It’s a feeling similar to Christmas morning. 

                     The day our new school books arrive! 

I wasn’t sure how I would have the time to prepare and plan for this fall with our new addition in the family, but God once again made a way for me to find nuggets of time to read and get a plan for our school year. 

This year I have a new friend named Sharon, who I divinely met on the airplane on our way to China to adopt Theodore (she and her husband were adopting too and I have a previous blog post from China about her.) Anyway, she shared a website that was new to me called, “Simply Charlotte Mason”.

It was just what I needed.

  It is very evident that my “students” are only as excited about school as their “teacher” is and I needed to mix things up a bit to get excited about this school year. 

We’re focusing on the Medieval,   Renaissance, and Reformation time periods this year and most of our morning “table time” will revolve around it- 

Here is a bird’s eye view of some of our lessons and/or what we do during “table time!”

• We do our best to begin with Bible each day along with memory verses and prayer. This semester we are studying James and the epistles. Next we review previous Bible verses we have learned along with new memory work. 

 Each of the studies listed below we do once a week:

• A “Great Artist” study. We are learning about Leonardo da Vinci first and observing an array of his art pieces.  Since da Vinci lived during the time period we are studying  it seemed fitting to study him. 
• Hymn study- Isaac Watts is our first hymn writer we are learning about and listening/singing some of the hymns he wrote.
• Poet study- Robert Louis Stephenson is the first poet we’re taking a look into and memorizing some of his poetry.
• Habit study- This is probably my favorite book of all of them. It s basically laying a foundation for the children (AND ME!) to develop a character habit such as attentiveness, obedience, truthfulness, etc. We will cover 1 habit each 6-8 weeks. Working to weave the habit into all of our lives. Did I mention including ME??
• Nature Study Friday- we 💚FRIDAY like the rest of the world.

The children are sure enjoying our new studies especially since I am learning to keep our lessons short and…

 I am trying to 

TALK less 
               and let them 
THINK more.  
Table time also includes letting them draw during parts of it which they LOVE! 

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Then it s time for individual studies and before long we have lunch while I read to them.  

Our read aloud books such as….

This one above is about William Tyndale and also took place during the same time period we are focusing on this year.

The afternoon is spent wrapping up independent work – working on papers due for their writing class, math lessons assigned, etc. 

Speaking of Mathematics, Blake has thankfully taken over the older kids’ math since January (ok, so maybe I was fired from their “math major father”- but surely I have plenty of other chances in their academics in which I might succeed 😉).  

Back to their schedule- the afternoon includes an Independent Reading hour that I gleaned from my friend, Molly, years ago where they read their assigned reading that correlates with our time period and they can read their fiction book of choice.  

The younger children nap, rest, play puzzles, etc. 

In addition to their school work, the day is laced with chores, climbing trees,  some fabulous fishing, races around the pond, rounds of a favorite family game of “Guess Who,” etc. 

Our one room school house is PRETTY SPECIAL  – 

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But just in case I am painting a picture of looking like Mrs.  Cleaver from “Leave it to Beaver,” with 6 children lined up from “The Sound of Music”……

The days are also filled with diaper changes, whining over broken crayons, brading tangled hair, looking for lost pencils and arguing who took their pencil, me feeling like we can’t get it all done which leads to opportunities for my growth, drinks spilled over school work, moon sand mashed in the carpet, everyone asking for help at the same time which leads to more opportunities for my growth, AND assisting Calvin with his flourishing Rock Businessy.  🌸

 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” 

Deuteronomy 6:6-7