As I sit writing this, it is a beautiful humid and sunny day here in the deep south. Our kids are all off doing things, and my husband and I will be keeping tabs on our horses, dogs, cats in the midst of fireworks. Our county just passed an ordinance to not have fireworks within 200 yards of any farm, so we will see if that does much of anything. At any rate, I am enjoying July! It was sort of a longer, less hot spring and month of June, so I don’t feel like I am hitting any July antipathy. For those of you who have been reading this blog for the past ten plus years,  you know July sometimes was not my favorite month.  The heat of July can be oppressive where I live, the air can feel still, time can seem to stand still when you have small children with endless days of trying to beat the heat.  I even wrote posts about July Doldrums and More July Doldrums. However, July is definitely feeling glorious to me this year!

We went to Alaska in May and it was such a wonderful experience. I can’t wait to go back and see more National Parks. I didn’t mind the weather at all or the sunlight and I loved seeing all the animals. We saw orcas, humpbacks, sea lions, seals, dolphins, Dall Sheep in Denali, moose, caribou, bears, porcupines, all kinds of birds and more. My husband and I generally don’t vacation without the children or leave the farm for very long, so it was a rare treat.

So,in the mode of gratitude and celebrating, this is what we are celebrating in July:

4- Independence Day

22- Feast Day of St. Mary Magdalene

25- Feast Day of St. James the Apostle

26- Feast Day of St. Anne and St. Joachim, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Are you thinking about summer menu planning?  I have a back post on July Menu Planning to grab!

I am looking forward to sunflower festivals, catching fireflies, being in the pool and lake and at the beach. We don’t have a pool near us anymore, so I have to do a better job planning to get us there in the midst of working!

Things to Do With Children:

• Fourth of July decorating; patriotic crafts
• Find traditional patriotic American music to listen to!
• Go to Independence Day parades!
• Sunflower crafts
• Drying herbs and making things from herbs
• Picking produce; canning and preserving
• Earth looms and weaving could be lovely; see my summer Pinterest board for even more craft ideas – you can also see my July board on Pinterest as well!

Things for the Home:

• Going through the school room or school area and cleaning out
• Ordering art supplies and new resources for the next school year
• Making new seasonal things for the home
• Changing out toys if you are on a toy rotation for smaller children

Homeschooling

This summer, our rising sophomore (10th grade) is working a little on writing (he is reading Orwell’s 1984 and some writing in response) and working on cursive. I think if his cursive was better it would help him take notes better and faster at his hybrid school in the fall. Other than that, he’s been busy with gathering hours driving, spending time with friends, and Sea Scouts. We are going to take him to the beach to fish and he is excited about that!

In the past, July typically was a month I really pushed in homeschool planning – how are you all coming along? I usually wanted about 75 percent of my planning done. Tenth grade in Waldorf Education is a year of change as many teens in Waldorf Education are turning sixteen years old during this year. Here is a peek at that stage in development: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2016/08/15/development-of-the-tenth-grader/

Typically, Waldorf high schools include “track classes” for tenth grade – ie, English, Math, Spanish, etc and also blocks such as Ancient Civilizations, The Odyssey, Poetry, Ancient China, Trig, Embryology, etc. Our son is in a hybrid homeschool program where he goes two days a week and it is already going to be an more intense year with American History, American Literature, Geometry, Spanish I and Biology, so I am contemplating carefully how I want to bring the themes of traditional Waldorf tenth grade to him but not overload him.

Our other two children are adults and busy pursuing their own lives – one child is investigating advanced schooling in her profession and the other one is in a program right now for equine massage therapy.

Farm Life

The farm is busy! We just had a horse leave and another horse is going just down the road as a lease for a young lady to help further her riding. Hopefully we will get a few in to train and sell. Other than that, the bees are buzzing and I am enjoying my first grand dog. LOL

What are you up to this month?

Warm Regards,
Carrie