Books-of-the-Month

In our house, we've done a lot of reading over the years, from board books to novels and everything in between. Each of us has had our favorites, but one thing we all love is our holiday-themed books. And that's why Books-of-the-Month became a tradition early on. 

After eleven years of classroom teaching, I had quite a collection of books. Through the years, I added more through Scholastic Book orders that my MOPS group organized, which allowed me to accumulate a huge supply of books about the four seasons and some holidays I hadn't even considered reading about, such as Groundhog's Day(seriously!). So, each month I was able to pull out and display a big pile of books. 

If you know me, it won't surprise you that I have more Christmas books than any others! My favorite one is The Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. In fact, I read it to my teenagers, husband, and mother-in-law last Christmas. I also love The Sweet Smell of Christmas, The Polar Express (but not the movie!), The Legend of the Candy Cane, and the list goes on. 

I do have some non-Christmas favorites, too! I love a series from Liz Curtis Hicks that includes The Pumpkin Patch Parable, The Sunflower Parable, The Pine Tree Parable, and the Parable of the Lily. All were huge hits with my children.

No matter which season or holiday, the best part was always watching my children dig through the pile to find their favorites. As they got older, I passed on some books to families with younger children, but many are tucked away for my grandchildren. There are even a few that, when pulled out, will cause someone to say, "That was my favorite." 

Books may not seem like a tradition, but they became one at our house--so simple, but meaningful nonetheless!

First Day of Lessons

It must be the teacher in me, because I still get excited for the first day of school--or in our case, lessons. And an exciting day definitely deserves its own tradition!

It started on the first day of our second year of homeschooling, when I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I've made some kind of cinnamon sweet treat ever since. Depending on his work schedule, Tom sometimes helps. He's the one who started scone baking (that's another story altogether), so many first-day scones have been made over the years. 

I would also make a place mat for each child. Here's where my "you don't have to be artistic or creative to pull off traditions" comes in. I'd simply type each child's name, grade, and maybe a comment, and print the placemat. Then I'd get out my crayons and color each mat with that child's favorite colors. After a year or two, I started adding a little surprise school supply next to their plates. 

Easy. 

I probably shouldn't admit this, but when Ida moved to Louisville a few years ago, I sent her a place mat for her first day of training at the ballet. I did so again her second year, but then I decided her days of first-day place mats had come to an end.

This year, I am down to one place mat, but that doesn't make me sad; it makes me feel a sense of accomplishment. Two homeschoolers down, one to go! Each season is precious--those with a place mat and those without. 

Banana Splits

On the hottest summer days, my mom would sometimes serve ice cream for dinner. I took her ice cream idea and changed it to banana splits, because,  you know, at least there was fruit involved.

This tradition began in 2009. Surprises are always fun, right? So, I would put all the ingredients in a box, and as the children pulled each one out, they guessed what we were having for dinner. I have the cutest pictures - Ida looking all excited, and John crying because he didn't want crushed pineapples and whipped cream on his ice cream. 

The first time, I made banana split place mats for the children to color while Tom and I scooped ice cream. That part of the tradition didn't last, but the cheap glass banana split boats I found online are still pulled out once a year. 

Some years, we invited family or friends to join us - the ones who didn't mind ice cream as a main dish. Over the years, the ingredients in the boats have changed. Only one of us eats bananas, and we eventually switched from the traditional toppings to ones that we all like.

It may have morphed from splits to sundaes, but the name remains the same--Banana-Splits-For-Dinner-Night. 

 

Homeschooling

In my last post, I mentioned that we homeschool. We are just about to start year number seventeen, and I feel quite a sense of accomplishment having graduated my older two! Homeschooling is something that a lot of people say they could never do--but, like traditions, I think anyone can do it if called to. (I'd be more than happy to talk about homeschooling if it ever crosses your mind.)

I'll be honest--there were countless days when I was sure I couldn't survive one more day. I'd see the school bus going down the hill, and I'd want to run out the door screaming, "Stop!" (I'm not kidding.) My patience wore thin on a regular basis, and I lost my temper more times than I want to admit. In my head, I had an image of what a homeschool mom looked like--and it wasn't me.  

I had to pray my way through a lot of lessons. I asked God if I could quit many times and, in my heart, I always heard the words keep going. Each summer, I would once again get excited for a new school year, and I knew it was the right path for our family. Even if I didn't always love it.

The best part was the honeymoon phase--the start of the school year when I had excited and diligent students eager to start the day earlier than I was prepared to. Some years, that lasted a few weeks, and sometimes it was over by day two.

Without a doubt, homeschooling gave us a lot of time to do things that I may not have done if my children were in school all day. There were days when lessons were done, and we just had to find something to do. 

Many days, that led us to the kitchen, where we did a lot of cooking and baking. They helped with the house cleaning and weeding the garden. Whenever Tom was out of town, my children went with me wherever I had to go - the bank, post office, DMV, grocery store, or to vote. When our business, The Soranno Group, was getting off the ground, we would run errands for Tom. We spent a lot of time at Lowe's and Sherwin Williams. I have pictures of my boys loading supplies in my van and helping Tom work on his homes.

There were many things they learned when we were not doing lessons. Sometimes part of homeschooling was just doing life, and although I'm not the perfect homeschool mom, doing life was something I could pull off--at least most days.