Thank you for coming along for this ride, friends! In this series, I hoped to give voice to committed Christian families who have made the decision to attend public school and who have had a largely-positive experience. I wanted to encourage other Christian public school families, and offer greater understanding to those who’ve chosen a different path. With the help of five generous friends, I believe we’ve done that, and I’m grateful.
Though it feels like there’s little to add at this point, you’ve got me today :) Let’s do it!
Tell us about yourself and your family.
You know me :) But for those who are new, I work part-time as a writer for a goal-setting company. My husband, John, is a financial planner, and we have three kids – June (7, in second grade), John Shepherd (5, in a Montessori preschool), and Annie (2, in the same preschool). We live in a suburb of Raleigh, NC.
Why are you choosing public school for your family?
John and I both grew up attending public schools and had positive – even great – experiences. I remember arriving at college and being surprised by the subpar writing skills of some of my classmates who had graduated from prestigious private schools. Our K-12 school experiences weren’t perfect, but the laughably-strange teachers along the way were more than balanced out by the incredible, life-changing teachers we were lucky to spend time with. We made great friends, had wonderful (albeit not particularly glamorous) opportunities, and were well-prepared to succeed academically in college, which in turn set us up for careers we love.
Structurally, school is very different here than it was growing up in Connecticut. We grew up with town-based schools, so pretty much everyone in our town went to one of three elementary schools, then the one middle school and the one high school. There was one magnet school and one Catholic school I can think of, and that was it.
Where we live now, the options are seemingly endless. We’re in a county system, so everyone has the option of a traditional or a year-round school (and rezoning feels like a looming threat). Next, there are tons of themed magnet options that are within the public school system. Beyond that, there are yet more charter, private secular, and private Christian schools to choose from. It is truly dizzying to consider, especially for this Enneagram 5 researcher. Each comes with pros and cons, from cost to technology use to commutes to school population to ideology.
Still, with all of those options (or perhaps because of them), we considered our neighborhood public school our default choice. Something relatively dramatic would have needed to happen to push us to another option, and it didn’t, so we didn’t.
We also believe strongly in the importance of a vibrant and healthy public school system. It’s scary for me to think what our schools – and, ultimately, our society – would look like if all the Christian parents, or all the engaged parents, or all the wealthy parents, or all the parents with social capital, pulled out of public schools.
Speaking of cost, though we theoretically could afford private school, it is mind-numbing to think of the money we are saving by not paying tuition 36 times over. If I consider the actual most likely private schools we’d consider (because you know I’ve done research!), we are realizing a savings of between $242,700 and $461,250 in today’s dollars by sending our kids to public school over their schooling lifetime. That is an INCREDIBLE amount of money that could – and does and/or will – go to improving their current schools, giving generously to our church and other organizations we believe in, starting our own non-profit, funding scholarships at our alma maters, traveling the world with our kids, and helping them launch families or businesses one day, if they should so choose.
Finally – and I have been trying for weeks to figure out exactly how to word this, so bear with me – we believe our children are infinitely precious, but not fragile. We don’t believe we need to coddle them, and in fact believe that they will have a better chance of growing into the people we hope they’ll be, and leading the lives we hope they’ll live, if they do not have every lesson handpicked and fine-tuned for them and their interests, every opportunity presented to them on a silver platter, every environment perfectly suited to their liking, and every obstacle mown from their path. We believe they’ll grow from having to navigate less-than-ideal learning conditions (within reason, of course) as well as different personalities and opinions along the way. In the long term, we don’t think the absolute best is, actually, always the best.
What has been your experience with public school so far? Give us an overview.
Our experience thus far has been pretty much uniformly positive! Our teachers have been fantastic – communicative, capable, warm, and ready to see our daughter as an individual and meet her where she is, with lots of creative ways to make sure she’s being challenged. Our feedback has been warmly received. June truly loves going to school, loves her teachers, and loves to learn. She has also made wonderful friends.
As parents, we are hands-on, and this feels like a calling and (mostly) a pleasure, too. I read every email and handout that’s sent home. I read policies and meeting notes. We go to as many events as we can. I peruse the library books she brings home. I connect with and talk to other parents. We vote in every local election. Her school makes it easy to be involved, and we take them up on it.
What has been one of your favorite parts about your school experience so far? Has anything been challenging?
Let’s do two of each!
First, we love going to a neighborhood school. Especially since the majority of students walk or bike to school, there is such a sense of community as everyone streams toward the campus in the morning. We love sharing a common experience with our neighbors, where it’s easy to ask for and give advice about school activities, teachers, etc. As Claire noted, this makes it much easier to love our neighbors in tangible ways. And, as I’ve mentioned many times before, biking to school is our favorite. It’s a delightful way to bookend the day, and because our commute is so short, we get more time back to be together as a family and spend in ways that are valuable to us.
Second, it is a great delight to love on the teachers, staff, and administration. While we could do this in any school we attend, my sense is that it’s more needed and valued where we are. Our goal is to make the school noticeably better by our presence. We want our kids’ classmates to be better off than if we had not been there, and to leave teachers grateful that our kids were in their class. None of this is to make our name great, but because it’s what we believe glorifies God.
(There are a lot of specific ways we do this, and I’m happy to share them. However, this post is exceptionally long already, so if there’s interest, I’ll add this topic to the queue for the future!)
Now for the challenges…
First, what has been most challenging personally is dealing with comparison and jealousy. For as confident of a person and parent as I am, school choice is easily the area where I feel the most doubt and experience the most jealousy. Private Christian school, classical school, homeschooling, Acton Academy, Montessori – you name it, I’ve probably researched it and can see the good in it. We love our kids and know that schooling is a huge part of their lives, and so it’s easy to feel a lot of pressure to “get it right” and to want the absolute best (whatever that is!).
Second, I know this is a series particularly about the place where our faith and our kids’ education meet, but the thing I most wish I could change three years in has been technology. In second grade, phones are not a thing, but every kid has a school-issued laptop and they spend time on them within lessons each day, and I just wish they didn’t. This is probably not surprising :) They’re certainly not on them all day, and I trust the balance the teachers are striking, but still, I’d change it if I could, and I’d also give the kids more time outside. We balance these school-day downsides by maintaining our low-tech environment at home and pushing them outside as often as possible!
What does faith formation look like for your family outside of or alongside school? How are you helping your kids to know and love God and their neighbors?
How much time do you have?! Ha! Knowing that our kids are not being formed in the Christian faith in public school, and in fact may be counter-formed in some ways, we spend an incredible amount of time and energy thinking about this and acting on it.
We worship and serve at church on Sundays. We invest deeply in our small group. We encourage their friendships, and our family’s friendships, with other believers. We continually point to our faith daily in conversation. We pray together. We play worship music on the go and in the house. We talk about the many forms of generosity, and invite our kids to live a generous, abundant life alongside us – and to share that life with others.
What are your hopes for your kids and their education? What’s the best-case scenario?
Honestly, my answer is a mash-up of Ginna’s and Krystal’s – they summed things up so beautifully!
We care deeply about education, but it is not ultimate in our family: loving God and loving their neighbor is. My hope for their education is that they learn from teachers who inspire them and alongside peers who bring them joy. I hope they grow to love reading and learning itself. As parents, I hope we can be involved in connecting what they are learning in school to the amazing God of the universe.
It’s also hard for me to tease out my hopes for their more formal schooling from their upbringing in our home. I could say much more about my hopes for who they are as one-day grown-ups, but that is not something I expect school to accomplish.
Do you plan to continue with public school indefinitely, do you plan to change course in the future, or do you hold it with open hands?
We will take it year by year. We have had a great experience so far with elementary and hope and plan to continue with it for all of our kids. We’ll consider our options anew when it comes to middle and high school.
Anything else to add?
For me, it’s been incredibly important to have close Christian friends who are walking the same public school path as us. Both of the other families in our small group who have elementary-aged kids have chosen public school, and that is an invaluable support, especially when the doubt or jealousy or fear creeps in.
Friends, please feel free to respond to anything I mentioned in your usual kind and thoughtful way. I’m sure this will not be the last time we touch on this subject, but I’m grateful that we could cover as much ground as we did over the last few weeks. Thank you, as always, for being a part!
We came home from last year’s 10th wedding anniversary trip to Mexico determined to get away at least once a year from now on, even if briefly. Though this year’s trip isn’t as spectacular as last year’s (11 doesn’t have quite the heft as 10 :)), I’d love to share a few photos and details from our weekend in Charleston, if you’d like to see!
The logistics of our anniversary weekend
Though I was pulling for a three-night stay, John’s preference for two nights – for cost considerations – won out. We woke the kids up at their normal time on Friday morning to say goodbye, and then left them in my parents’ capable hands to make the four-hour drive to Charleston. We stayed two nights and left around 10:30am on Sunday to head home.
Where we stayed in Charleston
We booked our hotel late last year. After much research, John chose The Charleston Place: we wanted to be centrally located, and it’s smack-dab in the middle of the downtown action. We considered a number of “trendier” hotels, including the Dewberry, the Vendue, and Zero George, but were surprised by how much more expensive they were than Charleston Place – which itself was already expensive! Charleston Place was absolutely wonderful, and we would definitely stay there again if we had the chance.
What we did on our weekend in Charleston
On Friday, we pulled into Mount Pleasant, a suburb of Charleston, just in time for a later lunch. Since we have both been to Charleston a few times before, we thought it would be fun to explore a new-to-us area on this trip. We ate lunch at the Post House Inn, which is just adorable perfection with a Southern-meets-California vibe – I felt like we were on the set of a Nancy Meyer’s movie. The food was good, too :)
After lunch we strolled the neighborhoods, taking in the adorable and stately homes, and walked all the way out to the Pitt Street Bridge for a view of the marsh. We also may have stumbled upon a certain very famous influencer doing her influencer thing, husband behind the camera, while we walked, purely by chance. We gave them a wide berth and tried to act natural while we strolled past :)
It was about 3:30 when we got back to our car in the village center, and we stumbled across the most charming scene: school had just gotten out, and there were piles of bikes scattered in front of the local pharmacy, with kids of all ages inside sitting at the soda fountain counter, sipping milkshakes and buying penny candy. I was ready to move in to the neighborhood!
After getting our fix of village nostalgia, we drove over the bridge to Charleston proper and checked into our hotel. We had a later dinner reservation, so we got into our suits and took a dip in the rooftop pool, then changed for dinner and walked around the historic district and out to the Battery for a bit before heading to the restaurant. The weather was absolutely perfect, as it was for most of the weekend.
I took this pic to send to Lisa, since I was wearing my beloved Ella heels! Also fun: I’m wearing a dress I borrowed from Bethany in our ongoing clothing exchange :)
John chose both of our dinner reservations, and on Friday we ate at High Cotton. It is classic and steakhouse-adjacent, and definitely a place people go to celebrate occasions – the couple sitting two tables over was celebrating their anniversary, and then the couple that sat down at the table next to us later in the meal was also married on September 15th! The service was particularly friendly and excellent.
The next morning, after a brief kerfuffle over where to eat breakfast (more on that below), we walked over to a traveling exhibition of the artwork of the Sistine Chapel. We hadn’t planned to buy tickets – we didn’t know about it beforehand! – but had walked by the building the day before and thought it looked neat. And it was! We spent about an hour and a half listening to the audio guide, walking slowly around the space, and taking in the art before heading back into the sunshine.
From there, we popped into a few shops on King Street – Candlefish, Savanah Bee Company, Amanda Lindroth, Faherty. I wish we had had time to get to the other end of King, where Lake, Roller Rabbit, and a few other favorites are located, but maybe next time :)
We had had a late breakfast and had a late dinner planned, so mid-afternoon we picked up a few treats from Vivian Howard’s grab-and-go shop, Handy & Hot, then headed back to our hotel to read on the rooftop deck. We did read for a bit, and indulged in gourmet hot dogs that were grilling on the roof, but pretty quickly headed back out on the hotel’s complimentary bikes. We took them all over the historic district and out to the Battery and this was, unsurprisingly, one of my favorite parts of the weekend.
With an 8pm dinner reservation, we had plenty of time to get gussied up, walk over to the Dewberry Hotel, and take the elevator up to the Citrus Club. This is the Dewberry Hotel’s rooftop bar, and several people had recommended we grab a drink there (at sunset, if possible!).
Important to know: they do not take reservations. When we arrived at 6:45, they had one table left, and it was inside (there are only about 4 tables inside total). We gladly took it, especially because even with an inside table, you’re welcome to walk out to the rooftop deck. The view was spectacular – worth paying for the very expensive drinks :)
Dinner was at Charleston Place’s restaurant, Charleston Grill, and it was the epitome of fine dining. It was an incredible treat and we had a delicious and very special evening.
After two absolutely gorgeous days, we woke up to rain on Sunday. We ended up eating at Charleston Place’s more casual spot for breakfast, and while it was delicious and a really pretty space, I think if the weather had been nicer we would have ventured elsewhere – it was a little more than we would have preferred to pay for breakfast.
After that, we hopped in the car and headed home to our babies!
Now about that kerfuffle. A few friends had asked if we were planning to do any marriage-esque exercises on this trip. (If you recall, we had a full slate of questions to work through last year, which was really wonderful and added so much to our trip.) For year 11, we did not have any formal activities planned… but apparently God had an informal one planned (ha!).
Let’s set the scene. It’s Saturday morning, and we’re trying to decide where to eat breakfast. We both want bagel sandwiches. I am harboring a teensy bit of bubbling resentment for John booking our other meals unilaterally. (Which, I know! I should have been nothing but grateful that he chose such spectacular spots for us!) We decide to try one place, but see another coffee shop on the way there that looks super cute. We duck in, but there are a bunch of people there, it’s a small space, and it’s a little confusing what’s actually on the menu. We leave. We arrive at the original place. It is… unassuming, and I am not thrilled. Turns out they do not have bagel sandwiches. Now no one is thrilled, and everyone is hungry.
John suggests we go to Caviar & Bananas, a breakfast spot we’ve been to on many trips to Charleston before. We proceed to get in an argument about how what I value in vacation restaurants seems to get dismissed (me), and how I seem ungrateful and illogical (John, I can only assume). We huff along to C&B. We order bagels. We eat them. We make up and continue on with our vacation, and it is lovely.
On the car ride home, we listened to a sermon on James 4:1-12, called “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble.” John cued it up, and I can only imagine this was not an accident, ha. It’s worth a listen, but for us, the upshot was that though we like to think that the reason we experience conflict is because of other people, really (according to James) the reason we experience conflict is because we are not getting something we want, something we feel entitled to. We feel that other person is keeping us from it.
James goes on to say that conflict points to the presence in our heart of two things that have nothing to do with the other person – idolatry, and a lack of trust in God. The key to overcoming the conflict is to humble yourself, admitting that your idolatrous desires are fanning the flames. The other person might be at fault, but the reason you’re raging and bitter is because your idolatrous heart has latched on to something other than God that you think is necessary for happiness.
Boom. We turned off the sermon, and both were able to name the things that we were coveting the previous morning – the things that we felt we were being kept from – that led to our argument. It’s not that what we desired was all bad, just that it was leading us to mistreat another person.
Anyway, I know those are some big Christian words (covet! idols!), and the sermon certainly put it more elegantly than I did, but it was sweet to see that God didn’t let us finish our weekend without healing the sore spot. And though we didn’t necessarily set out to learn a new truth about relationships, He had something else in mind.
There’s never a dull day in marriage, am I right? :) Thank you, as always, for coming along for the ride!
The world would be a better place if everyone had a friend like Ginna. She’s kind, she’s wise, she’s generous, she’s humble. But perhaps my favorite thing about her is that she has this incredible gift of living in and ably navigating the real world, with all its brokenness and ugliness, while also faithfully looking toward the kingdom of God – and drawing the eyes of everyone around her to it, as well. I am easily a better friend, mom, wife, neighbor, and follower of Jesus because I get to walk alongside her.
Ginna has some powerful, wise words to share with us today. This is a lengthy post, and I hope it blesses you like it has me!
Just a note: if you haven’t read the intro post yet, start there!
Tell us about yourself and your family.
Hello, EFM readers! My name is Ginna and I live in Durham, NC, with my husband, two daughters, and dog. My oldest daughter is 7, in second grade, and my youngest is 6, in kindergarten. My husband is a software engineer and I run a bookkeeping company. You can find me @ginnaneel on Instagram. I know Emily through Articles Club and we have talked about this topic many times over delicious dinners!
Why are you choosing public school for your family?
The choice of where to send your children to school is really a pretty recent concept, since up until maybe 60 years ago, for most people, there was only one school choice based solely on your location. Now, there seem to be endless options! This can be helpful, especially if you need an alternative learning style for your child, but having so many options can also make the decision challenging.
As we were approaching the elementary years and having long (looong!) conversations about where to send our kids, we ultimately decided on public school.
I never felt called to homeschool, so we were left with the choices of private, charter, public, or moving to another district.
Historically, our county has a reputation for “bad schools.” In fact, just a mile away in Wake county, the same layout of our house would go for $50k+ more simply because it’s in a different school district.
When I asked around about the school we were assigned to, I heard a lot of, Oh I would never send my kid there… heard bad things… low-scoring school… kids from bad homes… etc. After pressing a little bit more, I learned quickly that the school was generally dismissed before taking a tour, trying it out, or hearing any first-hand experience from parents whose children had attended recently.
I finally got in touch with a friend of a friend who attended our church and sent their children to the school. She had nothing but amazing things to say about the teachers, the staff and her kids’ experience there.
Aside from a few personal reviews from other parents, the other reasons we chose our public school were:
1. The diversity of public school gives our children the opportunity to become friends with people who do not look like them or come from the same social-economic background.
2. Financially, it just made more sense to our budget.
3. We really wanted our children to be close to home and did not want to spend a lot of our time driving to/from school, like many of the charter schools would have required.
4. We knew that since they were not getting a Christian education at school, it would require my husband and I to be vigilant about instilling in our children a Christian worldview at home.
5. And finally, we believe that all children have the right to education, and feel that our educational system needs more believing Christians entering into it and not fleeing from it.
Now, this topic of school choice is a fiery one, and I totally get it! I still feel a lot of insecurity about our choice, even though it’s going well. I feel like each individual family needs to make their own decision on what is best for their child. I grew up going to a Christian private school and loved that experience! It was the coziest, loveliest school, and I have some of the best memories and friends from my time there. I also know so many friends who are homeschooling and doing it beautifully!
But ultimately, we decided to enter into public school and take it year by year, child by child.
What has been your experience with public school so far? Give us an overview.
We are starting our third year in public school and love it! My oldest entered in fall 2021 (bless those who sent their kindergarteners a year prior!) and last year my youngest and our former foster son were in the public pre-k program at the same school.
Academically – the reason they are there, after all! – it has been great. I am so impressed with all that they have learned so far. They both arrived at school after years of preschool and in some cases are more advanced academically than some of their peers, and the teachers do a great job of tailoring their work to their academic level so they are not bored.
We receive information from the teachers on a regular basis on their progress and behaviors. I have the personal cell phone for each of the teachers, receive updates and announcements through a private class app, and receive emails and phone calls for any county-wide or school announcements. Each quarter we have a check-in with the teacher on their progress, normally through phone, Zoom or in person.
Aside from academics, I think the key to a happy kid at school are good teachers and positive friendships, two things that are kind of outside of your control no matter the school. But so far we have had some amazing teachers and great peer friendships.
What has been one of your favorite parts about your school experience so far? Has anything been challenging?
The school community is great. Any time we’ve had a school-wide event, the staff, parents and students are all so friendly and I have gotten to know many of the other parents in our class through volunteering and chaperoning field trips. The cost is pretty sweet – you can’t beat free! And public schools are given a lot of state resources and programming that other schools are not afforded.
As for challenges, because it is a large county school, we have a lack of control over classroom or teacher choice, like you may in other schools. Because the system is large, sometimes making a change can be time consuming. For example, I tried to get my former foster care son occupational therapy at school, but due to the case load and some details needed by social services, it took longer than we’d like.
The only other challenge is that kids are assigned laptops to occasionally watch educational videos. I haven’t see any negative effects to them socially or academically, but it is certainly more screen time than they ever have at home (which is very minimal).
What do you wish other Christians knew about your life as a faithful family in public school? What might surprise people about your journey in public school so far?
Believe it or not, there are other Christians in public school! I think there is a Christian subculture misperception that public schools are full of evil, secular people, but that is not the case. I have met a handful of other parents and teachers who are Bible-believing, church-attending Christians.
Another surprise is that everyone seems to know my kids! I thought we would lose out on the coziness of a private school, but just the other day we had open house and so many teachers recognized my kids by name.
I was also delighted to find out how deeply these teachers love the kids. I’m sure that’s not the case for every teacher, but the ones we have go above and beyond to make sure their kids are happy, healthy, learning, and invested in their growth – not just academically, but also in their character. (Let’s push to increase teacher salaries, shall we? :))
What does faith formation look like for your family outside of or alongside school? How are you helping your kids to know and love God and their neighbors?
Because I know the kids are not getting a foundation of a Christian worldview in their school, it has really challenged me to step up our faith formation at home. This has been such a blessing!
We are not perfect at this, but our regular home life includes prayer before meals, reading Bible stories and books that share our faith, weekly church services, devotional journals, and they attend Awanas near our house for worship and bible memory. I try to reinforce that our faith is not just with our immediate family, but that there is a whole community of believers in our extended family, neighborhood, and city.
At the end of the day, though, I know more is caught than taught, and modeling the behavior I want them to emulate speaks more than any teaching I can do. This challenges me so much to model the values we believe to them – serving each other in our home, offering an apology and repentance when we fall short, and modeling what it looks like to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the least of us in our community through foster care.
What are your hopes for your kids and their education? What’s the best-case scenario?
My deepest desire is for my children to grow to love and serve God. My hope for their education is that they learn in a safe environment with teachers who inspire them, peers who bring them joy, and that they graduate high school as students with a strong foundation to enter adulthood with wisdom and discernment, ready and equipped to bring joy and healing to this broken world.
Do you plan to continue with public school indefinitely, do you plan to change course in the future, or do you hold it with open hands?
We are holding our kids and our decisions with open hands, trusting God will provide us with guidance along the way. As long as we feel like our kids are learning and safe, we will stay the course.
Anything else to add?
I want to encourage those who are in the middle of their decision-making to ask yourself whether you are making a decision out of prayer or out of fear.
The American Christian subculture has a strong bias against public school in favor of home school, private school, or some moderation between the two. If you are a Christian parent, then you no doubt have seen it, heard it, and probably believe it. (I certainly did!) The messaging is strongly encouraging parents to protect your child from the secular world’s evils and give your children a secured environment that not only teaches them academically, but also the foundation of God’s truth.
But this narrative, I believe, is actually bad theology on two fronts.
First, by this logic, we are telling ourselves and teaching our children that God is only God for the rich. Because to have a choice at all in education is a great privilege: only the privileged in time can have one parent home to homeschool, and only the privileged in money can pay to send their child to private school. And even though many middle class parents could probably decrease their lifestyle to afford such privileges, there are so many lower-income families working minimum-wage jobs who simply cannot, nor will ever, have any choice for education except public.
Secondly, if we think that in order to be a believing, God-fearing adult you must grow up in a fully-sheltered Christian environment, that is limiting God’s power. We are called to be good stewards in raising our children, but ultimately salvation belongs to the Lord.
So my encouragement to you, as believers in a world full of many messages, is to pray and use the Holy Spirit to be your guiding light when you make this decision, not what the latest podcast or Christian influencer is sharing. You are the very best parent for your child and are equipped with all you need. I switched preschools for my oldest a few years ago because I just had a feeling that I should. It didn’t really make a lot of sense! But I am glad that I went with my intuition and felt a great peace with that switch.
I hope this has been helpful! Please take my experience as one of very many out there. As a private school graduate (who adored the whole experience, truly), a friend to so many fabulous homeschooling moms, a neighbor to many charter school attendees, and a fellow public school parent in the trenches at the PTA meetings, I see you all and your hard work and love for your children. I pray that God will give each of us wisdom and strength as we parent this next generation. And thank you, Emily, for the chance to share my experience!
Ginna, you are a gift to me and to many! Thank you for taking the time to share your family and your thoughts with us – it truly means so much.
Friends, please feel free to respond to anything Ginna mentioned in your usual kind and thoughtful way. Grateful for you! Next week will be our final post in this series as I share my thoughts to wrap things up.
Invariably, the words I write at the top of my PowerSheets each month are some variation on “This time is yours to enjoy.”
This, apparently, is the reminder I need month after month – not a reminder to work harder or do more, but a gentle (yet insistent) remix of my grandmother’s “I just tried to enjoy them.” In the swirl of work, and distractions, and travel, and daily responsibilities, and evenings, and mornings, and after-school afternoons, it is the call that most resonates with me: to look around. To notice. To delight. To enjoy the imperfect abundance all around me, and to reflect gratitude to the One from whom all blessings flow.
I am extending that offering to you this month, too.
On my calendar: — Trick or treating in a family Halloween costume once again, though this year’s theme is child-directed and looks to be less creative than past years… — Our annual fall mountains trip! We are headed to Boone. Very excited by our lineup of hikes and restaurants and also by the fact that it will be in the 30’s when we wake up some days (!). — Two back-to-back camping trips – one with our small group from church and the other, our rescheduled outing with the Rays due to torrential downpour.
What I’m loving right now: — 2024 PowerSheets are available now! I went with the Jade cover and it is even more beautiful in person. Join me! :) — These little penguin ice packs are perfect for sliding into lunchboxes or anywhere you need something slim! — Poor Bishop Hooper is a new-to-me duos that sets the Psalms to music. I think this playlist is the perfect background for cooking or tidying up the house in the evening.
As a reminder, you can find allll the things I’ve loved over the last few years neatly organized right here!
What you’re loving right now:
New segment alert! I thought it could be fun to highlight a few items here that have been popular in the last month with fellow readers, based on my analytics. Maybe this will help you find something you’ll love!
What I read in September: — The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue | June and I continue our parallel reading of this series :) Just the sweetest! — The Common Rule | A friend and I are leading a book study of this at church, so I’m re-reading it one chapter a time. It’s been great, and I’m experimenting much more with the habits than I did when I read it on my own! — Golden Son | The middle book in the Red Rising trilogy, which I’m re-reading after a few years. Though my YA author friend calls this the best dystopian fiction he’s ever read (and I can see why), I also remember why I never went on to read the third book last time: the ending is crushing. Going to push through and complete the trilogy this time, though!
My reading list for 2023!I’m still 19 / 24 so far for the year, but I feel confident I’ll complete the list over the next three months! :)
Revisiting my September goals: Work out 3 hours each week (I did not quite hit this, but I made lots of progress! I also need to figure out a better way to track this… going to experiment with using my monthly planner in the month ahead.) Tackle the garage (YES! Major win!See a little reflection on this project here.) Film Sheptember Make our 2015-2019 photo album (Progress! I laid out 2015…) Write and design the Articles Club guide (Moving to October!) Book a fall family photo session (Booked + completed!) Share the first half of the new blog series (Yes! Thank you for all your kind, thoughtful participation here – it’s been a joy!)
October goals: — Write and design the Articles Club guide — Edit Sheptember, Volume 5 — Host the chocolate chip party — Tackle Annie’s closet — Organize the gift storage (There’s a particular spot in our attic where I toss things throughout the year as I buy gift or stocking items on travels, at consignment sales, etc. It’s time to go through it so I know what I’m working with as December approaches!) — Send care packages to our college babysitters — Finish our 2015-2019 photo album — Execute an extra-special setting for the 8th anniversary of Articles Club
As a reminder, many of these are drawn from my 2023 goals!
Last quarter of 2023, here we go! Feel free to comment on anything I’ve mentioned here or anything else on your mind!
