Life Right Now [September]
I can’t believe September is almost over. The month has flown by. A lot has happened this month, so let’s see if I can assemble my thoughts into some semblance of a blog post.
Madic Started School
We kicked off the month with my oldest, Madic, starting kindergarten. He was so excited to start and leading up to it he would frequently ask me to tell him about kindergarten. Now that it has started I think some of the novelty has worn off.
As I mentioned in my Life Right Now [August] blog post, we have chosen to send Madic to a hybrid program, where we do part homeschooling and part traditional schooling. With that structure, he attends school half day Wednesday for arts, crafts, and storytime and full day Thursday for history and science. So far he is enjoying Wednesday, but not loving Thursday. From what I can gather he isn’t loving how structured kindergarten is compared to his play-based preschool. But I think any kindergarten class would have a hard time competing with his preschool.
Homeschooling
As for homeschooling, it has definitely been a learning curve for me. We do language arts and math at home. At first, I was feeling overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff that the school had given me to support our chosen curriculum. Things were further complicated by the fact that everything was haphazardly thrown into a box, which meant every day I was frantically digging around trying to find the materials I needed. It took me a minute but I was eventually able to get myself organized and for the most part, we have settled into a routine. We do 10-20 minutes of math, 20 minutes of reading, and 10 minutes of writing on the weekdays (excluding Thursdays).
So far Madic is LOVING math. We are using the Right Start Math curriculum and it has a ton of manipulatives. This has probably been Madic’s favorite part. It feels like play to him. Reading on the other hand has been a bit of a struggle, but that has been mostly due to me…We are using the All About Reading curriculum. There have been two main issues with reading.
- I have never taught anyone to read before. The main issue with this is I wasn’t really sure how much to help and how much to stand back and let Madic figure it out. To start I wasn’t providing him with enough support and he was getting super frustrated. Luckily, Dustin stepped in and helped me see that I needed to bridge the gap a bit more for Madic and it started going WAY better = no tears.
- I misunderstood the teacher’s manual and was under the impression that we were supposed to do a review every day before beginning our lesson. With only 20 minutes of reading instruction that meant we were spending 10-15 minutes reviewing past lesson material and only about 5 minutes on the next lesson. This made it so we were moving through the lessons at a snail’s pace and every lesson was very repetitive. Luckily after torturing both of us for about 3 weeks, I realized I was only expected to do a review at the beginning of each lesson module (which amounts to doing a review about every third day) and the lessons have become much more enjoyable!
I am curious to see how the rest of the year goes, whether homeschooling will just become part of our everyday life or if we will barely be holding on come summer.
Thoughts on the Hybrid School Method
While our homeschooling journey has been a bit rocky, overall I love the hybrid method. Here are some of the things I like about it so far:
- I like that Madic is around so he can join us for midweek adventures (hiking, mountain biking, skiing, etc.)
- I like that I only have to pack one lunch a week.
- I like that I only have one morning a week when I am pressed to be somewhere by a certain time.
- I like that it still affords me two afternoons a week to myself while Madic is at school and Emma is napping.
- I like that the classroom size is small (about 13 kids total).
- I like watching Madic learn and grow in reading and math.
Work Started Again
As much as I would love to have Adventures After Kids be my day job, it is just not quite there yet. That means when the school year starts it is back to work for me. For those of you who don’t know, I am an online instructor for Brigham Young University-Idaho. I teach the riveting topic of Business Writing (resume creation, cover letter creation, etc.).
I can’t really complain. It is a pretty sweet gig, but I always feel a little sad when summer ends. Probably because every year when I finish teaching for the summer I spend about a month feeling lost – unsure of what to do with all my free time. Then I get into the rhythm of summer and by that point, it is time to go back to teaching.
Adventures After Kids First Mom Retreat
The biggest event of the month has been hosting my very first mom retreat. I have been looking forward to (and slightly dreading) this month ever since I reserved the Airbnb, all the way back in April! In all honestly, I am not entirely sure what came over me all those months ago but I am glad I took the leap of faith.
I learned A LOT in doing my first retreat and I am sure I still have a lot more to learn. Thankfully it went better than I could have ever hoped for. Leading up to the retreat I was feeling the disconcerting effects of impostor syndrome. I was stuck in part disbelief that I was actually going to do it, and part fear that the trip would be a total flop. Luckily some amazing, supportive women attended and they were patient as I worked through hiccups on the trip.
I am sure I will probably feel that same fear before every retreat I do, but I honestly feel like organizing events is a gift I have been given. My hope is to use that gift to lift and bless the lives of as many moms as I can. If you would like to read more about the retreat and the amazing adventures we had check out my Recap of the Capitol Reef Mom Retreat blog post.
I am already starting planning for my 2024 retreats so be sure to stay tuned for details.
Things I Am Loving Right Now
As things start to settle down I am getting back to some much needed self-care. I recently added two things to my self-care routine that I am loving.
Naked and Thriving Renew Resurfacing Night Serum
Renew Resurfacing Night Serum exfoliates the skin to remove debris and dead skin and is designed to leave skin smooth, radiant, and glowing. I have been using it for a couple of weeks now and I have noticed improvements in my skin. I am hoping to add some of their other products to my nighttime routine. If you are interested in trying it, you can check it out HERE.
Live Conscious Collagen Peptides
After getting insanely sick at the end of April (most likely with Covid) and then getting Covid hair I decided to add a collagen supplement to my diet. I read amazing reviews about Live Conscious Collagen Peptides and decided to give it a try. It has only been a few weeks but so far I feel like it is helping the health of my hair. I have read that after a few months of use, I should notice a difference in my joints as well which I am hoping for.
Now a word of caution about this supplement. Per the package instructions, it is recommended that you mix the supplement into a drink. The package states it is flavorless but that is not entirely true – especially if you are just mixing it with water (which is what I am doing). I find it is more palatable when it is mixed using a shaker bottle and allowed to fully dissolve. If you are worried you won’t like the taste you can try Zena Collagen. My Mother-in-law uses that and she says it is tasty – however, I couldn’t find any information in regard to its amino acid profile.
Book Recommendation
With work starting back up and homeschooling Madic my time for reading has significantly decreased. However, I have been slowly making my way through
Delancey: A Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a Marriage
Delancey is a memoir about the creation and opening of a pizza restaurant in Seattle, Washington by a husband/wife duo. I love a good memoir and my favorite part is that it includes some amazing recipes that I am dying to try. I want all of you to read it and then we can take a trip to Seattle to eat at Delancey. Please let me know when you are done so we can book the trip.
Welp, that’s it for me!
I hope you are all getting out and enjoying the lovely fall weather and beautiful colors. Until next month, happy adventuring!
