Amy Scott's Thoughts

We spent our last week around the house. I often start to say we had a quiet week, but that would refer to our schedule and not the actual volume level of our home. Being in a homeschool season with two young boys is a loud season of life. This week we kept the chaos to ourselves and enjoyed a week around the house. After a busier beginning to November, I didn’t mind flipping to the other extreme. I’m all about the chill home vibes.

With a week around the house, the major highlights of the week were obviously not our big outings. It was a week of smaller joys. Jeremy put up our Christmas lights on Monday (in the dark… not recommended, but it worked out). This year we went for the gingerbread look of red and white lights. We got new phones which was really the biggest highlight of the week. Our phones were six years old and the battery life on them was poor. Also, as the main photographer of our family, I was looking forward to getting a camera upgrade. I’ve spent the week adapting to the small changes of my new phone. I’m enjoying the longer battery life and fancy camera!

The boys spent the week chugging through school, playing like pros, and watching Disney movies. We’ve been watching some of the older Disney movies as research for our future trip to Disneyland. Over the last few of weeks we’ve watched Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Bambi, Aladdin, Cars, 101 Dalmatians, and Alice in Wonderland. We don’t usually watch so many movies, but we’re calling it research. The kids are getting a Disney education. We’ve had plenty of time to snuggle in for movies because the weather has been super wet. We collected puddles around our property and our septic alarm went off twice due to the high water level. We took a drive on Friday to pick up some library books, get a red cup, and look at the puddles and rivers around town.

Well, an around the house week makes for a shorter blog. Not too much more to say. A slower pace to chill at home still stirs my soul even after so much time here. I’m glad we’ve had this time around the house because the second half of November will pick up the pace. Good thing we’re well rested and ready for it!

We are officially one week into the new school year! Praise the Lord – it went well! We did a homeschool preview day on Monday to go over our books and talk about expectations. Our schedule is very similar to last year, so the expectations part was fairly simple. Owen’s curriculum is a continuation of what we used last year. It felt like picking up where we left off. I really enjoyed the feeling of falling back into routine, but I will admit that I was exhausted after being in “teacher” mode again. I need to rebuild some stamina!

Graham’s reading program is new to me and it will be the thing that stretches Graham and me most this year. It took Owen about a month to learn to read in kindergarten. He was in public school at the time, so I just assisted with the reading homework that was sent home. After three days of school, it will come as no shock to anyone that Graham isn’t reading yet. His reading journey has only begun and until it clicks, I’m sure it will mean slow progress. I need to look at learning to read not as a pass/fail subject, but one that is built on daily progress. I can tell this will be the greatest challenge of this school year. Prayers appreciated for both Graham and myself!

One of the highlights of this last week was harvesting our little pumpkins. Jeremy had a great crop this year. I always love picking my favorites and placing them around the house to spread some festive, fall cheer. I had dinner with a friend this week as well. It was nice to catch up with her and chat about our busy lives. Since I don’t often leave my boys, they acted like I had returned from a week away instead of the actual three hours I was gone.

Fridays are a favorite family day for us. With Jeremy having the day off, we like to have family adventures. The bonus of homeschooling is that we can call these field trips. I love that learning can happen outside of the “classroom” (aka our dining room table) and without textbooks. Our first field trip of the school year was to Lattin’s Cider Mill and Farm. It had been over a year since we last visited so it was nice to reconnect with a well-loved location. We looked at the chickens, ducks, peacocks, rabbits, sheep, and goats. We picked up fresh apple fritters and a bag of apples from their store. It was a wonderful kick-off to school field trips.

Other than back to school, the big milestone of the week was Owen being baptized yesterday afternoon! Our church had it’s final outdoor gathering and wrapped up Summer Sundays with one last chance to be baptized in the river behind our church. Owen has been contemplating getting baptized for a while now and this seemed like the right opportunity. Owen was nervous, but brave. It was an honor for Jeremy and I to be the ones to baptize him. It was a little out of my comfort zone since I’m not a fan of water, but I’m glad I braved the cold water to participate. We are thankful that many family members were able to cheer him on as well as our church congregation. We had a taco lunch back at our house to celebrate afterwards. It was a very special day and a great way to wrap up our season of outside church. It’s such an honor and a joy as a parent to watch my kiddos grow in their faith. I’m so proud of Owen and the decision he made to get baptized!

It seems like September is always a busy month! Back to school is an adjustment after being in summer mode. Jeremy is excited for hunting season and has all kinds of plans to be out in the woods this month. I hope the weather stays nice so we can have many outdoor adventures. I even have an opportunity coming up to lead a workshop at a ladies conference at our church. Lots of good stuff ahead to prepare and plan for!