Homeschool Planner

Sharing how I use The Happy Planner Teacher Planner as a homeschool mom of three.

My love of Happy Planners has grown over the past few years as a creative outlet and practical place to store appointments, reminders and our weekly meal plan. Due to the big change in our household this year, of becoming full time homeschooling family, there was less of a need to record a schedule or errands and more of a need to set up a separate system to organize our daily lesson plans and curriculum pacing.

I chose this BIG Teacher Planner for its size and layout. I just love the bright colors and space for every subject and any notes I may need to make. Each of our kids has a different lesson that I write out the weekend before. Each subject was printed out on transparent Avery labels to save me time each week in planning.

This week I used Flair pens to color coordinate the individual subjects, but other weeks I have used one color for each child. Both ways work about the same for us. I have also reverse planned by writing out what the kids have finished rather than what they must do. This has worked on weeks when we have schooled less, like a soft start to a subject or new unit.

Homeschooling is very new to us but I am throughly enjoying learning alongside my kids and the quality family time we have had together this year has been such a blessing.

The Happy Planner

One of my goals for 2019, was to incorporate crafting into my daily planner. This led me to The Happy Planner, a disc system day/month planner that is fully customizable & adaptable to personal creativity. I decided to go with the BIG version which gave me more space to write in activities & reminders on individual days.

The covers can be interchanged, so I am currently using is amazing water color floral + polka dots.

This week I finally got my hands on the most appropriate sticker book ever made for my life. Miss maker is my FAVORITE.

The best part has been monthly “planner playdates” with our besties. The moms & daughters have all been using their Happy Planner goodies together. We have enjoyed making time to “plan” & catch up with each other.

Choose Joy

You know the feeling when you finally get to sit down with a close friend and so much has happened in your life, you can hardly contain yourself but don't know where to begin to fill them in? 

Well, God wrote a BIG story for our family in the past couple years and I can not wait to finally share.

In the beginning of 2016, I started this new blog with hopes of sharing myself & inspiring others. The first post was a quick mention of the "one little word" concept - a single word to focus on throughout the year. The word I chose for 2016 was FAITH. Sounds simple enough. Not too much commitment if it doesn't last through the entire year, right?! No big deal. I thought it was more of an internal challenge to keep my faith in God at the center of my life.

But God...had a plan. 

A plan that terrified me. And a plan that was going to require more faith in Him than I had ever committed before. 

You see, we had walked a dark road of infertility after our second child. I was unable to get pregnant again. And when I finally did, I miscarried several times. Then, I was told many times that pregnancy was no longer possible or sustainable because of my health complications. 

This was all happening after we began to follow our desire to adopt a child. Adoption was our plan. It wasn't a backup plan or a second choice. We felt called to grow our family through domestic adoption.

The pain and grief of pregnancy loss was nearly unbearable and it was hard to understand why we had to walk this path when we were content with adoption. Not "why was this happening?" but "why now?"

In those first weeks of 2016, we continued to go through our adoption home study checklist- medical check ups, interviews, and preparing our kids to endure this journey with us. I had planned to return to Choose Joy with a friend in April, looking forward to the weekend of fellowship and openness. 

But God...that weekend, I had this underlying feeling that I was PREGNANT. Again. 

Queen Bee Craft Brunch

I was super lucky to snag a ticket to this...

...and last Saturday it was a dream come true.

The decor was beautiful. Very pretty vintage-inspired setting with gorgeous flowers everywhere. Trendee Flowers { @trendee_flowers in San Diego } delivered these over the top floral arrangements. 

This cookies were amazing. Natasha { @natsweets in San Diego } is incredibly talented. 

It was such a treat to see Heidi. She is an inspiration and genuinely cares about everyone she meets. The three projects that we worked on included a spiral notebook, Marquee Love "&" , and a "be kind" wall decor word. 

The ladies of Queen Bee Market were great hostesses. This was truly a special experience. Every element was absolutely beautiful and thoughtful.

Sew Together Bag

A few weeks back, I was at a local quilt shop when I first discovered this pattern. That particular shop is offering this as a class. I didn't sign up for the class but my mind was flooded with uses for this little bag- toiletries, makeup, pen & markers, and of course it's intended purpose- sewing supplies. Then I started noticing this little gem on my Instagram feed and decided to make (and share) one of my own. I love how it turned out!

My finished bag measures about 4 1/2 inches deep and 10 inches wide. The three interior zippered pockets act as dividers for four sections which makes this bag perfect to hold many small items.

Pattern by SewDemented Instagram @SewDemented

A year of #biblejournaling

A few days ago, I was working on my journaling Bible and realized the date stamp on that page was the same day from last year. I thought it would be fun to dig around for some "before and after" photos and post a comparison. It is amazing how each page really reminds me of what was going on in my life at that point and how the words spoke to me. Also, the progression of my journaling style has changed multiple times throughout this past year. 

May 2015

January 2016

Look at all those fun bits of papers, tags, and die cuts. Makes me so happy! 

I remember not wanting to paint the entire pages or cover the words in my Bible. I did get over both of those reservations. I was afraid to mess something up and originally had wanted to be able to read every word. Since then I have realized that this Bible is solely for artistic expression and engaging in the scriptures. I often read or study from my iPhone, iPad or another Bible simply because of convenience and how easy it is to change between versions.

Some pieces of paper are scripture verses while others are journaling cards. I also love to incorporate excerpts from books, bible studies and songs. All of those speak to us differently and can be a great way to remember principles and application.

Here is one of my first entries and I happened upon the same page this year on January 23. I knew it was accident to be back on that scripture so I wanted to add a little something and meditate over this verse again. Adding the watercolors over the top of my handwriting was the perfect touch. 

Left {BEFORE} January 2015 & Right {AFTER} January 2016