Well, hello! My name is Jennifer Mackintosh, and I’ve been sharing here in my little digital corner of the web since 2007 – so there is a lot to take in!
First, I’d love to say hello a little more personally, share how the blog got its name, how it started, and why it continues!
I find great joy in sharing and encouraging in the areas of planning, organization, home education, and faith and culture – because that’s where I live – philosophically in the very practical. And though I live out my days in the practical, I’m a big believer that there should be touches of beauty everywhere. Practical and pretty. Beauty in the ordinary. That’s what you’ll find tucked in the corners of these pages.
I share in a few different places – most of my content is right here, on my blog, but you can also catch up with me around the interwebs through my wildflowers and marbles facebook page and my Instagram account. I’d love to have you along!
Here are the main topics I write about here:
Planning
There is no doubt that I love to chat planning and planners. Time is a gift to steward and planning helps me do just that! I’m a busy wife and mom of 5 – homeschooling, cooking, cleaning, organizing, reading, running errands and loving into all the moments around here. Life is full. Planning helps me get it out of my head and onto paper so that I can do something about it. Here are some planning posts to get you started.
- Planning With the Temperament God Gave You <– start here! I share my planning system and tools for 2 reasons: (1) in case something is inspiring and you can grab an idea and run with it, (2) for those of you that look at my system and tools and decide in an instant that it’s not for you! If my way of planning is overwhelming, scratch that off your list and keep looking! Because we each have a unique personality and that drives how we plan and how we live that plan! I hope this post gives you encouragement to plan with your temperament!
- From there, you may enjoy clicking around my planning posts, some of which are reviews of products I love using!
- My homeschool planning ideas are peppered throughout, but this post with the accompanying video walkthrough of my lesson planner might help you! Don’t let the date or even the particular type of planner discourage you – I share lots of basic planning principles and tips for homeschoolers in the youtube video linked!
Organizing
I love organizing. Clutter suffocates a space and leaves the people in it more focused on the stuff than the moments. It’s distracting at best, and a lack of stewardship at worst. I don’t mean ordinary kid messes – I’ve got plenty of those! I mean stuff – too much stuff – piled and placed and stacked and shelved until stuff is spilling out of every drawer, closet, and room. I’m a fan of clearing the clutter using whatever means necessary. I’ve been known to just swipe entire horizontal surfaces…or rooms….of stuff into a bin to set aside and deal with later. Once there is margin in a space, I enjoy organizing them so that they are functional, and so that they each have a touch of beauty. And I love finding unusual solutions and tools that help me in that pursuit!
- My Desk In a Bag – one of the most popular posts here! When we remodeled our entire home while living and homeschooling in it, I had to get seriously creative with my organization! Now I enjoy my own desk and home office, but for several months, this bag became my desk!
- Of Paper Projects and Binding – homeschoolers print and assemble a lot. This handy tool is a huge help!
- And everyone always seems to love when I share our organization in our learning spaces!
- Or…settle in with your tea and some music and read through all the organizing posts!
Home Education
We’ve been homeschooling from the beginning – for us that was 2001! We homeschool preschool through high school using Classical | Charlotte Mason philosophy and methods. I believe education should be full of ideas found in living and worthy books, and the goal of education is virtue. I love sharing how that plays out in our average, ordinary days!
- Let Them Wonder
- Homeschooling: 3 Things That Will Take You to the Finish Line
- Good To Great: Teaching Literature from Grammar to Rhetoric
- The Morning Basket posts – When my oldest daughter was in 4th grade she started working more independently. I didn’t want to lose the common time and connections we made together as a family so I had the idea to throw some of our favorite books into a basket and read aloud some books to everyone – all together, regardless of age or grade – every morning. I called it…the Morning Basket. Since then, that idea has taken off and many of you have taken the idea and made it your own. Delightful! There are a lot of posts here that share the Morning Basket with details and printable and examples, but it all started right here.
- Lots of Charlotte Mason specifics are here like my Language Arts series!
- If you can’t get enough – grab your notebooks and pencils and take some notes while you read through all the home education posts!
Faith and Culture
Our faith has always been a seamless, natural part of our day. It’s woven into celebrations and suffering and ordinary. It’s a part of every book list.
- Rebuilding Culture By Doing the Next Thing
- When my oldest daughter was still quite small we set up a small table so that we could display seasonal art, statues, and have a place to leave visual reminders of the Church Year. We called it our “Feast Table” after the Feasts on the Roman Catholic Church calendar. This simple expression refreshed regularly with the rhythm of Holy Mother Church has borne so much fruit in my home. You can read through all the Feast Table posts.
Printables
I love sharing little paper things that might help you order your day in ways that are practical and pretty! Click around! I’m always adding new printables!
