I love August so much! It’s the beginning of another trip around the sun for me and this year I will be 52! I will be honest, 50’s have been kind of a strange decade so far, but I think that was mainly due to all the big shifts that have occurred in my personal life and also with all the background of the pandemic and world events. So, I am looking forward to 52 being a wonderful new beginning in so many ways!

This is a month of sunshine and sunflowers, lakes, and fun – and here in the deep south, it’s also time for back to school. School down here begins this first week of August or the second week depending upon your program. For a long time this seemed quite off to me after growing up in New York where we start school after Labor Day, but now I have lived here much longer than I ever lived up north, so it just seems natural.

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 21! Doesn’t seem possible! So excited for her bright future and watching her graduate university in 2023!

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
• Equines and apiary – We have settled in to having four horses on property and their daily care. The bees are doing well and we already got a little honey for our pantry back in June. We aren’t going to pull any honey until spring, so hopefully that will go ok. We have two barn kittens that are quickly growing up!
• Walking in the mornings
• Working out.  Move!  

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!  

Getting back into a rhythm that supports school is also a huge help with that.  Rhythm is a key word for this month and the structure of the rhythm of school for homeschooling 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!  

Homeschooling:

We are jumping into seventh grade (for my third time!).  I am looking forward to it, and have plans laid out for 3 weeks of physics, 3 weeks of math, a week of the life of Buddha, the Renaissance for four weeks, two week of perspective drawing, and two weeks of Astronomy and Navigation to start us off in the fall. (Plans always subject to change, LOL). He also has sailing, horseback riding, 4H, our place of worship and youth group to keep him busy!

Our twelfth grader (last year of high school) is in an outside hybrid homeschool program, so mainly we are at the stage of finishing high school and looking at universities. She is interested in smaller schools, so it is a different experience than when we looked at colleges with our oldest. We are so proud of our high schooler.

We are super proud of our girl at university! She is an amazing adult. She had a great summer visiting Greece and France and she and I just took a weekend trip together. I am trying to make that an annual tradition for us. When you have adult children, you have to make time to see them as they are busy leading their own lives as well! #dateyouradultkids

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.

The other thing I make room for is on Thursday mornings to meet with a group of ladies from my place of worship. This helps anchor me for life!

I want to hear how August is shaping up for you! How is school looking?  I have been very 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