I’m your average mom living in leggings and yoga pants, with shirts covered in spitup 75% of the time, trying to figure out this crazy life of motherhood and wifehood.
I discovered blogging in college and have done it on and off for almost 10 years now. A little baking. A little gardening. A little homeschooling. A dash of natural alternatives and essential oils. A book review now and again. It’s as much of a hodge podge as I am.
Holy Hygge
Hygge. ho͞oɡəa quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being As a perpetually cold person, I have been quite drawn to Hygge for a few years now. Though it’s only been in recent months that I feel like I’ve been able to really start putting it into practice- likely because it lends itself to cooler…
TBR 2023
As I was updating my StoryGraph account the other night, I pulled up my What’s On My Reading List post from 2021, and was pleasantly surprised to see that I had actually read most of my list! Nobody was more surprised than me to find that I had made it through 14 whole books this…
3rd Trimester Shake-Up
I’ve realized we tend to work in 3 trimesters since we school all year long, but our “restart” is in the summer. So the Spring is our 3rd, not 2nd. The summer tends to be a lot of hands on, in the moment, outside, real life learning. This fall we kicked off with Treehouse Schoolhouse…
Fancy Floral Playdoh
I love base recipes. Base recipes for cookies, for pie crust, for bread, and yes- even play dough. This is a basic recipe with flour, salt, cream of tartar, oil, and water. But this has a lovely twist- foraged florals! Bring water to a boil. While it’s heating, prep the flowers. We did red rose…
Mid-Year Pull
It would surprise most people how many parents consider switching to homeschool this time of year. For most, school started in late August/early September. Students have spent the last 3 or so month in school. Common themes start to arise. Over-tired. Behaviors. Illnesses. Stress. Activities. Remembering Spirit Week. Pick-Up Lines. Lunches. And you wonder- is…
ABC- A Big Change in Our School Routine
Continuing education is a requirement for all Pennsylvania teachers in order to keep our license. Often, these continuing ed hours are…well…not very helpful. I happened to select a seminar on teaching the alphabet. When I’m selecting my continuing ed hours, I try and pick seminars that will help with my actual cert (7th-12th) and homeschooling/el…
Beyond the Box
With 2 girls, it’s incredible how quickly and easy it is to be overrun with STUFF. Stuffed animals, baby dolls, kitchen toys…. From the time we knew Athena was going to be a December baby we have worked hard to try and keep the “stuff” at bay, instead encouraging family & friends to add to…
I’m Not Dead Yet
As a huge Monty Python fan, I laugh. Our Pastor often jokes “If you’re still sucking air, He’s not done with you yet.” So I’ll take the latter as a real win! Many of you know, the past year I had stepped in to a supportive administrative role for TNHA. I LOVE True North and…
Baby & Mom Registry Must Haves
PHEW. 2 tiny humans in 5 years. It’s amazing how much came out between Athena & Nora being born. BUT the biggest thing I came away with between the two was KNOWLEDGE. One of the main things I wish I had done with my registry with Athena was actually put some stuff on for ME.…
Creating Assignments
This has always been one of my most favorite parts of teaching. It keeps me up at night brainstorming and getting excited about projects. I often use Pinterest for general ideas or inspiration and run with it. But the core of creating assignments comes down to 4 major assessments:-Essay-Assessment-Creation-Presentation Why? I never understood why something…
Standardized Tests
In the last few decades, standardized testing has taken a front and center seat in the educational world. Some states require testing at certain grades for data, funding, and even as a graduation requirement. Nationally, most students are encouraged to take the SATs or ACTs, depending on their desired goals after they graduate. No matter…
Kindergarten
The time is upon us. I am starting Athena with Kindergarten. We’ve spent the last 2 years doing some preschool things and at this point, she is ready for some more intentional material. In Pennsylvania, Kindergarten is not compulsory, homeschooling is an age thing, but we are using this year to be an intentional and…
Mud Kitchen Crib Repurpose
Eleanor has become a sheer escape artist. What was once a once every few montha occurrence became a daily- jumping out of her crib. We were still sharing a bedroom with her, so taking the front off daybed style to leave her exposed to the whole bedroom was not an option. Athena has already had…
My Fav Foundational Clothing Pieces
Yes, I have a black dress or 2. Yes, I have some skirts and a handful of Kate Spade pieces from when I worked there in college. I also have absolutely no problem thrifting or hitting up my friend Alexa of MisfitThrifted for some goodies from time to time. BUT, there are a few things…
Our Version of Meal Planning
I often get comments and questions about how I manage to make “real dinners” and even lunches most days of the week. I like to think I have magic but the truth is, we do a lot of food prep on Saturdays or Sundays to try and make this process a whole lot easier. I…
What’s On My Reading List
Currently, I have three different reading lists.Yes.3.My “what I need to read to teach” pile.My “what I consider fun” pile.And finally, my “homeschooling & growth” pile. The last few years my reading has been painfully almost non-existent. But as the girls are a bit more self-sufficient and “superviseable,” I’ve been able to sneak in some…
Easter Baskets 2022
In case you were unaware, I love a good theme! Whether it be for parties or gifts, I like to base them off of a central idea. It helps keep me focused because I have the gift, and problem, of gift giving. This year for the girls’ Easter Baskets, I wanted to do a W+F/1000…
The 4 Es
Exposure Explore Experience Evaluate Over this school year, I have started really diving in to the concept, of what I call, “The 4 Es-Exposure Explore Experience Evaluate.” It came about from the response I provided to a question on Instagram, but then I really sat with it. I realized that I had been keenly aware…
Growing a Rainbow 🌈
We grew a rainbow. Draw a rainbow on a paper towel, roll it up so the color is inside, put each end in a small cup of water. As it absorbs the colors grow and bleed to make a rainbow. Seriously. It is that easy my friends. Sit back, and allow your tiny humans to…
Snow Painting
Some days, getting out just isn’t going to work. Some days I just can’t justify 30min of bundling for 15min of outside time. Or in our case, the yard is mostly slush. And that’s when I started bringing the outside, IN. In a regular cake pan, I added some clean snow I was able to…
2022-2023 Classes
I am once again SO excited to be teaching for True North Homeschool Academy for the 2022-2023 school year! However, this year, I’ll be teaching not one, not two, but THREE high school literature classes! I have been working on writing these class for the last 6 months and honestly can’t wait until August. Epics…
Oh How {Delight}ful
It’s starting to feel a little cliche, but 6 years ago when I started picking a “word of the year,” it wasn’t the trend that it seems to be now. My 2022 word of the year came in, nearly, at the last hour. I was honestly stressing just a little because nothing was really clicking.…
1000 Hours Outside
It should surprise no one when I say I love outside. From mud pie cooking shows as a child, to summer camp, to our gardens now. I was instantly in love when I learned about 1000 Hours Outside last year and knew it would be one of my top goals for our year this year.…
Potato Leek Soup
I am a super duper picky eater. But I’ve recently been trying to be better about integrating more foods and trying things. One such food is the leek. It’s a relative to: onion, garlic, shallot, scallion, and chive; all things I like, so I guessed correctly that I’d also like leeks. Double win is they…
Playing Catch Up
Like most, it has been a whirl wind the last few weeks. I am the typical mom who continuously says, “after this things will slow down.” Haha Though my teaching semester ended in mid December, I do backend administrative work that doesn’t stop. I’ve been absolutely LOVING writing my 3 classes for next year. Seriously.…
If You Just Believe
Before anyone calls Joel Osteen, hang tight. Last year I chose “believe” as my word of the year.Funny enough I was believing in things but had no idea what it meant. Even as I wrote the words, I didn’t have any specifics in mind- but it felt right. I believe that 2021 is going to…
Pineapple Coconut Cake
My husband will tell you, this is one of his most favorite things that I’ve ever made. And as many of you know how often I bake/cook, in the last 7 years, he has had a LOT of my food, so this says something. I have a cake recipe that I use as a “base”…
Choosing a Homeschool Evaluator
Being a homeschool evaluator myself, along with homeschooling my own children, I am on a number of local homeschool pages. I recently saw a parent searching for a homeschool evaluator. It was followed by evaluators commenting saying they didn’t need to worry about it until the end of the school year. As a chronic procrastinator,…
The Lifegiving Home- Sally & Sarah Clarkson
Recommended by all the homeschool moms, I decided to give it a try. Amazon Kindle had a crazy summer thing going on where you got points every time you purchased books and those points could be used to get more books. I didn’t discover this until the program was almost done, having spent the summer…
Samwise Declan
I will start with there are so many good dogs in rescues. Every single dog we have ever had has been a rescue. Our Pekingese, our Jack Russell, our Brittany- and every dog in between and after; rescued. We love our rescue dogs. Many rescues will not adopt to families with young children. Some animals…
Accidental Hiatus
As I sat down to do a little blog work tonight, I felt like it had been at LEAST 2 months, if not 3 since I’d been able to write a post and share it. Apparently, it’s only been since August 12th, which is just over a month. I’m fairly happy with that, but it…
How to Start- Part II
You have your list. You’ve identified how the sun moves in your yard. You’ve more or less decided where your beds are going to be! You have direction. You know if you’re doing a food plot, herb garden, flower garden, pollinator garden, etc. The dream has been dreamed! There is a saying that goes something…
Saving the Seeds
I know this feels out of order with my gardening series, and you would be correct. But the thing is, we’ve been doing a LOT of seed saving the last few weeks. I have the pictures, and the info is fresh in my brain, so go with it. What started out as a way to…
How to Start
When I walk outside, I see them. In my mind I construct pods, bean teepees, soft edges of marigolds and catmint, the hum of hummingbirds, the bzzzz of bees, the whisper of flapping butterfly wings. Did you know if you are absolutely quiet, you can hear a caterpillar munch? I see stalks of Foxglove, tangles…
Steamer Mugs
Yes, it’s still summer. But we all know back to school shopping also means that fall is around the corner. And in case you’ve been living under a rock the last 19 months, there are *bugs* out in the world too. And sometimes, those *bugs* cause things like green goop to fall out of your…
Toddler Bible Time
Part of homeschooling for us, includes Bible Time. I use this term loosely but stick with me. First, we are hitting the age where she is really learning songs and latching on to them. Not only does she ask for “Bible So” but when she plays with her animals and puts them to bed, she…
Italian Pork & Baby Led Feeding
As I was prepping dinner I realized that this was also a perfect opportunity to show an example of baby led weaning for us! Baby led weaning is more or less feeding your baby little bits of the same food you’re eating- obviously this should be done judicially based on their age and tooth count.…
Battle of the Pits- Rematch
3 years ago when I first started wearing natural deodorant, it was still a “fringe” kinda thing. People were just starting to learn about what natural deodorant is and why they need to switch. There were fairly limited options, they were gritty, they were hard, often left greasy stains on clothes, and most of them…
What You Didn’t See
With both girls I was back in pre-baby clothes within a week of giving birth. Actually, if I’m really honest, I was wearing pre-baby clothes before that. I’d hear, “You’ve had 2 kids!?”“How lucky you snapped back so quick!”“You look great.” But amongst the comments on how I *looked* nobody knew that I was actually…
Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition
It’s going to be one of those posts where I see how many colloquialisms I can fit in. Like, you may notice that I didn’t get an April review done. Well, that would be because May apparently went to hell in a handbasket around here. My recent post Foxhole is just a glimpse into what…
Lord of the Rings Birthday
“When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.”J.R.R. Tolkein The Fellowship of the Ring This year, my dear sweet husband turned 30. Not only is he married to me, but he’s survived…
Foxhole
We are deep in the trenches. I mean like, if the last 10 days had an equivalent, we’re about 15ft down in a foxhole in the midst of the Battle of the Bulge. Simultaneously: -Athena is getting molars-Eleanor is getting teeth-We more or less did not sleep from Monday through Saturday-We’ve all been slammed with…
🌈Fizzy Rainbow🌈
This month, our homeschool themes are Mom, Rainbows, and Butterflies. There’s a very good chance you have everything you need for this activity in your cupboard. It kept Athena entertained for a good half hour! If you know my kid, that is a LONG time. I am already planning to repeat this activity in variation…
True North
I’m sure most of us can sit down and pin point pivotal times in your life where you’ve had significant shifts in your season of life. April, was one of those months. I have known for quite some time that I would not be returning to teaching in public schools. I’ve known for just about…
A New Level of Crunch
My husband needs prayer. God bless him, he’s married a crunchy woman. I’ve always been a nature kid. It’s only gotten worse (better) in recent years. From an academic standpoint, I LOVE learning. From a religious standpoint, I believe God created incredible and remarkable gifts in nature that go beyond visual beauty, and include multitude…
Backyard Nature Hunt
I don’t know if this activity could get any easier. What you’ll need:-Paints-Egg carton (12 or 18 count)-NaturePaint the egg carton slots various colors. I had an 18 count, so popular colors I duplicated. Go outside, and HUNT! Athena had a ton of fun looking around our yard for pieces of nature to put in…
Dirt
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was…
March Madness- St. Patrick’s Day
March is one of my favorite months of the year. Why? Well, Ides of March is up there. Beware the ides of March.William Shakespeare Julius Caesar Act I Scene II Look, I may not be teaching English full time anymore, but I’ll never drop the Willie references. Second reason- St. Patrick’s Day. It’s probably my…
Der Ostereierbaum
No, I’m not trying to get fancy. The topic of this blog post is something known as Der Ostereierbaum. And unless you happen to have fairly extensive knowledge of German culture and language, this more or less translates to The Easter Tree. In Germany, during the Easter season, they decorate trees and/or bushes. It’s basically…
Wound Care
Thorns, cuts, scrapes, slices, splinters, OH MY! With as much time as we spend outside, we see it all. So how do we take care of these wounds in our house? -Redmond Salt-Redmond Bentonite Clay-Patch Bandaids-CorrectX-*Optional* Boo-Boo Spray CorrectX is essentially a natural neosporin alternative! The oils blended into the ointment help support healing, fight…
Easter Baskets
Some people may think our Easter Baskets are a little extra, and they would be right. Athena’s birthday and Christmas are 5 days apart. That means in general, there’s no other “gifty” holiday during the year for her. It all happens at once. Easter is our parental opportunity to get some clothes in the next…
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Mistress Mary, Quite contrary, How does your garden grow? With Silver Bells, And Cockle Shells, And so my garden grows.Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book (1744) Will I ever take a before picture? Probably not. We aren’t totally in the clear as far as warm weather goes, but this killer week of 60° and above is…
Training For My First 5k: Race to Restoration
Running is not my jam. I know. If you know me or have read some of my posts I played field hockey for 10 years. There was never a moment I enjoyed running in all of it. I walked off the hockey field my senior year and haven’t run since. Never once did I, or…
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The Nurtured Bee 