I am so excited that amazing August is almost here!  It’s my birthday month, and I will be celebrating my 50th!  Half a century of living and I know the 50s are going to be great!  Fifty brings a sense of peace in knowing yourself and what you have to offer the world, a grace that you extend to yourself and to others.  I can balance some different areas in my life probably better than at any other time in the past, because I have better boundaries so my own school, homeschooling, working part time, and having my own little business doesn’t seem as daunting (and my children are 10 and up!).  But most of all, I think the 50s as a decade are about having fun and really seizing all the moments!  I feel so fortunate to have my children be 18, 15, 10 – such fun ages as they grow up and go out into the world and I am so glad I am here to love them and help them, and  also to enjoy being with my husband and deepening our relationship of over 30 years while having a great time together.   So, yup, I am definitely celebrating my birthday week and this month!  Please go do something fun on my behalf in  your own life! ❤

The things we are celebrating:

August 6th- The Transfiguration of Jesus Christ

August 8th- My Birthday!

August 10- School starts!

August 15- The Dormition of St. Mary

Ideas for Celebration:

• Making a  beautiful triptych to celebrate the life of St. Mary.  There are many wonderful ideas regarding this on the Internet.
• We have about another month of tubing, swimming and water park availability to us, so we hope to take advantage!
• Camping
• Gazing at the stars
• Horses!  The kids picked up polo during quarantine thanks to a friend who has a bunch of ponies, and we still have horse shows and maybe a hunter pace or something fun outside with the horses.
• Walking in the mornings
• Working out.  Move!  During quarantine, I have been using Beach Body (no affiliation at all, just happy to have it when I can’t go to the gym!)  Come work out with me!

The Domestic Life:

This a good time to take stock of needs for fall/winter in clothing, shoes, outside gear, school supplies, art supplies

I also think this a great time to go back to manners.  Children are often in an expansive place with summer weather and may need some help in remembering school behavior, work ethics and manners!   Rhythm is a huge help with that!  It’s a key word for this month and the structure of the rhythm of school does us all good!

Meal planning gets us through because I am too busy to have to spend a lot of time every day planning.  So, I like to plan 2-4 weeks of meals and shop in bulk!  Everyone has daily chores to help, laundry gets done and put away daily. When the margins of life are tighter and I would rather spend my free time having fun out with family and friends, then we all have to do our part each day!

Homeschooling:

We are jumping into fifth grade (for my third time!).  I am looking forward to it, and pretty much decided to start with Ancient Civilizations because that’s pretty open and go for me since I have done it before.  Our fifth grader also has a two day a week outdoor program, and I will be working those days and seeing a few private patients on some of the other days.

Our tenth grader is in an outside program, so mainly I am helping with homework there!

Our high school graduate will be starting online and at home, and then hopefully be moving into her university as COVID cases drop.

I have school work to do as well, so we will all have a time to do our homework! 🙂

Self-Care:

So, my main homework days for my own school are Monday- Thursday. I now take Friday nights and Saturdays for RELAXING.  This is a switch for me, but one thing I realized during quarantine was how little I relaxed and just hung out and puttered around and I am aiming to change that! Sundays are church days and typically busy (although we are still virtual here) getting ready for Monday and school.

My other huge piece of self care is  my supplements, eating right, and exercising daily!

I want to hear what you have learned during quarantine, how August is shaping up for you, how is school looking?  If anyone needs help with homeschool planning or planning for family life, please email me at admin@theparentingpassageway.  My rates for a half hour phone call are super reasonable and I have helped lots of moms this month!  I also answer fast questions via email for free, and always give my single moms free help.

Lots of love,
carrie