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PINWe will rise and shine, inhale and exhale. We will make do with what we have. We will make piping hot mugs of tea and coffee and warm milk with honey.  We will play, build forts, have dance parties, board game marathons, movie nights and read-ins, backyard campfires and quiet walks together. We will share our fears and hold hands under the covers at night. We will study. We will listen to each other and ourselves. We will bicker. We will apologize. We will donate and offer help where and how we can. We will be aware of those less fortunate than we are. We will buy gift certificates. We will let go of our fear of scarcity and get through this together.  We will tighten our belts. We will bake bread.We will roll out our yoga mats in the living room and meditate together. We will paint and use the ends of crayons and half dry markers to add color to our day. We will watch pollution clear and global warming hesitate. We will witness Mother Earth breathe in and out.  We will breathe in and out. We will find a comfortable seat and pick up that good book that’s been waiting for us for three years. We will spring clean. We will write, get out knitting supplies, or that sewing pattern we’ve been meaning to do. We will offer each other foot rubs.

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We will find out what solitude and silence have to tell us. We will hear the lessons in the stillness. We will be grateful for all that we have. We will be grateful for the time together or the time alone. We will do it imperfectly. We will pray and grieve and grow and heal. We will acknowledge what we take for granted. We will make lasting changes. We will dig deeper and find new reserves of empathy and patience and grace — for each other and ourselves. We will know who our tribe is and we will say, “I love you, thank you for being you, thank you for being my tribe,” even more fervently and often than we already do.

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My mom asked me for my easy DIY hand sanitizer spray recipe and as I started to text it to her I figured I may as well just share it here! The important thing when making your own hand sanitizer spray is that you keep the alcohol at 60% or above. I keep 91% isopropyl alcohol on hand for making sanitizer so we already had some, but if you can only find 62% your spray will need to be 99% alcohol in order for it to actually work. My recipe below is for 91% isopropyl alcohol.

easy DIY hand sanitizer sprayPIN

You will need:

100ml glass spray bottles
witch hazel
100% pure vegetable glycerine
essential oils (optional) I use Eden’s Garden brand.

easy DIY hand sanitizer sprayPIN

Making your own hand sanitizer spray:

1. Add 10 drops of lavender oil, and 5 drops of fighting five or Theives oil to the bottle(s).

2. Fill each bottle 75% full with 91% isopropyl alcohol.

3. Add 1 tablespoon witch hazel.

4. Add 1 teaspoon vegetable glycerine.

5. Put the sprayer lid on, shake well.

easy DIY hand sanitizer sprayPIN

When using it, use a liberal amount and follow the techniques for hand washing making sure to get the tops of your hands, fingertips, nails, thumbs, in addiction to your fingers and palms.

easy DIY hand sanitizer sprayPINStay healthy, everyone. x

 

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So many families across the country are, or will be soon, facing many days at home, and possibly many days of homeschool. We’ve been homeschooling for three years, and we love it. I thought I would share out homeschool basics: the curriculum we use, our routines and schedules, or “homeschool happiness rules”, the resources that have been essential and encouraging to me, and the best advice I’ve gotten from my go-to homeschool mom, who has far more experience than I do.

My daughters are in first and third grade, respectively, and my son is preschool age. The girls follow a pretty structured curriculum and my three year old has a selection of coloring books, etc. while we’re doing our work – mostly he just plays with his toy cars.

If your child’s school is “only” closed for two weeks, I personally would encourage you to not put any pressure on yourself to come up with lessons or a curriculum. Read as much as you can with your kids! There are so many great resources for crafts and projects! My good friend, Amanda, has some wonderful ideas on her blog. (I’ll highlight some specifics below.)

Also, now is a great time if you’re lucky enough to live somewhere with access, to spend time outside. Fresh air, social distancing, vitamin D. Nature heals so much and offers so much “scope for the imagination” as Anne of Green Gables would say. As hard as it is we try to limit screen-time as much as possible – this goes in phases for us, but as of right now we are only having screen time after 5 pm. It makes our kids so grumpy so it ends up backfiring. We LOVE the Overdrive/Libby app which allows you to check out kindle or audiobooks via your local library.

homeschool basicsPIN

I know many of you will be needing to work from home, and I too have times I need to work and my husband also works from home. It can be really challenging and honestly we find that having clear boundaries, “I am working right now,” is helpful and after a bit they find their own thing to do.

Finally, one thing I can’t recommend enough is getting up early. I set my alarm for 5-5:30 in the morning so I can wake up, have a cup of tea, do some writing or reading in silence. Doing this is not easy for me, but it has become an essential part of my routine (which I’ll include below too). Sometimes I ignore my alarm and opt for that extra hour of sleep, but I really try to get up every weekday morning before the kids. I am such a better version of myself: more patient, more cheerful, more… everything, and our days together go so much better.

CURRICULUM WE USE:

Handwriting and Typing: Learning Without Tears
Math: MATH-U-SEE
History: Story of the World by A Well Trained Mind (can also be found on Amazon)
Language Arts: The Good and The Beautiful
Nature Study: Exploring Nature with Children by Raising Little Shoots
Reading and Spelling: All About Learning
Women’s Studies: Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls Vol.1 and Vol. 2
Workbook: Scholastic Workbooks (for the appropriate grade)

homeschool basicsPIN

Our Homeschool Routing and Schedule have changed over time, adapting to what works best for us. Mainly what I have found is that if we are frustrated (myself or the kids) then something in the routine needs to change! Our routine includes chores for which I mostly use resources from my friend Amanda (again, will link below). I try to follow an “inhale/exhale” rhythm in our days. Inhale activities fill us up, exhale activities feel a bit more… draining of out energy. For every “exhale” activity or lesson, I try to follow it with an “inhale” activity like reading aloud, a quiet chore, Cosmic Kids Yoga (for the kids) or Yoga with Adriene for me! On a side note I have always loved the Tracy Anderson Method for a challenging workout – I’ve been doing her method on and off for the past ten years and never tire of it… and it never gets easy. Her original Mat Workout is a great place to start!

Right now our routine works as follows:

MONDAY

morning tasks: get dressed, brush hair, brush teeth, make bed, quick tidy
read aloud
*
activity**
lunch
handwriting (4 pages)
history
reading
spelling
clean school table, chore wheel
FREE TIME
evening tasks: fold and put away laundry, put away bin, quick tidy, pajamas on, brush and floss teeth

TUESDAY

morning tasks: get dressed, brush hair, brush teeth, make bed, quick tidy
read aloud*
math (1/2 lesson)
poetry
art***
language arts
clean school table, chore wheel
lunch
activity**
FREE TIME
evening tasks: fold and put away laundry, put away bin, quick tidy, pajamas on, brush and floss teeth

WEDNESDAY

morning tasks: get dressed, brush hair, brush teeth, make bed, quick tidy
read aloud*
handwriting (4 pages)
reading
spelling
lunch
history
science
clean school table, chore wheel
FREE TIME
evening tasks: fold and put away laundry, put away bin, quick tidy, pajamas on, brush and floss teeth

THURSDAY

morning tasks: get dressed, brush hair, brush teeth, make bed, quick tidy
read aloud*
math (1/2 lesson)
activity**
lunch
language arts
clean school table, chore wheel
FREE TIME
evening tasks: fold and put away laundry, put away bin, quick tidy, pajamas on, brush and floss teeth

FRIDAY

morning tasks: get dressed, brush hair, brush teeth, make bed, quick tidy
read aloud*
make up work
scholastic workbook (6 pages)
math test page
clean school table
chores: clean room, clean bathroom, pick one chore from chore jar
evening tasks: fold and put away laundry, put away bin, quick tidy, pajamas on, brush and floss teeth

OUR ROUTINES:
Kids Version: HOMESCHOOL ROUTINE
My/Mom Version: HOMESCHOOL ROUTINE – PARENT

* Each morning we read aloud a few chapters from a book. I like doing series like The Redwall Series or the Little House on the Prairie Series, etc.

** Where I have put activity is normally when we have an class with others or community activity which we will not be doing for the time being. We also do one day a week with our nature study group, which is why I leave our Friday so light. We also won’t be doing that for now.

*** For art we love to use this book called 30 Days of Watercolor (we just do lessons as we go, not following 30 days), or we pick one artist like Frida Kahlo, Van Gogh, or Georgia O’Keeffe, learn all about them and do paintings like theirs, watch videos about them, etc. It’s so much fun! (Below is a photo of the girls’ self portraits a lá Frida.

The chore wheel I refer to is here!

PIN

OUR HOMESCHOOL HAPPINESS RULES:
HOMESCHOOL HAPPINESS RULES!

GIRLS WEEKDAY ROUTINE

RESOURCES:

1. You probably already follow my good friend Amanda (@mamawatters on Instagram), but her blog, HOMESONG, has SO many great crafts, home projects, nurturing routines, and so much more. I use her Weekly Cleaning Rhythm PDFs to keep our home care routine going.

Original: CleaningPrintableHS(1)

Customizable Version: PDFCustomWeeklyCleaningRhythm(1)

2. My other friend, Bethany (@cloisteredaway on Instagram), has a GREAT homeschool blog! Bethany has been a guiding source to me both through her blog and through our friendship offline over the years as I’ve navigated the homeschool world. She has incredible ideas, resources, and experience! I can’t recommend her blog enough!

Final thoughts as you being this journey whether it be for the next two weeks, the next six weeks, the rest of this academic year, or for the foreseeable future: relax, take breaks as needed, take the day off, you’re doing a great job, you’re doing enough, there’s a lot of time, give yourself grace, be kind to yourself, your kids are capable of more than you imagine, breathe in, breathe out.

With love,
Kacie

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I’ve been making this laundry soap at home for years, and I’ve also been meaning to share it for years. I have about three million things to do today (including make laundry soap) so why not now?

PINPINLAVENDER LAUNDRY SOAP

Ingredients.
4 cups washing soda
2 cups baking soda
1 cup Epsom salt
4 bars pure Castile lavender soap (you can use any scent you like!)
4 cups borax

Directions.
Using the grater attachment for your food processor, grate two bars of soap at a time. Transfer the grated bits to a large bowl. Once all the soap is grated, swap out the grater for your standard food processor blade. Return the soap to the processor and pulse until it’s blitzed and fine.

In a large bowl combine the washing soda, baking soda, Epsom salt, borax, and soap and stir until well combined.

Transfer to airtight jar(s).

Makes about 12 cups. I use about 1/8 – 1/4 cup of detergent per load depending on the size and how dirty the laundry is.

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PINI’ve been trying to write again – getting up early but coming up short. Short of words and time and finding myself just sitting and staring at a mostly blank journal page with a warm, distracting cat and cup of tea. I thought I’d come back here, to this space where words used to flow regularly and in abundance to see if I could find some here in this abandoned but familiar place. Leaving this space, full or recipes and stories and travels, wasn’t intentional, but during our time abroad it just fell by the wayside.

Now, I’m not exactly sure what to share here, what my voice might sound like, or what stories or recipes I might share. It feels like so much has changed, so much has happened, and I’m different from the person I was when we moved to England, and am changed even from when we left England and set out for our travels that eventually led us back to Oregon, back to our home – sitting on the same couch, cooking in the same kitchen, cuddling the same kitty, sleeping in the same bed that we left three and a half years ago. We’re playing with old friends and visiting old hiking trails. It’s surreal to feel like nothing has changed when so much has. In many ways it still feels like we have one foot in England which is maybe why I feel so disjointed and uncertain in life and in words.

The weekend before last… or maybe it was the weekend before that… we went for a short hike at a nearby falls. It had rained a bit and the trail was sticky with mud in parts. As we walked along Roux whined, “Mama, I’m sick. I has a fever! I don’t feel well. I want you to carry me.”

“You’re fine, buddy,” I told him. “Let’s go!”

And he went, and we climbed up rudimentary stairs, and picked up giant, decaying maple leaves, and threw rocks of bridges, and hollered into a cave, and touched massive stumps that had been scorched and blackened by the Eagle Creek Fire in the early fall of 2017. The trail had been closed since the fire ripped through the forest, just reopened just in time for our return. It’s one of our favorites. Abandoned but familiar.

We hiked and we had lunch, the girls clamoring up onto a mossy rock below the falls to eat their sandwiches, pickle slices, and Halloween candy dessert. By the time we drove home with our kids’ muddy shoes in the back of the car, Roux was sniffling. By the time we got inside, changed out of our muddy clothes, and washed our muddy hands he had a fever of 101.7.

We’ve spent the last weeks mostly huddled up at home, mostly in our pajamas, mostly on our own, pockets full of tissues and emptying the medicine cabinet of cough syrup. This unintended but welcomed hibernation, maybe in part, is what’s led me back here. In assessing things it became clear that these past weeks have been the first truly still and quiet weeks we’ve had as a family in nearly a year, and in spite of the sniffles it felt good to be still and quiet. In the quiet moments of tending to coughing kids, and wiping noses, and making chicken stock I could feel words nudging at me – words that had been previously been buried in still-not-unpacked boxes, and amongst the thousands of travel photos waiting to be edited, exported, and archived. They hummed louder than the humidifier, more insistent than they’d been in a long while.

So, here I am, hoping to keep the words flowing for anyone who’s still out there reading this.

PINPINPINPINPINPINPIN

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