A Home for Sycamore Hill

Two months ago we closed on our first house! We were on break from school at the time, which was a huge blessing. After getting moved and settling in a little (digging ourselves out of boxes!) it was Christmas and then time to start a new school year. And all the while I've neglected my poor blog!

It's not much, but it's OURS!

But I'm back now! And I'm going to show you our new school room set up in the basement. It's ah-MAY-zing to have a dedicated school space! Being able to just run upstairs for lunch and return to our open books and half-finished papers is a huge blessing. Not to mention the fantastic built-in storage. It's homeschooler heaven! (Well, maybe not. That would probably be a house with far more square footage on an acreage, but...I'm content!)

We are no longer in a small town, but smack-dab in the city. This is mostly good, but has a few draw-backs. Everything is so much more accessible and yet we are saving beaucoup bucks on gas since Hubby cut his commute from 45 miles per day to 45 miles per week. But we're a lot further from "nature" and will miss our many woodland visitors. Though we've been quite excited by the squirrel population and visiting winter birds.

I've been taking lots of pictures and am putting together a virtual tour of our homeschool space, so stay tuned!

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No More Quiet Time

I have always thought it sounded trite to speak of “falling in love with Jesus.” But trite or not, isn’t that what I want for my children? To learn to “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). With that in mind, and having run across this blog post on Pinterest several months ago, I created a morning devotion basket for the kids and I to use. You see, up till now, I would typically find time to read the Bible and pray away from my children. Away from distraction, away from the demands of dust and dirty dishes, and away from the 437 questions a four-year-old asks every day. Then I realized I was doing them a major disservice by disallowing them to see me in the Word regularly. If I want them to love the Lord God, then I must show them how I love the Lord my God! Our new routine is to wake up in the morning, prepare a simple breakfast — usually cold cereal for the kids, toast and tea for me — and sit d...

She Made It!: the Get to Work Apron

This weekend Miss M decided she wanted to sew something. I was elbow deep in a sewing project of my own, so I told her that if she wanted to sew, she would have to do it all by herself. I set up my old sewing machine on a little table for her and answered her questions, but otherwise she did all the work herself! First, she picked a project from Sewing School . (affiliate link) She choose the Get to Work Apron. It's a cute tool apron that helps you carry your tools or supplies with you while you work. Then she picked some fabric from my stash. She cut out the paper pattern and traced it onto her fabric with a piece of chalk. (We had to have a little talk about placing your pattern near the edge of the fabric and not smack-dab in the middle!) Then she cut out her pieces and pinned them together, right sides facing. At that point I gave her a piece of plain white printer paper to practice sewing straight lines on. ...

Homeschool Sanity Saver: Meal Planning for a MONTH

Last year while on my blogging hiatus, I did something crazy. I planned meals out an entire month or more in advance! And it was heavenly. I give a lot of myself during a typical school day. My energies are consumed with many, many details. Did this child read today? Did she understand math? How many minutes did that lesson take? Do I need to supplement this topic? How long until they need a break? Did we cover everything? Is that spelled correctly? What is 7x12? How are we doing for time? Did I take my vitamins? Do we need to be anywhere today? And on and on. By the time our lessons are over, I am frequently suffering from decision fatigue. I just cannot make choices about what we will eat for supper. I will literally stand in front of the fridge or cupboard staring at ingredients for 15 minutes, then give up and order Jimmy John's. To relive myself of this burden, I have discovered that having a meal plan in place is essential. I have enough physical energy t...

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