Love muffins and school buses... that's what I'm thinking about these days. Charlotte and I have just started school this week~ yesterday was Charlotte's first day of school! We've decided to homeschool (for now). Our hope is that we will be the ones to train Charlotte's character, so homeschooling is our latest and greatest adventure. I've been encouraged over and over that my mission for kindergarten is to make school fun~ to make Charlotte enjoy learning. Okay... I think I can do that. I'm not trying to train a prodigy-- my mission is to train her character and develop a love of learning. So on menu for the first day? Love muffins.I have a very good friend in South Carolina. When we lived in North Carolina, it was always a joy to visit her in Greer~ near Greenville. One of my absolute favorite afternoons with this friend was spent in The Brick Street Cafe. This cafe is known for its Love Muffins. The love Muffin I had was something like white cake with raspberry filling. I really loved that muffin and so I've given some thought to how I could recreate that muffin experience. I hadn't tried though until yesterday~ and yesterday wasn't a valiant effort, except that I had Charlotte help me. I thought reading a recipe, following directions and eating our own love muffins together would be a nice way to start our first day of school. Our love muffins were nothing like The Brick Street Cafe Love Muffins, except that ours were also something like white cake with raspberries. We used raspberries that we'd recently picked from our neighbor's raspberry patch (with permission, of course). While the muffins baked, we started reading Proverbs together for the discipline of reading the Bible. I've always admired how another friend starts her homeschooling day with her three boys by reading the Bible together during breakfast. After our muffin breakfast, we started our math and phonics curriculums and ended our first day of school with a science curriculum about animals.
Today was our second day of school, and I am happy to report that Charlotte and I have both enjoyed two days of school. I haven't figured out a great plan for Liam's morning yet-- I think Charlotte and I are exasperating him, but overall, this thing I've feared~homeschooling!~ has become a really enjoyable experience. I am so grateful we're able to have this adventure. I find that I sometimes wish I could hear Charlotte tell me stories about riding a school bus and having a real teacher and real school art crafts, but I've been surprised to find our mornings together have been sweet... as sweet as a love muffin.
12 comments:
Sounds like so much fun! I think I need to go make some love muffins right now...
It would be so grand for every child in kindergarten to start his/her day by feasting on love muffins and Proverbs! Your first two days have sounded so wonderful ~ The excitement in Charlotte's voice yesterday testified to the fact that yellow school bus rides aren't REALLY necessary for a wonderful kindergarten experience ~ And your desire for her to be a life-long learner . . . well, there couldn't be a more curious child . . . I'm chuckling as I remember her questions for Adam, Connie, Pops, & me concerning "static electricity" . . . age 4!!
Thanks for the post. The muffins look delicious and I love those letter Aa's :)
Charlotte, as your Papa left for school every morning, I used to tell him, "Have a great day; make good decisions; and I love you!" I changed that to making "Godly decisions" for your uncles. So I share the same heart-felt message with you, my dear Kindergarten Whippersnapper! Enjoy!
hooray you have begun! It all seems so daunting until you begin and then it just feels right. I was nervous going into this year because we were doing so many new things but it has been good and i have been learning too. I tell Avery that i am doing 1st grade too and she thinks that is a riot!! I can not wait to talk to you about it more. And i sure would love to know how to make those love muffins...hint hint!!!
Congratulations, Charlotte! (and Sarah) I'm so thankful you and your mom get to spend some special time learning together! The muffins look delicious - you'll have to share the recipe! I am a huge muffin fan! Love you all.
so sweet, sarah! sounds like a brilliant start :) i also wish we could be neighbors again(maybe not next door or you'd likely feel stalked by the baillie family, especially with the scent of fresh love muffins wafting over ;) charlotte looks to be a wiser, learning-lover already!
Sounds so sweet! I'm glad you've had a great start to the year. (Cling to that on the rough days.) You will be a great teacher, the best she and Liam can have. Yellow school buses are over-rated, kind of scarey actually (at least the one I rode). Love muffins at home are much better! Keep up the fun school days and sharing those with us.
By the way, Zachary is wondering what Charlotte will be when she grows up. He's not so sure about a pig farmer. : ) But he's willing to work that out. He's been contemplating all this lately and planning his adult life - at age 5! But I remember doing the same. Funny what God does with those dreams as we grow up and how He shapes them to what He desires for us - something greater than we can ever imagine - when we let Him.
Miss you!
Sarah I have to tell you, that even though I know envy is wrong, I truly envy you (and Leslie). What a wonderful opportunity to just completely emjoy your children and life! I bet you'll be a rock star teacher.
thanks, Mary... so, I know your family isn't up here anymore, but if you're still interested in visiting Alaska sometime, I hope you'll consider staying with us. I won't be the sort of hostess who'll take you up every mountain... I'm more of the sort who'll rent "Wives & Daughters", supply kaladi bros. coffee & swiss chocolate. Maybe then Leslie will come back, too.
Sarah, Did you say chocolate? Oh, wait, I'm responding to your post, not the comments....I can't remember if we did anything special on that first day of school so many years ago, but I do remember that looking at it from this side of the diploma, I can tell you that your kids (and you and Ashley) will be blessed by this choice.
We've made the decision year by year, and now have 2 homeschool graduates and 2 to go.
I do regret that I didn't have that muffin recipe and start out our homeschooling journey memorably, but we do remember the field trip to the beach when everyone else had to stay home and get on the school bus :-)
oooh that would be fun. I've picked up "Wives and Daughters" to read many, many times. I don't think I focus enough though because I always move on to another book. And I bet coffee is extra tasty in the Alaska winter!
I don't often say this, Mary, but you should pick up the movie "Wives and Daughters" instead. The movie is so fun that I went and found the book... only to discover that the last scene of the movie~ one of my absolute favorite scenes ever~ isn't in the book! Elizabeth Gaskell died before she finished the book! So my uasked-for-advice is to just rent the movie... and savor the rainy scene at the end.
And Sylvia... have you looked into tickets yet? I feel like I might have you close to convinced that the 12 hours of traveling it would take to get here would be worth it. I promise to have good chocolate waiting...
I'll be down for muffins and coffee in the morning....by the way, you could't stand the cheese wagon. love you....N & B
Post a Comment