This baby of mine is officially six today! She’s such a big girl, but still very much a baby, my baby. I tell her, “You smell like big kid now.” She replies, with stern determination, “But I’m still the baby!” She won’t let anyone forget that she is the littlest love (Amorette is her middle name, which means “littlest love”) and that there should be no more that come after her.
I’d by lying if I didn’t admit I miss having a baby, and I have asked Ben, “Should we do 5?” But we both agree, 4 feels good. It feels like it’s our number. Thus, the littlest love she’ll always be, unless God decides to surprise us one day (let’s be clear though, it ain’t in our plans).
That simple statement during Sunday’s sermon shot straight to my heart. It was a painful, but sweet shot. All I could think of after that was all the times that I failed the previous week. Most vivid in my mind was Friday, the girls were at school and I was cleaning their rooms (like good cleaning to get rid of stuff while they aren’t there to contest my decisions). As I was discovering bags, drawers, and crevices stuffed with junk, those f-bombs were flying out of my mouth freely. I even texted them to Ben.
There are plenty of other things that came to mind… certain roles I have that I wish I didn’t have, the insane heatwave, things that need replacing in the house, people, etc.. My heart is full of complaining and grumbling.
This morning, I was reminded in I Corinthians 12:9 “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me.”” Gratitude is an area I am most definitely weak, but Christ’s grace is sufficient to help me fight an ungrateful heart and find joy in all.
I definitely want to fight it, and I know as I choose gratitude over complaining, I will taste the sweetness Christ even when things don’t go my way.
Probably kind of lame considering we live in Southern California, but we really don’t spend time visiting the Pacific often. Ironically, Ben moved to SoCal to be near the beach, but we go to the desert way more than the beach. When we were dating, we spent a lot of time at the beach (first date, official boyfriend girlfriend moment, engagement, and lots of other times in between), but with the busyness of life (and California traffic), we don’t go out that often. Thankfully, we have an annual Navales family beach picnic, so right before we kissed summer adieu, we had one last summer hurrah at the beach.
The girls played in the sand and water all day long, Ben and I snacked and relaxed all day long, and we had a good time with family. These are just a few of the snaps I got, but I love all the negative space in the photos. It captures the vastness of the sand and the ocean. We are all merely tiny dots in the gigantic world and it’s pretty amazing. Not only are we dots, but life is such a vapor. These girls are growing up fast and I feel like I waste so much time not treasuring. Feels like the same old story and struggle, but I guess it’s that constant battle of fighting selfishness and intentionality in one’s life. These photos remind me to treasure this glorious earth God has given, the little girls He has placed in my care, and how great my God is. Also, while I love the carefree days of summer, God’s showing me I ought to delight in these days of homeschooling, and the brief moment in time I get to hold and disciple their hearts.
We survived! Week 1 of year 7 of homeschooling has been completed! Good routines, early bedtimes, organized lesson plans, and checklists has all been so helpful in getting us off to a strong start. My plate is feeling extra full, so I’m making sure I have things organized and that one of the balls I’m juggling doesn’t drop. I even have to plan “hang out with the girls” time in my schedule because even though I’m with them all day, they need chill out time with mom. We watched Lost in Oz for a chill time together.
The most helpful thing for me this week has been resuming my 5:30am wake up calls. I’m able to have my quiet Bible reading time, journal, and sometimes get to emails or other work things. Once Ben is up, we both work out together, after which, I make his lunch and get dressed ready to start school at 8am. I’ve been wanting to relax at night by reading a book, but I’m so tired by then that all I do is end up watching something on my iPad until it’s time for bed.
For the first couple days, I felt bad because I couldn’t check off the “read a chapter from a book for my soul” from my to-do list, but I’m learning how to ease up on my expectations of myself. I’m a rule follower by nature (though I probably like to teeter the line from time to time), so sometimes it’s difficult for me to diverge off my plans/checklist for my day, and if it doesn’t get done, those unchecked boxes make me itch a little. Anyone else like that?
I have to remind myself that Jesus paid my debt in full and I can chill out because life isn’t all about getting things done (though it does feel like that sometimes), but life is enjoyed when I continually trust in the one who did. Jesus died for me on the cross, and that’s where my joy and security should lie. Not in my abilities, checklists, and get everything done self-sustaining nature. That is a challenge for this control freak, but I’m thankful for the grace given when I fail, learn, grow, and opportunities to rejoice in victories everyday.
This is my seventh year of homeschooling and we are still following the classical education style of teaching and learning. This book has been the most helpful resource throughout the years. I like the structure classical education provides, so we have stuck with it. Of course, we continue to adjust to fit our needs and interest, but for the core subjects, we stick to the classical curriculum. We are a multi-age classroom and I pair the girls off for our instructional time. True and Brave are on the same level (though one is in 6th grade and the other 5th). Soul and Glow receive similar instruction, but I do have to adjust a lot for Glow since Glow is in kinder and Soul in second grade. Below is the curriculum list I use for each pair of girls:
Additional activities: Piano, guitar, swim (though I’m thinking of not doing it this year). Brave has an interest in theatre, so I’m looking for acting programs to get her involved in.
I do a lot of modifying for Glow since her reading, writing, and math ability isn’t the same as Soul’s due to the age difference. This was a similar case with True and Brave when Brave started homeschooling, but their age and grade levels are closer together than Soul and Glow’s. Now, they are both at the point where they can do the exact same things.
You might notice we don’t use an art curriculum. We’re always making things or studying artists, so our art study is pretty fluid, and we kind of go wherever it takes us, so we don’t use a book for it. One day it might be sewing, another day art history, and another day studying an artist and their preferred medium.
We are not part of any co-op, but the girls go to school all day every Friday through our charter school program. Thus, my main instructional days are Monday-Thursday. I’m sure you’re curious about what a school day looks like for us. The days are very full, but True and Brave are quite independent, so there’s a lot they’re able to do on their own. I’ll give a more detailed time schedule of typical school days for us in another post next week.
If you have any other homeschool questions, feel free to ask in the comments! This is from a couple years ago, but here’s our schedule then, a curriculum post a few years ago here, and another curriculum post here. Here’s a post on how we get Spanish lessons done too.
Well, it’s the end of summer and back-to-homeschooling on Monday. EEK! Most of the summer was spent at home or swimming, with little adventures strewn in throughout. It was a pretty chill summer, and here we are about to enter our 7th (7!) year of homeschooling. I’m excited and nervous… or as my girls would say, “I’m nervousited!” I have big plans for this school year, and it will take work to juggle homeschooling, craft styling gigs, and Wovenfolk, mixed in with regular life and church life stuff, but I am up for the challenge.
The goal is to get back to waking up at 5am to get in my personal quiet time, exercise, and some work time in before the school day starts at 8. I have my schedule for the girls almost figured out and I have to finish lesson planning this weekend.
Summer, you’ve been great. I’ll miss you and I look forward to seeing you again (Lord willing) next year.
I have a large growing pile of fabric scraps. I refuse to throw them away because I am sure they can be used for something. I have been seeing different types of interesting necklaces made of buttons, beads, and fabric. Then, I figured why not make one out of my scraps...
I think it made my white shirt a little less boring. This was so quick and easy to make.
How to make a recycled scraps necklace (which is very similar to the straps on my braided tablecloth bag):
1. Take your scrap fabric, I cut a .5''-1'' snip and tear the rest of the fabric down for a nice frayed edge. Used 3 different fabrics for each strand.
2. Take 3 of the torn pieces and tie the ends together with a rubber band.
3. Braid the 3 pieces together and tie ends together with rubber band when done.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for more strands. Remember you can make the strands any length you want, if run out of fabric, just weave more into the braid.
5. Once all the strands you want are braided, gather one end of each strand together and straight stitch together with sewing machine. Repeat for the other ends of the strands. Snip off any excess.
6. Gather ends of the necklace and sew together (snip excess) or a ribbon can be sewn at the ends to be able to tie the necklace closed, but I just sewed both ends together.
7. Voila! A nice way to make use of all your lovely scraps.
Sorry if the directions get you a little lost, but it really is easy. I promise. Maybe I should put some in the shop. Please share any other good ideas you may have of things that can be made with scraps. I would love to hear (read) them!
This baby of mine is officially six today! She’s such a big girl, but still very much a baby, my baby. I tell her, “You smell like big kid now.” She replies, with stern determination, “But I’m still the baby!” She won’t let anyone forget that she is the littlest love (Amorette is her middle name, which means “littlest love”) and that there should be no more that come after her.
