Lessons learned on a Holiday...

 ...Before I start I want to say that I hope this post finds all of you safe and sound in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene!

This post finds me on holiday with my entire family in San Diego..

 Our trip started out less than smoothly with Brooke, our toddler, throwing up en route and there was a tumbleweed incident (not to mention that my husband loses all his English reserve when he is behind the wheel and there is nothing like starting a vacation with that "we are all going to die in a car crash" feeling.) So lesson number one for me was: don't sweat the small stuff. In the end, Brooke felt better and we arrived save and sound to our accomodations in San Diego.
While most of our vacations are sight seeing whirwinds (click here to read about our vacation to London during Royal Wedding week), this one is blissfully.....lazy.

Blissfully leisure...On purpose. Which was lesson number two: our families need downtime. Blissful, unscheduled, unplugged, beautiful downtime.

Mr. Darcy took our oldest daughter last night to the Taylor Swift concert. While they were there,  the other kids and I hung out, watched movies, ate fun snacks, and played board games. A good time was had by all. There is joy in simplicity! Lesson number three: My kids need my time. My uninterupted, no cell phone, computer off, time.

The rest of the week will be full of some fun family locations; we are excited to visit the San Diego Zoo and Aquarium. But mostly, we are excited to be enjoying the beautiful San Diego weather.

One of the things I am reminded of in the few days we have been here is how easy it is to live with less. Our time share is fully equipted, but with just the essentials. There are clear contertops and lots of bare spaces. It is beautiful. A great reminder that we don't need so much stuff in our lives...in my life. And I am feeling anxious to continue my minimalism journey when we get home. I need to continue to go through my craft supplies and books, toys and clothes, and make my home the organized place I know it has the potential to be.  Lesson number four: I can live simply.

This is our last leisure week before our new homeschool year starts next week. I am glad this week is full of leisure, lazy family days. Having a few days to rest, renew and recharge was just what the Dr. ordered.

Of course, I had to bring all my schoolbooks, which bring me to lesson number five: anything worth doing is worth doing well.

I hope this finds you having a blessed week. As I approach one hundred followers at Brighton Park I wanted to say thank you to those of you who have been reading and commenting, and encouraging. What a lovely community of women there are online.  and I'm wondering, what kind of driver is your husband?  wink ;-) Funny how Mr. Darcy turns into Mr. Andretti on the open road...

Blessings,

The Homeschool Mother's Journal, Aug 2

Please join our hostess, Sue, at www.TheHomeschoolChick.com to read more entries from other homeschool moms!

In my life this week… I started school again!  I am love love loving my French class. I will also be the first to admit my accent is simply terrible...I have some work ahead of me!

In our homeschool this week… finished up homeschool planning for the new year we are getting ready to start!

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… theme units are a great way to tie in subject work, books and arts and crafts all together and giving each month a feeling of "unity".  I try to do one or two a month. Often, they are tied into either a holiday or a children's book or author.

I am inspired by… simplicity.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… We leave today on family holiday. Will be wonderful to escape the heat for a week and frolic in some waves! Unlike our usual vacations which are sight seeing marathons, this one just has alot of lazy family days planned.

My favorite thing this week was… The ducklings started hatching.

What’s working/not working for us… hands on science is working! Studying the eggs and seeing the ducklings hatch was a great hands on science lesson for the kids.

Questions/thoughts I have… I was reminded this week just how unhappy  and miserable some people are in their own lives. It is so sad... how negative it makes them. I will reiterate what I wrote last HMJ, all we can do; all any of us can do, is work hard  and strive to live our most authentic lives,--to become the best versions of ourselves, & be happy. There will always be those who want to build themselves up by putting others down.

 

Things I’m working on… time management. With taking ten graduate hours this fall, I am having to streamline alot of tasks in order to have time for everything!

I’m reading… starting "Mansfield Park"  by Jane Austen for the next bookclub meeting.

I’m cooking… Moroccan Beef. for the recipe, click here.

I’m grateful for… my family is healthy.

I’m praying for… my sweet niece who lost a dear friend to cancer recently. It is always so hard to lose people we love. I am praying for her comfort, and others.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share… Edward and Bella's ducklings started hatching this week. Here is Bella and four of her babies. The day after this was taken, baby number five hatched. 

and here is one that found a great spot to nap...

Blessings,

Inspirations

We all need inspirations. Here are five things to inspire you today...

photo credit: www.maisondeslilas.blogspot.com (pinned on pinterest by brighton park);

1. PINTEREST. I know I have been busy with graduate school, French class, and the laundry for 7, but how did I not really know about this until recently?  Here is my favorite board on my pinterest. It is called, appropriately, "Inspiration: Childhood". Enjoy!

http://pinterest.com/brightonpark/inspiration-childhood/

photo credit:  http://wwwcastlescrownscottages.blogspot.com/

2.  Do you like blogs that are just stunningly beautiful? that the mere LOOK of them takes you away to your happy place and you marvel how there is such Beauty on the web, available at your fingertips?
Take one look at http://wwwcastlescrownscottages.blogspot.com/  Oh, and if you like the color aqua, this one is a must for you. I dare you to look at it just once...I bet you will be back again and again and again!

3. Do you like ducklings? Us too. Edward and Bella's (our ducks) eggs began hatching. Brighton Park has five new little residents.  There is something inspiring about the "Mothering" that is happening with this new little family that has grown by 5 this past week. There is something inspiring about stepping away from the "Busy", to enjoy the quiet and simple.

4. The Library.  It is free. There is probably one close to you. Go this week and pick out a book on one thing you find inspiring: travel, creative processes, photography. Allow yourself to learn something new or be transported somewhere, whether it is somewhere familiar or somewhere on your "wish list". Allow yourself that journey this week and the space to be inspired.

notice our puppy, duke (by Audrey in purple) who has snagged an invite to this teaparty..

When fairy families homeschool...(brightonpark photo credit)

5. Now, this one is a flip. The first 4 can inspire you. This last one is for you to inspire others.  Do a kind gesture. Give to a charity. Donate time if you don't have money (most charities and not for profits are in dire need of volunteers, not just donations). Think big and pick something to do with a charity, or think more intimately and remember that charity begins at home. Inspire your child's love of reading (or fairies, or spaceships) by reading that one extra bedtime story and pair it with a story from your own childhood, be physically and emotionally present (no cell phones) at a tea party you encourage your child to give. Let her serve real cookies. Inspire kindness. Smile. breathe. Smile some more.

What inspires you?

Easy Recipe: Moroccan Braised Beef

In case you want this cookbook for your own...














This post is linked up to the Friday Potluck! Congrats Erin on your one year anniversary of the Friday potluck! www.ekatskitchen.com Hop over for more great recipes!

This recipe is also indexed at:
 http://verygoodrecipes.com/beef , http://verygoodrecipes.com/Moroccan

With the start of a new school year and the schedule that comes with kids' activities, I am always looking for easy slow cooker recipes that are of the "fix it and forget it" variety.  This one comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, "Taste of Home: Casseroless, slow cooker, and soups" .

 It seems I am constantly finding new recipes in it that get the "thumbs up" from my family but work into a busy family schedule. For my family size, I double this recipe and so it  does not fit into my slow cooker, so I  cook mine in a large roasting pan, on low, in the oven.  I also add 1.5 pounds of small fingerling or golden yukon potatoes to make it more hearty.



I serve it with couscous...(my girls call couscous "happy rice"....I love that!)

MOROCCAN BRAISED BEEF...ENJOY!

prep:  just 20 minutes  cook 7 hours on low in slow cooker (4 hours on low in oven)

Ingredients:
1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 pounds bonesless beef chuck roast (cut into 1 inch cubes if making in the slow cooker)
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cans (14.5 oz) beef broth
2 cups chopped onions
1.5 lb small potatoes (optional)
1 cup dry red wine
3 teaspoons curry powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup golden raisins
Hot cooked couscous, optional

Directions: (These are the slow cooker directions)

Place flour in a large resealable plastic bag; add beef cubes and toss to coat. In a large skillet, brown beef in oil. Transfer to a 5qt slow cooker. Stir in teh broth, onions, tomatoes, potatoes (if you are using), wine and seasonings. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or until the meat is tender. The last 30 minutes of cooking, stir in the raisins. Serve with couscous if desired. Yield: 6 servings.

Bon Appetite!

My Owl arrived...

I am happy  to announce that I am officially back in graduate school. To reference Harry Potter, my owls arrived these last few days and I was so pleased to read that I was accepted to the graduate school program that I had hoped to get into...ULM.

I'm thinking of this as my early 40th birthday present to myself...or my version of an academic midlife crisis. LOL.

ULM is Univ. of Louisiana-Monroe. They have a new MA in History program available, online, and one look at the class list that would be before me and I was in love and knew which school I wanted to work with to pursue this degree. It was so tempting to be a SunDevil (ASU) and go in person to Tempe's beautiful campus instead of a warhawk (ULM) for this endeavor, but an in-person tract at ASU at this time would have meant time away from the kids and I felt that particular personal cost was more than I was willing to pay (and I can always become a sundevil in 2014 in person if I still desire more. ;-)

My husband just read that last line over my shoulder and said "there might be more?"

I think it is important to never stop learning. I think it is important that while we grow and change and work on becoming the best version of ourselves that we always keep our biggest priorities paramount in our minds. For me, that is doing an online MA this time around instead of an in person one like I did when I was getting my speech pathology degree.

Someone once asked me right after I graduated from SIU in '95 with my speech path degree. if I thought I would ever go back for more college. I distinctly remember saying something along the lines of "NO WAY"...

Of course, this new endeavor means my schedule is getting ready to go all James Franco...where I initially thought I was going to start with only 3, maybe 6, but probably 3 credit hours, it  looks like this semester willactually find me taking 10.  And of course, homeschooling and I'm still leader of the daisy/brownie troop. Well, that's okay...sleep is over-rated.

I will be making many sacrifices, but I am setting a great example.

As excited as I am for my own new academic path, I am still more excited for what this new school year holds for my own kids. The boys are 6th grade age and puberty is fast approaching. Audrey is starting second grade and Charlotte, kindergarten. I remember all of those grades well. Kindergarten was exciting and in second grade I survived a terrible short as a boy's haircut that my dad "thought was a good idea at the time" and 6th grade meant  lamenting the idea that the next school year would mean I would officially have to go to the new Junior High (which turned out was not so bad). Funny, I just realized my boys are the exact age that Harry was when he got his first owl to Hogwarts...

This time goes so fast...I feel good about my decision to pick a program where I am not missing any of it.

 One of the things I hold the most dear about homeschooling, besides the time it gives me with the kids,  is the chance it gives my children to be children longer. There is still time during the day to read "Anne of Green Gables" or check on our fairy gardens. Afternoon lessons more often than not are concluded with having a spot of tea and this seems to be one of the girls favorite parts. A part I will have to make sure continues into the new harder grad school schedule.

I am writing lesson plans but what I am making is memories.

What are you making? in your homeschool? your life? Do you need some encouragement? A cheerleader? A push?  my email is always open. homeschoolfam@gmail.com We are all in this together.

Blessings,

The Homeschool Mother's Journal-Grad school, patriotism & a rogue turkey

To read other great posts from homeschooling moms, join our hostess Sue at www.TheHomeschoolChick.com every Friday!


In my life this week… To reference Harry Potter, I have been anxiously awaiting an owl from the graduate school history department programs I applied to. Reminds me of 20 years ago when I was anxiously awaiting my letter from SIU, hoping and praying I got into their speech-path program. I did then and I am hopeful now!

In our homeschool this week…  We are on hiatus the next three weeks. A well deserved break for the kids and a chance for me to clean, organize, and plan the new homeschool year.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… guard the white space on your calendar. Everyone needs downtime to recharge, refresh and renew.

I am inspired by… the possibilities that a new homeschool year bring! and I am excited about re-entering the world of academia again. I am excited about knowing that I have the power to change my life, my career, anything...if I will just lead with prayer and back it up with hard work.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… Audrey attended two birthday parties this past week.  My friend, Gwen, is a master of throwing fabulous kids parties on a budget, and her daughter's "spa party" was no exception. It was fabulous! The other one was equally fabulous and was my daughter's first sleepover. She was so excited and had a wonderful time. Who says homeschooled kids don't socialize?

My favorite thing this week was… I got a new haircut. Cut off 5 inches and dare I say...I look younger, which is funny since my whole life I have equated long hair to looking youthful. Change is good.

What’s working/not working for us… Sean and Tim had their annual appt with their main Doctor. Continuing to evaluate and change their plan of care has been working.

Our one turkey who continues to fly out of his designated area and hang out on the top of the maypole in the people/canines area of the yard is not working for us!

Questions/thoughts I have… I can't help but thinking that the trick is ...and I am finding this more and more important....the trick is remaining true to your path and your happiness and not letting others detour you or discourage you in anyway.  

I’m reading… Reading, with my daughter, "100 words every high school graduate should know". She loves the Harry Potter references the author surprisingly threw in and I keep thinking "great Verbal SAT score" every time we read it together. She's only 7, but it is never too early to enrich one's vocab. We are also reading "HP and the Sorcerer's Stone" and I am finishing up "Emma" by Jane Austen in time for bookclub next month.

I’m grateful for… the chance to continue to further my education.

I’m praying for… our country. I mean, really, what a mess. I wish everyone would
re-read  the Declaration of Independence once a year. People don't talk that way anymore. The great leaders of yesterday are not here at the moment, but the great ideals our country was built on still are. Love your country. Love your neighbor. Educate yourself on both sides of the arguments and always express your opinion with civility and manners. God bless our country.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share… a new "do" for a new degree

Blessings to you,