Skip to content

  • Home
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Dr J’s Corner
    • Podcasts
    • Publications
  • Homeschool
  • Charlotte Mason
  • Classical Conversations
  • Morning Time
  • Homegrown Preschool
  • Beautiful Feet Books
  • Rhythm
  • My Father’s World
    • Kindergarten MFW
    • Adventures MFW
    • Exploring Countries and Cultures MFW
  • Contact

Exploring Countries and Cultures MFW

MFW ECC: Getting Ready!

MFW ECC: Intro Week 1

MFW ECC: Intro Week 2

MFW ECC: United States Part 1

MFW ECC: United States Part 2

MFW ECC: Mexico

MFW ECC: Canada

MFW ECC Brazil

MFW ECC: Norway 

MFW ECC: France

MFW ECC: Germany

MFW ECC: Kenya

MFW ECC: Middle East

MFW ECC: India

MFW ECC: China

MFW ECC: Japan

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

@Farmhouse_Schoolhouse

Oh friends, what a gift this weekend was. ❤️❤️ Thank you for all your prayers, words of encouragement, nature find gifts, cups of tea shared, hugs and every single mama that put a baby in my arms to hold for a minute. @wildandfree.co is a special place- I’m so thankful for each of you 1600 mamas that joined us this weekend. I’m so glad our stories intersected for a bit. Guess what? I’m wondering now about all those reunions and homecomings as everyone returns home. I know some of you are going home to hard things, devastating things. I’m praying for you!!! I know some of you are returning home to sweetness and joy and I’m so glad for you. Wherever you find yourself: grief, joy, turmoil, peace— I hope you can find community to plug into. People to link arms with. Someone to share the things you learned with. Friends to remember or (re)member along side of. ❤️❤️ See you next time #wildandfreefrisco mamas. I’m cheering you on! 📷by: my hubby, Jeff. Who sacrifices so much to get me to wild and free each and every time. 😘
The best part of last week? Wave jumping for an entire morning. It’s amazing what all those hours spent in nature added to our health, peace and learning later in the week. We never ever outgrow nature. We never ever outgrow play. We never ever outgrow wonder. We can lose sight of them, but we can never outgrow our need for them. It’s hard to drown out the voices that demand more and more hours of production as our kids get older. In my mind, the need for protected time grows the older they get. I had a long talk with my wave jumper while we were at the beach. I asked, “what are some things you want me to honor with our time this year? What do I need to protect for you?” His answer was simple: “Honor my time to read for myself, time to make things for others, time to learn more about things I love and time outside every day. Outside is where I can practice physics and poetry and life stuff.” 🌿🌿 So I’m protecting his time. I’m protecting his time until the day comes when the responsibility fully shifts to him. Hopefully he’ll be so accustomed to nature, play and wonder he’ll carry the practice of protecting them for the rest of his life.
Hello IG, it’s Elsie, trying to be on time for #fridayintroductions for the #wildandfreeconf 🙌🏼 🎉 Here’s a snippet of my life right now.... Currently reading for myself: Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Warren, Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle and finishing Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers. Currently reading to the boys: The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas and The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Currently working on: responding to wrath with gentleness. Currently listening to: lots of Debussy, Herbie Hancock and Over the Rhine. Currently thinking about: helping my older children adjust to all the new changes coming our way this spring and summer. Currently waiting for: our adoption! Currently writing: my book. It’s still in the works and I’m having so much fun writing it. Currently eating: all the avocado and cucumber salad I can get! Currently drinking: echinacea tea and lots of Ningxia red cuz this lady is NOT getting sick (please oh please Lord!) currently enjoying: where we are in life. I’m not in a hurry to get to the next thing. I am content to work through our current circumstances and see what God will teach us through it. 🌊Currently loving: reading my Bible early on the morning and having a few minutes to soak up truth and beauty before I greet my kids. I *think* I might slowly be turning into a morning person. Weird! Currently dreading: flying next Thursday 😭Currently watching: nothing right now but once this book is done I’m planning a Larkrise to Candleford marathon ❤️ Currently counting down for: The Wild + Free conference! 🎉🎉🎉Guys, I can’t believe it’s a week away! I’ve spent weeks prepping my talk on “Remembering” and I can’t wait to hear from @leahvboden @sally.clarkson @juliebravewriter @susanwisebauer and meet so many dear hearts I’ve written back and forth with for YEARS on this space (@tiffany.rene.anderson I’m lookin at you!) who else is headed to #wildandfreefrisco ? ✨✨✨
After lunch we had a conversation brought about by my youngest son’s observations of TIME, particularly “slow” and “fast,” earlier today. Time is difficult for him to understand and he requires many thorough and repeated conversations to help him grasp each concept. So today in his matter of fact way he stated: “sometimes the earth moves so slow” and later, “sometimes the humans and the stuff they make moves so fast.” We asked what he meant. “Flowers and fruit grow slow and babies in bellies grow slow and books read slow and sun moves slow and boys grow slow and birthdays and dessert come slow. But movies are faster than books and Brown boxes (amazon) are fast and phones and business are busy fast, talking and driving is all fast faster faster. It’s so fast you can’t think about their rules and what they mean,” he wrinkled his nose as he spoke. My eldest nodded and said, “that’s true. Which one are you?” He shrugged and looked up at the ceiling for a moment, “I am a boy that wants to go slow when I need slow and fast when I need fast, but sometimes, when I don’t know what it means for living, I get stuck.” We were struck by these profound observations and spoke for awhile about the life we are living. How crucial it is to be able to switch those gears well and prepare ourselves as best we can, emotionally and physically for the “overdrive” moments by refreshing our souls during the gentle, slow times. How we need to wrestle with what things really mean, wether slow or fast, before ingesting or partaking, lest we become blind consumers. By the time we finished our conversation we realized that the youngest had wandered off while we were discussing his thoughts. We found him sitting in a patch of sunlight by the window, watching the clouds roll by. He looked up at us and said, “I’m ready for a story now.” So they went to the library to read and I stood in the kitchen and cried for a few moments out of conviction and gratitude and maybe a bit of relief too. Education is about so much more than just academics. I am so glad we get to go about this time of who we are becoming, together.
My youngest rarely responds to strangers, unless they are young children or someone elderly. Today an older gentleman came walking up the beach and engaged him in conversation. I just had to share a part of it. I love how his “special needs” understanding of the world translates: Tourist: “aren’t you supposed to be in school?” My boy: “no, I’m supposed to be in nature!” 🌊🌊🌊 Tourist: “ha! Oh I wish that was true. Where is your teacher?” My son: “Teacher is my books on the shelf and my toes in sand and my mom and dad and good good food and quiet music.” Tourist: “I see. Having fun out here with your friends?” My son: “I LOVE the beach! God is so loud out here.” Tourist: “I guess he is at that.” Happy Wednesday friends!
Late last night I wrote our first post on Habits and this morning my inbox was jammed...So this is the follow up post 🙈 1) Yes, some habits really did take me six months to acquire and no, I am not dismayed by that time frame. Not a bit! Consider that if you acquire two good new habits each year then by the end of your first mothering decade you will have twenty solid habits under your belt. Slow and steady is a beautiful model that lasts a lifetime. It is well worth the effort my friend! And make no mistake, it does take effort. This isn’t a pill you can pop or a switch you can flip. Does that sound overwhelming? The good news is you get to choose the habits you need right now to make your life feel less overwhelming. 2) This isn’t about perfection. I’m not asking that of myself or my kids. The point of good habits isn’t perfection, it’s character (see quote on my last post). Habits are helping equip my family and slowly building our character over time. 3) many of you asked about habits that shaped my mothering. I’d change that a bit and just say habits that shaped me as a person. 🌿The first I shared about on my last IG post- orderliness. (CM talks about this a lot!) 🌿The second was the habit of margin, which grew naturally out of six months of orderliness training. First it was for myself. I needed to figure out a way to build a life I didn’t feel like escaping from. I wanted to serve well from a place of love and selflessness, but I needed healthy margin in place to do that (Margin by Richard Swenson 🙌🏼) Then it became margin for the family-for play and service and leisure. This was life giving!! 🌿The third was the habit of attending. As simple as Looking children in the eye when they speak to you. As complex as hearing the heartbeat behind those daily narrations with precision and consistency. Learning to attend well was a gift. All three bore fruits of faithfulness and diligence. That is not to say that I am “perfect” at diligence and faithfulness, but that I am always aware of those two things. I crave them. I seek them out in my actions. When I fail to do so, I notice. It’s not about achieving perfection, it’s about shaping character and appetite.

Follow us on Facebook!

Follow us on Facebook!

Currently using Student Intensive A!

Advent adventures art beautiful feet books bible birds booklist boys classical conversations Exploring Countries & Cultures Friday Exam geography giveaway homeschool inventors kindergarten Language Arts Morning Time motherhood my fathers world nature walk pin it! maps pioneers poetry rhythm sensory needs the homegrown preschooler training Uncategorized wild and free

Fresh on the Farm

  • MEL Science Review! January 13, 2019
  • Charlotte Mason Approach to Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Q3 January 1, 2019
  • Homeschool Mama Christmas Guide December 5, 2018
  • Small Business Christmas Guide November 22, 2018
  • Wild Explorers Christmas Guide November 17, 2018

Enter your email for direct updates from Farmhouse Schoolhouse!

Join 1,398 other followers

Farmhouse Favorites

  • Classical Conversations
  • Charlotte Mason Approach to Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Q3
  • How We Blend it All Together
  • Homeschool
  • A Charlotte Mason Approach to Classical Conversation Cycle 1 Quarter 1
  • Our Story
  • 100 Books that Shaped Their Boyhood, Part 1
  • Back to (Home)School!
  • A Charlotte Mason Approach to Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Quarter 2
  • Charlotte Mason

Farm Flurries

advent adventures all about reading american revolution Art Art Appreciation Audubon beautiful feet books benjamin franklin birds blessing hour booklist books boys childhood Classical colonists columbus constellations exploring countries and cultures frontier geography george washington giveaway homeschool education homeschool in the woods inventors jamestown kindergarten montessori Morning Time my fathers world nature walk pilgrims Pin it! Maps play reading review rhythm science sensory play The Homegrown Preschooler vikings wild and free

Follow us!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
Blog at WordPress.com.
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: