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{July Gratitudes}

On July 31, 2018June 6, 2019 By JessicaIn Gratitude Journal

July Gratitudes 2018 | The Open Home — For sunny days and rainy days and embracing every season.

July Gratitudes 2018 | The Open Home — For summer traditions and farm girls in the making.

July Gratitudes 2018 | The Open Home — For friends on the journey and cosy car time treats.

July Gratitudes 2018 | The Open Home — For breaking the mould and embracing your inner pirate.

These are the inserts from our gratitude journal during July, reminding us that God is good and we are blessed.

What have you been thankful for lately?

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Welcome

Hello, I’m Jessica. A minimalist homeschooling mother of two living on the British island of Guernsey. I’m also a nature lover, letter writer and journal keeper that wants to to live life with an open heart. Welcome to my blog.

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Our first official attempt at handcrafts! Why did I dawdle all year on prepping and introducing this? They absolutely loved it and for a moment there I finally felt I had made it as a home educator! 😂😉 . We’ve been doing paper crafts as part of our homeschool week right from the beginning; card making, mail art, scrapbooking, nature journaling, all come quite naturally to us and are pretty easy to fit in here and there without lots of prep, but I’ve wanted to add in a dedicated time to our weekly schedule for the needle and thread crafts also. They’re just such a great skill to have but also really therapeutic to do. . . I’d love for them to learn knitting or crochet but as I can’t do either myself and have failed at learning to knit twice now, I decided to start with what I do feel comfortable with and that is embroidery and sewing. . . Eventually I’d like to have a handcraft project on the go each term, something meaningful and useful that can be used or gifted but for the summer at least we’re just going to start simply with some weekly exploratory embroidery sessions that allow them to build their confidence and achieve some quick wins. . . In the meantime I’d love to hear of your suggestions for some first embroidery projects.🧵 . . #thegirardgirls #homeed #homeeducation #homeeduk #homeeducationguernsey #homeeducationuk #charlottemason #charlottemasonuk #charlottemasonliving #charlottemasoneducation #charlottemasonhomeschool #homeschool #homeschooling #handcrafts #handicrafts #embroidery #kidsembroidery #hoopart

I found another favourite spot on the island this past week thanks to this one, along with inspiration for a sweet children’s book, which maybe I’ll write... one day! In the meantime I’m still writing letters both in real life with pen and paper and also open letters online over on my blog, The Open Home. The most recent open letter is up today in fact in what has become a Fathers Fay tradition for us. Follow the link in my bio to read this years “Dear Daddy” post. . . #guernsey #guernseylife #loveguernsey #visitguernsey #coastalliving #islandlife #islandexplorer #britishisles #bestofbritain #theopenhomeblog #deardaddy #daddyman #fathersday

New-to-us discoveries down in the Vale last month - a WW2 bunker on L’Ancresse Common. . I love combining our nature walks with history field trips. That way we manage to tick off 3 subjects all in one “lesson” - history, geography and natural history, all of which blend so well together. They’re definitely the passion and priority in our homeschool when it comes to subjects. What subjects do you (or would you) prioritise in your homeschool? . Oh and spot the little round vents in the sides of the bunker walls? We spotted starlings nesting in them at a different bunker site, it was mesmerising to watch them flying to and fro to feed their noisy hatchlings. 😍 . . #homeed #homeeducation #homeeducationuk #homeeducationguernsey #homeschool #homeschooling #charlottemason #charlottemasonuk #charlottemasoneducation #charlottemasonhomeschool #charlottemasonliving #naturestudy #naturewalk #naturalhistory #britishhistory #bunker #ww2bunker #outdoorgeography #guernsey #guernseylife #thegirardgirls

As requested here is a picture of Blossom’s new pet goat which she named Marigold. Isn’t she cute? ☺️. . She was born back in late April. One of the first successful births from the artificial insemination program to aid in the preservation of the rare and protected Golden Guernsey goat breed. 🎉. . Fun goat fact... the breed almost died out during the occupation of the island in WW2 as islanders and soldiers alike were starving but one brave lady hid her small herd from the soldiers and thus preserved the breed. 👏🏽 There are also Golden Guernsey cows which can be found worldwide in the farming industry and there used to be Golden Guernsey donkeys too but these sadly died out in the late 1800s. 😢 . Now you may be thinking why did Blossom get a pet goat and not little Bubbles? Well Bubbles already has a pet goat, cheeky Darling who is 3 years old and head of the herd so often sporting a war wound or two. Darling’s twin sister Wendy was Blossom’s pet goat for the past 3 years but following a difficult first pregnancy she became ill after the birth of her two kids and sadly died a couple of months back. It’s been a good opportunity to talk about the circle of life and for the girls to experience loss in a natural but not too traumatic way. Lots of questions were asked, emotions were felt and eyes welled up but I particularly loved the words of hope and comfort that came from 4 year old Bubbles to her big sister. “Don’t worry, “Blossom” Darling will look after Wendy’s babies, they’ll be alright.” 😭 . . Needless to say we Girard girls sure love goats! Good job Nan & Pa have a goat farm that we get access all areas. . . #guernsey #guernseylife #guernseydaily #loveguernsey #goldenguernseygoats #goldenguernseygoat #goldenguernsey #goat #goatlove #farmlife #smallholding #homeed #homeeducation #homeeducationguernsey #homeeducationuk #charlottemason #charlottemasonuk #charlottemasonliving #charlottemasoneducation #charlottemasonhomeschool #naturestudy #farmschool

It’s been a few weeks since I managed to write a letter and this ones actually from a few months back, but I plan to write three this evening although that may be a little ambitious! Scaling back the mail art may be the way forward at the moment, but lovely lettering and a few well placed stamps always look good to me. 👌🏽 . . #snailmail #happymail #mailart #letterwriting #lettering #fauxcalligraphy #brushlettering #penpals #showandmail #sendmoremail #keeplettersalive

An appropriate photo for today’s rainy weather although this pic was actually taken last summer and it’s been on my phone ever since because it’s just too cute to delete. . Despite the wet spring weather today though we had a really good home ed day, something I really needed as this past month I’ve not been quite so on it with my organisation and our rhythm had become a bit lax. . . The day went as follows: . CHORES: Straight after breakfast Blossom emptied the dishwasher and washing machine and the three of us hung laundry together. . . TABLE TIME: This usually only lasts about 5 mins but Blossom has become a little more reluctant of late so I’ve scaled things back even more and we get it out of the way early. I also try to have something fun to offer for after. Today she spent a couple of minutes signing her name on some cards. . YOGA: The fun bit after today’s table time was yoga. The girls love @cosmickidsyoga so did a couple whilst I finished getting myself ready for the day. . . MORNING BASKET: Around 9:30am we sat down for today’s book basket, which consisted of our usual devotions, a natural history guide, The Tale of Jeremy Fisher by Beatrix Potter and this week’s music study - a Spanish piece played on the guitar. We then watched a video of a flamenco dancer and my girls were suitably wowed! This lasted about 30 mins. . ERRANDS: We then headed out on errands to buy storage boxes, return a few items, including a tonne of library books and the girls picked a couple more. On the way home Blossom instigated a conversation about what to do if she got lost in town which led on to us recapping how to find the police station, fire safety and how to make emergency phone calls. . QUIET TIME: A spot of free play after lunch whilst I caught up on emails. . DOCUMENTARY: We then eagerly sat down to catch up on some @bbcspringwatch together . FARM VISIT: Every Wednesday the girls visit their Nan & Pa down on the goat farm. Today they played with their cousins and bottle fed some goats. . How did your day go? . #thegirardgirls #homeed #homeeducation #homeeducationuk #homeschool #homeeducationguernsey #charlottemasonuk #charlottemasoneducation

Another fabulous book by Angela McAllister. A couple of weeks back I recommended “A Year Full of Stories: 52 Folktales and Legends From Around the World ” and I also highly recommend “A World Full of Animal Stories: 50 Folktales and Legends.” . Unlike the “A Year Full of Stories” book this one doesn’t organise the stories by calendar dates or seasonal celebrations but instead groups the stories by the continents from which they came. This means you can read through them at your own pace combining literature with geography to learn more about the country and cultures you’re currently studying. We’ve personally started with Europe. . . There are stories from Ghana and Tibet, Mexico and Peru, Denmark and Papua New Guinea. A really diverse mix and the illustrations by Aitch are so vibrant! A truly beautiful book, recommend for children aged around 5-11 years, in my opinion. . . #homeed #homeeducation #homeeducationuk #homeeducationguernsey #homeschool #homeschooling #charlottemason #charlottemasonuk #charlottemasonliving #charlottemasoneducation #charlottemasonhomeschool #morningbasket #bookbasket #circletime #livingbooks #childrensbooks #folktales #aworldofanimalstories #angelamcallister

Another shot from our #lessiaunsmuchis fairy door hunt from the Island Explorer Trail 2019. I knew there was a neolithic dolmen up on L’Ancresse Common but I had never been. It was a very impressive one too with five capstones weighing in at an almighty 10 tonnes! . . There were 4 neolithic sites as part of the trail and it’s got me feeling really excited about introducing history to our weekly schedule come September. We’re starting with prehistoric history and then onto the stone age so will be revisiting some of the sites we went to on this trail as well as a few others we’ve never seen. . We’re also heading to England in October for a road trip up to the Lake District so I’m hoping we can tie it in with at least 1 field trip to a stone age site. . So tell me my fellow Brits, what sites would be roughly enroute down the west side of the country, a part from Stonehenge, that would tie in with our studies? We’ll be heading to Windermere from Poole via Gloucester and then back down again via St Helens, Merseyside. . . #thegirardgirls #guernsey #guernseylife #islandlife #islandexplorer #islandexplorertrail #fairytrailguernsey #heritagesite #guernseyheritage #heritagefestival #guernseyheritagefestival #naturewalk #naturestudy #historylesson #historylovers #neolithic #stoneage #dolmen #homeed #homeeducation #homeeducationguernsey #homeeducationuk #homeschool #homeschooling #charlottemason #charlottemasonuk #charlottemasonliving #charlottemasoneducation #charlottemasonhomeschool

This pics from a few months back when we were in our seasonal home ed funk that comes with the cold, grey weather and I was feeling very uninspired as a home educator. This particular Monday we did some outdoor geography with our Nature Explorers group down on one of the south coast beaches, surrounded by the cliffs. One of the mums ran a whole session on pebbles with lots of hands on games and team building thrown in. It was such an inspired morning! I’m so thankful for the input of the other mums in the group who come up with such creative ideas, ideas I would never come up with. This community of mums often inspires routes of learning for us and help me to think outside of my natural comfort zone when it comes to being a home educator. Thanks to them I’ve discovered and borrowed some fabulous books, been to places on the the island I’ve never seen and learnt to be more active with my teaching and more relaxed with my goals. The community is as good for me as it is my girls. #thegirardgirls . Tell me, what do you learn from the community around you? . . #homeed #homeeducation #homeeducationguernsey #homeeducationuk #homeschool #homeschooling #charlottemason #charlottemasonuk #charlottemasoneducation #charlottemasonliving #charlottemasonhomeschool #naturestudy #natureexplorer #geography #homeschoolcommunity

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