Tag Archives: Homeschooling

November LIGHT

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November is the beginning of the season of light – Martinmas gives us a beautiful opportunity to think about how to spread light into our communities in a world of darkness.

I love November in all its crisp -leaved, golden sunset, chill temperatures perfection.  The leaves are turning here where I live, and it feels like the beauty and coziness of fall is upon us at last. We have had our first frost, and things feel like a cozy autumn.

This is a wonderful month of celebrations for our family!

  • November 1 and 2 – All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day
  • November 4– Election Day
  • November 11 – Martinmas (and there are many other posts about Martinmas if you use the search engine box!) It’s also Veteran’s Day, which we celebrate every day with my husband and father in law who are veterans.
  • November 20- My handsome husband’s birthday!
  • November 27- Thanksgiving
  • November 30- First Sunday in Advent
  • November 30- The Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle

Learning and celebrating:

  • Learn songs for a Martinmas Lantern Walk – you don’t need a lot of people to do a Lantern Walk! I have done Lantern Walks with just one other family and I have done Lantern Walks with over a hundred people! You an also check your local churches – if you live in an area with a German population, there may be a church holding a celebration of this day. I went to a Lantern Walk one year at a German church and they had St. Martin on his white horse and everything!
  • Use transparency paper to make window silhouettes and transparency cut-outs and lanterns.
  • Bake bread on the cold days
  • Look for bird’s  nests as the trees lose their leaves; make feeders start to be filled all the time, make treats for the birds
  • Dip leaves in glycerin or beeswax and preserve them
  • Cook things with cranberries, corn, and pumpkin.
  • Try the book Cranberry Thanksgiving and make cranberry bread!
  • Learn some Thanksgiving songs and practice so you can play them after Thanksgiving Dinner!
  • Find a place to volunteer to serve Thanksgiving dinner
  • Make Thanksgiving Baskets and leaving them on your neighbor’s doorstep!
  • Gather greens and natural items to use for an Advent Wreath.  We do this at church from the areas surrounding the church and it is quite lovely!
  • Find books, cozy blankets and pillows, and mark off half days for just reading and lounging around. Pull out candles, homemade Martinmas lanterns, salt lamps  and scatter them around.  Cuddle up and read with some fabulous tea or hot chocolate.
  • Find handwork projects that you will love and get started.
  • Order some woolens for your family members; my favorite place to get them is Green Mountain Organics
  • You probably already have found your hats, mittens and gloves and coats, but we are a little slower down here with cold temperatures coming later so I just did that this week!

For littles especially:

For the older children:

  • Get them involved in your autumn traditions – baking, cooking, cleaning, taking care of the birds outside, hiking, star watching, volunteering.
  • Think of traditions of gratitude and light.  Some teens may no longer love a lantern walk (although I still love it and I am an adult), but some teens might go for a big bonfire with friends on Martinmas.
  • Some thoughts:  Cultivating Gratitude in Children
  • How do we help older children internalize the spirit of helping the most needy, the most destitute, the most poor? That is the work for this age.

Inner Work:

Other Ideas for this month:

  • Get a small jump on gifts for the holidays. Here is my Pinterest Board of holiday gifts to make
  • Make sure you are still getting your Vitamin N and get out in nature!
  • Dream a little about the next school year in homeschooling 
  • I always choose a word to encompass my year – this year, my word for 2025 was COMMIT and my word for next year is being decided as we speak! I have toyed with the words “Rooted”, “Delight”, or “Restorative”. I am not sure yet. I have some bigger projects planned after some more busy but more fallow years here in this space. More about that later!

Many blessings and peace to you and your family,

Carrie

Halloween in the Waldorf Home

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October is one of my favorite months of the year!  Here in the Deep South, we are running temperatures are in the 40’s during the night and around the 70s during the day, so it feels crispy and cool in the morning. Typically at this time of year, we are just gearing up for cooler weather, the leaves on the trees changing colors and crunching under our feet, and preparations for Halloween, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day are underway!

How will you celebrate this month in your homeschool?

The Eve of Samhain of the Celtic people became All Hallows’ Eve. This used to be the beginning of the New Year in the Celtic calendar, and it was a sacred time. This night was a blurring of space and time. Great respect was paid in Pagan and past cultures to the dead – including the offering of food, fire, “soul cakes”. This persists in many cultures today, or at least the idea of spiritual connection with prayers for the deceased. We contemplate the relationship of living to dying this time of year. How do we die to ourselves, to something great than ourselves in a culture rife with selfishness and lack of community? How do we find a right relationship to death in a world where violence is rife?

One thing that comes to mind is to connect to the Earth, the wisdom of those with courage to face death. Perhaps this is the time to think about bringing “the light” inside as the days grow longer, darker and colder.  “Jack O’ Lanterns” and other kinds of lanterns are popular this time of year, as are crafts and cooking and baking surrounding the Fall Harvest. 

Focusing on what the animals and plants are doing this time of year in song, verse and story is natural, and to include the role of those little beings, the gnomes and the dwarves,  who help carry lanterns and bring the little animals to Mother Earth.  There are also many wonderful opportunities to tell stories about the leaves changing and falling off the trees and the seeds going to sleep for Winter.

This would be a wonderful time to switch your Nature Table to display all the beauty of autumn and the drawing toward winter. You could use a simple autumn wreath or dried flowers and dried seed pods or bunches of oats or wheat. A large platter of gourds or squashes can also be lovely.

Here is a link to a Waldorf newsletter from 1978 describing a Halloween festival of lantern lighting and the sharing of harvest foods:  https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/waldorf.library.journal.books/articles/CHSpring_1978b.pdf This link should work, but if it doesn’t, you can go to the Waldorf Library website, search under journals for “Waldorf Clearinghouse Newsletter” and “Spring 1978” you should see a link to Halloween. Those newsletters are sheer gold, by the way, if you have small children!

Perhaps the above will spark some ideas for your own festivities! This is a wonderful time for festivities including old fashioned juggling tricks, cards tricks or other games. Some games to think about are mentioned on pages 153 – 154 of the book “All Year Round” by Drutt, Fynes-Clinton, and Rowling if you have that book on your shelf!

Here is a link to a Halloween circle from 2012: https://www.waldorflibrary.org/journals/98-gateways/331-fall-2012-issue-63-halloween-circle?highlight=WyJoYWxsb3dlZW4iXQ==

Directly following All Hallows Eve is All Saints Day, a day to honor saintly people and to look forward to the upcoming festivals of saints such as Martinmas on November 11 and Saint Nicholas on December 6th. Then, on November 2, All Souls Day, was an opportunity to remember deceased family members and friends.  People would pray to those who had passed on to ask for blessings.  Usually  food was left out overnight for the visiting spirits of this time ( soul cakes are traditional!). There are many further posts about these festivals on this blog.

Happy planning, and many blessings to you all.

Carrie

Glorious and Golden October

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October is my favorite month of the year! Here in the Deep South, the days can still be so warm, the nights can be so cool in comparison, and the leaves are starting to turn to the beautiful golds and yellows and even brown. I have that poem by Robert Frost in my head in October:

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

But October is surely that golden period where all things are suspended in autumnal glory. I start thinking about flannel sheets, elderberry syrup, what to make for Christmas, pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins, lanterns and lights. It’s the best!

I felt like I was racing around in September. We came back from a lovely beach vacation with all of our grown children (yay for our friends who farm sat so our entire family could go!) but from then on it was a mad dash to get all the pediatric, adult pelvic, and lactation patients in plus two conferences. I was working through Saturdays and Sundays and everything else! So, I am also excited for October and a return to rhythm and loveliness in our home. Our basic home rhythm right now, with homeschooling one tenth grader and outside jobs and a farm will be detailed soon!

These are the festivals that are our anchors this month:

October 4th- Blessing of the Animals and the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi

October 31 – Halloween is my least-favorite holiday of the entire year (Ba! Humbug! LOL), but I love All Saints Day and All Souls Day and those are very important feast days in the liturgical year, so I am looking forward to those days and preparing for those days at the end of this month. You can see a back post about Halloween In The Waldorf Home, and this one about preparing for All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day

The little things that make ordinary October days magic:

Playing in the leaves

Apple picking

Pumpkin farm visits

Making pumpkin muffins and breads

Longer nights with deeper and later sleep

Warming foods

Fuzzy flannel sheets

Warm teas

Lantern making for Martinmas

Finding ideas to make for holiday gifts

Some ideas for celebrating:

A back post about warmth and children:

Warmth

Warming Foods – this back post is from January, but it might give you some ideas for warming foods

Autumn Circles and Autumn tales for little ones and you can see an example Circle Time for tiny children here: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2011/10/09/october-circle-time/

Make lanterns

Re-instating tea time – so warming and lovely

If you have small children, you might really enjoy this post from Liza Fox about meaningful work for toddlers

We are going to:

Plant fall bulbs

Make bone broths and infuse it with herbs – dandelion root, burdock, astragalus, and echinacea.

Change bed linens to flannel sheets and adding blankets and thicker comforters

Stock up on birdseed

Make sure we all have hats, gloves, snow gear  and boots for winter

I am thinking about:

Our out-of-the-home activities for the Winter and Spring.

Physical and emotional clutter and having an ordered outer world for a peaceful family

The benefits of rhythm in the home

As we head into the darker days of  autumn and winter, I would love to hear what you would like to see on this blog!  

Warmly from my little corner of the world, and thank you to so many of you who read this blog,

Carrie

The Beauty of September

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School is in full swing now! Our third child is in tenth grade this year, and is working his way through such subjects as geometry, biology, American literature and history. Despite summer coming to a close, I have to say I love September so much and settling into fall. Fall is an amazing time to think about getting cozy in the home for the upcoming cooler weather and the holidays. So many wonderful things to love about September – cooler weather, harvest, leaves turning colors, long walks and bike rides, apples and pumpkins, acorns, getting the house organized for fall, searching for things to make for the holidays, fall decorating!  

September often seems to be about new beginnings.  Here in the South, the school children have been back to public school about a month, so perhaps it is not “new”, but  it still has that feel to me and my Northern upbringing (where we always started school the day after Labor Day) , that it is a time of possibility and change.

Our farm has been quiet. We had a horse that died recently plus two went to other barns due to owners moving them or leasing situations, so it’s been a tad quiet around here. The bees are getting ready for winter. I am feeding one hive that is smaller and trying to get the bees stocked for winter. Winter annuals will go in soon, and I am hoping to put in some fall vegetables.

For me, September is also a time of contemplation as we head into the mood of Michaelmas. Some of you may know it as The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. It is celebrated on September 29 in the Western Church and for those in Waldorf Education, and it is celebrated by the Eastern Church on November 8. It is truly a time of prayer, meditations, new impulses and an idea of serving others and changing the future.

I love this festival of Michaelmas as one that illuminates the soul into the winter, takes up the challenges in front of us as we wind our way ahead in the dark to help us find that small space of courage and bravery that lets us know we are not defeated yet. We have not given up yet. Imagine a humanity where this was the theme before us of overcoming, of bringing new into the world. I may be attacked along the way of this new birth and new bringing, but I am not decimated. I can move forward.

There is a beautiful poem in the book “All Year Round” on page 129 that could make a particularly lovely blessing for this time of year and you could modify it as you wish:

Thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us;

Thanks to the rivers and streams and their water;

Thanks to the corn and the grain fields that feed us;

Thanks to the herbs which protect us from illness;

Thanks to the bushes and trees and their fruiting;

Thanks to the moon and the stars in the darkness;

Thanks to the sun and his eye that looks earthward;

Thank the Great Spirit for all of his goodness.

Adapted from an Iroquois Indian address of thanksgiving

Here are a few things we are celebrating:

Labor Day – September 1  (Beach time!)

The Nativity of St. Mary – September 8 

Holy Cross Day – September 14

Autumn Equinox – September 22 – You can see my Autumn Pinterest Board for ideas!

The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels – September 29.  This is one of my favorite celebrations in the church and at home!  You can see my MIchaelmas Pinterest Board for some ideas!

The season of Michaelmas, for me, really lasts from a few weeks before Michaelmas until a week or so before All Saint’s.  In honor of this occasion, I have been re- reading the words of Rudolf Steiner from his lectures  collected and entitled, “Michaelmas and the Soul- Forces of Man”  In the fourth lecture, he relates the four major festivals of the year:  Michaelmas, Christmas, Easter and St. John’s.  He says, “ Easter: death, then resurrection; Michaelmas: resurrection of the soul, then death. This makes of the Michael Festival a reversed Easter Festival. Easter commemorates for us the Resurrection of Christ from death; but in the Michael Festival we must feel with all the intensity of our soul: In order not to sleep in a half-dead state that will dim my self-consciousness between death and a new birth, but rather, to be able to pass through the portal of death in full alertness, I must rouse my soul through my inner forces before I die. First, resurrection of the soul — then death, so that in death that resurrection can be achieved which man celebrates within himself.”

You can read these four lectures for yourself here:  http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/MichSoul/MiSoul_index.html  There is also this really interesting collection of articles, lectures, verses and stories all about Michaelmas available in  Waldorf Journal Project #15, edited by David Mitchell.  You can find that here:   http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/WJP15.pdf

The Home Mood:

To me, the fall becomes a time of turning inward; a time of gratitude and reflection.  How do my words, my actions, reflect my gratitude toward my Creator and toward my life?  How do I interact with others in order to show this?  There is a quote I often think about from Dr. Rudolf Steiner that talks about this. He says;

The cultivation of this universal gratitude toward the world is of paramount importance.  It does not always need to be in one’s consciousness, but may simply live in the background of the feeling life, so that, at the end of a strenuous day, one can experience gratitude, for example, when entering a beautiful meadow full of flowers……And if we only act properly in front of the children, a corresponding increase in gratitude will develop within them for all that comes to them from the people living around them, from the way they speak or smile, or the way such people treat them.”  Rudolf Steiner from “A Child’s Changing Consciousness As The Basis of Pedagogical Practice”

Gratitude is such an important mood to create in the home. I think this creation can be tangible,  like those gratitude jars or going around the table at night and sharing something we have gratitude for…those are wonderful in their own way, but I think creating a  true mood of gratitude in the home actually is a much harder and deeper task. 

How do I really permeate this mood and carry it, even when things are overwhelming, is for this season of overcoming and courage as we head toward the longer nights of Winter. I think this is especially pertinent for those of us with teenagers and young adults who often are in the throes of figuring out who they really are, what turn their life is going to take as they launch. It can be a daunting time requiring inner strength on the part of the parent to really hold.

I think prayer comes to the forefront if that is in your spiritual tradition. I have never prayed as hard as I do now for my young adults and all the things they face. Even knowing from a certain perspective that they are made for these times, it can still be daunting. Teaching them deeper joy in the midst of transitions is something valuable that they still can learn from us! The teaching and guiding is not over and in many ways they need us more now than they did when they were small. I also use many affirmations and place that positive energy out into the world on their behalf.

Ideas for the Home:

  • The seasonal table is transitioning to yellows with dried flowers, seed pods, bunches of oats or wheat or corn that are dried, cornucopias, nuts, acorns, leaves and little “helicopters.”
  • I am going through and taking stock of fall and winter clothes and purging what we do not need.
  • Fall menu planning – a time of chili, soup, stew, warming dishes. I eat a lot of plant based dishes, so beans are coming to a forefront.
  • Crafting – I have some autumn crafting ideas on my Pinterest board, but I think I am going to start with Michaelmas crafts! It is beautiful and nurturing to create things ourselves, with or without children.

Ideas for Celebrating this Month with Littles:

Ideas for Celebrating this Month With Older Children:

Ideas for Celebrating this Month With Teens:

  • Find great theater, museum, and festival events to attend
  • Longer hiking, camping, and backpacking trips
  • Bake and cook fall dishes
  • Work on fall organizing and cleaning
  • Stargazing
  • Find new activities outside the home that your teen will adore
  • Find  new knitting, crocheting, sewing, woodworking and woodcarving ideas to try

Homeschooling and Working:

Work has been very busy! I see patients many times through the weekend, but this can also give me flexibility for homeschooling during the week. Our tenth grader is in hybrid school classes, but we still have classes we need to do on our own at home plus the work for the hybrid classes.

What are your September plans? If you blog or on social media, please leave a link in the comments below so we can follow each other’s plans!

Glorious August

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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 here begins this first day of August or the second week depending upon your program. We are beginning on August 19th this year for our 15 year old sophomore (he can be over six feet tall, but he’s still my baby!) – our last child in school! Our other two homeschooled students graduated and are living their lives.

This is my birthday month, which I am very excited about! These are the other things we are celebrating in this beautiful month:

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 24! Doesn’t seem possible! 

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 or two of tubing, swimming and water park availability to us, so we hope to take advantage as we have only been to lake for our youngest to sail and haven’t really done a lot of swimming!
  • Camping – it can be super hot here, but I am already making camping in the fall a priority.
  • Gazing at the stars
  • Walking in the mornings
  • Working out. I have had good success doing a mixture of hot yoga, Zumba, and weightlifting.
  • Making delicious meals!

The Domestic Life:

This a great time to take stock of needs for fall/winter in clothing, shoes, outside gear, school supplies, art supplies. When our children were little, this was the time I always looked at our woolen clothing. Yes, even down here in the South it can get cold to be outside in the fall and winter, and I am a big believer is preserving bodily warmth for babies and small children.

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!  I like opening the first day of school with an introduction to how the space works for homeschooling, expectations and rules in homeschooling and the like.

Getting back into a rhythm that supports school is also a huge help with that.  It provides that balance between rest and quiet and expansive doing for children. 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. You can also start stocking up on things for fall and winter!

Homeschooling:

We are jumping into tenth grade (for my third time!)  I am really looking forward to this. We are doing some classes through a homeschool hybrid for high school and will do some of our own blocks and courses. Our son has cybersecurity things and Sea Scouts along with the farm and volunteering to keep him busy. I love the quote from The Waldorf Family Handbook that says that the goal of high school is to prepare them as “free independent individualities and to orient them realistically to the world outside of school.” I have always taken that as the mantra for high school! Be prepared for life.

 This is the year we really start preparing for college admissions as well, so preparing for the PSAT and ACT, looking at possibilities for where to attend, what credits we need, transcripts. It’s easier to do it now and not be behind when it comes time to pull everything together when it is time to apply.

Self-Care and Rhythm:

My biggest priorities right now in addition to homeschooling and working outside the home are my workouts, medical appointments and self care.

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!  Please let me know if I can help you!

Lots of love and many blessings,

Carrie

Organizing The Week

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It’s almost back to school time for many of us here in the south. This seemed so strange to me when I moved to Georgia in the 90s as in New York school always began the Tuesday after Labor Day. And honestly, the start date has crept further and further toward the beginning of August over the years I have lived in different southern states. It used to be more towards the end of August, but now the public schools down here begin August 1. It hardly seems fair, but then I remember we get out of school in mid- May. So there’s that!

I am taking a serious look at the calendar. I have to look not only at my commitments (hello, work) but also when we are homeschooling at home, when my son has outside classes, and the balance of homemaking and farm duties. And, to be honest, I have a few more appointments these days for general upkeep in my 50s than when I started homeschooling in my 30s!

The farm routine is set in terms of when horses need to be fed or go in and out. The apiary is easily checked on a weekend. I know what days are office visits and what days are outside classes. I know when I would like to get to the gym. The more wild cards to fill in are home visits for folks, which I often don’t know until the day before, and general things that come up all of the sudden on the farm.

I have penciled in the times to work with our high schooler as he can do much of the work on his own, but there are things we need to work on and do in order to count for high school credit as well. There are some things this sophomore year of high school I would like him to read outside of assigned material for outside classes as his interests are primarily cybersecurity and computers, boats and possible military. We also need to do a fine arts credit and some electives this year and next year in addition to some of the things he is doing in core outside classes.

I generally plan two meal prep days to keep us going, and tidy every day plus more major cleaning two to three times a week. Farm life is generally messy and the house can get quite dirty! I like to put appointments as much as possible on Fridays, but sometimes I don’t have a choice as to when some of my check ups can happen and they are about an hour to an hour and a half away, so sometimes that’s just life.

So basically a revolving circus much of the time, but I like to pretend I have a structure! It sure was easier when our children were young and we were home more!

What’s your best way for organizing your week? I would love to hear from you!

Blessings,

Carrie

Options in Homeschooling High School: CLEP and Dual Enrollment

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I was super excited to speak a few weeks ago at a homeschool round table about homeschooling high school. People tend to get nervous about homeschooling high school. I think this is for good reason, as it should be a time of expanding social circles, expanding independence, and learning advanced ideas, but homeschooling high school mainly takes planning more than anything else. It’s really not any harder than homeschooling the other grades! I promise!

In the states, there are many different ways you can approach homeschooling high school that will also decrease college tuition. These include CLEP testing and dual enrollment. I haven’t honestly used either option with our other graduates (our oldest had AP credits), but I may with our current high schooler.

In general, it’s a good idea to know what the requirements are for public school graduates in your state (it varies state to state) and what the colleges your student wants to apply to require. Some colleges will not accept some dual enrollment or CLEP credits depending on the institution or major. For example, some colleges may say that the student has to take biology at that institution in order for it to be accepted. So, it is very important to know from the beginning what is accepted and what is not.

CLEP tests stand for College Level Examination Program, offered by the College Board (other tests by the College Board include the SAT, ACT, PSAT, AP) , which allows students to earn college credits by passing exams that cover introductory college material. It’s been around for 50 years, so it is not new, and the only fees are the testing fee and possibly a proctoring fee. There are 34 CLEP tests available, and close to 3000 universities and colleges accept CLEP credit. Each CLEP test looks like its currently around 97 dollars, which is of course a fraction of what a three or six credit college course would cost.

Dual enrollment is another option. Dual enrollment allows high school students to enroll in college courses and earn college credits while still in high school. The credits count both toward high school and college credits, which is why it is dual credit. In my state, for example, the state will pay for college courses for eleventh and twelfth graders who are dual enrolled. Usually the courses are the typical College Freshman English 101, etc. This can be a good option if your child is going to go to an in-state school as sometimes an out of state public or private university may or may not accept the credits. Dual enrollment are true college courses and usually one last for one semester, so credit is earned by taking a class for half of a typical school year.

You don’t have to use any of these options. In all states of the United States, you can decide what constitutes the requirement for high school graduation when you homeschool. However, if your child is looking at college, these could be valuable additions that will save you money on college tuition!

Blessings,

Carrie

Spectacular July

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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

Lovely Month of May!

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There are so many glorious things to celebrate about May:  flowers and greenery, bees buzzing, spring time alive, and the activity of children everywhere perking up.  The world is ready to be outside in May in the Northern Hemisphere, and we feel the liveliness and promise of Spring.

This month we are celebrating:

1st- May Day – you can see back posts here  and here

11th -Mother’s Day

24th- Rogation Days – you can see this back post, “A Rogation Heart”

29th- Ascension Day – here is a post about celebrating this feast with children

The Twenty Sixth- Memorial Day

31st- The Feast of the  Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

I am leaving today for a peaceful retreat with the ladies of my church. It will be a fun three days up in the mountains and a time to relax and recharge, which I really need. It’s been a busy year so far of treating patients, homeschooling, and farming.

We are also off to Alaska this month for the trip of a lifetime! I hope to see a whale, and you can follow along on my IG @theparentingpassageway.

Other things on my mind:

  • De-cluttering and deep cleaning with natural cleansers
  • De- cluttering and painting the garage
  • Spring tales for children and puppetry for small children
  • Gardening
  • The lake and the pool. Our son is sailing quite a bit with Sea Scouts, and the season is open!
  • Spring menu planning!
  • Exercising. Here is to a balanced May that involves spending an amount of self-care (receiving) closer to the amount of time I spend caring for others (giving). I have gotten smarter over the years (and my children are grown up), so I have scheduled my workouts first for May and then work. Farming chores are pretty consistent times, so that is easier to plan around.
  • Screen Free Week is May 5th to 11th!   Here are some real-life strategies for reducing children’s screen time. As adults, we often need to reduce screen time and social media time and I am making that a habit focus for May. Join me!

This year, I really looked at dividing my year more quarterly, so I am already looking ahead to these last two months of the second quarter as a bit of a personal challenge, and figuring out what kinds of things I would love to see happen in July, August, and September. The year is flying by!

I would love to know what is on your mind for this month of May.

Many blessings,

Carrie

Eastertide Joy

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Happy Eastertide!  I love the season of Eastertide, which began on Easter Sunday and will last until  Pentecost Sunday (which is on June 8th this year).

I find it comforting that the spiritual journey of Lent, often hard and arduous, gives way to an even longer period of joy and yes, even fun.  There are forty days in Lent, and fifty in Eastertide, which to me signifies and marks the very adult needs of beauty, fun, and play.

Oh yes, to play.  Adults need to play!  Play is not only the realm of children. We need it as well!  Play is often the creative wellspring of adults.  I am also convinced that it is a key to adult  mental wellness.   We often seem to forget this in our drudgery of work, traffic, children’s activities, cooking meals and changing diapers and cleaning the house over and over, but  our need to play (and rest and relax) is every bit as real as our need to work and help each other.  The child inside of us is never far down if only we reach for him or her.

In this fifty days of Eastertide, I challenge you to play, to rest and relax, and to notice beauty. Find and take your joy in the ordinary moments.  They are there, even amongst the chores of housekeeping or holding tiny children.  They are there, even in the times of your teenager dealing with end of semester tests and finals.  They are there, even with your children who are feeling the call of spring and nature to be wild and untamed.   They are there, even in traffic and whizzing cars.  Find those moments and hold onto them for what they are; the seeds of creativity and relaxing love.

I am using this Eastertide to do fifty days of physical activity that nourishes me – walking and exercising, getting out in nature. My husband and I are headed to Alaska and I am excited about that!

I have also been making a list of spring meals for meal prep. I am finding this to be a very important part of the week with working outside the home and on the farm.

If you are looking to celebrate Eastertide with your children, here is a list I shared in 2018 and am sharing again for family activities:

  1. Visit a sheep farm where the sheep are being shorn and then wash, card, and dye some fleece.
  2. Make projects having to do with sheep – I have an entire Pinterest board devoted to to wool and knitting here
  3. Spring clean your house (deep clean)
  4. Get rid of things you no longer use; paring down in the spring feels so good!
  5. Re-vamp your diet to include even more fruits and vegetables and meatless meals.
  6. Take great care of your skin
  7. Cleanse your rhythm from things outside the home that are no longer serving you or your family
  8. Look at our bee and butterfly friends in the garden, in books, and in crafts.  There are some ideas on my spring Pinterest board
  9.  Clear your life from people who bring you negative energy
  10. Make time to spend with those you love and trust – family and friends
  11. Think carefully about new endeavors.  What are you growing for this season?
  12. Find a wonderful new book to read!
  13. Go hiking.
  14. Go camping. If your spouse doesn’t like to camp, gather a moms and childrens group to go.
  15. Spend time in nature every day.
  16. Add some puppetry to your life
  17. Try journaling 50 days of gratitude
  18. Change your priorities so you have time for self-care.
  19. Slow down and rest
  20. Learn some beautiful new songs for spring for circle time or to sing as a family
  21.  Carefully investigate your spiritual path and find a way to deepen your inner work
  22. Go easy on yourself and give yourself space
  23. Find an app to help you meditate or visualize
  24. Go swimming
  25. Get a massage or sit in a sauna.
  26. Spend time with animals.
  27. Get to know your local farmers and enjoy local foods.
  28. Create art
  29. Plan ahead…or not. Whichever brings you joy in your homeschooling!  Here is some inspiration for planning high school and here is some inspiration for planning the grades.  Also, here is  a whole Pinterest board devoted to the  Early Years
  30. Learn some new Waldorf verses
  31. Pick fruit
  32. Plant a garden
  33. Create something beautiful for your outdoor space
  34. Plan new adventures in travel –
  35. Have a May Day festival shared with friends
  36. Plan for Ascension Day
  37. Plan for Pentecost through these musings
  38. Make some rock art
  39. Create, cook, and sing for Pentecost
  40. If you celebrate Pentecost as a family, consider a gathering for Pentecost
  41. Encourage someone or become someone’s mentor.
  42. Drink more water
  43. Set up a new exercise plan
  44. Catch up on your doctor and dentist appointments
  45. Take naps
  46. Walk in nature
  47. Watch a sunrise
  48. Go slow and enjoy spending time with your children.  If you are homeschooling, less books and more play.
  49. Have a picnic
  50. Dye eggs and try your hand at some spring crafts

Happy Eastertide, friends!

Blessings,

Carrie