Just a warning… this is pretty long. I started this post a week ago and just had the mental energy to pick it back up.
These past few weeks have been hard and honestly just plain weird. I know I said that last time I wrote, but it continued. We have had a lot of rest but also a lot of chaos. Some of it can’t really be discussed online, but I was hoping for a more calm fall/winter season this year, and that has not happened so far. Maybe things will start settling down now. Time will tell.
I wrote a little bit about the craziness in my last post. We ended up having snow from that Tuesday night into Saturday mid-day. We got about 30″ total. This is not normal for November apparently. Usually this is more of an early spring snow for this area. There’s still so much snow everywhere despite the temps being above freezing during the day for more than two weeks. I honestly don’t hate the snow, though. To me it brings peace.
Things continued to escalate with the kiddo that we were having big, hard issues with. We actually decided to go back to homeschooling both boys at this point which has really been an adjustment. It took us a while to decide because we know we can’t protect him forever, but we decided that we really need to dig into mental health struggles and really focus on our family and our relationships with Jesus together. Robert and I both decided at the same time. I had asked God for wisdom and unity between him and I in our decision, and He provided that. This kiddo has also started intensive outpatient therapy (online), and he likes it so far! It’s just a lot of hours. I think it’ll be worth it.
Thanksgiving
This coming week is Thanksgiving week, so the boys and I aren’t doing school. Karis still has school Monday and Tuesday. We will be picking her up Tuesday afternoon and driving to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving. I’m excited about that! It’ll be a nice reset for all of us. And I miss Karis so much. The drive will be long and exhausting, but it’ll be worth it. We may also try to go see friends at our old camp on Friday (and maybe see some friends in the town where the kids went to school… we are still working out the details!).
I will be doing a lot of cooking and baking… sourdough bread, rolls, apple crisp bars, and I will probably make the mashed potatoes. I will also probably make a veggie tray. We usually have a “Friendsgiving” with our camp friends, but now that we don’t live at that camp, we will be doing an old fashioned Thanksgiving with my family which I think I am more excited about. It’ll be with my parents and grandmothers!
My Mental Health and Struggles with Movement and Nutrition
My depression has been creeping on pretty heavily lately with all that is going on and just my normal seasonal stuff. I haven’t been taking care of myself… I haven’t been working out much, I have no idea how much protein I’ve been getting or not getting (not much I’m sure… lots of carbs), I haven’t been drinking much water (lots of coffee and hot drinks with the weather), I haven’t been eating much in the way of fruits and veggies, and I just honestly haven’t been doing the things that I know help me. I’ve worked out a couple of times the past few weeks which helped. I planned to do some sort of movement each day at 4:00, but that hasn’t happened. One day at a time. It’s just discouraging because I KNOW how to take care of myself, but it’s so hard when my brain is struggling. I’ve gotten completely out of routine, and I feel like it’ll be so hard to get back to it.
I’ve honestly been struggling with my mindset around exercise and nutrition lately. Part of my struggle is that I have made it my life and my complete focus for most of the year. Part of my struggle is that I have made losing weight and getting fit my identity, and I don’t know if that’s healthy or not. Part of my struggle is that I feel like I’m doing something wrong when I struggle because of how much focus there is in the Street Parking community about this basically being the only way to live life in a healthy way (the focus on movement and nutrition). When someone is struggling with their mental health, I feel like there’s not much grace (especially from the creators of the program). Other people seem to be able to keep going despite their struggles which makes me feel like a failure as well. I feel like the creators’ language around these things makes me kind of want to rebel at the moment. It could also be the way I’m viewing it since I’m having a hard time… but it’s just an odd thing. I get that fitness is literally their whole life, but it’s not for most people. Anyway… I’m just not sure what to do with it at the moment. I tend to be very “all-or-nothing” in how I handle and view these things, so it’s just so hard to know how to proceed.
Homeschool Stuff
On a fun note, a new friend of mine that I met through Instagram (who lives pretty close to me), is starting an Advent book study that will include having a Zoom meeting once a week. I’m so excited to have this to enjoy this season. The study is called A Mother’s Education: Advent. The idea of this is using the Charlotte Mason philosophy to learn and grow as moms. I’m excited about the books! They seem amazing!
The boys and I worked through a Thanksgiving Study called “1621: A Brief Survey of the Historical Thanksgiving” that The Homeschool Historian wrote. We also almost finished The Hobbit but will just be watching the movies to “finish it” because we are starting a new novel after Thanksgiving. We will be studying A Christmas Carol using a Campfire Curriculum study. We are going to do a historical study of Christmas using the Tidings study also from The Homeschool Historian. Her studies are so amazing and thorough. I never do everything that she has in her curriculum guides (it’s just a lot!), but the beautiful thing about that is that I can use it again in the future! Something else that I love is that I use what works for us and create our own studies through it. Since what she creates are guides (not open and go), I can make it “our own.”
After Christmas, we will get back to studying the Middle Ages and going into the Renaissance and Reformation using Chronos by The Homeschool Historian (and her Survey of World History study which I don’t see on her website anymore). The Christmas study actually has a lot of these periods in it as well. I will also add in some geography through her Around the World in One Year study.
We will start Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring for our literature (using Brave Writer). We are using the grammar through The Good and the Beautiful, but I found an amazing writing curriculum at a thrift store that I’m using in place of the writing in TGATB curriculum because I think it’s a better fit for my boys. It’s just called Composition One, and it’s by Veritas Press. The book is $49 on their website (and I can’t find it much cheaper used online), and I spent $10 on it. We used it on Thursday, and it went well! This thrift store is amazing! They have a huge homeschooling curriculum section!
We are continuing Algebra through Math U See, and that seems to be going so well! I think we’ve found “our fit” for math. I am also re-learning algebra so I can teach the boys and really help them. It has been good.
Levi is continuing Space and Earth science using Elemental Science, and Ethan is continuing Zoology. He is currently using the animal section of the Elemental Science biology, but I will be expanding using an actual Zoology curriculum next semester. More to come on this once I get the details worked out.
I’m excited about what’s to come, but I’m just trying to get into routine at a weird time of year, so it’s a bit challenging at the moment!
simplycourtney.org 