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Category: Gratitude Journal

{November Gratitudes}

On November 30, 2019November 30, 2019 By JessicaIn Gratitude JournalLeave a comment

Gratitudes November 2019 | The Open Home — For gorgeous girls and the glorious ginkgo.

Gratitudes November 2019 | The Open Home — For living history and Granny expeditions.

Gratitudes November 2019 | The Open Home — For a successful school term and fun along the way.

Gratitudes November 2019 | The Open Home — For patience and perseverance and breaks in the weather.

Gratitudes November 2019 | The Open Home — For scarves and boots and autumn in all it’s glory.

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

{October Gratitudes}

On October 31, 2019October 30, 2019 By JessicaIn Gratitude JournalLeave a comment

Gratitudes October 2019 | The Open Home — For growing girls and autumn glory.

Gratitudes October 2019 | The Open Home — For educational pilgrimages and legacies that live on.

Gratitudes October 2019 | The Open Home — For the imperfections that make us human.

Gratitudes October 2019 | The Open Home — For simple pleasures and postal beauties.

Gratitudes October 2019 | The Open Home — For links to the past and memories that live on.

Gratitudes October 2019 | The Open Home — For sisterly adventures and home ed on the road.

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

What have you been thankful for lately?

{September Gratitudes}

On September 30, 2019September 27, 2019 By JessicaIn Gratitude JournalLeave a comment

Gratitudes September 2019 | The Open Home — For eager students and the start of new chapters.

Gratitudes September 2019 | The Open Home — For unexpected moments and fresh memories.

Gratitudes September 2019 | The Open Home — For the love of history and books galore!

Gratitudes September 2019 | The Open Home — For intrepid explorers and the return of welly boot season.

Gratitudes September 2019 | The Open Home — For autumn strolls and sisterly secrets.

Gratitudes September 2019 | The Open Home — For perfect moments captured by imperfect shots.

Gratitudes September 2019 | The Open Home — For pyjama school and outtakes worth sharing.

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

What have you been thankful for lately?

{August Gratitudes}

On August 31, 2019September 19, 2019 By JessicaIn Gratitude Journal2 Comments

Gratitudes August 2019 | The Open Home — For happy hearts and warm welcomes.

Gratitudes August 2019 | The Open Home — For date nights at home and very own audio book.

Gratitudes August 2019 | The Open Home — For sacrificial love and comfort in the quiet.

Gratitudes August 2019 | The Open Home — For courage that calls out to courage and the lives of those who led the way.

Gratitudes August 2019 | The Open Home — For friends that are as crazy (and cute!) as you are!

Gratitudes August 2019 | The Open Home — For a family favourites and a world of imagination.

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

What have you been thankful for lately?

{July Gratitudes}

On July 31, 2019July 30, 2019 By JessicaIn Gratitude Journal1 Comment

Gratitudes July 2019 | The Open Home — For nose scrunchingly good ice-cream!!

Gratitudes July 2019 | The Open Home — For simple pleasures and real life friends.

Gratitudes July 2019 | The Open Home — For the end of an era and a sweet sense of humour.

Gratitudes July 2019 | The Open Home — For ice cream faces, sticky fingers and summertime memories.

Gratitudes July 2019 | The Open Home — For beach domination and the sand at our feet.

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?

{June Gratitudes}

On June 30, 2019 By JessicaIn Gratitude JournalLeave a comment

The Open Home 1261 — For island life and coastal living and expeditions with my favourite.

The Open Home 1263 — For new hobbies and eager learners.

Gratitudes June 2019 | The Open Home — For morning rituals and books that delight.

The Open Home 1262 — For chilly toes and sandy feet and the very best of sensory play.

Gratitudes June 2019 | The Open Home — For hope, always hope.

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

What have you been thankful for lately?

{May Gratitudes}

On June 1, 2019June 1, 2019 By JessicaIn Gratitude JournalLeave a comment

For making memories and the whimsy of a 4 year old.

For a sweet six years and the quiet bravery the dwells within.

For imaginary worlds and plenty of sea views.

For moths that tickle and nature up close.

For new beginnings and new adventures.

These are the inserts from our gratitude journal during May, 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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It may be advent but it’s technically still autumn until the 21st of this month. We’re savouring autumn as long as we can here whilst simultaneously enjoying our advent activities. This pile of plush leaves we found in Candie Gardens earlier this week was just too irresistible and simply had to be jumped in... and rolled in... and lied on... and kicked... and thrown! 🍂 . More snapshots from our autumn nature study up on the blog today. Link in bio. 👆🏽 . . #thegirardgirls #theopenhomeblog #homeed #homeeduk #homeeducation #homeeducationuk #homeeducationguernsey #homeschool #charlottemasonhomeschool #charlottemasoneducation #charlottemasonuk #naturestudy #naturewalk #autumn #autumnleaves #autumndays

Happy Advent! . . Our advent decorations are up (although we always wait a little longer to put up the tree) and we’re already getting stuck in with our activity advent calendar and Jesse Tree readings. It’s a busy season but one I love. This chalkboard quote is actually from last year, for some reason I never got round to sharing it, still deciding what quote to use this year. Any suggestions? 🤔 . #advent #christmas #christmasdecor #christmasdecorations #chalkboard #chalkboardart #chalklettering

Oh just look at this pic of 5 year old Blossom that I snapped on a daughter date in November last year. Such a sweetheart, but then I am rather biased! . . #thegirardgirls #daughterdates #daughterlove #raisinggirls #girlmom #guernsey #cobobay

One of the things I love about home ed is that learning and friendships are not stuck within a specific year group. Our Nature Explorers group currently ranges from age 3-9 year olds and its lovely to see how the friendships unfold, with a 6 year old often pairing up with a 3 year old, for example. . . Bubbles only joined the group back in September, a transition I was a tad nervous about knowing that some situations like noisy groups or wet weather walks can result in some sensory overload for her. In all honesty, I ended up worrying myself unnecessarily about how she would fit in and what the other mums may think, despite knowing deep down that we’re all just a lovely bunch of eclectic and supportive people. . . Well last Monday whilst out on our nature walk with Nature Explorers we’d got to the pond we were aiming for, my 4 year old straggling at the back by this point tired, hungry and getting a little cranky. The older kids were happily stamping in the mud and would have done so for much longer when one of the other mums declared it was time to leave as the littler ones were getting tired and hungry. It was clearly my little one but the older kids accepted this without arguments and as we turned to walk back one of the older girls in the group slipped next to my daughter, smiled at her sweetly and took her by the hand. The smile on Bubbles’ face was so endearing and it was a wonderfully reassuring moment for me. . Acceptance. Inclusion. Understanding. We learn a lot more than just nature stuff at Nature Explorers. . . #homeed #homeeducation #homeeducationuk #homeeducationguernsey #homeschool #homeschooling #charlottemasonhomeschool #charlottemasoneducation #naturestudy #naturewalk #natureexplorer #thegirardgirls #acceptance #inclusion #understanding

Back in September I introduced British history to our weekly schedule, one of the formal lessons I’ve been eager to introduce since Blossom turned 6 back in May. We started things off with prehistoric history, mainly focusing on the Stone Age and we’ve had so much fun!!! . . The Stone Age is such a great place to start when it comes to history as there are just so many great read alouds, picture books, movies and craft ideas for all ages, not to mention the many field trip opportunities here in the U.K. and even just on Guernsey. . . We’ve dabbled with cave art, we’ve painted pictures of mammoths, we’ve made salt dough bone necklaces, we’ve created models of Stonehenge with building blocks and we even made our very own Stone Age cave! . . We also visited 12 neolithic sites in total, including 2 stone circles, a long barrow and burial mound whilst in the U.K. and 8 of Guernsey’s very own dolmens - 5 I had never seen before, so I’m learning lots too! . We just have a couple of crafts to finish off next week and maybe a quick museum visit to add in, but we’ve wrapped up our readings this week finishing things off with the Iron Age and the arrival of the Celts. We’ll pick up our British history studies again in the new year, next time focusing on Roman Britain. . We’re reluctant to get rid of the cave though and will definitely leave it in situ a little while longer as a certain 4 year old is looking forward to having a Stone Age birthday party with her cousins at the end of the year! . . #homeed #homeeduk #homeeducationguernsey #homeschool #homeschooling #charlottemason #charlottemasonuk #charlottemasoneducation #charlottemasonhomeschool #history #historylover #britishhistory #prehistory #prehistoric #stoneage #stoneagecave #caveart

Getting all these autumn pics up before advent starts and it feels like I’m too late! Love this one of the glorious ginkgo and my gorgeous girlie. Visiting the ginkgo has become an autumn tradition for us, it requires great patience, observation and perfect timing to ensure we visit when just enough leaves are on the ground. Keep an eye on my stories for ginkgo pics from the last couple of years. . . #autumn #autumndays #autumnleaves #ginkgo #ginkgotree #candiegardens #guernsey #naturelover #naturewalk #natureexplorer #thegirardgirls #homeed #homeeducation #homeeducationuk #homeeducationguernsey #homeschool #homeschooling

This piece of autumn mail was sent out a couple of weeks back now and has hopefully made an appearance in the U.S. although I’ve not had much luck lately! One celestial piece of mail took over 2 months to get to Germany (!) and another nautical piece is still lost somewhere on its way to the U.S. 😢 It’s always my favourites that seem to go missing too. Just one more piece of snail mail to go, this time an advent piece and then that’s a wrap for this year letter writing. No more mail art until 2020! . . #snailmail #happymail #showandmail #sendmoremail #mailart #outgoingmail #penpals #letterwriting #keeplettersalive #postallove #guernseystamps #guernseypost

It’s been so wet and windy here this autumn that I didn’t hold out much hope for our beloved ginkgo tree. The weather dried out just in time though and thankfully we got to see the golden leaves blanketing the ground before the gardeners blew them all away. . . #autumn #autumndays #autumnleaves #ginkgo #ginkgotree #candiegardens #guernsey #naturewalk #natureexplorer

Well today’s nature walk with our nature exploring friends was pretty miserable. We all got soaked through. So this pic is from a drier autumn walk that I had with my eldest. The mushrooms around the reservoir’s millennium walk are real beauties, proper fairy tale fungi right from the story books. 🍄 . . #flyagaric #amanitamuscaria #toadstool #mushrooms #fungi #fungiphotography #autumn #naturewalk #naturestudy #homeed #homeeduk #homeeducation #homeeducationuk #homeeducationguernsey #homeschool #homeschooling #guernsey #guernseyreservoir #autumnwatch

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