Welcome! I am Sarah, the Mama on the other side of the computer. I am on a quiet mission to bring back a slow childhood and since you are here, I am going to assume we are birds of a feather.
If you are new, here are a few things that are helpful for you to know:
We absolutely love country living and have been on our farm for eight years. We have two adorable babydoll sheep named Mabel and Poppy. Here is sweet Poppy, sporting her ‘hay hat’.
We also keep chickens … but not “chickens” … we have Judy, Chloe, Blackie, Pebbles, Henrietta, Henny Penny, Stacy, Baby Hen and Christopher. And we make them winter hats sometimes.
I am a passionate educator, though I use that term quite differently than most. I am no longer a teacher in the classroom and instead I am home teaching my own four children (one of which is now in University).
Two people avoided the blog photo shoot – Madeline, who is 20 now and no longer feels the need to oblige her Mother with some chicken photo posing. And my husband John who was not willing to take a “sick day” from his job as a Child Psychologist to do this photo shoot. Pfft.
Around here we do school in a different way. Quality over quantity and intertwined with our natural lives. We live connecting deeply to a rhythm. We weave a nourishing rhythm into our days, weeks, and seasons. I have found it a healthy way for us all to thrive.
A big part of our rhythm is a daily Quiet Time. If you are new here, you might not know yet about my Quiet Time Club. I am so passionate about this hour a day that I have created a membership to bring this nourishing period of the day from my home to yours.
A second part of our daily rhythm is some structured learning time. I believe that we need deep thinkers and creative minds in our world right now. Part of this is ensuring children have a strong foundation in literacy and math. We need children to be able to read, write and speak eloquently and concisely. We need children to have financial sense and strong math minds.
But this should not take 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. True learning happens after we put the pencil and paper away, after all. That is why all my curriculum focus on quality over quantity. My resources are for deep thinkers, critical thinkers, creative thinkers. They build foundational skills ensuring children are never limited in their futures.
And they all take between 20 minutes to 1 hour a day. That’s right, we do “school” in an hour a day. Then we pose for photos like this:
I have curriculum available for toddlers and preschoolers, Kindergarten children, and grade schoolers as well. These curriculum all focus on building those core, foundational reading, writing and math skills.
Finally, our days flow into unit studies. We release a new unit study on the blog every 6 weeks and currently have 15 (and counting) in the shop. These unit studies cover ALL of the other subject matters in a meaningful and state of the art manner. No dry memorization or rote learning here. Children learn huge topics in the deepest of ways and are inspired to keep learning all on their own. This is the way education should be.
Whether you are here to get ideas for keeping your little ones busy, finding learning ideas, searching for a rhythm for your family, wondering about Quiet Bins, or needing some Mama support – I am glad you are here.
The best way to get in touch with me is to leave a comment on a post. I read those every night. You can also send me an email at Sarah@HowWeeLearn.com
Thanks for visiting – I appreciate you being here.
xo
Sarah