping keep my brain from turning to complete mush.

He Read She Read
Chelsey (same Chelsey from Novel Pairings) and Curtis, a married couple, discuss books they've read, make recommendations, and occasionally do buddy reads. Their show is on a hiatus right now because Curtis is deployed, but they've been around for a while, so there are a lot of episodes in their backlog.

What Should I Read Next
Anne Bogel (Modern Mrs. Darcy) talks to a different reader every week about their reading life and then they tell her 3 books they loved, 1 they didn't, and what they're currently reading so she can recommend them a few new reads.

Office Ladies
Jenna Fischer (Pam Beesly) and Angela Kinsey (Angela Martin) from The Office are watching and discussing an episode a week. They're up to Season 3, episode 1, so a fair amount of episodes in their backlog to binge listen to!

Showmance
Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina Cohen-Chang) and Kevin McHale (Artie Abrams) from Glee are watching and discussing season 1 of the show right now.

*Working out
I need to do some sort of movement every day or I get really mean. BodyFit By Amy on YouTube has a ton of really great workouts. I highly recommend checking her out, especially if you are pregnant or postpartum! Also on YouTube, Katherine Morgan has been uploading some really awesome ballet class videos for different levels. I did an Int/Adv barre the other day and it felt absolutely amazing.

*Babywearing
The fact that I do not know how to effectively and sanely parent without babywearing is nothing new, but it deserves mention here. Julia's last nap of the day right now is always in the wrap and doing things around the kitchen with her asleep on my chest is like therapy for me right now.

*My husband
James' job is considered essential and he's been working quite a lot of overtime, so I'm not seeing more of him right now than I normally do or anything, but I'm just especially grateful to see another adult at the end of the day. He recently had to isolate from us at home due to potentially being exposed to somebody who ended up being covid-positive and at the end of that isolation I was more grateful than ever not only that he was healthy, but for the extra set of hands, even if they're only around sometimes.

Coming up with this list has actually been really fun. Life is hard right now and there is way too much scary uncertainty, but remembering all of the little things that have been bringing me some joy and some calm lately has been a great exercise! I'm curious to know what keeps you sane? Either in these weird Corona days, or just normally. Because we all need something (or multiple things), right? I hope you get a chance to see/do/hear/etc your things today.

(Hopefully) Helpful Homeschooling Resources

With more schools and businesses closing their doors everyday in attempts to slow the spread of COVID-19, families everywhere are being thrown out of their usual routine in a time of heightened anxiety. I know that personally, my anxiety feeds off of a disrupted routine and I know that I am not alone in this. I want to share today how we structure our day as homeschoolers, as well as a list of free resources that I love and social media accounts that I have found helpful in our homeschooling journey, in an effort to hopefully help some people out there navigate their new normal for the next several weeks. 

Before I start, I do want to be sure to say that I don't think you have to come up with a plan at all. Some people I know will be happier to take things day by day as far as any structured learning activities and others will be happier just enjoying a nice long spring break. I don't think there are any right or wrong answers in this situation, and think that different families will all have different ways of coping that work best for them. But if you are looking for some structure or ideas for a plan, I hope this helps!

First I'll share what a typical homeschooling day with no outside of the house activities looks like for us. We don't have a set schedule exactly, but more like a loose outline. It's too hard for us to stick to an actual schedule because babies and toddlers complicate things, but an outline at least gives the bigger kids a sense of what's going to come next. I have found that the more you try to structure your day like a typical non-homeschool school day, the more you will frustrate yourself. There are so many disruptions and distractions when schooling at home, it's just easier to stay flexible! 

We start our school day over breakfast. For us it's an easy way to get some reading done without too many interruptions since everybody is occupied eating! We do poetry, Bible, and memory work at this time, but any reading out loud would be an easy thing to do. After breakfast we clean up, get dressed, AM chores, all that good stuff.

Once everybody is dressed and chores are done and the baby is either down for a nap or up for a nap and fed (depends on the day right now because we are at the mercy of the 4 month sleep regression) we start our big chunk of school time. We always start with a gross motor activity because it's really hard to go from playing with your toys in your own house to doing schoolwork immediately. We do something called Swedish Drill which is basically a formal Simon Says, but in the past we've done freeze dance, stretching, skipping around the room or house, or red light green light across the room. 

Once we are finished some sort of movement, we settle into the sit down work. I have out puzzles, books, or sometimes a fine motor activity for the little guys (I have a whole post about homeschooling preschoolers and toddlers, check that out here), but mostly they just play. I try to alternate independent work and one on one work with the big kids, but sometimes they'll need to wait for me and then they go play. 

The breakdown usually looks like this:

-Phonics lesson with Kate/Sam copywork and 1 independent reading

-Kate copywork/Sam narrate independent reading and 1 reading and narration together

-Kate reading and narration together/Sam math lesson (we go over it together first) and mapwork, history timeline, nature journaling, or drawing

-Kate math lesson (go over together first and map, timeline, nature journaling, or drawing/Sam reading and narration together

-Repeat same sort of thing for whatever is left

Over lunch is when we often do music and art appreciation study and in the afternoon we do more crafty things or go outside or nothing structured and just play. 

Everything we do follows our curriculum, but there are some aspects of it that could be easily adapted for temporary homeschooling. In particular:

Copywork- We start copywork with just the alphabet. I write it out on primary lined paper and they copy it out slowly and neatly underneath. Then we move up to words and eventually sentences. I pick the sentences from their poetry books, but you could choose them from any books. Sam right now either does copywork that I have chosen or he chooses a couple lines from one of his books and copies them straight out of the book. When he's doing copywork that I have chosen and already written, he covers a few words at a time with an index card as he writes them down. This helps him with spelling. Copywork helps with handwriting obviously, but also sentence structure and punctuation without having to really drill it. Next year Sam will start studied dictation, which is something else that could easily be used in a temporary situation. I will choose a short passage from one of his books and he will have the week to read over it and get to know it (including punctuation) and then at the end of the week he will write it out as I slowly read it. Any misspelled words will go onto a spelling list and any missed punctuation will be highlighted and worked on.

Narration- Our curriculum is literature based, so we don't have textbooks. I read out loud from a history, science, geography, etc book and afterwards they orally narrate back to me what I read to them. The science behind narration boils down to the fact that telling information back after hearing it helps lock it into your brain. Sometimes for fun they'll do a drawn narration. Next year Sam will start written narrations. It's sort of a gradual lead into learning to write essays. It can be done with any book that you read to them or that they read to themselves. It's a really good brain exercise for everybody! Sometimes when I'm reading a heavier book I challenge myself to narrate it back to myself. It's hard! But it really does lock the information in there and makes your brain work in a different way while you read, organizing everything. I try not to ask any leading questions before they narrate. Just simply, "Can you tell that back to me?" or, "What can you tell me about what we/you just read?"

Mapping and timeline- Keeping a big map and a history timeline is a really fun accompaniment to any reading that you're doing. A timeline especially (we use a big long piece of paper, but you could just use any notebook with each page showing a hundred years) is super interesting! It's cool (and often surprising!) to see which historical figures actually existed at the same time. After we read something about any historical figure or event, we write it on our timeline and mark it on a map. Just a good way for kids to get an idea of some basic geography and a sense of how the passage of time works. Before we start the history timeline (end-ish of 2nd grade-ish), we do a personal timeline and they just mark what things happened in their own life in what years.

The advisory board who created the curriculum that we use created an emergency curriculum plan several years ago, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It has many free resources and ideas for homeschooling through an abnormal season of life. I'll link it here.

https://amblesideonline.org/HELP.shtml

Some other great resources:

Librivox- free audiobook versions of a lot of titles, particularly older books.

Libby- app that connects to your library system so you can borrow e-books and audiobooks

https://www.myteachingstation.com/ - good resource for printable worksheets. I like to laminate them or put them in a plastic page protector so the kids can use a dry erase marker and use them multiple times

Hoffman Academy- online piano lessons. Their full program costs money, but they do have a free program as well. 

https://afterthoughtsblog.net/2016/07/beginning-swedish-drill-videos.html - this is a blog post that explains the Swedish Drill (structured Simon Says) that we use to start our school day

Some social media accounts that I like following for inspiration and ideas (most are on both Instagram and Facebook) I'm going to type their names with spaces to make them easier to read, but on Instagram obviously you'd need to take the spaces out:

TheDadLab

Play at Home Mom

Modern Miss Mason

Learning Well

Charlotte Mason IRL

Home Ed Printables

The Conscious Kid

Read Aloud Revival

A couple other companies offering free resources right now (I think there are a lot more, but these are 2 that I've heard of today that I can vouch for)

Raddish Kids

Logic of English they are putting out a series of new videos in the next few days that will be free for the duration of all of the closures

Pinterest is also a wealth of information and ideas. Craft ideas, fine motor skills ideas, printables. I have quite a lot of homeschooling related pins on my Pinterest organized into boards by subject. You should be able to find me on there just by searching my name!

Here are a couple other blog posts I've written about our own homeschooling journey.

Our Daily Routine at the End of 2018

'18/'19 School Plans

How We Homeschool Preschool 

What's Working and What's Not

Homeschooling Looks Like

Lastly, if I can, I want to offer some slightly more personal advice. Don't stress yourself out about it. There's going to be a different dynamic between you and your kids than there is between them and a teacher. There's going to be more tension and awkwardness because the whole world is tense and awkward right now and kids are feeding off of that. It's really okay to stop a math lesson smack in the middle because you're at each other's throats. It's okay to leave it for later that day and it's also okay to leave it for another day. It's okay to say, "This just isn't working today." and go outside instead. Or watch a movie. It's okay if that movie is a Nat Geo documentary, but it's also okay if it's not. It's okay if you have a schedule and stick to it and it's also okay if you just leave books and paper around your house and let them do with it what they will. And it's okay if you do both of those things over the course of a week. Homeschooling your kids, whether it's for a month or for 13 years, gets to look like whatever you want and need it to look like.

I'm here to talk anytime ♡

How I Create Minimal Wardrobes For My Kids

The past few months have been a whirlwind. James was working out of town 5-6 days a week for most of the winter which made the whole season somehow fly by and slow way down simultaneously. His return to a normal schedule coincided with the official beginning of spring, so we were looking forward to mid-March even more than usual!

As per usual, spring is making a slower start than I would like, but while we've been waiting for the weather to heat up and for some color to return to the world, I've been working on putting together the kids' summer wardrobes. This didn't used to be such a chore for me. I'd go to a consignment sale or two, hit up a good Carter's sale, and call it a day. What did used to be an overwhelming chore for me was laundry. Laundry and somehow keeping everybody's clothes contained in their designated dressers and closets. I constantly felt like I was absolutely drowning in kids clothes, yet putting together outfits for them was still a headache because they'd have this one pair of shorts that only matched with one or two shirts and maybe one of those shirts were dirty (or somewhere at the bottom of Mount Laundry). A couple years ago, fed up with shoving clothes into drawers and stacking yet another bin stuffed full of off season clothes in just one size and gender in the basement, I decided to drastically minimize the kids clothes.

And then my life changed. I am not even kidding.

I realized if I concentrated on buying neutral bottoms and mostly basic tops in solids or stripes, I could get away with a lot less clothing for all of them. When I switched to one load of laundry every day, having less clothes got even easier (and Mount Laundry was conquered once and for all, never to make an appearance again) This meant shopping for new clothes was a lot more difficult that filling up a huge bag at the consignment sale, but it was well worth the challenge.

When I first started, I wasn't super intentional. No specific lists or numbers, I just focused on neutrals and solids and not overbuying. It worked for the most part, but I still ended up with some holes that needed filling here and there. Now I go into each season with a list. Before making my list, I pull out bins (all drastically purged so that each now fit several sizes in both genders for one season) from last year to find what might still fits. Once I know what can be worn again for a second year, and what size each kid will be moving into, I can make my lists. Then, lists always close by, I go to one consignment sale and then fill in with end of winter and early spring sales. I shop more at Old Navy than Carters these days since I feel like their clothes tend to mix and match a little better. I also discovered Primary, a super cool company who makes basic kids clothing in a wide range of solid colors and some stripes. They tend to run a little pricier than my frugal self likes, but they run sales all. the. time.

Sticking to my list, I slowly piece everything together and keep it all in one small bin in the basement. Once it seems everything on my list has been taken care of, I lay it all out to make sure I'm not missing anything important. If we're all good, I wash everything and we're good to go! Laundry is easier, managing where everything is put away is easier (I can easily fit Sam and Kate's non-hanging clothes in one of those plastic 3 drawer bins, Henry and Anna share a 3 drawer dresser with tons of extra space), and dressing them is easier. I try and include a few matching or coordinating pieces for special occasions or for when we go to amusement parks or museums (because it's just easier to keep track of everybody when they're wearing one main color). I also try to make the girls' holiday dresses (for Christmas and Easter) be dressy enough to be special, but neutral enough that they can wear them again several times throughout the season.

These are everybody's summer clothes for this year.

This is the list I worked from for this summer. My winter list was similar, only with a few more tops and bottoms for layering purposes.

Boys-

3-4 pairs casual shorts (including 1 pair khaki shorts)

3-4 pairs athletic shorts

7-10 tshirts (2-3 graphic ts, the rest solids or stripes)

3-4 collared shirts (including something suitable for Easter)

2-3 pairs pjs with shorts

1-2 pairs pjs with pants

1 bathing suit

1 pair sandals (sturdy enough for hiking, decent looking enough for church)

1 pair flip flops

Girls-

2-3 pairs shorts

1 pair white undershorts to wear w/ dresses

5-7 tshirts

7-8 dresses (including something suitable for Easter)

2-3 pairs pjs with shorts AND/OR nightgowns

1-2 pairs pjs with pants

1 bathing suit

1 pair sandals

1 pair flip flops

1 pair white, dressier sandals

To some people's standards, this isn't at all minimal. I could easily pare this down even more, especially since I do laundry every single day. This is what works best for us right now though. The boys are semi-interested in their clothing choices and Kate is very interested in her clothing choices. Anna doesn't care yet. These numbers have struck the right balance between keeping things manageable and giving everybody choices! This also accounts for those crazy days were people are just spilling drinks and rolling in dirt and peeing all over themselves left and right, requiring multiple wardrobe changes before dinner.

Right now everybody is old enough to mostly stay in one size for a whole season. My kids usually move up a size in the spring, so I don't buy multiple sizes for the summer unless a growth spurt sneaks up on us. Sometimes towards the end of winter I need replace some of their pants and long sleeve shirts with the next size up that I then roll into their winter wardrobe for the next year. When I have had a baby who was probably going to change sizes mid-season, I'd just do maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of this list for each size.

I keep underwear, socks, and outerwear to a minimum as well. That all looks something like this for the spring/summer:

Undies- 7 pairs

Socks- 5-7 pairs

Zip-up hoodie- 1

Sweater/cardigan- 1

Sun hat/baseball cap- 1

Sunglasses- 1

Here's everybody's summer wardrobes laid out for those of you who need a visual.

Sam's

Kate's

Henry's

Anna's (Anna ended up with more tshirts than I originally planned because she still sometimes requires a shirt change after lunch)

So does this take planning and work? Yup. Was it easier to just buy a bunch of stuff and wing it. Yup. Is it worth all of the planning and work? YUP x1000000. I've even rolled this over into my own wardrobe, purging a lot of unnecessary items and only keeping neutrals and solids that can mix and match. 

I can say with 100% honesty that drastically minimizing my kids' clothing has made a huge, positive impact on my sanity and on our home life. I know it's not for everybody. For some this is still too much clothing, and for others it's far too little. But this is the balance that I've found works best for us and makes our life run as smoothly as possible ❤

Our Daily Routine at the end of 2018

Last fall I wrote a post detailing what our daily routine looked like at that time and already, just one year later, when I look back at that post that particular rhythm of days seems foreign. So here is this year's installment which, I'm sure, in the fall of 2019 I will look back on and marvel how much just one year can change things!

The easiest way to make me feel frazzled and overwhelmed doing this mom thing is for us to go way off of our routine for a while. I feel lost, un-anchored, just sort of drifting along and fuzzy. I know this isn't true for everybody, some people thrive on a more spur of the moment, every day is a different adventure, kind of life. And that's great! But that's definitely not me. Right now we're coming off of several weeks of disrupted routine. Between trips and illnesses and some snow, our usual routine was nowhere to be found. Being in our normal routine this week has felt like slipping into a hot bubble bath after a really, really long day. So cozy and so comfortable. I feel like the whole week has just been one gigantic sigh of relief. I feel calmer, happier, and even the kids' behavior is markedly better. With this fresh gratitude and appreciation for our routine, now seems like the perfect time to write this post. The rhythm of our days brings me such joy and that's what is important, right? Whether you thrive on a structured day or not, the end goal for all of us should be days that bring us joy. Here's what joy looks like for me.

6:30- On a great day, when all the stars have aligned, Anna has slept through the night or only woke briefly once, nobody else has needed me in the night, and anxiety over one thing or another hasn't kept me awake at any point, I will wake up at 6:30 and have some quiet alone time downstairs. Given those specifications, I imagine nobody reading this will be surprised when I say that this doesn't happen often. When it does it is glorious and changes my whole entire day for the better. Someday, someday I will be able to make this happen more regularly. 

Sigh. It's so peaceful when it happens. Tea, devotions, journaling, reading.

7:00- We still have our 'the day starts at 7' rule, meaning anybody awake before 7 can play or read quietly in their beds until they see the 7 on the clock, at which point they can come out to start the day. More and more lately, the only one awake prior to 7 and coming out at 7 is Kate. The boys and Anna tend to sleep later (or Sam will get up at 7 and opt to stay in bed reading until 7:30). If I haven't been up since 6:30 I'll try to snag a little quiet reading time in my bed for a few minutes before getting up and getting myself ready. Alternatively, I just sleep til 7:30, read for 5 minutes (I just like to start my day by reading a page or two at least, it just sets a good tone) and then get ready. I've learned this year that I am my most productive self if I immediately wash my face, brush my teeth, make my bed, fix my hair, and get dressed in the morning. I used to wait until after breakfast, but now as soon as my feet hit the floor I do this routine. Even on mornings where I've had less than 5 hours of sleep and I feel horrible, washing my face and getting my bed made performs some magic on me and I feel like I can at least shuffle through the day. 

While I'm doing this, kids are slowly waking up and going to play. Sometimes if Anna wakes up and I'm not quite ready yet, one or two of the bigger kids will go in her room and sit and talk to her. I love it. It's the sweetest thing and so helpful! Once I'm ready for the day, I run downstairs and put away the dishes on the drying rack from dinner the previous night, open up the curtains (if Kate hasn't already, that's a morning job she does really like to do since she's usually the first kid up), and wash any dishes James left behind (usually just the coffee pot and the knife he used for his bagel). Then I go up to nurse Anna in her room before bringing her down to play with the big kids who are, by now, playing in the playroom. I get breakfast made while they play and wander in and out of the kitchen to tell me about something from a dream they had, or a fact they'd just read (Sam), or ask what we had to do that day. 

8:30/9ish- Breakfast on the table and, on school days, we read our Bible reading, our daily devotional, some poetry, and pray and practice a memory verse together. I'm usually multitasking and making my breakfast while we do this reading and sit down to eat after they've all finished. Sam and Kate go upstairs to do their morning chores (get dressed, pjs on their dresser or the hamper depending upon whether or not they'd worn them twice yet, make their beds, brush their teeth, and Sam cleans the upstairs bathroom sink). Henry goes to play in the playroom and Anna usually sits on my lap and shares my breakfast and my tea. I read a little while I eat and then wash the dishes and get Henry and Anna dressed. If Anna has been especially.... creative... with her breakfast, she gets a sink bath. (Bananas = hair gel to this girl)

9:30/10ish- The kids pick up the playroom a little. Mostly they just need to be sure the desk is clear and there's a little free space on the floor. They bring in two chairs from the dining room that we need and I get our pile of books for that day. We aim to start by 10, but if they're playing really nicely and/or I'm really into whatever I'm reading that morning, sometimes we start a little later.

10ish- This is our school 'block' of time. I make an effort to be home for a morning school block of time at least 3x a week, but ideally 4. We start with something called Swedish Drill which is basically a more structured Simon Says. We have started school days with gross motor activities for a few years now. It's a really great way to start a school day with at least halfway decent attitudes. Then, now that Kate is doing little bits of Kindergarten work, I start trading off who I work with. First I'll do some letter games with Kate (usually while nursing Anna) while Sam independently works on his copywork. Then I do a reading and narration with Sam while Kate does something in her binder (no real structure for her there, she might write letters she knows, or draw a picture, or play a matching game with clothespins, and sometimes she just goes to play dolls). Then Sam and I go over his math lesson and he works independently on that and does a page in his cursive workbook while I read a few books to Henry and Kate. Then another reading and narration with Sam while everybody else plays or listens in. By then we're pretty much finished. Anything else we save for later in the day. We stack the schoolbooks on my desk and everybody scatters to play.

11:30ish- Once we're finished school we might have a snack, or run a quick errand (I now try to schedule all of our errands on one, non-school day, but sometimes we might need to run out after school for just one small thing). If the weather is nice we'll go outside, or just the big kids will go outside and I'll stay in with the littles. This is my time to workout and do my weekly chore for that day and sometime in there I nurse Anna. If I'm lucky I'll snag a quick shower after my workout.

12:30- Lunch. During lunch I read something else for school, or we work on French words, or they do their artist or composer study. Once they're finished eating they go clean up the toys and race me while I wash lunch dishes and clean up the school books. Racing me makes them do a better job. Some days it's like pulling teeth to get them to pick up any toys at all, but some days it happens quickly and smoothly.

1:30/2ish- The big kids are settled in the playroom with the door closed and I take Anna up for a nap. When she's down I make my lunch and sit down to eat while I read or watch a show (though tv is pretty rare for me lately). The big kids come out of the playroom to ask me questions or for help fixing something/breaking up a fight, or to tell me about a bird they saw at the feeder approximately 40000 times so 'quiet time' isn't as quiet for me as it once was, but it's a good chance to recharge.

3- If we have any other (quiet) work for school, we'll do it now. Painting or drawing in their nature journals, or sewing or paper folding are good things to do now while Anna is asleep. In nice weather the big kids will go outside (and Henry is now allowed to go too, as long as he stays on the swing set where I can see him). I read a little more, or start a little dinner prep, or fold laundry, or I go outside with them. Once or twice a week I'll put on a movie for them around now.

4- I wake Anna up from her nap and nurse her. This is when we get the keyboard out for Sam to watch a piano lesson or just to practice, but not everyday. It's pretty random and sporadic actually. I'm hoping to structure this a little more in the new year. Everybody is playing now and I'm starting to prep for the evening. Dinner prep, finishing the weekly cleaning chores, tidying up any mess I made during quiet time, prep for the next day or week of school, catching up on emails (or, at this time of year, doing some online Christmas shopping), working on a menu or grocery list, finishing bullet journal spreads or filling in our schedules if it's the end of the month, working on our budget or paying bills, just busy work. Or Anna wakes up clingy, nurses forever, and then we snuggle a bit.

4:45- Around now I really like to have a snack and a cup of tea before starting dinner. A moment of zen because the rest of the day is going to be nonstop and a little chaotic just because once 5 o'clock hits something happens and kids get crazy.

5:00- I start dinner. Most days I put a Spotify playlist on the tv and the kids are running laps around the house and having a dance party while I cook. Sometimes I play a podcast for myself, sometimes I read while I'm cooking if I'm in the middle of something super good. If I haven't folded that day's laundry yet, I often try to do it at some point while dinner is cooking. The kitchen is the best place to fold laundry lately because Anna can't reach up onto the counter to "help". I do one load of our clothes every night, so it doesn't take long at all to fold it. If I have a timer going for something that's part of dinner, I race the timer while I fold. That makes me sound super weird probably.

Sometimes when they're not running around they sit like this in the hallway next to the kitchen. 

5:45/6- We eat. Sometimes James is home, sometimes he's not. I used to try to plan dinnertime around when he would be home, but it seems to work better to just have it ready by 6 and then we either eat with him or without him. Eating later just makes bedtime a mess. 

6:15/6:30- If James is home he cleans up dinner (because he's awesome) and packs his lunch and breakfast for the next day. We keep the kids in the playroom so we can have a little time to talk to one another without constant interruption (though we still end up being interrupted a whole lot, but such is life right now). If the laundry still isn't folded I fold while we talk and he cleans up. The house is loud at this time of day. The kids are all the way wound up and I always have music on. I try to play more relaxing classical music from dinnertime on. Sometimes it works, but a lot of times it doesn't. It helps me feel calmer though, so, there's that.

6:50- Here we go. It's bedtime. The kids have had several warnings (10 minutes, 5 minutes, 2 minutes) to which they always cheerfully reply, "Okay!", but it's almost never actually okay and, "It's time to clean up and get ready for bed!" is usually met with, "Awwwww! No! Not now! We haven't had enough time to play!" (You all have just read the description of their day. Tell me they don't have enough time to play *eye roll*) Just like after lunch, sometimes clean up happens easily and quickly, sometimes it's a nightmare. Sometimes Sam and Kate are trucking along, doing great, and then Henry comes along and dumps the whole Duplo bin because he, "just needed that one piece for a minute!" Although lately Henry is starting to be a little more helpful during clean up time, a lot of evenings I take him upstairs along with Anna and he looks at books in her room while she's in her crib with books and I'm putting away the laundry.

7:15/7:30- The playroom is hopefully clean by now (we are really working hard at cleaning things up when we're finished with them, before getting new things out and they don't have many toys in the playroom to begin with so, as long as there isn't a whole lot of whining and/or goofing off, they are capable of cleaning up super quickly). Sam and Kate get their pjs on and brush their teeth and either James or I do Henry and Anna. I love the nights when James is home to help out with dinner clean up and bedtime, but it's not a given so I've gotten pretty efficient doing it all myself. If it's a bath night for the little two, I give them a bath while the big kids are finishing up downstairs. On shower nights I help Kate after she's finished in the playroom and then Sam showers after her (just needs help with his hair) or I do their showers on separate nights for my sanity's sake. The days of bathing everybody on the same night are past for now. It was too chaotic. It works better to spread them out. 

7:40ish- Ideally everybody is ready for bed by now and they've put their dirty clothes in the basket I've left in the hallway. I run downstairs and throw that in the washer and then go back up and read a few books to them in Anna's room. If James is home he takes her so she doesn't yell and climb all over everybody, or try to snatch the book out of my hand. Anna is not her best self at this time of day.

8- In bed. Henry nurses for a couple minutes (though he and I are talking about not doing this anymore after Christmas). Sam and Kate may have their reading lights on as long as they are quiet and don't stay up too late. We don't have an official "lights out" time for them, but we may need to implement one soon because Sam is starting to stay up pretty late reading some nights. After a couple minutes, I have laid Henry down and I go get Anna. If James is working super late, she's been in her crib this whole time (if she's fussy Sam will sit in there with her because she isn't always okay with being alone, and then he goes to bed once I come in). If James is home he and Anna are snuggling downstairs or in our bed. I nurse and rock her and she's usually down by 8:30.

8:30/8:45- I go downstairs to switch the laundry to the dryer and then I either sit on the couch with James, reading while he watches tv, or I just go upstairs to read in bed (and James usually follows) because I'm totally beat and want to be able to pass out right away after a chapter or two. Our evenings are not very exciting right now. James works very hard and my days (and nights) with the kids are very full. The other night we were both in bed with the lights off, half asleep already, by 9. If we're a little less sleepy we'll watch something together or play a game (I can kick James' butt in Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit, but still he challenges me to a game)

So that's our day! Or our day 3-4 days a week anyway. I've been trying to be very intentional this year to make any out of the house activities on a non-school day and lump errands in then too. If we go on a field trip or something, we'll do a little school work in the afternoon so we're doing school 4 times a week. On Thursdays, we leave at 3:30 for ballet so that shortens quiet time, but since Kate has an early class this year we're home in time to not have to rush to get dinner on the table. 3 times a month Sam and James leave after dinner on Thursdays for Cub Scouts (and if James can't get home in time, I take all 4 to Scouts, but since that ends at 8, we try to avoid that). While they're there I put the other 3 to bed and Sam creeps into their room quietly when he gets home. 

I'm really, really happy with the flow of our days lately. And by lately, I mean the past several months. It feels like we've found our groove. Not that there was anything wrong with our routines in the past, we've always been a very routine oriented family, but in the past I've felt a struggle to fit everything in and things would often slide. Usually working out, sometimes the weekly cleaning chores, often laundry. This current routine doesn't feel forced or crammed at all, but mostly things are getting done when they're supposed to. It feels good to wake up in the morning and already be able to see at least the bare bones of what the day will hold and to know that at the end of the day chores and tasks will be accomplished without ever having felt rushed. Most of the time anyway! Of course there are days where bedtime rolls around and it feels like a tornado came sweeping in while I was eating breakfast and, somehow, spit me out at 7:30 in the evening, the whole day a blur. But this that I've written up is what we strive for and what we achieve most days. I'm so grateful for our slow, quiet days. So grateful for how hard James works so that I can stay home. So grateful for our homeschooling curriculum which brings so much beauty through music, art, and literature to our days. And so, so grateful for this life I have and these people I get to do it with day in and day out.

Once a Reader...

I know we aren't even halfway through this year, but I'm going to go ahead and claim 2018 as 'The Year I Re-Discovered Reading". I've already written about the reading challenge I'm doing this year, and how a big goal of mine for this year has been to read more and to read better quality books. It's honestly going a million times better than I had ever hoped. I set the goal hoping it would help me make my limited downtime more purposeful and to set a good example for my kids (especially Sam as his reading is becoming more and more fluent). What I didn't expect when setting this goal for myself, was that I was going to rediscover a part of me that I had lost, an unfortunate casualty of motherhood. I discovered the part of me that had always identified as a "reader".

Books have always been just as much a part of my life as family members. All of my memories include books in some way. My earliest memory, watching my brother Billy's birth when I was 4 years old, includes the memory of sitting on a worn birth center couch being read to while my mom was in labor. Without any effort, I can hear my dad's voice changing for each character as he read Berenstein Bear books to us in one of the boys' beds before we went to sleep, my mom's voice reading Harry Potter to us in their bed.

I remember the absolute thrill I felt when I finished reading my first chapter book all on my own (Little House on the Prairie). I remember book reports in school, before we started homeschooling. One year we gave oral presentations of a book we chose ourselves and got to bring in a snack to go with it. I read Listen to the Nightingale and brought iced tea and tea sandwiches. One of my classmates (I don't remember who) read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and brought in Turkish Delight.

When I was 13, my mom and I flew out to San Fransisco to visit my aunt, uncle, and brand new baby cousin. My biggest memory of my first plane ride was that I was reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire which I had purchased with my own babysitting money when it was released at a big midnight party shortly before leaving for our trip. I remember finishing it on the plane ride home and gasping so loud when I read about Lord Voldemort returning that my mom jumped and asked me if I was ok. I told her I needed her to hurry up and read the book so that we could talk about it.

When we started going to the beach in Lewes every summer, my favorite part was re-reading The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (a tradition) and then diving into a huge stack of library books. "Go to the library" always topped my mom's to do list when getting ready to leave for vacation.

One Christmas Eve I decided to stay up almost the whole night and read most of Little Women. I was a little bleary eyed the next morning, but it was worth it. I had just really wanted to spend Christmas with the March sisters.

My first summer ballet intensive (Washington, DC 2003) was so memorable in so many ways, but a big one was that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released right before I went away and it was on the top of the big pile of books I had packed. Several other dancers were reading it and a friend and I made sure to read it around the same pace, meaning we both learned of Sirius Black's fate on the same day and could comfort each other. 2 years later, at a summer intensive in Carlisle, PA I was reading the just released Half Blood Prince and finished the day before a friend, which meant I needed no explanation when she came bursting into my room sobbing with the book in her hand.

I remember in high school, the Language Arts curriculum my mom had me using introduced me to Emily Dickinson's poetry and from there I went through a phase of reading a lot of YA books written in verse. Some of better quality than others. One of my high school years I read Jane Austen's Emma and it made it's way onto my favorite books of all time list. I remember sitting in my loft bed (where I ended up doing most of my schoolwork a lot of days) actually eager to do my Language Arts because answering the questions felt like talking to somebody about the book I had loved, and who doesn't love discussing a book you really enjoyed?!

When I graduated high school and moved to Annapolis to dance, I had a part time job in a coffee shop/book store and it took incredible amounts of willpower not to blow my entire paycheck on books. As it was, I often went home with a few.

During a dark period in my early 20s, when a boyfriend had broken my heart, I hurried home from dancing and teaching every evening to read for hours. I read really sad books that helped me escape my own feelings. It felt oddly nice to cry for other people instead of myself for a change. (Said boyfriend is now my husband, so this memory has a happy ending!)

When James and I first got married, our combined libraries made up most of our moving boxes. In our tiny apartment, and with our meager budget, we made displaying every single book on a bookshelf a priority. An entire wall of our living room in that apartment (and the one we moved to a year and a half later) was filled with books.

The first summer we were married, I was often alone, since James spent most of that summer in the field. Once I got over my initial terror over driving on base, I went weekly to the library, and spent my days sitting by the pool, devouring everything by Emily Giffin and big stacks of other novels.

Taking the train home to PA to get ready for our 2nd wedding, a week ahead of James, I plowed through most of The Biography of Henry VIII, one of the longest books I'd ever read (and one of my favorites).

When I found out I was pregnant with Sam, I called my mom and when she asked what I was up to that day, I said, "Oh, just on my way to Barnes and Noble to buy some pregnancy books." by way of sharing the news. Immediately beginning to read every pregnancy book I could get my hands on was my very first instinct when I saw the positive test.

But then came babies. After Sam was born, I struggled to find time to read. There seemed to be so much else to do and we were having too much trouble figuring out the nursing thing for me to be able to read and nurse at the same time. As he got older, I seemed to have more time, but that quickly reading had ceased to be a habit and books were no longer my constant companions. Through the next few years of motherhood, I still read, and certain memories are still tied with books (When we moved to our house on base, while I was pregnant with Kate, I remember reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on a camp chair in our mostly empty house, waiting for the moving truck to arrive), but I wasn't reading nearly as much as I always had before and long stretches of time would go by where I didn't finish a single book.

I honestly didn't notice it for a while. There were just so many other things going on in my life. I'd still mention reading any time I was asked what my hobbies were. I still went to the library a lot, mostly to check out children's books, but only ever checked out 1 or 2 for myself. I read daily to my kids, we still had big bookshelves in our living room. Eventually though, I started to realize how little I was actually reading. And when I realized that, I realized something else. I missed it. I missed reading so much. I missed being able to lose myself in a book and I missed becoming invested in characters lives. I missed that little break from your own life that reading gives you.

Missing it wasn't enough to get back to where I had been though. It was enough to make an effort here and there, but after spurts of reading a small stack of books, I'd go back to rarely picking one up.

I had all the excuses. "I'm too busy.", "I'm too tired.", "My kids won't let me just sit down and read." Then I started to realize I was full of crap. I remember my mom telling me that everybody has time to read, but that it's all about how you prioritize your time. I also remember brushing that off and insisting that, no. Really. I had no time to read. Eventually, I realized my mom was right and I should have listened to her sooner (about this and about a million other things 😉 Love you mom!) I thought back to my own childhood and remembered her reading while she ate, while she cooked, at red lights... Everybody has time to read.

Many factors went into my decision to make reading a priority again, but chief among them was definitely the homeschooling curriculum we have been using this year. I've spent this whole school year (we only have 2.5 weeks left!!!!) reading so many really awesome books to my kids out loud and it has been such a wonderful reminder of the power of words! Along with that, watching Sam read better and better, and seeing him go through piles of books on his own has made me think about how much I loved books and reading as a kid, how excited I am for him to meet all of the characters I remember and still love, and how much I want to raise readers.

Now I feel like I'm 'back'. Like I can, once again, really for real be classified as a 'reader'. I stay up too late sometimes and neglect other things I should be doing sometimes (breakfast was a tad late this morning because I just had to finish the last chapter of Unbroken). I didn't realize just how much I missed this part of myself until I started finding it again, and I am so, so very glad that I did.

How We Homeschool Preschool

As a homeschooler, I answer a lot of questions from friends, family, acquaintances, and even strangers in the grocery store. It's different than what most people are used to so there is naturally a lot of curiosity. And I love it. I love answering each and every question I'm asked. No matter who is asking or how many times I've answered the same question. I just love it. So, if you're somebody who has always had a question (or several) about homeschooling, ask me. I would be so happy to answer!

One question I get more often than most others, and this is probably just because this is sort of just my demographic right now, is, "How do you homeschool preschool?". Or, "What do you do with toddlers for school?". My answer has really evolved since Sam was 3 years old and I first started "homeschooling". Life has changed since then, but also my general homeschooling philosophy has changed a ton. It has happened bit by bit as I figured out what worked best for us, but it made a huge shift in the middle of last year when I was newly pregnant with Anna, feeling miserable, and way burnt out only doing Kindergarten. You can read more about that here, but basically I discovered and started researching a few styles of teaching that advocated for no formal learning before age 6. Already feeling stressed about mixing a 1st grade and pre-k year while also bringing home another baby, I took that and ran with it.

So, the short answer to, "How do you homsechool preschool?" is simply, "We don't." There are, however, plenty of things that I do intentionally do for the good of all my children really that could probably, for lack of a better term, be called our preschool "curriculum".

Quality children's literature.
We own tons of kids picture books and also try to get to the library at least once a month. Since discovering Charlotte Mason, I'm more careful about the quality of the books that we buy or check out of the library. I've heard other Charlotte Mason homeschoolers compare books to junk food or healthy food. Junk is fine in moderation, as long as you're maintaining a healthy diet otherwise. For our "healthy" books I look for beautiful illustrations, and good vocabulary. If I've learned nothing else from doing Charlotte Mason homeschooling this year, it's that children are far more capable of understanding a much wider vocabulary than we give them credit for. You can't go wrong with classics from authors like Robert McCloskey, Eric Carle, Jan Brett, and Ezra Jack Keats.

Outside time.
Some days this is harder than others, but we do our best. Sam and Kate are old enough at 6 and 4 to go out in the backyard by themselves, as long as they stay where I can easily see them out the back windows and stay out of the cornfields and front yard (we live on a back road, which means there are plenty of people who go flying by, well over the speed limit, so no front yard playing for us). That makes it easier because I can't always be outside, but I do make an effort to get Henry and Anna out there as much as I can too. Walks outside are good for everybody and provide endless learning opportunities for preschoolers (and everybody else!) We have nature journals and some field guides, and Sam does a little bit more of a structured nature study, but for preschool Kate is just exploring and I answer her questions if she has any.

Cooking and baking.
Again, endless learning opportunities without having to do anything special at all. I don't make baking a "lesson" at all, everybody just pulls a chair up to the counter and takes turns adding ingredients. They end up learning to count, seeing kind of how fractions work, learning what sorts of things need to work together to make food, what happens to certain things when they get hot or cold (like how water can boil and turn to steam or it can freeze and turn to ice). I have to cook anyway, why not let them help and learn without actually doing any planning or lessons right?

Music.
Our first grade curriculum includes monthly folk songs and hymns as well as composer studies. The little ones listen along to those and I also play a variety of music all throughout our days. Again, no lesson planning, but sometimes Kate has questions and I answer them. "This sounds different than the other one, why?" "Well the last one was a string quartet and this one is a piano solo." "What does quartet mean?" "4" "Okay." Just by playing a ton of music every day (a habit I started back when Sam was a toddler) I've noticed that Kate has a really good ear for music and picks up the emotions in different pieces. When she was 2 I was playing Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet and she said, "Mama, dis so sad." Sam is more likely to notice the volume of a particular piece and likes to pick out different instruments. Henry is already really good at catching the rhythm of whatever we're listening to and clapping or dancing fairly close to on beat. I love seeing all of the different ways they all hear and react to music! We also sing a lot of your usual preschool songs (and everybody really loves the 'days of the week' song!), but, in keeping with Charlotte Mason's philosophy, we really focus on quality! I think music is so important in any school at any age, but besides that, its very helpful at 'that' time of day before dinner and bedtime. I can have a little control over everybody's moods (mine included!) with the music I choose to play.

Art.
Sam has a scheduled picture study and Kate and Henry both like to look at whatever he's studying with him and play along when I cover it up and ask him to tell me what he remembers from it, but I don't make them. Sometimes they're not interested and obviously that's fine, since it's 1st grade work. I also don't plan or prep many crafts ahead of time for them. Drawing materials are always available and everybody is encouraged to use them. No formal drawing instruction or anything though. That, again, will start in first grade. Kate taught herself to draw flowers recently though copying out of a book about flowers that we have. I'm getting ready to teach Sam how to finger knit and I know that's something a 4 year old can easily do as well, so that will be a lesson where I will intentionally include Kate. Other handicrafts Sam has done, like yarn wrapped sticks and watercolors, Kate participates in if she wants to. She has her own pair of scissors that she is allowed to get out of the closet if she asks first, but I don't do planned "scissor skill" work or anything like that. Same with glue sticks, they're available (if they ask permission first) and they can glue whatever kind of creation they want to. So those are skills Kate has picked up on her own.

Life skills.
I think at the preschool age, it's just as important to teach life skills as it is to teach the alphabet. Sweeping, sink cleaning, vegetable and fruit washing, bed making, sock matching, drink pouring, snack making, and all things of that nature. This is all a little more in line with Maria Montessori than Charlotte Mason, although Ms. Mason was also an advocate for small children being able to do things for themselves. We don't do these things as lessons, I just make sure Kate learns the correct way to do them when they come up in life. Making her bed and cleaning the downstairs bathroom sink are her morning chores and she's getting pretty good at folding her extra blankets to lay at the foot of her bed!


In addition to all of these things that just happen in our daily life, I do have a few things put together that I can grab when Kate or Henry just have to do schoolwork like Sam. Or just when I need to occupy Henry long enough and quietly enough to get something accomplished with Sam. I have a bin of various beads, stones, beans, pom poms, pipe cleaners, etc and also a bin of little tongs, scoops, bowls, and cups. They can string beads on pipe cleaners, sort pom poms (or beads or beans or coins) by color or number into bowls or a muffin tin, pick up little things from one bowl with tongs and transfer them to another, all sorts of different little activities working their fine motor skills and keeping them fairly quiet. I cut up a bunch of cardboard rectangles and used glitter glue to write out the alphabet on them. They're fun (and pretty!) to play with and running their fingers over the bumpy, glittery letters is a pre-writing activity. Last year Kate had some matching games with laminated strips of paper and clothespins, but we haven't really gotten those out much this year. When Kate really wants to do school, we can do a ton with just one alphabet puzzle. She sings the ABCs, counts the letters, sorts them by color, traces them all with her finger, whatever she wants to do that satisfies her need to 'do school' that day. She also has a binder with laminated worksheets that she can work on with a dry erase marker, but we haven't used it in a couple months.

Something Charlotte Mason talks about a lot when she's discussing the 'early years' in her books is habit training. In most Charlotte Mason circles, when anybody asks what to do with the under 6 crowd, habit training, good books, and outside time are the top 3 answers. Habit training like attentiveness, obedience, orderliness, things you want your kids to know anyway, but you are just a little more intentional with it. For the habit of obedience we play red light green light or simon says. There are lots of ways to work on these habits through play (or schoolwork with older kids) and then they carry over into regular life as well.

So if the short answer to, "How do you homeschool preschool?" is, "We don't." the long answer would probably be that we don't really plan anything structured, but we make sure that the tools for good preschool learning are readily available. In addition to all of the things I've already talked about, we try to keep our playroom pretty 'open ended' (meaning little to no battery operated stuff) and our screen time minimal. I like to think that I'm giving Kate the tools to learn everything a preschooler should really be expected to know, and then letting her decide how and when to use them.

Every child learns differently. What works for one might not work at all for another, but this hands off approach can easily be tailored to different needs. Kate is not an especially self motivated learner. A big reason that we did attempt a more structured preschool with Sam was that he wanted to know all of the things and he wanted to know them immediately. I can see now though that he learned more and better when we stepped back from the structure and let him have more free reign. Even not being a very self motivated learned Kate has, in her own time, learned so much so far this school year. I was so nervous to be so hands off with her because she does tend to need more direction, but oh my goodness. She's flourishing! She is surprising me every day with things she is suddenly aware of and able to do. She learns at a very different pace than Sam, and different things click more easily for her than for him, but she's getting it all. Giving her the tools and the space to explore is giving her everything she needs. Today, for the first time, she got a piece of paper and copied the whole alphabet from our puzzle while I was doing a history reading with Sam. I was so proud and so relieved! It's hard to let go of your kids sometimes and let them figure things out on their own. That applies to schoolwork and a whole list of other things that I'm sure we're only in the extreme early stages of experiencing!

Preschoolers are amazing. And they are capable of so much more than we often give them credit for. They just need the space to do it!

I hope this post has answered some questions that I know many people have about homeschooling little ones and, like I said in the beginning of this post, I love homeschooling questions so please friends, never hesitate to ask!