Thoughtworthy (School Planning, Site Redesign, Read Aloud, and MORE!)

:: 1 ::

I’m knee-deep in school planning. Sometimes, it feels more like neck-deep. I’ve made a lot of decisions this week … which means I’m exhausted. On the bright side, that puts me a number of steps further in the planning process since these decisions have to be made before I can take real action in the form of printing pages, gathering supplies, or scheduling.

It’s my last school year with all my birds in the nest, something of which I am keenly aware. Trying to make space for one final go-round of field trips.

:: 2 ::

I’m doing a complete redesign of the site! My current design is apparently not mobile-friendly enough, so I’ve decided to redecorate. I’m mainly telling you this so you don’t freak out at some future point in time when you show up and don’t recognize the place. It might seem unfamiliar, but it’ll actually be the same old stuff and, frankly, I’m getting excited about it. ♥

:: 3 ::

This week in reading aloud, we finished The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart during our summer morning Circle Time. It was a good book, but not a great book — frankly, my least favorite in the series. The world Steward built wasn’t really a magical world and so the introduction of ESP (yes, really) wasn’t just unexpected; it felt unfitting.

We replaced this book with A Chameleon, a Boy, and a Quest by J.A. Myhre. I can’t give you a review yet because we literally just started it, but I have high hopes for it for sure. I bought the whole series, so we’ll be spending some time with Myhre this summer.

:: 4 ::

This month in 2017:

These rules are especially helpful when you have very young gifted kids.

:: 5 ::

Today is the LAST DAY to buy the Flourish Charlotte Mason Homeschool Annual Review! Make sure you remind your friends if they have been meaning to grab it because it’s going away until November.

Flourish is all about pausing before your plan — taking the time to really look at your children and your homeschool. Think of it like making a nature journal entry — the act of slowing down, really looking, and making the entry gives you wisdom you wouldn’t have otherwise had. That’s how Flourish works. It doesn’t give you insight as much as help you create the conditions in which needed insight can be gained.

Click here to get Flourish.

:: 6 ::

This week’s links collection:

• “It’s Going to Be Staggering, the Amount of Names”: As the Jeffrey Epstein Case Grows More Grotesque, Manhattan and DC Brace for Impact from Vanity Fair
  • You think? It’s been gross. I don’t know why supposed journalists are so shocked — I have been aware of Jeffrey Epstein (as well as his cozy relationship with Bill Clinton) for YEARS. How could they not have known about this guy?
  • Things like this are not new (and also NOT OKAY): “[T]he George W. Bush White House directed Acosta not to prosecute Epstein to protect Prince Andrew on behalf of the British government, then the U.S.’s closest ally in the Iraq war.”
  • I’m just glad someone is finally doing something.
• The Cracks in the Edifice of Transgender Totalitarianism from Public Discourse
  • “Transgenderism has shaken the foundations of all we know to be true. Scientific knowledge is rejected and medical practice co-opted in service of a new ‘reality’ — that ‘gender’ is independent of sex, that males and females of any age, even young children, are entitled to their own transgender self-identification based only on their feelings, and that literally every individual and every segment of society must bow to their chosen identity at risk of losing reputation, livelihood, and even freedom itself.”
• Reformation Wall in Geneva vandalised from Evangelical Focus
  • Shock: statues of Reformers covered in rainbow paint during Pride month.
  • Tolerance is only for the privileged.
• Mark Zuckerberg Brags: We Didn’t Allow Pro-Life Groups to Advertise Before Ireland’s Abortion Vote from PJ Media
  • But big companies don’t try to manipulate elections at all. Sure.