Mountain Mother Runner

A fun and easy autumn craft to get excited about Halloween! Use a white crayon to draw your web, then paint over using watercolors. Experiment using a variety of techniques such as wet on wet, dry brush, blending, and salt. We also discussed different types of spiders and the webs or homes that they make. If you want to disrupt bedtime, watch YouTube videos about spiders building their webs, wrapping up their food, and creeping around! 🕷 

As a first time homeschooler, selecting a curriculum to use can be completely overwhelming! How are you supposed to know what your child’s learning style is? What if you start out using a pricy curriculum only to find out that you don’t enjoy it? Some parents want to use a ‘boxed set’ which literally has all subjects and teaching manuals in one package. This can be easier to try as a rookie. Others may want to piece together a variety of curriculums to meet your wants/needs, but this will require more time planning and organizing lessons.  Before you fully commit to buying any expensive curriculum, make sure to search for USED options! That’s the cool thing about school, kids move on to the next grade and their parents either keep the curriculum for younger siblings or try to sell it for a little cash return. The process is a little more tricky with online searching, but it can save you a ton of money with a little extra effort! We found a teaching manual for our math course that typic

  🌟“I am not a teacher, but an awakener.” -Robert Frost.  This week we’ve really been preparing for the upcoming school year...cleaning, decorating, and organizing our homeschool space. Eisley has helped me sort her kindergarten work/curriculum and replace it with the new. She said, “Mom, you’re getting me so crazy excited about starting first grade!” which made my heart flutter. 🖤 I also realize this current time of uncertainty can be scary and stressful for parents whose children typically attend public schools, who aren’t able to homeschool due to work, whose schools haven’t announced the upcoming opening plans yet, or are trying to decide if homeschooling is the way to go. I am here for you. Other seasoned homeschoolers are here for you. Know that you are supported and are free to ask for help or any question at all! We, as parents, are all in this together.

For those considering homeschooling next year, know that it is nothing like what you’ve experienced these last few months! Each state has their own specific laws and regulations, many being relaxed and others...not so much. Many parents were told by their children’s teachers that younger ages (kindergarten/first grade) only need about 30 minutes of instruction per day. That may have been fine with the unusual COVID public-school-turned-distant-learning circumstances, but it doesn’t cut it for legal homeschooling.  There are FIVE big Colorado laws to consider for homeschooling. Our regulations here are fairly strict compared to other states and it does require a decent amount of planning as a parent. Before starting in the Fall, I printed off our local elementary school’s schedule and printed off a blank calendar for me to fill out. I basically marked the days for us to ‘do’ school and the days we would be on break, which was a loose framework to go off of. It helped make sure we schedu

We just finished up a big step in this surrogate journey...the Mock Cycle! Whenever I’ve heard the word “mock” before, it made me think of “mock trials” in high school or “mocktail drinks” before turning 21. So, what exactly is a Mock Cycle?  This process is done to determine how your body will react to hormone medications and exactly how much is needed for your endometrium to thicken (that’s a fancy word for uterine lining). A thick (ideally >8mm) lining is ideal for the embryo to implant during transfer. Some women swear by drinking pomegranate juice, taking Vitamin E supplements, getting weekly acupuncture, and many other methods to assist the medications in this process.  After quitting birth control and starting my menstrual cycle, the nurse scheduled me to begin meds on day three. Every other day I would stick on Vivelle patches which are transdermal Estradiol. The number of patches increased over time and Estradiol tablets were taken also. During this specific schedule, I had

💌 Some people may think of “snail mail” as a thing of the past, but it’s alive and well in our household! I grew up handmaking and sending cards to everyone for their birthdays, holidays, and even just because. Checking the mailbox and finding an envelope addressed to YOU with your own name on it can be exciting as a kid! It’s a little less exciting as an adult since it’s probably junk mail or a bill, but that’s besides the point. 🙃  Writing letters can be done at a young age. We started out by me writing whatever our daughter wanted her letter to say on one piece of paper, then she could look at it to copy the letters/words on her own piece of paper. I’ve never seen a child that excited to do their copywork before! We are developing handwriting skills, word recognition, reading, and more with this fun, fulfilling activity.  Learn how to address an envelope with Eisley! Materials used and steps are covered. The supplemental book read was “Send It!” by Don Carter. 📚 This site partici