Welcome To Sacred Heart Wild + Free New School Year Events and Updates

Hi Everyone!  I am so excited to be writing this post today.  As of a few weeks ago I could not have imagined being excited to start school again, but after forcing myself to sit down and plan out our new year, I got excited.

I think avoiding what we think is difficult creates fear.  When we avoid difficulties, they usually become insurmountable.  And then all of a sudden you put your mind to it, pen to paper, make a book list and remember that you actually can totally NAIL it this year!!

My philosophy over the last few years has been summed up by a quote from G. K Chesterton, "Anything Worth Doing is Worth Doing Badly."  I apply that to my running, cooking, swimming and if I'm being honest ...PARENTING!

Another bit I have run through my head is..."Don't let perfect be the enemy of good."..I think Voltaire is the author of that quote.

And with that in mind, here are some VERY GOOD and NEARLY PERFECT plans we invite you to put on your calendar for the new school year.

It was fun to plan..and hopefully even more fun to attend....

August

August 17: Natural History Club 10:00-2:00 Hidden Oaks Nature Center

We will be meeting at the nature center in Fairfax County observe and enjoy the displays before heading out on a hike.  We will return to the nature center for some nature journaling then a picnic lunch.  Please have your kids bring any field guides they have and their nature journals.  The Natural History Club is for 5 year olds and above.  

August 17: Mom's Gathering at Jessica's house 6:30-9:00

We will be eating and discussing two different topics, handicrafts in your homeschool and what you are excited about this year in your homeschool.  We have a fun announcement to make and I hope many of you can come.  PLEASE RSVP to Jessica or Lisa ASAP!!

August 22:  Calpunia Tate Book Club Celebration Sacred Heart Grotto 11:00-1:00

We will have a picnic lunch celebration and discuss the book.

August 24:  Sacred Heart Wild + Free Nature Walk
Crofton Park 10:00-12:00

This nature walk is open to all ages.  Join us for a short walk that will most definitely be wild + free, have a picnic lunch and play at the playground. 

September

September 14: Sacred Heart Wild + Free Nature Walk

Allen Pond 10:00-12:00
This nature walk is open to all ages.  Join us for a short walk that will most definitely be wild + free, have a picnic lunch and play at the playground.

September 20: Natural History Club Jug Bay 9:00-1:00
Come explore some seasonal discoveries at Jug Bay.  There is a great book called

A Year across Maryland: A Week-by-Week Guide to Discovering Nature in the Chesapeake Region 

Our hope is that we visit the places mentioned in this book to bring our students closer to the nature all around their home state.  Some of the places are a bit farther than others but this is what is so cool about homeschooling...we GET TO DO THIS STUFF...and meanwhile learn it ourselves!! 

October

October 12:  Wild + Free Book Club Meeting 11:00-1:00 Quiet Waters Park 

Celebrate your read aloud success!!

October 19:  Mom's Gathering 6:30-9:00 Monica's 

Come have dinner and learn HOW TO KNIT!! Most of your kids have already learned...it's your turn!  I will choose a pattern, yarn and materials that will turn you into a new knitter!  There will be a sign up and fee to pay for the above mentioned supplies...my excited teaching style TOTALLY FREE!!!

October 20: Natural History Club Harper's Ferry 10:00-2:00

This trip will be awesome!!  More info and excitement will follow...just go ahead and plan your month around this trip....it will be worth it!

October 26: Sacred Heart Wild + Free Nature Walk Whitemarsh Park 10:00-12:00

This nature walk is open to all ages.  Join us for a short walk that will most definitely be wild + free, have a picnic lunch and play at the playground.

November

November 9:  Natural History Club Great Falls 9:00-1:00

This is a beautiful hike that most of us have been meaning to go on.  Bring your kids, nature journal bags, field guides and a camera!  This will be a beautiful hike. More info to follow.

November 16: Sacred Heart Wild + Free Nature Walk Walker Mill Regional Park 10:00-12:00 

This nature walk is open to all ages.  Join us for a short walk that will most definitely be wild + free, have a picnic lunch and play at the playground.

November 30: Wild+Free Book Club Meeting TBD

Not sure of what, where and time yet..but be sure it will be fun, amazing and well worth you putting on your calendar!

OK...

That is so much goodness right there!  Can't wait to plan for winter!!

Wild and Free SUMMER PLANS

We MADE IT!!  It's summer.  The perfect time to be Wild and Free EVERYDAY!! We have some fun things planned and we hope you can come to as many things as possible!!

Wild & Free

Kids Book Club

We had a great time at the Pippi Picnic!  Some of us have already started reading our next book..

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. 

Book Celebration: July 20 11:00 

Sacred Heart Grotto

We will meet in one of the most beautiful places in Bowie and celebrate our kids growing closer to each other through these great stories.

One of the sweetest blessings that I have seen through the last few months is how the kids will get together and talk about the books with each other.

The next book will be announced and we will meet in September for that celebration.
Please offer your suggestions for the next book.

Wild & Free

Mama's Gathering 

June 29 6:30 Christi Gaeng's House 

*DO NOT MISS THIS NIGHT*

We will be talking about our plans for next school year....and have a PAINTING LESSON with Monica Buckley!! There will be a small fee for supplies. We need to know if you are coming so she can get what you will need.

Everyone loved the painting lesson she gave our kids...now it's our turn.

August 17 6:30 Jessica Ptomey's House
We will be talking about our year goals and ideas on adding handi crafts to your homeschool.  

Wild & Free

Sacred Heart Natural History Club

July 6 10:00-2:00- AnnMarie Gardens  Monica and Amy will be leading our kids through a nature walk with time for purposeful nature study and journaling. Plan on bringing your lunch and sketching supplies.  More details will follow.

August 11 10-2:00 Hidden Oaks Nature Center This nature center is in Virginia!!  How exciting to get to travel to another state in our own backyard! 

The pictures you see here were taken at the Marshy Point Nature Center.  It was a GREAT place for our avid naturalists. It was well worth the drive!!

Thank you all for making this group such success.  We are hoping to add a few more fun things next year.  We see so many other groups on Instagram doing fun things with their groups and it inspires us to try new things.  If you have any ideas on hosting or establishing something please share what your thinking!

Pippi Picnic And Other GOOD Things

What an amazing night we all had last week.  I was feeling high from it for days.  I actually got sad for a minute because it was OVER.  I could do that EVERY WEEK!!!  The food, the conversation, the beautiful setting made it such a SPECIAL night.  Thank you all so much for sharing your heart and time with us.



We talked about so many things and I know we all could have stayed and talked all night...
There are so many great things coming up for us and this post is to outline some of that for us.

PIPPI PICNIC

Sacred Heart Wild&Free Kids Book Club

Date: May 25 , 2017 

LOCATION: Brownie Beach

Time: 11:30 meet up time and stay as long as you want

WHAT ELSE: Pippi was such a light hearted, fun book, so I wanted to follow that theme for our event.  Let's ask our kids to plan what to bring for the celebration, like Pippi would.  

SHOW AND TELL:

Instructions: In the book Pippi lives alone at Villa Villekulla. Have your kids draw what they imagine Ville Villekulla would look like.

I think I am going to have us draw a large picture on a poster board and make it together...but each child can make their own too.

Next Book: This selection we are going to vote on as a group.  

The 3 choices are:

1. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

2. Charlotte's Web

3. The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place

I want to read all 3 at one time, but help us pick because we couldn't!

Each book has a different strong point.  There are 2 modern picks this month because we went classic for the first two and I thought we would mix it up a bit.

Some other books on my summer reading list with the kids:

1. Where the Red Fern Grows

2. Caddie Woodlawn (recommended by Frank Snyder)

3. The Penderwicks (recommended by Bernadette)

MAMA GATHERING

June is our turn again.  I am looking for a volunteer to co-host our gathering. Once someone volunteers Amy and I will help plan the night with you.  You can choose the theme, food, location and date.  I would like to keep it on the last Thursday of the month, but whatever works.

We also need a mom for August's mom meeting...so if that works for you as of now let me know and we can get planning!!

MOM'S BOOK CLUB

First let me say I want a much cooler name than..mom's book club...but before that happens, let's make a BOOK CLUB.

I heard about this style book club from a podcast I listen to.  They have been meeting for a few years and it sounded perfect for our group.

Purpose:  To challenge ourselves to read books we would not normally pick up on our own. I'm looking to cultivate my own mind and soul with great reading I missed out on.  And then for motivation, I want to celebrate the fact that I committed and accomplished my goal.. and I want to celebrate with all of you.

OVERVIEW: 
1. We will read 4 books this year, one in every season.
2. Each season is assigned a team.
3. Each team chooses the book, the location and hosts the celebration for that book,
4.  We are hoping at least 12 of us want to participate so we can have teams of 3.
5.  Amy, Monica and I are hosting the fall book so we will be announcing the book soon so you have 3 months to read it.


 

That was a lot of good stuff!!

I need a few things from you...

1.Please respond to me in comments...or a text that you are in for the book club.  If I don't hear from you that you are in then I am assuming you are not wanting to participate and you won't be on a team and you won't come to the events.

2.Also if you want to host for June or August can you please text Amy and Me!  We can get planning with you!

3. Prepare for a fun afternoon celebrating Pippi with our kids...and vote here or on text for our next book.

Easy as that!!

Mother Culture

Thursday April 27 is our next gathering at Amy's house.  This time we wanted to focus on us mamas.

I was going to write an encouragement for you guys to plan on coming...but then I thought, "Let the expert speak!"


 "There is no sadder sight in life than a mother, who has so used herself up in her children's childhood, that she has nothing to give them in their youth."




Is there not some need for 'mother culture'? But how is the state of things to be altered? So many mothers say, 'I simply have no time for myself!' 'I never read a book!' Or else, 'I don't think it is right to think of myself!' They not only starve their minds, but they do it deliberately, and with a sense of self-sacrifice which seems to supply ample justification.



The wisest woman I ever knew--the best wife, the best mother, the best mistress, the best friend--told me once, when I asked her how, with her weak health and many calls upon her time, she managed to read so much, 'I always keep three books going--a stiff book, a moderately easy book, and a novel, and I always take up the one I feel fit for!' That is the secret; always have something 'going' to grow by. If we mothers were all 'growing' there would be less going astray among our boys, less separation in mind from our girls...

A brisk walk will help. But, if we would do our best for our children, grow we must; and on our power of growth surely depends, not only our future happiness, but our future usefulness.

Is there, then, not need for more 'Mother Culture'?"  Volume III, no. 2 The Parents' Review

And this meeting we are pouring a little bit extra into each other and bringing a favorite pretty thing to exchange with each other.



I am always listening to podcasts and getting inspired by what others do. I love hearing stories of each of you and gathering together..it's better than any podcast!

I was just thinking that my kids only know me as this version, the responsible, mostly tidy person who cooks, cleans and teaches.  But I am composed of so much more.  And we want to be known, right?



Come and eat and chat about Mere Motherhood, Teaching From Rest and what you are doing or trying to do for your own...

Mother Culture





Amy's House
Dinner
6:30-8:30
Bring a pretty thing to exchange...and pound cake!!

p.s all these pictures were of where I used to live.  The last picture is my front yard.

Our Turn

Hey There Wild & Free mama's.

  April is OUR TURN.

And we have a fun gathering planned.....

Last time when we came together at my house I think we all left that night feeling a little...lighter, less alone, maybe more challenged, hopefully, more inspired.

We talked about the books we were reading and words that were carrying us through.  Let's do that again!

And while we are at it...let's cultivate each other's soul with some pretty little things.....




Before I explain, let me convince....

 How do we honor our kids’ unique personalities and help them pursue their dreams? How do we hold on to our own dreams in the busyness of homeschooling and parenting?

We often leave ourselves behind when we delve so deeply into giving the best of ourselves to our families.  

We have things that we love.  We too seek goodness, truth and beauty.  We do that mostly through our families and friends.  

And this month Amy and I are asking that you share a little BEAUTY with another mama....

PRETTY LITTLE THINGS SWAP

What little things do you love?  Is there something you love that you know would give a smile to another mama?

It can be simple....  

* A hand drawn quote from a saint in a picture frame.

* A bundle of special pens and pencils for your days at home when everything you own seems to disappear.

* A journal you got for Christmas that you LOVE and you know someone else would love too.

* A skein of yarn (just kidding...unless you want to get that specifically for me).

* Just a thoughtful pretty little thing that you want to give to make someone smile when they see it or use it.

And for my rule minded mama's....

There are NO rules.  HOWEVER, If you need me to put a price cap on it...how about 20$.  But it can also be $0.  

HOW IT WILL WORK

Wrap up your pretty little thing.  Bring it to Amy's house on Thursday April 27 at 6:30.

We will eat dinner, chat about Mere Motherhood and Teaching From Rest.  Then we will pick a number and go in order to pick out of the wrapped bundles.  The mom who created the bundle can tell everyone why she choose that gift...what it means to her and why she brought it.

We are hard working, selfless mamas who deserve a pretty little thing every now and again...

look at #npemotherculture for some ideas...

Dinner Served:

Grilled Chicken with Quinoa Salad

Sourdough Bread

And maybe a few of you can bring desert.....

That Was Awesome!!

Thank you all for making Saturday so amazing. Thank you for reading along side each other.  Thank you for having such great kids and being such great families.

What a bond this one book created!  I am so grateful to you all.

The next book is Pippi Longstocking....

A Picnic With Pippi is our next event.  I will fill you in...

First, I have to get my book!

Saturday March 25 3:00-5:00

It's finally here!!

Our Wild and Free Book Celebration !!!!!!

And here's the details:

Where:
Patapsco State Park
AVALON ENTRANCE

The entrance is VERY important! There are several entry points to the park.  This is our entrance.

You drive past the gate and drop $3 in the box to enter. Drive straight into the park.
When you come to the T in the road you turn LEFT.

The road will curve around.  You will see a playground and picnic table area.
Park in the lot next to the pavilion area.  We will be tucked right in the woods a short walk from the parking lot.





All the pictures you see here are from that exact area.  We love going there and the kids CAN NOT NOT go in the water...

By the GRACE of God and the blessings of it being
THE FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION ....
It is supposed to be 75 degrees!!

Be prepared for wet children to go home with you...we never are...but they ALWAYS leave wet!

Pete is going to be fishing and encourages dads and boys to bring rods.  There are trout in the water, but you may have to walk downstream to avoid the "disruption" that may be happening close by.

Other Things:

1. There are bathrooms a short walk away.

2. The water is not super deep, but is moving and can have deeper pools.

3.  There are so many great trees to climb.

4.  Next book will be announced.

5.  Food will be eaten!

6.  Fun will be had!