10 Things We Loved in October

Instead of just talking about books, I thought I'd do a little round-up of all the things we've been loving in our homeschool life this past month. (Feel free to share yours in the comments!)

1 :: Cold weather makes me want to knit, and I've been churning out new hats for the whole family. We all have a new Ripley to keep our heads warm. (I love patterns like this, that are utterly simple but have a little twist that makes them seem more complicated than they are.)

2 :: I have become addicted to Fallen London. So much so that my kids have started explaining it as "like Minecraft, for mamas." I blame Suzanne.

3 :: This fall, my best friend and I both celebrated milestone birthdays, and we've been cheering each other up by making mixtapes with Dar Williams' "You're Aging Well" on them. Because, darn it, we are.

4 :: Much reading, of course, is happening. We read The Beasts of Clawstone Castle as our not-at-all-scary Halloween readaloud, and we're still working our way through The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn together. I'm putting together a creative nonfiction class for our homeschool group, so I've been reading a lot about writing, including Several Short Sentences About Writing, which I picked up when Patricia recommended it a few years ago and am just getting around to reading. We've also had a lot of fun putting together the skeletons from Excavate! Dinosaurs: Paper Toy Paleontology.

5 :: Do you know about DIY Scouts? We are kind of obsessed with it.

6 :: My friend Stephanie turned me onto this hilarious site that imagines how literary figures might order their drinks at Starbucks. The Hemingway one made me laugh out loud.

7 :: I've been stocking the freezer with heat-and-heat meals for the upcoming holiday crunch. (I actually like cooking, but some days, the prospect of making dinner makes me want to hide in the basement.) So we've been having easy-ish dinners, like quinoa-stuffed sweet potatoes (I often add bacon because, well, bacon) and baked avocado and egg with miso butter.

8 :: I am officially a rabid fan of bullet journals. I have never been able to find a calendar/planner that really worked for me, but I have been using the bullet journal method (with this little Moleskine because I buy them in bulk, but you could really use any notebook) for six months and can't believe how well it works with my life.

9 :: We are really enjoying using The Nature Connection: An Outdoor Workbook for Kids, Families, and Classrooms by Clare Walker Leslie. I am not a naturally outdoorsy kind of person, and the whole nature study thing sometimes feels overwhelming to me. I like the simple, practical suggestions this book has for studying nature with your kids, and I love that it's helped us make our nature journals a daily habit.

10 :: Of all the holiday gift-making I'm working on right now, I think this little cold-weather outfit by the fabulous Alicia Paulson is my favorite. So much cute!

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