End of Summer and School Days
I love the sunshine and the freedom of summer days, and when the end of summer comes, I say goodbye to it with a bit of reluctance. But I do love the cooler weather and the rich colors of fall, so I wholeheartedly welcome its coming.
We had a small garden this year, and we greatly neglected it, but still it blessed us with lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, and squash.
When I saw this recipe for gluten free zucchini bread, I was so excited. And it was very good! It was a winner with both the gluten-free and the grain eaters in the family.
Chicken Broth, ready to go in the freezer.
My daughter’s nature notebook.
Every year we try to add a special “surprise” for the first day of school. Last year it was Smencils (scented pencils) for everyone (a huge hit), and this year it was Thinking Putty. Everyone LOVED this stuff! I partly got this for myself, since it gives them something to do while I’m reading aloud. And it worked!
For the most part, I’m really happy with all of our curriculum choices for this year. I do have to admit that homeschooling isn’t something that comes easily to me. I’m naturally an introvert, so it’s a very stretching experience to be surrounded by people (especially little ones!) all day. I do make time to be alone part of the time (in the afternoons and at night when everyone’s in bed), but school days can be a trial.
Just take a look at my school calendar for September. I thought it was so adorable and I was very happy with it.
I was so happy with it that I posted this photo on Facebook to share it with my friends there.
And it wasn’t until about a week later that I noticed a little problem. September has only 30 days, and my calendar has 31!!
My daughter said, “Thirty days hath September…” and proceeded to quote the whole poem (which I wasn’t taught when I was in school!). When I asked her where she learned that, she said it was in her Teaching Textbooks lesson (another reason to LOVE that math program!).
I thought the lady I downloaded the calendar cards from said that it was for September, so I just unthinkingly put up all of the numbers. Maybe she meant it for October?? I’m not sure, but it was an easy fix to just remove the number 31 card. But I did feel a bit stupid for not noticing it before! 🙂
My husband always knows when I’m needing some encouragement–he brought me these flowers last week when he went grocery shopping (yes, he does the shopping, and I’m so grateful!). I totally LOVE that man! ♥
Oh, and before I go, I wanted to mention this:
You know I’ve been loving Cowgirl Dirt for a couple of years now, and here’s a chance to win a $500 gift certificate!! Go here to enter the sweepstakes!
How are your school days going so far?
Beautiful calendar! Even with 31 days.
Aww, thank you, Nita! 🙂
1. Love the picture of your kitty. My friend had one like that when we were growing up.
2. Love seeing pictures of your little garden. We moved in March and I had no time for a garden so I hope to have one next year. I'm so jealous of all the pictures I see of everyone's gardens.
3. That putty stuff looks awesome. I keep reading that you need to keep little hands busy when reading aloud. Have you found that to be true with your kiddo's?
4. I saw your calendar (when scrolling through your older posts) and loved it. I went through and found some other posts you linked and printed off my own stuff to make my own calendar. My girls love it and want to play with it everyday. I had no idea a calendar could be so exciting to them!
Thank you for your continued posts on how you do things. I love seeing it all.
And, I'm also glad to know you're an introvert and struggle with homeschooling. I am an introvert too and also struggle with things. I'd love to read a post on you being an introvert and how you handle homeschooling. I can already see it becoming an issue with me. Or if you've already written something similar, I'd love to read it.
Blessings!
Thanks, Ginny! That kitty adopted us a few months ago, and we just love her! She's very personable and sweet.
Yes, having kids do something with their hands while I read aloud is very helpful. They really seem to concentrate better when their hands are busy. I let them do pretty much anything they want as long as they're not interrupting me or talking. 🙂
I'm so glad you like the calendar you made! We love ours, too, and the main surprise I've had is how popular it is with the kids. They've already learned so much just by having it sitting there.
Oh, introversion is so difficult for a mother, in my opinion! I seriously believe that extroverts have an easier time in most areas of life (just the way it seems to me!), but when you're supposed to nurture and be with other people who depend on you all day long, it can be difficult. That's a great idea for a blog post!
We are in our 2nd week, and still working out the bugs of our "schedule". I think I am happy with our curriculum choices, but seems I'm short on hours in my day…or energy…or both. I think your calendar is darling, and I didn't even notice about the "31". ��
I can sure relate to the "schedule bugs!" It seems I'm always working on that. And the short on hours and energy thing–I'm there, too! 🙂
It's hard to believe summer is about over! School days for us, too~
Thanks for sharing about the sweepstakes 🙂
Oh, I know–it went by so fast!