whatever you practice, you get better at

Posted on August 19, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

We have been discussing this whole self-perpetuating phenomenon lately. We are more eager to do what comes easily. The more we do a thing, the easier it becomes. This whole year has been a personal challenge to push myself into new or more faithful habits and practices:

Read hard books

Tackle unpleasant home projects, little chunks at a time

Say my prayers

Exercise

Write letters

Tend the yard

Make creative cooking a bigger priority

They are simple things, most of them. More a matter of consistency and intention than rocket science. Am I a new woman? Not completely. I am however seeing measurable progress in those areas. Just like the saying goes, all of it is coming easier to me. Project beginnings are less of a hurdle because I have reason to expect success. I have been down these same roads and it's gone reasonably well. Not every day and not all those categories in a single day. Over time though, I can see my home changing and with it my heart.

The flipside of this truth is that constant repetition of our vices engrains them every bit as effectively. It's humbling really. Sleep in day after day and see what heroic effort it takes to rise early. Check mail first thing? See how quickly your time for reading or reflection evaporate. Make a snide comment? See how quickly other annoyances come to your attention.

A day, a life, a whole way of seeing is built choice by choice, by a series of very small decisions.

This essay spoke to me today. In it she articulates the conscious steps her family takes to create a home that sustains and builds up those in it. That list includes the practical – cleaning, decluttering. Heaven knows we have all heard about that in recent years. She goes on to mention intangibles that are even more instrumental:

What are we consuming – figuratively as well as literally? Garbage in, garbage out y'all.

Does our speech reveal respect for our home and those in it? Gratitude?

Do we extend to the others the grace to be their own unique creation or do we balk when they are not mirror images of ourselves? I am not talking about quirky style choices here. What if those people in your home approach finances or diet or problem solving or stress reduction in entirely different ways? How do we meet them? Move forward together?

Thinking in these directions goes a long ways towards softening our hearts and appreciating the overwhelming good all around us. We may have little control over the size of our home, its market value, or the neighborhood.

How it feels inside is all on us.

Life lately

Posted on August 10, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Some quick takes? Soccer is in high gear again.

I have been using my practice hours – and any other hour not spoken for – to get lost in Anna Karenina. It is a book I didn't want to read and now cannot put down. I say it every time I finish a work of "classic" literature. "Everyone should read this so they don't… (insert any number of disastrous decisions that can make)" Seriously. How different my own and so many other's choices would have been had we grown up reading something more substantial which would have spoken to all those pressing issues that occupied our hearts and minds.

Only downside to the soccer practice reading is that it has been so suffocatingly hot. Here. I have proof. Hot:

Jul 2017 soccer web (1 of 1)

It's been so hot I have been using the Instant Pot and/or the grill nearly every night. I can't bear to turn on the oven and heat up the main floor. The day it rained and was cooler we tried these zucchini tots. The kids ate them zucchini and all. Cheese is a usually a powerful negotiating tool.

The garden. I hesitate to call it a real garden. Some flowering plants have gotten established though. Does my heart good to see the water droplets bead up on the blossoms after the sprinkler has run.

Silly signs on the walking trail. I am all about clear unambiguous directions, after all. Life should really come with a disclaimer like this. "You are now entering pure BS zone." I like to know these things.

Abbie Rose saved up and bought herself an 18in doll. It is not one of 'the' famous 18in dolls. Her older sisters had some and we managed to wreck them just as easily as the $30 variety. Of course a girl is also less likely to wreck something she saved and planned for. Here is hoping. We are looking for some 18in patterns to attempt some pj's and skirts for this one.

Long-nosed creatures overhead. I didn't catch just how long the beaks, bills or whatnot were until I uploaded the images.

Otherwise, we have nearly finished the family room remodel. Again. You might recall a similar announcement in December, followed by news of our freak cold spell and water damage. Well, here we are again. I will show you the progress in another post. At any rate we have doubled down on the remodeling and finally come around the patio table for evening prayers where we hope to catch a bit of breeze.

It is hard and often tedious work and progresses much more slowly than we would like. I suppose all progress is like that. Still, I am grateful for it. Grateful for a home we own. Grateful for the means to update it bit by bit. Grateful for good health to do the work. It will come together in time.

What are you working on right now and what is it teaching you?

gifts from hands and heart

Posted on July 28, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Tess has been showing more and more interest in the sewing machine and has developed a very steady hand and foot recently. We have looked through many, MANY, how to sew books and most left us underwhelmed. We decided to jump in learn on items that would actually be used. She and Abbie finished this apron made from upcycled jeans and painted a wooden spoon to go along with for their little bestie next door who had a birthday this month. We are so pleased and need to get started on our next project.

How to make binding here.

Apron directions here.

Star Spangled Summer Studies

Posted on July 15, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

That sounded catchy. It's actually far more impromptu and serendipitous than thoroughly preplanned, however it has come together so nicely. First, it's hot. Just blasted hot. Second, September is starting to fill up with fun travel plans. So we jointly decided to do some projects now while we are otherwise melting and will have a head start on the autumn semester which is always full to the brim.

True to form this idea occured to me AFTER the 4th. Since the unit study police don't actually exist we are making a whole patriotic month of it over here. This is part of our stack this week:

top

King George

Which led me to read up on George III and Charlotte and their fifteen fine children. And porphyria and whether or not he had it.

To pull all the separate 'real' books together I have my new favorite ever notebook book. I may have been so gaga over this series I bought them all. They are something like ten bucks at Amazon right now and I am kicking myself for getting mine at B&N but I couldn't stop myself. Years ago – TEN years ago now when I was in perptual motion all day with tiny people – I wrote about guerilla homeschooling. This series makes it super feasible to do that. They give you a broad overview of the topics and general skills your students should have mastered when they leave middle school. The pages are laid out exactly like a bullet journal type of notebook you might have put together yourself. I'm in lesson planning heaven.

The middle schoolers are making this interactive notebook (pssst its free) and sort of crazy over the whole thing. They balked at writing essays about the era, but then complained they were running out of room to put aaaaaaall the cool information they had in their notebooks. That second one is an awesome problem to have as a teacher though. It is helping them learn to distill all that fabulous information to the main points.

They are adding their own maps and things. This was inspired by a page in their book. (linked above)

An art project "in the spirit of" from here. More American symbol art lessons and more American Revolution projects here.

Abbie is working on some latin and English notebook pages:

There has been a LOT of cooking happening – which involves a whole bunch of math and direction following. Here is a July dessert that has no redeeming virtues other than it's color coordination and fun factor. Pioneer Woman's Holiday book as a variation on this recipe which we used.

So that's how July has been shaping up. Summer school this year – which I usually only recommend if you are getting nice restful breaks throughout the main part of the year which we do have.

So. Much. Fun!

Locally grown fun

Posted on June 27, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Summertime is festival time locally and the surrounding towns and neighborhoods have been begun their celebrations. The kids have been looking forward to these, especially since they have been working towards their first kids' runs. We got up bright and early – super unreasonably early lol – and got set up for my husband and Brendan's 5k. He is getting his time chip attached to his shoe below.

The girls were planning to do the 1mi run. More like they were chopping at the bit excited about this and have been talking about it for a couple weeks. Which doesn't mean you might not still try to squeeze in one more chapter while waiting.

Brendan kinda blew everyone's minds. We had told him he would probably be tempted to start fast but that he should follow his dad's pace instead and he did. For a while. Then his natural runner instinct kicked in and he ran the way he wanted – right past his dad and the other adult runners to make a solid fifth place overall finish.

The girls were more than ready when their turn came. It was not to be however. The other children signed up didn't show, likely due to some last minute race time changes. To compensate they gave the kids tickets to the carnival later in the day. Not a bad deal.

We headed over to the little parade which was more of a candy throw. That suited them fine, especially since their neighbor friend showed up and watched with them.

Later on we hit the carnival. It was so old school fun.

They started off slowly. Then eye'd up the rides on the other side of the park, not without a little trepidation.

What followed was an hour of spinning, soaring, sinking, and screaming.

We got so close to the fireworks at the end of the evening that I couldn't fit them into the camera frame. It was all big and loud and wonderful. The whole thing. The kids dropped into bed thoroughly and happily exhausted.

I am making no guarantees there won't be variations on this theme throughout the season. God willing, they will festival all the way through. I feel so blessed to be there alongside them.

The Best Part of Education

Posted on May 12, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

In the best sort of "take your child to work" scenarios, we met my husband at his base squadron's environmental awareness event this week where the children were able to do some catch and release fishing with the DNR folks.

This gentleman has been to our home and has a wealth of stories to tell about climbing up the sides of mountain to rapel down into eagle's nests for banding and monitoring of endangered birds.

Here he is explaining another way they attract birds of prey for banding. The very fine netting in back of him is used near shrubs and brush to catch tiny songbirds near a testing range. Part of their job is to keep careful counts of the flocks to ensure they are not unduly disrupted.

This beautiful falcon is one of the rescued birds used for educational presentations. It is a great visual for kids who read a lot of historical fiction and biographies to see these maginificent birds which have partnered with people throughout history.

Obligatory kids-in-the-wheel shot of the huge tractor used for brush management and reseeding of the range.

And goslings. Oh my heart. This is exactly how our family has always traveled, with kids sandwiched between mom and dad.

“Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, water bugs, tadpoles, frogs, mud turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb. Brooks to wade, water lilies, woodchucks, bats, bees, butterflies, various animals to pet, hayfields, pine- cones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries and hornets. And any child who has been deprived of these has been deprived of the best part of education.”

— Luther Burbank (American horticulturalist and botanist, 1849 – 1926)

Chinatown – LA

Posted on May 8, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

LA's Chinatown was a must see for me. It is smaller than San Francisco of course but definitely full of color and culture.

Apr 2017 china town LA web (6 of 11)

Red and blue and yellow pretty much make my heart sing.

Yes, we did have to have a discussion about what that machine was. "What is that over there? Is that like a… is that a phone?? On the street? What for?"

So glad the children were able to see this place.

A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving. – Lao Tzu

Travel Diary – Long Beach Waterfront

Posted on April 28, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

It was late in the day when we got set up at the RV park and then got ourselves over to the waterfront. Such a beautiful welcome to California though for us landlocked folks. We walked as far around the little marina area as we could before dark fell then stopped to eat. This evening was chillier than we had expected but also more colorful. Such happy bright colors on this trip!

Apr 2017 long beach pier (1 of 1)

Apr 2017 long beach pier (5 of 6)

It was a treat for us all around. We usually don't eat out a lot when traveling so it was a fun splurge to enjoy dinner on the patio of the restaurant. Our weird funny California newbie story then was that we circled a while for parking when we arrived. Since we didn't know our way around we made another splurge decision and used the waterfront's valet parking. It was like $10 and we figured that was what a parking garage was going to cost anyway. When we finished dinner we walked back to the valet pick-up and they cheerfully said we were like third in line. No problem. There were heated pavillions to wait in. We sat ourselves down with a very cool international mix of other folks and waited.

And waited.

And waaaaaaited.

50 minutes all told. Fortunately the views were awesome and the people were interesting. People and places are always interesting to me though. : )

of canyons and emus

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

The first day of our California trip took us through a bit of Arizona and some….. sparsely populated places. The canyons were incredible, soaring up high above us as we wound our way through. Also, I should clean the windshield before I take pictures through it.

We stopped for gas at a little hole in the wall place in the middle of nowhere. In the middle of nowhere, across from a gas station, there is a petting zoo. At the petting zoo, across from the gas station, there are some emus. (you were dying to know how this comes together right?) So, none of it made sense but you can be sure I made the mister pull over.

This is him thinking something to the effect of, "She seriously wants to go over across the road to see the emus in the junkyard petting zoo? Silly question. Of course she does."

Of course I did! You've gotta admit they are some of the creepiest semi-domestic creatures ever. So much attitude.

Child posing cooperatively.

#ibrakeforemus

The Observation of Trifles

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Kim Halloran-Fry

“You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

No fancy lesson plan here, just the fun of taking things apart and looking inside. Don't worry. No garden perennials were harmed in this project. I read on a decor blog that forced potted bulbs were an inexpensive way to buy spring flowers so we had several. It turns out forced bulbs don't transplant well. As the blooms faded we made some cross sections to label.