I could not be more excited that glorious August is here! The month of sunshine and sunflowers, lakes, and fun – and here in the deep south, it’s also time for back to school. But it’s also my birthday month, and I think 51 is going to be a fabulous year! I am so excited!

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

August 28 – our oldest child will be 20! Doesn’t seem possible! ❤ She is a sophomore at univeristy!

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 – it can be super hot here, but I am already making camping in the fall a priority.
• Gazing at the stars
• Horses!  With our new farm, we are busy getting the interior of the barn ripped out and then we ordered new stall fronts – and we need to paint it! And then our horses can come home! Can’t wait. We also have plans for chickens and I am hoping for two goats. Plus our bees are doing well, and we are planning on adding three more hives in the spring.
• 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!) At the end of the month my oldest daughter and I are starting 75Hard!

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 also 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!  More on that coming soon.

Homeschooling:

We are jumping into sixth grade (for my third time!).  I am looking forward to it, and pretty much decided to start with Mineralogy and then Greek History before we move into the other blocks. So excited for this year! Our sixth grader is involved with 4-H and horses and it truly is going to be a great year!

Our eleventh grader is in an outside hybrid homeschool program, so mainly I am helping with homework there! We are so proud of her!

We are super proud of our girl at university! She is an amazing adult. She and I took a mother-daughter trip in July, just the two of us, and it was awesome!

Self-Care and Rhythm:

With farm life, working, homeschooling, consulting — I am working on keeping my morning rhythm of self-care, and making time for exercise and food prep! This is really, really important to me. My spiritual work is also paramount right now!

My other huge piece of self care is  my supplements! I have some long term effects from getting Covid over a year ago, and supplements that were derived from my lab work are really helpful! I have also been napping on the weekends, which has been very helpful.

I want to hear what you have learned during quarantine, how August is shaping up for you, how is school looking?  I have been super busy doing homeschool consulting this month! 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. Please let me know if I can help you!

Lots of love and many blessings,
carrie