Short Lessons and CM Goodness

We are cruising in our full-blown Fall schedule right now. Our days have been running incredibly smoothly for the past 2 weeks and it's so nice to feel like we are in a groove. The children are really enjoying our mornings of learning together, and honestly it's really due to one Charlotte Mason principle:

SHORT LESSONS.

There is little to no complaining from my children. They are generally excited and eager to work. We are covering a wide variety of topics and yet still being done with our formal learning within 3 hours. Short lessons are working!

Charlotte Mason was brilliant, I tell you. I have read so many books about her teaching concepts over the years, but realized that I never really implemented them with consistency in order to begin seeing the fruit. Building habits, short lessons and narration really are powerful learning tools. I think that we tend not to believe that they are because these concepts are simple. Really really simple. Easy to implement. Why do we think that teaching/learning has to be hard and arduous in order to be effective?

Keep homeschooling simple a la Charlotte Mason: Talk less. Keep it short. Read good books. Narrate. Get outside. Pay attention. Gaze on beauty. Listen to beautiful music. Make stuff.

Sounds do-able to me.

Mamas, Take Care!

As all of our schedules begin to get filled with all the hustle and bustle of school, church, and the upcoming holidays, I really feel like we mamas need to have a plan in place as to how to take care of ourselves in the midst of it. I unfortunately tend to wait to take care until I am already run-down and worn out!

Drink:

plenty of water
Emergen-C
Green Smoothies

We need to be well-hydrated and boosting our immune systems! It's easy to begin to rely on caffeine and sugar for bursts of energy, but we need to be wise and seek to get our energy from fruits, green leafies, and vitamins.

Body:

a breakfast with protein
stretching
exercise...even a short walk
a soak in the tub in the evenings with healing salts
bits of dark chocolate stashed in secret places :)

This things make my body feel better. We all need to find those small practices that rebuild and recreate our bodies.

Sleep:

I am seeking to be asleep by 10:30 every evening and up by 6:30 in the morning. You need to do whatever it takes to get the sleep you need. Your body needs rejuvenation and rest...if you continue to push past your God-given limits, sickness will come.

I am also reinstating an hour quiet time for my children in the afternoons. I plan on resting for 20 minutes of that time.

Creative Pursuits:

Daily creativity decreases stress and enhances mood. We all need to figure how to get a few minutes or a few hours regularly for expressing ourselves creatively. It can be as simple as decorating the windowsill above your kitchen sink or carving out an afternoon for sewing or drawing or gardening.

Friendships:

When I get isolated, my mental health suffers. I am still offering Friendship Fridays in my home twice a month for other mamas to come over to hang out for a few hours. I also seek to grab coffee with friends, attend my Book Club, and go to the farmers market with friends. Being with other women is so needed and vital!

Meditation:

When are we going to carve out the time to meditate on Jesus? To sit and breathe and pray and allow His Word to sustain and encourage and speak Truth to our hearts? This is spiritual health and where the Source of Wholeness is found!

So as the holidays begin their approach and the to-do lists and demands of life grow, do make sure you are taking care. You need strength and wholeness to serve and love your husband, children, friends, co-workers. No one else will do this for you! We must be wise women who love ourselves well so that we can do the same for those around us.

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Building Habits

"The mother who takes pains to endow her children with good habits secures for herself smooth and easy days; while she who lets their habits take care of themselves has a weary life of endless friction with her children. All day she is crying out, 'Do this!' and they do it not; 'Do that!' and they do the other."
~ Charlotte Mason

After a lazy summer of long days and little structure, I think we all feel some sigh of relief when the fall approaches with promises of cooler days, stronger routines, and new/revisited goals and plans. We have taken a gentle approach to finding our home rhythm again. I find it harsh to have the carefree days of summer come to screeching halt and have children begin a full-blown schedule and workload seemingly overnight. Doing too much too fast results in grumpy, tired family members, and instead of a sense of joy for new beginnings, there can be seeds of loss and resentment.

I have been adding something new to our routine every week to get us all back into the swing of chores, learning, and growing side by side. We have talked about building new "habits" this year...for now, we are working on attention and truthfulness. Re-reading many of Charlotte Mason ideas on habit training have been so inspiring to me ...I never took the habit training part of her writings as seriously as I am now (the pressure of five children will do that to you!)

"Educate the child in right habits and the man's life will run in them without the constant wear and tear of the moral effort of decision. Once, twice, three times in a day, he will still, no doubt have to choose between the highest and the less high, the best and the less good course. But all the minor moralities of life may be made habitual to him. He has been brought up to be courteous, prompt, punctual, neat, considerate; and he practices these virtues without conscious effort."

"Habit may be begun in a moment, formed in a month, confirmed in three months, become the character, the very man, in a year."

"We have lost sight of the fact that habit is to life what rails are to transport cars. It follows that lines of habit must be laid down towards given ends and after careful survey, or the joltings and delays of life become insupportable. More, habit is inevitable. If we fail to ease life by laying down habits of right thinking and right acting, habits of wrong thinking and wrong acting fix themselves of their own accord."

I know that in my own life that following Flylady for a long season really built solid work habits in my life. I had no structure, no routine and plenty of bad habits when Mike and I first started our journey together. Over time and with a willing heart, I was able to solidify habits in my home life that are "auto-pilot" now...my house stays relatively picked up, laundry keeps moving, dishes are done. I have built daily systems in these basic areas which frees me to focus my mental and emotional energies on things that I love like cooking and sewing and decorating and thinking up new ideas.

It would be such a privilege to see my children grow in habits that would serve them and others...that would become instinctual and overflowing...so that they can be free to do all the other things that God has for them and not get bogged down in figuring out the basics.

Now I must build the habit of helping them build habits! It always starts with the mom! How can we expect good choices out of our children if we ourselves aren't taking the time and energy to teach them? For me this is a great challenge...I really *feel* my need for God's grace to help me in this, which is always the best place to be!

Tweaking Our Dinner Plans

I have really really been enjoying getting into the routine of going to our local organic farmers' market on Saturday mornings. It's such an alive atmosphere and a happy place to be! My visits have caused me to renew my commitment to choose to eat better meats...grass fed beef, organic chicken, pastured pork, and wild caught seafood.

In order for our family to do this, we really need to limit the amount of meat that we eat. "Clean" meats are more expensive yet the quality and health benefits are worth every penny. Each week we will have a menu that allows for meat four times a week and the other three nights will be low-cost vegetarian meals. This is a huge step for us!

Our meat meals:

Two times a week will be beef (1 lb. of ground beef and a 1 1/2 lb top sirloin).
One night a week will be chicken (bone-in breasts and legs or a whole chicken).
One night a week will be seafood (either salmon, tilapia or shrimp).
One package of bacon or sausage for Saturday or Sunday breakfast.

For our vegetarian meals:

One dinner will be a pasta dish. (I have a delicious Penne with Gorgonzola and Tomatoes recipe!)
Another dinner will be a Mexican meal (think black beans, corn, and rice burritos!)
The third will probably be soup or chili since we are heading into fall.

I am really excited about these choices! It is important for my conscience to live in a way that I feel respects creation...whether the beautiful land, seas, or precious animals. Yet I know myself well enough to know that if I don't make a concrete plan, then my goals just fall by the wayside.

I love feeling like I am getting to a more authentic place of living...that my actions are slowly mirroring the ideals of my heart. I want to live with integrity in what I feel is good and right with heavy doses of overflowing grace along the way.

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