**The winner of the Work Shift eBook giveaway is Laura Haske. I’ll be e-mailing you this week. Congrats!**

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I can’t believe that September is over! I’ve got our new practical life up for October and a few fall activities. I’m planning on sharing our practical life activities from September later this week (too many pictures for one post).

Here’s what we did last week:

Beginning Sound Baskets

I wrote a brief post on our Beginning Sound Books and Baskets for toddlers last week.

Hanging Bead Stair with Numbers Out of Order

Examining Items from Our Nature Walk

If you’re looking for ideas for a nature walk, here’s 7 nature walks to take with kids.

Sticks in a Can

Memory Numbers Game

We worked on this activity for at least 30 minutes. First matching the numeral to quantity in order, then out of order multiple times. I would set it up and Joey would do the work, then he wanted to set me up with “a tricky work” and I would do the activity with his help. Finally, we played a few rounds of memory.

Working with the Brainbow from Little Sapling Toys

Sorting by Color

Counting Leaves

Linking up with:

Last week on Facebook, I shared a picture of Otto going through our beginning sound books (b, m, t, p, d). He was very interested, had already gone through a few books earlier, and then went through each again 2-3 times in one sitting.

The books are designed to help toddlers learn the phonetic sounds and broaden their vocabulary. The letters m, p, t, d, and b are the sounds most children naturally learn first, so that’s what I started with.

Each book has 6 pages with one picture per page. The pictures are of one item with little to no background images that would be distracting. I got mine mostly out of magazines. The words all start with their phonetic sounds, but don’t have consonant blends (like drum, tree, chair, brick, etc).

Another activity I’ve started to do with Otto is to have a beginning sounds basket with items starting with each beginning sound. Right now we have a ‘b’ basket on the shelf.

Recently, a friend of mine released a new ebook called Work Shift. Anne tackles the desire to pursue work we enjoy while maximizing time with our family and enjoying life.

Anne writes about the paradigm shift taking place in work and home. How families are stepping out of traditional work roles (father works/mom stays home, father & mother work, etc) and creating a life and work situation that is best for their families.

Anne shares much of her family’s own story,

We didn’t mean to be pioneers, but as we responded to the challenges that arose in our own lives it just
kind of happened.

We threw work/life balance out the window. We aimed to blend them instead of balancing them, and we were nothing if not surprised at how well it worked for our family. We love this holistic blend, and we’re never going back.

As it turns out, we’re not alone. My family’s journey is representative of larger cultural trends that have been underway since before we entered the workforce at the turn of the century. Many families are giving up on trying to balance their work lives with the rest of their lives. Instead, they’re adopting a paradigm that actually works.

Anne Bogel, Work Shift

What is great about this is there is no one size fits all. Each family is unique with different rhythms, pursuits, and goals. What my husband and I envision for our family may not be what you envision for yours and that’s fine! Just like Montessori follows the child, our aim in leading our families should be to do what is most beneficial for us/our own and not follow society’s status quo.

Work Shift gives real life examples of families who have (or are working on) making the shift to a better life blend of work and family. Anne shares stories from families of nearly every demographic as well as practical advice on moving from the regular 9 to 5 job to your ideal work situation.

This new blend has been a dream of our family, something we’ve pursued (though now we’re in a season where my husband is pursuing full-time work) and hope to continue to pursue. It’s enabled us to spend more time together as a family and pursue avenues we love most.

Giveaway

If you’d like to win a copy of Work Shift, enter below. The giveaway ends Saturday, September 29th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of Work Shift to review, but all opinions are my own. This post also contains affiliate links.

One of our favorite things about our morning school routine is reciting the Poem of the Month. The idea originated when I realized how much I missed reading poetry and prose (my undergrad is English) and wondered how I could incorporate it into our homeschool. Thus, the idea to learn a poem a week together was born. I was quite ambitious with a poem a week and quickly realized I needed to scale back to a poem a month.

Our Poetry Corner

Next to our language area, I’ve set up a small Poetry Corner. We have our poster board with the poem we’re learning for the month, a picture of the poet, and a mini biography of the poet. There’s also a basket with a few children’s poetry and rhyme books. Next to the basket is a small box that holds our key word picture cards.

Each morning after our calendar, one of the kids will take the board down while the other grabs the box and takes out the key word picture cards. As we recite the poem, the boys lay each key word picture card as we say the word. We usually recite the poem 2 – 3 times depending on interest.

When introducing a new poet and poem, I’ll say the poet’s name and ask them to repeat it. Then I’ll read the mini biography. I don’t expect them to recall specific details like their style of poetry. This month’s poet is Emily Dickinson and Joey knows her name and that she’s no longer living.

After introducing the poet, I’ll lay out the picture cards and say what each of them are or represent. For this month, a picture of a bird perched on a branch represents the word perch in the poem. I’ll tell them, “This is perch.” I’ll recite the poem once and the second time I’ll invite them to say it with me. Then we’ll say just the first stanza again.

As the boys are putting away the cards and the poetry work, I’ll repeat the poem a last time. This way they are hearing it and becoming more familiar with the poem without having to try and say it each time. We aim to learn a stanza a week. When I picked our poems for the year, I looked for poems that would be manageable. Some are 2 – 3 stanzas, while others are only a couple of lines.

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September’s Poet & Poem

This month our poet is Emily Dickinson and her poem “XIX,” better known as “Hope is the thing with feathers.” The Poetry Foundation has a nice video with Claire Danes reciting the poem and a little girl doing the sign language for the poem.

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,

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And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm

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I’ve heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

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Below you’ll find a free download/printable with the poem, mini poet bio, the key picture cards, and info sheet.

Poem of the Month – Emily Dickinson Download

Key Word Picture Cards – “Hope is the thing with feathers…”