Finding Splendor in the Ordinary
Happy New Year, friends! I hope you and your family enjoyed all the joys and blessings of the Christmas season! I’m starting to work on some interesting things “behind the scenes” at Wildflowers and Marbles and I can’t wait to share some of them with you! Thanks for your patience! I’ve got a planning post in draft that I’m working on – I’m… Read More
Any time we women anticipate a big event in life, we nest. The nesting instinct is most visible if you enter a woman’s home somewhere toward the end of her pregnancy, though I’m convinced we women “nest” to some degree throughout our lives. The phenomenon of nesting is barely understood by the men in our lives, but they do recognize… Read More
Literally! Let’s chat! Mystie (Simplified Organization) invited Dawn (By Sun and Candlelight) and I to chat together about planning! We’ll talk about planners, our strategies, and the nitty gritty – how do we plan, what does a week look like? A day? How do we live it? What challenges do we face? And most importantly, we’ll brainstorm together on ideas… Read More
I’ve been re-working my seasonal Advent plans and I’m eager to share the plans with you. It is completely free to download, print and share. Non nobis – Ad majorem Dei gloriam! As always, this booklet contains: The rich liturgical history of the season of Advent. A week by week planner which contains a daily listing of the liturgical feasts and… Read More
I have had so much fun reading all of the great ideas and planner party posts and sharing at Dawn’s blog! Have you? I love thinking about planners and I love gathering ideas…seeing how we all plan differently! Gathering planning ideas is inspiring and helps me streamline and add great pointers to my own action planning. And so…on the off chance that… Read More
Feasts Reach Them All “ …people are instructed in the truths of the faith and brought to appreciate the inner joys of religion far more effectively by the annual celebration of our sacred mysteries than by any official pronouncement of the teaching of the Church. Such pronouncements usually reach only a few and the more learned among the faithful; feasts… Read More
Pam at Ed Snapshots invited me to join her for one of her podcasts – chatting about our Morning Basket! It was so much fun (although – I’m a total newbie to this podcast thing!), and chatting with Pam was like chatting with an old friend! Take a listen and let me know what you think! YMB #6 – Jennifer Mackintosh: A Considered… Read More
We’re turning the corner from summer into autumn here. The weather is delightfully crisp! Leaves have taken on rich hues that beckon us out of doors. We’re tucking gardens away, enjoying spiced tea, and gearing up for our annual leaf collection walk! Autumn days bring such delights! The view toward the mountains out my window is steadfast and reassuring, even… Read More
It’s been so long since I’ve shared about our Feast Table, and I’ve resolved to change that! I want to share more ideas and resources that our family enjoys as part of our Feast Table and Liturgical Year observances. Over the years, our Feast Table has changed and moved, but it remains an anchor for our family’s observance of the liturgical… Read More
October is the month of the Holy Rosary, and the Rosary is such a strong anchor for families – a powerful weapon in this battle we’re in the middle of – that any efforts to rebuild culture will be futile without it. I thought I’d share some ideas for praying the Rosary as a family because…I know that it’s challenging… Read More
I’m back to continue my Morning Basket series and share with you about the lesson planner I use to record our actual Morning Basket work. I’ve recorded (and not recorded >>gasp<<) our Morning Basket in so many ways over the years. But the last two years, I’ve really enjoyed using a write-it-down-as-you-go lesson planner. I’ll tell you why… I’ve found I… Read More
I promised a look through my new Morning Basket binder when I shared our Term Plans and Printables with you, and here it is! I had hoped to get this posted last week…but alas the beach called louder! You understand, don’t you? I’ve always collected all my Morning Basket papers and resources in a few different files, but after years… Read More
I’ve been meaning to share a few plans and printables with you for the Morning Basket this year. This year, I’m working with a 9th grader, 5th grader, 2nd grader, and 2 year old. Our Morning Basket shares the same principles it has always embraced – a lovely, common starting point for the day – although this year I… Read More
They are very much like little bread crumbs from place to place, book to book, and the more we add, the more my children’s overall relationship with geography places deepens.
I’ve been doing some bigger picture thinking – you know the kind I mean? When you “zoom out” with your vision in light of everything, taking it all in while keeping your own family in focus. It has been hard for me not to default into this wider scope or focus of thought with all that is going on in… Read More
This series is long overdue for a revival! I enjoyed posting these so much and I learn so much when I dig into the principles Miss Mason sets out for the teacher, so here I am this morning, adding another teaching gem for you to consider. I know we’re all wrapping up our years, and doing so always involves a certain… Read More
I confess, I’ve had this post in draft for nearly two months now. In fact, this post is old enough that our learning room looks a little different today than it did when I took these pictures – I unpacked the geography cabinet and have it in place, the toddler got taller so art supplies moved up a shelf…but I think… Read More
Hello friends! How has your week been so far? Mine seems to move along nicely…until it doesn’t. 😉 You know that kind of week, don’t you? The one that involves a day of picking up a meat order….across town…by 8:00 am, then sprinting to the dentist, and then charging off to buy clothing for the 14 year old eating machine growing boy that… Read More
It’s taken me a bit of time to find a few minutes here and there to piece this post together. We’re so blessed and so grateful for the amazing spaces we dreamed about {for the past 12 years that we’ve been in our home} and worked hard to make a reality and now get to enjoy! Truly! I shared about the… Read More
With our kitchen delightfully humming away, we’re thrilled to be baking with the liturgical year again! For the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we made some simple rose cakes with a silicone rose mold. This mold will be perfect for any feast day that is associated with roses – especially St. Therese of Lisieux. The little treats couldn’t have been simpler… Read More
How is your autumn so far? I hope it’s lovely and rich – full of those warm autumn smells of spiced tea simmering away…and roasting veggies…and leaves tumbling everywhere! We’re enjoying beautiful mild temperatures and are just beginning to see some fall color in our trees! This has always been my favorite time of year! Photo Credit: Sarah Nicole Studio… Read More
It’s fall! Officially!! Pumpkin spice latte’, corduroy and crisp breezes! Delish! And that also means it’s time for that seasonal clothes switcheroo…you know when you go through all the closets and freshen things up a bit! It’s fun to add a couple of pretty autumn pieces to spruce things up a bit! Might I suggest something very simple? My girls and… Read More
As a classical home educator I sometimes focus on just doing the next thing. I’m living this knees-to-the-ground work; it isn’t a theory, or an article – this is real life. Babies and teens; dishes and laundry; books and discussion; active work and scholé – I invest myself wholeheartedly, and there are some days I barely keep up. Sound familiar? In living… Read More
Do you cherish these board-book-filled days as much as I do? They’re sweet and tender aren’t they? We’re all preparing the soil in these delight-filled early years, and it is no less important that we do so with sweet and sturdy little books that are inviting and build the imagination with the good, true and beautiful. I’m often asked about our… Read More
