Category: Charlotte Mason

The Simple Woman’s Daybook ☕️🌻

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Took 15 minutes by lake yesterday! ♥️

FOR TODAY~


Outside my window…it looks sparkly and sunny after a wild, gorgeous thunderstorm later yesterday!


I am thinking… of getting some laundry going so I can hang it on the line! Also about the books I found in a Little Free Library yesterday! I need to take some back to it. Do you ‘owe’ certain LFL’s books? 😂. I do this all the time.


I am thankful for…all the beautiful stories I have access to and for my little Delft mug my daughter bought me for my birthday! She found it at a garage sale.


From the kitchen… I am hoping to throw ham, rosemary, and potato soup into crockpot as we have church tonight!


I am creating… new reading journal pages! Last month, I decided to change the way I was doing my monthly spreads. Instead of printing off every book cover, I’m just making a monthly header page, a read list/readthon/buddy reads page, and then I want to do review pages for my favorites! I’d like to decorate each favorite’s review and then write out more thoughts etc, rather than just the small, teeny area around the book covers. I get a lot of inspiration from these two amazing reading journal artists: Manda Made and Michala’s Cozy Life ~

This little space dessert postcard a penpal sent to me is perfect so I made it into a “tip-in” for Sci-Fi September’s prompts. Zoom in if you want to see the darling illustrations on it!
Here’s how I set up the monthly page now. I’m trying to use all the stickers and washi I have currently before buying too much more!
Going to be printing off the Back to Hogwarts Readathon Game Board and placing it here! I may print of this Autumn Bingo Board too! My reading will go significantly down as school begins.


I am going… to my in-person bookclub this week! We are finally finished with Brideshead Revisited and I think it’s my turn to pick our next read! Now to narrow it down! I might make my friends read a Victorian novel 😈 with me since we are so close Victober! Or I could be nice and choose something lighter as we are all homeschooling moms. 🤔


I am wearing… probably my black pants and a Tshirt for the morning. It all depends if I end up lawn mowing today. The grass is super wet.


I am reading… a MILLION things. 🤭🫣 I always try to read too much right before school begins! 🙃 I really am trying to finish a few mysteries that I’m reading for the Keep Me in Suspense readthon. I’m super interested in finishing Moby Dick. You can’t read it fast, but over all I am loving it. The wordsmithing is top notch. I’m SO excited to be starting The Brothers Karamazov with my daughter. I’ve heard amazing things about it. An online friend (hi, Elizabeth! 👋) recommended A Snicker of Magic and I just started this morning after reading my Bible and ADORED the writing of the first chapter. I’m also loving my reread of The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. The little granddaughter Sophia is sorta mean to my favorite character (the grandmother) 😖🥲 and that’s bothering more this time through. It’s so, soooo beautiful though! 😌🥹🥰


I am hoping… to continue my clothing purging project! I was so proud of myself for going through my socks & underwear. Ha. Now to my two younger boys! 😬🫣 My 12 yo grew significantly this year, so I want to make a list of needs to check for at thrift stores!


I am hearing… kids getting popsicles from dad for breakfast?! 🤭🫣😂🙃


Around the house… piles, piles, piles. 😒


One of my favorite things… my deck garden, Idlewild!


A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week… Bookclub, continuing all my class prep for various autumn teaching responsibilities. Our own homeschool, homeschool Charlotte Mason co op, local mom’s homeschool group, and church teen girl’s group! Asking the Lord for peace and wisdom for all these things.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing for you…

How’s your week going? Anything coming up for you? What are you reading or creating? Anything neat you are watching or listening to?

Book Questions 📚☕️✨♥️ {Part 2}

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So good! 😊

{I saw some book questions on an Instagram account called PensandPoison (I like SOME of her stuff, she’s a bit too clickbait-y for me) recently and have been having a lot of fun thinking about my answers. I think she answered them using all fiction, but I’m using everything to answer! I adapted these questions for me. It is a lot of questions and as usual, I can’t have just one answer 🤣, so I’ll be breaking this up into parts! I’d love to hear your answers and I hope you may find a new favorite if you try any of these!}

Part 1 HERE, if interested!

•books I wish everyone would read ~

Wives & Daughters, Sylvia’s Lovers, North & South, or Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell. Really ANY of her full length novels. Her shorter things are a little hit or miss (looking at you A Dark Night’s Work 😒😅) but her novels are so good! 😊

• books I wish I had read sooner ~ Do Something Beautiful for God by Mother Teresa, Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (just finished this!), A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles and Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini.

•books that changed the way I think ~ (The Holy Bible is a given here) Home Education Series by Charlotte Mason, The Dean’s Watch by Elizabeth Goudge, Emily of Deep Valley by Maud Hart Lovelace, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, and Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter. I could go on for hours.

• most beautiful prose I’ve ever read ~ currently for me, Thomas Hardy’s writing, wow! Sad stories, gorgeous writing! I read A Return of the Native last year and was blown away. This is Happiness by Niall Williams and The Road Past Altamont by Gabrielle Roy this year had BEAUTIFUL writing.

• favorite opening sentence ~ this has to go to Jane Austen’s opening for Pride & Prejudice. If you know, you know. 😅 Sarcastically funny and draws you right into the story.

• favorite endings ~ I was wracking my brain for this. I think Elizabeth Goudge’s endings are pretty great. The Lord of the Rings! I liked the sad, open-ended ending of The Mirror Visitor Series by Christelle Dabos. Although, I wouldn’t mind a 5th book, if you are reading, dear author. 😂😉🥰

• favorite literary characters~ I could probably list 100 favorites here, so I’ll just say the firsts that came to my mind! Vis from The Will of Many by James Islington, Anne Eliot from Persuason by Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, Gandalf, Mrs. Weasley, etc, etc, etc, etc!!!!!

•literary characters I relate to the most ~ Patricia from Pat of Silverbush by L.M. Montgomery (I struggle with change, too, Pat!😫) Emily from Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery, Emily from Emily of Deep Valley by Maud Hart Lovelace. So many more!

• favorite literary villian ~ I love to bash Mrs. Norris and the Crawfords from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen and Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride & Prejudice by Austen.

• favorite author ~ my top favorite (I have many) is Lucy Maud Montgomery! Thank you, Maud for your wonderful stories! ♥️

My current cozy mystery!

How about you? Have you read any of these? Agree or disagree {kindly} disagree? What are your answers here? Let’s talk books! 📚 😅♥️📚✨

Saturday Snaps 📸 + a Quote for Reflection {Day 98}

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Miss Mason’s definition of an educated child both charms and challenges: “A child who possesses a sound and fairly wide knowledge of a number of subjects, all of which serve to interest him; such a child studies with delight.”

~ from Jack Beckman essay in When Children Love to Learn

Soaking up the sun 🌞 on these cooler days! ONE WEEK UNTIL WEDDING! ♥️😅🙏🏻

First ‘26-‘27 Homeschool Year Purchase {Day 97} ✏️✨♥️

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I’m getting very excited as I begin homeschool planning! 😍 The past couple of years, I’ve purchased a School Nest planner/record keeper, but I just never use all the features, even in the Minimalist version. I love the options and beautiful covers, but I just decided to go back to my $10 Walmart Pen & Gear brand! I love the calendar at a glance and the big daily slots. That’s really all I need. These are my ‘brain’ and my record book.

I’m rereading this oldie, but goodie and it’s making me excited and refreshed as I pray about our learning!

I’m also going back through this little gem!

Are you getting excited about autumn 🍂 or are you still in summer mode? What do you do to prepare? Honestly, we are still in summer mode, but I love homeschooling and stationery and books, so it doesn’t take much for me to fall into this rabbit hole around August! 😅I felt a bit sad because I saw the Purple Lead Plant coming up and Sumac turning colors 😨 and it made me think of summer ending. I just love the seasonal shifts! ♥️✨Happy Friday!

Top Ten Books That Live in My Head Rent Free {Classic Edition} 📚✨~ {Day 94}

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Joining here for TTT!
  1. The Holy Bible ~ this is not always an easy book to read and I don’t understand a lot of it, but my spirit connects with it. It’s foundational to my life and faith. My favorite books are Psalms and John.♥️🙏🏻🌿
  2. The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry ~ this collection of Berry’s poetry speaks to me deeply. It makes me consider time and future generations in a huge way. It makes me think of now. It makes me consider life outside of self. Our lives have meaning for a greater purpose!
  3. Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery ~ my handle online is Amy of Hearth Ridge directly inspired by this book. There’s something to be said for hoping to be useful and a blessing to someone else in your life. How living a selfless life actually is fulfilling. Beautiful story of a daughter and father’s restored relationship bringing healing to those around them.That home keeping can be art.
  4. Wives & Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell ~ I can’t begin to tell you how much I love the characters and journeys they go through! The father-daughter, mother-daughter, father-son, and marriage relationship studies in this Victorian novel are fantastic. This is a beautiful story!
  5. Persuasion by Jane Austen ~ a lovely story of redemption and finally being able to have a voice. How one can live kindly and generously in the wake of S.S. Selfish People. 🚢
  6. Home Education by Charlotte Mason ~ late 1800’s to early 1900’s British revolutionary educational philosophy. This is so very Christ-centric and focused on the personhood of children and mothers. A beautiful life-giving read.
  7. Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher ~ a lovely story of how a child can blossom under loving and listening caregivers.
  8. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury ~ a father and son meeting evil together face on! Underlying themes of temptation, fear, and growing older! I’m due for a reread!
  9. Christy by Catherine Marshall ~ beautiful story of a young teacher’s growth and learning in a rural Appalachian school. Gorgeous lessons for her as the very people she came to ‘help’ grow her so much in return. Wonderful female friendships embodied!
  10. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder ~ the sheer bravery and strength of the early pioneers is astounding, convicting, and so inspiring! I often reevaluate my complaints after rereading this one. 😨♥️

I could have put Elizabeth Goudge on this list, Gladys Taber, Susan Branch, and many more poets! How about you? Which books do you think of over and over? ♥️✨🌿📚

Quote for Refection {Day 84}

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I am not going to write this month of the influence others have over us. What I wish to prove is, that if even indifferent people can influence us so much, you must have equal influence over the people you are with. We had better face the fact that we must needs influence other people’s tempers, feelings, opinions, actions. Let us consider how. Let us go through the world in a happy making temper—there is nothing so infectious as a smile, unless it be a frown. Our children are dull and tired, our friends are cross, and our work is trying—don’t let us take these things as grievances, overwork and overworry is the cause. We begin to be sorry instead of cross, and one cordial kindly glance or word dispels the cloud.

“A merry heart goes all the way,
A sad one goes a mile, O.”

And the merry heart never goes alone, but carries a cheerful company along with it. May God keep our hearts sweet and merry for others’ sake as much as of our own.

~Emeline Steinthal

‘Influence’ Essay from PNEU ~ I invite you to read this whole essay and discuss here! Do you agree or disagree? ♥️🌾 Thinking and praying a lot about my heart attitude going into this next coming school year. 🙏🏻

Monday Ponderings 📚{Day 61}

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I’m starting to plan for our upcoming school year. Teachers {including home educating} are not off in the summer! 😅♥️Our poetry class is changing a bit this autumn and I’m excited to try something new!

I’m also considering books and ideas for Highschool Literature, Elementary Nature Study, and something we call the Nature Moment also for our Charlotte Mason co op!

My students here at home are 17, 14, 12, and 7…our main history timeline this year is Early America and the Revolutionary War era. We also have other history/regions to look at like Ancient etc. I’m praying about what the Lord sees for each child. I think I pulled a lot of the books in these areas off my shelves and put them into separate bins for ease to look at. A bulk of my planning will be after my oldest daughter’s wedding.

How about you? Are you prepping or studying anything this summer? I’d love to hear! 🫶🏻💚📚

Walking & Words {Day 36}

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Boredom is not a condition to be feared or avoided. Instead, it is a crucial element that fosters creativity, independence, and self-discovery among children. Boredom challenges children to engage with their inner world, to invent, and to explore, thereby laying the groundwork for a lifetime of learning and innovation. We must not shield our children from boredom but instead embrace it as a powerful catalyst for growth. It is essential to resist the cultural pressure to fill every moment of a child’s day with structured activities and digital distractions. Instead, we should provide spaces and opportunities for them to experience the fruitful solitude that boredom can offer.

~Ginny Yurich

Day in the life of…🌲{Day 26}🌲

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Today…

Made coffee.

Talked with 18 yo.

Read a few chapters in Luke.

Tried to pray.

Got more coffee.

Snuggled with 6 yo old.

Wrote out homeschool list.

Plugged in dying phone and kindle.

Made my hubby’s breakfast.

Listened to 17 yo’s narrations.

Talked schedule with hubby.

Looked at dinner pool list to decide what I have in cupboard for dinner. Nothing needs thawing.

Made my yogurt bowl for breakfast. Got kids finishing breakfast (fend for themselves) and starting math and piano practice.

Unpacked a few things from car that we left after arriving home late last night.

Texted with daughter at college. She got my card. ♥️Sent her video she wanted.

Collected cold coffee and yogurt bowl, grocery list, random journals, and pens and took upstairs.

Ran downstairs, washed out and filled water bottle.

Forwarded email someone wanted me to pass on to mom’s group.

Sent recommendations to my daughter’s soon to be MIL.

Ran back upstairs.

Listened to Marco Polo group messages while eating and settling up my journals.

Caught up on some journaling.

Ran downstairs. Printed off book covers for reading journal.

Sat down with four kiddos for our morning time.

Listened to narrations and popped popcorn for snack.

Did reading lessons with little boys. Read them a couple chapters of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Buzzed boy’s hair, helped them with showers, and finger nails.

6 yo and I spread the hair clippings to birds outside .

Texted my best friend, my sister!

Listened to 17 yo narrate again.

Helped 21 yo son with his college paper for 10 minutes.

Got out leftovers for lunch, heated up ham veggie soup for my husband and I! Washed spoons.

Cleaned up while kids outside.

Got out big block of cheese, gallon bags to split and freeze. Can’t find serrated knife?

Went back upstairs and journaled a bit more, started grocery list/menu plan.

Tried to go on walk, super windy and cold. Listened to audiobook. Grabbed my son’s laundry that was on clothesline because it looked like rain. Admired the violets!

17 yo left for extended music lessons.

Call three younger in, work on each child’s history, science, and copy work. Work on some reading with my current dyslexic.

Make more popcorn and cheese and cracker snack.

Send them out to play.

Set up nature outing with friends via Voxer.

My 6 yo and I thoroughly enjoyed this together. ♥️

I found missing serrated knife. 🤪 Finished cheese project and I froze some of the cheese.

Sat down and started listening to The Raphael Affair, almost finished.

Watched one Booktube video.

Got kids ready for going with dad and picking up cousins for church. Found socks, shoes, sweatshirts.

Now blogging 😅 and thinking of dinner prep (egg sausage casserole), and which book to read.

Need to finish grocery list/menu plan.

Need to finish unpacking car.

Maybe start packaging up books for an east coast friend or write a pen pal letter?

I could sweep kitchen floor and scrub table too. 🤔

Fun 🤩 favorites reads from April!

I love these sort of post as I don’t often realize all that I’m doing while in the midst of it! Also it’s a record and a memory of a wonderful life! I’m so blessed to be a home keeper and home schooling mama. A favorite quote I heard again this past weekend was about “a long obedience in the same direction”. May that be so of my faith journey and my relationships. 🙏🏻♥️

What did you do today? I bet you’d be surprised if you jotted down the minute details as closely as possible. Happy Wednesday! ♥️

…in truth Thou art…{Day 24}

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We seek the place where Thou art, for there would we also be, for in truth Thou art the end of all the searchings of heart which perplex us.

~ from Scale Howe Meditations

Wednesday Wonders •Homeschool History/Geography Edition• 🗺️🧭 {Day 15}

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Fun, adventurous story set near the Amazon River!
Favorite history/geography/architecture picture book series by Elizabeth Mann!

•listening to and reading •♥️🌿~ we are really enjoying our read aloud of Journey to the River Sea. We’ve kind of poked our head into South America, this year while studying Early American history, explorers, etc. We have some Ancient reading going on and early European too. It’s seems to be opening up ideas and interesting discussions and narrations. 😍

A few individual things with different children we are enjoying! Oldies, but goodies. Trying to ‘use my shelves’!
Two Favorites here!

•watching and noticing•♥️🌿

One child mentioned within my hearing how The Divine Comedy 🎭 and the podcast The 100 Days of Dante were coming together with other things. My heart cheered inside. 😅♥️ I’ve noticed that Marvel and the Percy Jackson Series have been being connected to Greek/Norse myths we are always enjoying in our Literature. My older kids enjoy some of the Marvel movies and ALL of my kids have appreciated Percy Jackson’s adventure stories.

Tornado 🌪️/ thunderstorm weather in our area! 😱😬

What have you been listening to, reading, watching, and noticing? I’ve been so interested and pleased with our history adventures this year! Thank You, Lord! ♥️😍📚🥰

✏️Heartfelt Home Education 📚|| Check-In September 2025 (among other things) 🧮🦋

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Brush Drawing class in our Charlotte Mason co op!

September begins and now already ends…🙃🤪

It’s a strange feeling to be glad for their wings, but sad that my older children’s faces aren’t peering at me as I read aloud. Bittersweet. Three down, four to savor! 🥲

Our year has begun well, kind of on “a wing and a prayer sort of way”, but with a gentle hopefulness.🌾

I think one of our favorite moments so far have been continuing a reread through the Little House Series (we are waiting on the audiobook for These Happy Golden Years), puzzles, and traveling to the site of Little House in the Big Woods for a Laura Ingalls Wilder Festival. A bit touristy, but lovely all the same. Now we’ve been getting into the tv series from the public library and it’s bringing back my childhood nostalgia of rushing home from my little private school for an episode with snack. 🥹♥️

My 4 remaining students…

We’ve also enjoyed jumping into our Charlotte Mason co op with both feet and just soaking in all the riches the other mothers have prepared for us! Shakespeare (King Henry V), folk song/hymn, Composer (John Williams!), Picture Study (Camille Pissarro!), Clay Modeling, Swedish Drill, Microbiology, and my favorite, Nature Study (we are using a lovely book called Sundial on the Seasons by Hal Borland). I’m helping with Highschool Literature (The Divine Comedy! – stretching me, let me tell you!), Poetry (Alfred Lord Tennyson), and the younger students Geography co leading with another mom.

What richness! What a gift!

Our Nature Study mom recommended this book!
Camille and Sophie 🐈
Puzzles and audiobooks!
Swoon. So much beauty all around us! 🤎

My personal goals and projects were going SO well in June & July, but I fell off the habit wagon 😅 in August after SO many family things. I’m struggling to keep up on health, writing, pen pals, crafting goals & stuff. Anyone else? I have some outside obligations that I’m prioritizing (maybe TOO many?) and I’m struggling with very little mojo to keep up my personal things. I end up reading 📖 😅ALOT and watching people talk about reading. 🙃I ❤️‍🔥 Booktube! Any help on how to tackle getting back into these life giving things WHILE homeschooling? 🤪🫣😵‍💫😍

We’ve been doing a lot of nature hikes and they are SO wonderful! We will switch more to library visits when the cold hits. I really want to try more cold weather jaunts this year because I have no little babies anymore. 😆♥️
Interesting economics book I previewed!

What did you love about your toe-dipping into the ‘25-‘26 home educational year? We have sooo many lovely books and things on the docket and I’m struck by the immense blessings at me and my children’s fingertips. Who knows what will be in all the pages, behind the door to the natural world, and in the relationships we will form? ❤️‍🔥🌿I wait prayerfully and with great anticipation. ♥️🌿

~