homeschool :: 2021-2022

November 17, 2021 Megan Rodriguez

KINDERGARTEN

Here we are! Oak and I had been excitedly waiting for the start of this school year and now that we are a couple months in, we are loving it! Because I thoroughly enjoy reading other people’s homeschool plans for the upcoming year, I thought I’d share ours with you in hopes of adding more inspiration, encouragement, and resources to the world of homeschool. Below you will find our plans for the year - meaning they are plans and they may change. The beauty of homeschool is the ability to adjust, move, and shift as needed. I, however, I work best with solid plans in place from which to ability to pivot can flow more easily.

I asked the Lord to give me a word for our school year and the word that came to me was DELIGHT. So, that will be our focus this year - delighting in learning and seeing where that takes us.

My homeschooling style is a mix between Charlotte Mason and unschooling with our focus being on living books, poetry/Bible memorization, and nature study. Our language arts and math work over the next two years will be very child-led as I do not think either of these need to be prioritized with children under age 7. We will do what brings delight and enjoyment to Oak, but I will not push him in either of these things as I want these next two years to be a time of learning to love the process of learning, not doing work that he may not be mentally or physically ready for. That being said, he is interested in both, so below you will find my plans for these things. (All books are linked to Amazon for ease of use, but I generally like to buy my books used through Thriftbooks or used/new at my local bookstore.)

NOTE: Many of you know we have moved to a new house, which is a dream! However, these pictures were all taken during our first week of school back at our rental duplex, which was a sweet little place to start our school year. I have plans to share our house story in the coming months. Stay tuned… :)

Bible & Memory Work:

Bible Reading - Since January, we have been working our way chronologically through Egermeier’s Bible Story Book. Whenever we reach a story that is covered in the Jesus Storybook Bible, we read from that one instead (because that Bible is absolutely lovely). We usually read 4-5 Bible stories each week at the breakfast table while we are all gathered for the start of the day.
Devotional Reading - We have two different books we be using this year as of now. My ABC Bible Verses, which we used last year as well, and God’s Names, which is new to us. I’m very excited to explore the latter together! We will aim to read a chapter from each book each week, also at the breakfast table.
Bible Memory Work - Oak has been memorizing Bible verses for the past year and it has been so wonderful to see him grow and thrive in this! We keep it simple by working on one until he’s mastered it and then I pick a new one for him. He paints the background of a half sheet of paper and then I write the verse out in a decorative way for him. While he is not yet reading, he remembers what each verse looks like and so I can show him the card and he knows which verse to recite. He is working his way through Psalm 91 right now, but the others he has memorized are Psalm 28:7, John 14:6, Luke 2:14, John 3:16, and Joshua 1:9. As we recite them together at the table, Alder has also learned several of them - or at least parts of them. How amazing to have the Word memorized at such a young age!
Poetry - We keep a running stack of poetry books that we bounce around in throughout the week. We keep this light and read what we enjoy. A few of our favorite volumes are Where the Sidewalk Ends, Mother Goose, Sing a Song of Seasons, Around the Year, The House of a Mouse, and Hard-boiled Bugs for Breakfast. Oak picks his favorites to memorize and he regularly recites them for us. Over the past year I’ve let him pick what to memorize and when. This year I may add a bit more structure to this, perhaps similar to how we do Bible memory work.

Morning Time:

History - While history is not a required subject in Kindergarten, I think it’s a great time to start to learn about the place you live - especially if you love to read chapter books that include bits and pieces of history, like we do. So, I decided to use the booklist from the Early American History curriculum by Beautiful Feet Books as a place to start. It is a beautiful collection of living books - picture books and chapter books included. We will work our way through the list throughout the school year, adding to it as we desire, pausing where we need/want to, and going off on any tangents that may interest us. We’ll see how far we get this year as we go at our own desired pace! I did not buy the teacher’s manual as we don’t need to go any deeper than just reading the books at this age. We’ll go deeper once we do American History again in a few years. I’m also adding books from Jodi Mockabee’s Native People’s study and the Peaceful Pioneers booklist from The Peaceful Press.
Nature Study - As part of our Wild & Free group, we are using the Exploring Nature with Children curriculum and will have a short lesson each week on the nature topic for the week. I’m using their booklist to add picture books to our morning time basket based on the weekly nature topics. We will also be working our way through The Burgess Animal Book for Children and exploring any tangents that may arise!
Book Club - Our Wild & Free group will have three book club books over the course of the school year: Five Little Peppers and How They Grew, 101 Dalmatians, and The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic. We will work our way through each of these during our morning time and possibly at night as a family read aloud as well.
Handiwork - While I read, I give the boys something to work on. For Oak he has embroidery or whittling that he can do at any point, but I also rotate between puzzles, pattern blocks, modeling clay, or coloring.

Language Arts:

Phonics - There was MUCH deliberating over what curriculum I wanted to use to teach reading! There are many options out there, but what I decided was most important to me were these things: cost, simplicity, and ability to easily use for subsequent children without needing to buy a bunch of new materials. Thanks to a suggestion from Jodi Mockabee, I landed on Reading & Spelling Through Literature, which is a full phonics primer with an optional workbook for handwriting. I wasn’t planning to start phonics in kindergarten, but Oak is asking for it and he is showing signs of readiness, so we’ll move forward at his pace keeping it fun and focusing on delight. We’ll start by reviewing the alphabet and then moving into 2-letter phonograms (the linguistic in me really wants to call them phonemes. Ha.) What I love about this curriculum is that it teaching spelling at the same time and the spelling lists prepare them for the different primer readings. I think it will be a good fit for us! The only other supplies we will use for reading are a primary composition book for writing and reviewing his spelling lists, our wooden letters, a small chalkboard, and a small whiteboard. I love the simplicity of these materials.
Handwriting - After some debate I decided to start with cursive instead of printing! Yes, cursive! My main reason is that cursive is easier to learn as children are developing their fine motor skills. You can read all about this on this blog post from Logic of English. I opted to buy the optional workbook from Reading & Spelling Through Literature, but I chose for their older workbook that was fewer pages and is less expensive. I purchased the PDF version with the slanted fonts and printed the cursive part of the workbook through The Homeschool Printing Company (which is actually local to me in Minneapolis!). We started the school year by quickly learning the correct ways to print in manuscript as Oak already knew how to copy printing, but didn’t know the correct strokes to use. After a few weeks on that, we shifted to cursive and will stay focused there for the remainder of the year.

Math:

Games - We are using games to teach number recognition, counting, order, and math terms (less/more, greater than/less than, bigger/smaller, higher/lower, plus/minus, add/take away, etc.). So far our favorite number games are UNO, Skipbo, Speed, Sorry!, Dominoes, and War.
Written Numbers - We’ll work on this during our language arts/handwriting time. The goal is for him to be able to competently write his numbers by the time he is ready start a math workbook. Once again, we are in no rush here. The goal is to be ready by age 7, but if he’s ready sooner then we’ll dive in.
Manipulatives - At this age, I think it’s really valuable for math to be as tangible as possible. I’m planning to do this by using small pieces of things for counting, simple addition/subtraction, and number recognition. For example, during our first week of school we will be learning about seeds as a our nature topic. During that week, I plan to do some counting and number recognition practice by having him put the appropriate number of seeds next to the written number or similar activities to that.

Notebooking:

Notebooking is a way for us to pull together so much of what we are learning while at the same time documenting what we are learning. I am using Jodi Mockabee’s method of note booking and we are really excited about it! Twice a week Oak will pick a topic that we have learned about during our Morning Time and he will draw a simple picture of it on cardstock. Together we will then draft a simple sentence. I will write it on our marker board and then he will copy it on to his paper. He’ll finish it by using watercolor to paint the background. We’ll laminate these and keep them in a binder to document his school year. Through this process we will practice narration/recall, art, writing/sentence structure, and handwriting.

Weekly Rhythm

Monday: grocery shopping, lunch, cleaning house, rest time, free play
Tuesday: Language Arts work (15-30 min), Morning Time Reading (30-60 min), lunch, Notebooking (30-60 min), rest time, free play
Wednesday: Language Arts work (15-30 min), baking time/farm visit to pick up raw milk/playdate with friends, lunch, Math games/activities, rest time, free play
Thursday: Language Arts work (15-30 min), Morning Time Reading (30-60 min), lunch, Notebooking (30-60 min), rest time, free play
Friday: Nature School (Wild & Free Group), lunch, Math games, rest time, Nature Journal finishing time/free play

So far this school year has been such a delight! We have kept it simple and fun, which has made juggling a house move doable! There are times when Oak’s not that in to it, so I pull back a bit and other times when I find him coming up with school projects on his own. I’m so thankful that we made this decision to homeschool. It is so good for our family.

a {home} birth story :: alder chapman

August 26, 2021 Megan Rodriguez

This blog post was drafted this past June, just days before we sold our little Minneapolis house where our boys were both born. The birth photos were taken by my amazing doula Anna Botz and the close up picture of Alder’s face was taken by Rob Morgan, friend and photographer extraordinaire.

He was born over two years ago, but I just haven’t been able to sit down and write out this story. However, I told myself that I couldn’t move out of this house where I birthed my two boys without first getting these words into written form. Our little Alder Chapman, he’s a wild one and he came into the world in exactly the way you would expect a wild one to do. It was fast and furious, beautiful and traumatic all at the same time. That’s partly why I’ve never been able to sit down to write it. There’s processing that is needed to type out these words, but it’s processing that needs to be done as I sit at the very table you see in these pictures, and look into that same living room where I labored. This story is a part of this house. It always will be and because of that, it needs to be told from within it. So, here we go.

Monday, March 11, 2019.

It was a normal Monday with our regular chiropractor visit and food co-op grocery run. Yet, I knew that morning that it didn’t feel quite normal. Something was different. I felt a little strange and our very observant chiropractor knew it too. I could feel my body and mind gearing up. Was today the day?? No. He’s not due until the 23rd. That’s still 12 days away. At the co-op I found myself throwing food into the cart as “just in case food” - just in case this baby is coming. Just in case I won’t be back here myself for weeks. Just in case. Once home I started cleaning like a madwoman. Groceries away. Check. Floors swept. Check. Bathroom scrubbed. Check. My body knew, but my mind was denying it. It can’t be today. It’s still too early. The day went on and I did my normal Monday things, but as I did I was preparing too. Preparing to have others run my home for a week. Preparing to rush Oak out the door to Grandma’s. Preparing all of the lists, food, and supplies that I had prepped for weeks. You see, Oak came early too, but I was not quite ready. His was a marathon birth, but I didn’t have the food on hand that is necessary to sustain a marathon birth. By the grace and strength of the Father, I made it through, but once he was born, I was completely and utterly spent. That was not going to happen this time, so for that, I was prepared. I was ready for a marathon birth - yet, there was a still small voice that spoke to me often throughout my weeks of marathon preparation that I should also prepare for the sprint. And if I’ve learned anything over the past few years, when the Lord says, “Get ready,” it’s wise to listen and do just that. So, as the day went on, I got ready, not knowing if/when our sweet baby would arrive that day.

I don’t remember the exact timing of the first contraction (one of the reasons I should have written this two years ago!), but I do believe it was around 5:15. I was at the kitchen sink and Dan walked into the kitchen and saw me standing there breathing intentionally. He said, “what are you doing?” “I don’t know. Just breathing, I guess.” “You’re having a contraction!” “Maybe?” I said. I was still in denial. “Yes!” He said, “I’m calling the midwives.” Our birth team was called and shortly after our doula/birth photographer Anna arrived. My mom came to pick up Oak and while I tried to encourage everyone to take their time and not rush, they all quickly picked up on the fact that there may not be time available for the taking this time around. As my contractions intensified, Oak got a little nervous, so we said our goodbyes and he left for Grandma’s for the night.

By 7:35 both of our midwives had arrived and they checked me and baby as I labored in the living room. I’m not sure how long we were there, but I eventually made my way up the stairs to go to the bathroom. I had the thought as I did so that I probably wouldn’t be back downstairs for at least the next week as I recovered in bed. That was not to be so, but we’ll get to that.

The next hour and a half included some of the most intense pain I’ve ever experienced. With Oak’s birth, contractions were intense back labor and they lasted for hour upon hour upon hour. This was different. This was like my body hit the turbo button to get this baby out. While homebirth midwives often don’t check for cervix dilation, I think my body must have done most of the dilation in about an hour of time. It was like I could feel my cervix widening with each contraction. It did not feel good and I do believe I used the F word to describe the pain, which is not at all a normal word in my vocabulary. By 9:21 I told my midwives that I felt kind of pushy. By 9:32 our sweet baby had arrived. And he was a boy!! Another boy born in exactly the same place on the floor of our bedroom. Perfectly primal. This mama does not birth in a bed, no. The squat it how I roll.

What a difference to birth a baby in just 4 short hours! The elation on my face shows exactly how I felt - so proud, so capable, so strong. Birth is amazing. Our bodies can do so much and can tolerate so much. I love how homebirth has allowed me to birth in the ways that my body needed to do so - in the comfort of our home, surrounded only by those I love and trust, in the quiet dimness of our room - the room in which our sweet babies first came to be. I’m so thankful for the ability to birth at home and also for the experienced and wise birth team we had. And while I wish I could say the story ended here with a simple placenta delivery, a delayed cord clamping, a first latch, and a deep, long sleep - it did not. No. Things got a bit hairy from this point forward.

You see, I had had spotting throughout my pregnancy. It was random and irregular and slightly worrisome, but not too concerning to risk me out of homebirth. An ultrasound in my third trimester found no evidence or source of bleeding and since it had stopped at that point, we moved forward with our homebirth plan. However, once I delivered the placenta, it seemed to reveal the source of the bleeding - likely the placenta was putting pressure on the troublesome blood vessel and once it released the pressure, my body was unable to make the bleeding stop. My midwifes were incredible, though. They administered herbal tinctures and pitocin to help stop the bleeding and they monitored me very closely. At one point they talked to me about the possibility of needed to transfer to the hospital. I told them it would be fine. Ha. It was not fine and they knew it. Thirteen minutes later they called 911. I remember the next 12 minutes very vividly - which is one of the reasons I’ve had a hard time writing this story. In some ways, I remember those 12 minutes better than the actual birth, which makes me sad. Alder’s birth was beautiful and so many times I have wished that we could have just curled up in that bed and begun our week of postpartum/newborn convalescent bliss together. Instead, I had paramedics abruptly enter our sacred birth space, awkwardly figure out how to move me down our narrow 100 year old staircase, and ineptly put me into the ambulance while I laid on a stretcher hardly clothed in freezing weather. While I am incredibly thankful for the paramedic team, they had some less than shining moments during the 5 minutes that they were there. Thankfully, my doula had told Dan that he had to go with me in the ambulance. So, with a 45 minute old baby in his arms, he and his 6’3” self followed the stretcher right on into the ambulance, sat down, and said, “Ok, let’s go.” The paramedic was taken by surprise, but she didn’t argue and so away we went. We were transferred easily and quickly into the Fairview Riverside labor and delivery ward, but the hours after that dragged on. There as a lot of waiting while I laid in that bed bleeding. I don’t know what I would have done had my birth team not been there with me. The resident attending to me was pushing me to approve a manual sweeping of my uterus two hours after I had given birth, rather than a D&C. This would have been incredibly painful as my cervix had already closed most of the way. My midwives and doula were able to explain more fully what the difference between the procedures would be so that I could make an educated decision in the care I received. After I had been there for almost 2 hours, my midwives took my vitals as it had been quite awhile since the hospital staff had done so. I was finally taken back to the OR at 1:16 am. An hour later, they asked Dan for permission to give me a blood transfusion and use a ballon to stop the bleeding. After another hour passed, they let them know that they were finishing up and that I was stable. Dan held Alder through all of this.

The transfer and time at the hospital was traumatic for all of us. As I have thought back over it all over the past two years I have often reflected on the differences in care that I received from my birth team opposed to the paramedic and hospital staff. My reflections are simply that - reflections of the interactions I experience on the night of March 11th, 2019 - they are by no means a reflection on paramedic/hospital staff as a whole, so please read them as such. My birth team was attentive to my every need, to my baby’s needs, and to my husband’s needs. They were present every moment physically and emotionally. They were there to care for us, to support us, and to educate us. They knew us. My birth team could read the expressions on my face - on my husband’s face - because they knew us as individuals. We had walked the past 9 months together. We had birthed before together. They knew us and they were there for us. The paramedics and the hospital staff were there to do a job. I’m so thankful for them because the job they did likely saved my life. However, I did not feel supported by them. I did not feel known. In fact, the morning after my D&C, I was alone in the room with Alder as Dan had gone back home to get the car to pick us up, and even though I mentioned to the nurse that I needed to use the bathroom for the first time, she did not offer to help me. As I attempted to get up, I had to ask for help. This surprised me so much because my midwives would never have let me leave the bed for the first time - even without blood loss - without someone walking beside me supporting me. The contrast of care was stark to me. Midwives are amazing humans, especially homebirth midwives. I’m so very thankful for them.

Anyways, to wrap up this story. Alder, Dan, and I were able to return home by mid afternoon on March 12, the day after Alder was born. I walked up our stairs, apologizing to my pelvic floor the whole way, and got cozy in bed with my sweet baby boy. Our midwives met us there shortly after and got us settled. And Oak came home to meet his brother, which was a very special moment! It was not the easy recovery that could have followed the easy birth, but I recovered and eventually got my hemoglobin back into normal range (thanks to beef liver capsules and nourishing food!). I believe Alder has had a tighter bond with Dan since that first night because he was held by his daddy for so many hours directly following his birth. He also has a very strong love for the tree-brown blanket I had knit for him that he was wrapped in during those first few hours as well. The kid sleeps with that wool blanket cuddled up by his head whether it’s 10 degrees or 95. Those first moments and hours of life outside the womb matter so much and while I wish ours would have been smoother, I’m so thankful for the loving team that surrounded us and walked us through those early hours and beyond.

living smallish :: kids' room

June 11, 2021 Megan Rodriguez

I will never forget when we first walked through our little Minneapolis home-to-be with our realtor. We climbed the narrow staircase, looked in the first bedroom, then walked into the second. It was a small room and the realtor asked me what we would use this small room for. I said, “A bedroom, of course!” That has stuck with me ever since because not only have we used it as a bedroom for our first born, but it has become a cozy little haven of a room for our two boys to share. When we were pregnant with Alder, our second, I started searching pinterest for ideas for small shared bedrooms and for blog posts on how best to have a baby and a preschooler share a room. I was shocked by how little I found! I was also surprised by how many people thought we were crazy for having them share a room at that age. So, now that I have a year and a half under my belt of having a baby/toddler and preschooler share a tiny bedroom, I thought I’d share my experience with the inter webs in hopes that they may help the next mama searching for some ideas on how to make living smallish with kids a reality.

First of all, it has been so great having them share a room. They LOVE it. Yes, there are times when they wake each other up or don’t go to sleep easily. Yes, there are times when they argue and fight and each want the room to themselves. Yes, I still have to have Alder nap in our room because they need separate spaces for nap and rest time. But, overall?? It’s been absolutely wonderful.

As for the space and organization, my biggest advice is less is more. It’s as simple as that. The fewer things you have to manage such as toys and clothes, the easier it will be to keep the room tidy, less chaotic, and comfortable. Now while I know this idea is a simple one, I also know it can be easier said than done. So, my advice for how to tackle this is to start small and to start by moving things you don’t regularly use into another room or storage area. You can then rotate it back into the room as needed (ie. seasonal clothes, toy rotation), or if you find you can live without it for a few months, then consider getting rid of it entirely. Here are some of the ways I organize clothes/toys in order to keep the room organized and less cluttered/crowded.

Clothes:
- I keep a small, capsule-style wardrobe for each boy. A capsule wardrobe is generally a wardrobe of 30-40 pieces of essential clothing items that can be easily paired/matched together to make a variety of outfits. For my boys this means that I keep just the basics that they need for a week or so of wear. I generally wash their laundry once per week, so I make sure that we have enough to get a through a week, plus a few extra things in case its a particularly messy week or busy one where the laundry doesn’t get done on time. At the beginning of each season, I go through the clothes they have and make a list of what they need for the upcoming season. For fall/winter, my boys each have a couple pairs of jeans, a nicer pair of pants, a pair or two of sweatpants, a few t-shirts, a few longs sleeved t’s, a wool sweater, a few button-down shirts, and a sweatshirt. They also have a couple pairs of pjs, socks, underwear, and long-johns. If at the end of the season I find that we didn’t wear everything we had, then the next season I pair it down a bit more. This past summer I found that we had an abundance of t-shirts and shorts for both boys. This meant we washed each pair after use, even if they weren’t dirty. When there are fewer options, they wear their clothes more between washes, which means less laundry for me and less wear on the clothes as well!
- Everything they regularly wear is kept in their dresser, on hooks on the wall, or hanging in their closet. I also keep a basket on the shelf in their closet for things that are a little too big for them, things they may need later in the season (ie. sweaters or tank tops, depending), or things that they have just grown out of in size or season. This helps keep their dresser drawers less crowded, but gives me a place where I can swap clothes in and out without having to go digging in the rubbermaids in the basement.
Toys:
- Less is more! I said it before and I’ll say it again and again and again. Anytime I’m feeling like it is chaotic in our home, it likely means that I need to purge a bit. When I feel like their bedroom is always a disaster, it probably means they have too many things in it - and those things are usually toys. When I feel this way, I often weed out a few toys and move them to the basement. I use the basement as a holding place for toys that I’d like to get rid of. If they don’t miss them, then after a few months or so, they find a new home.
- Rotation is key!! We have a pretty simple collection of high quality, well-made toys that I rotate around the house every few months and I occasionally take toys out of the rotation and store them in the basement in order to mix things up a bit. This is especially great for toys that are exciting for only short amounts of time.
- Organization is super helpful too. I find that when our toys are well-organized and everything has a spot, it’s a lot easier for the kids to clean up and it’s more inviting for them to play as well. Every month or so I quickly sort/organize their toys and I’m always amazed by how they are more drawn to them after I’ve tidied them up a bit.
Books
- Display: Sarah McKensie, from Read Aloud Revival, is big into displaying books with their covers facing out as it makes them far more inviting to read. I have found this to be true as well, so we have a couple small Ikea shelves where I put out a few books that both boys love. I then switch them out each month with books that fit the season or mood of our home. I find that the boys generally reach for these books at bedtime, instead of picking different ones from their book shelf. This simplifies the bedtime story process and keeps their book selection fresh.
- Shelve: We have a book shelf in the boys room that I generally try to keep organized. When it is organized it is more inviting and easier to find favorites. On this shelf we keep seasonal books and all-time favorites. Oak will often sit and page through this books during his rest time in the afternoons.
- Rotate: I mentioned that I rotate the books on the wall shelves, but I also rotate some of the books on the bigger shelf as well. I keep an organized stash of books in the basement that I pull from each month. Books about summer get put away in the colder months and vise versa. When there are fewer books on their shelves, it keeps the selection more interesting and far less overwhelming and chaotic.

We have arranged this little room a few different ways over the years, but this latest arrangement with a lofted bed for Oak and tucked under crib for Alder is by far my favorite. It gives them so much space to play and gives Oak his “own” space which is helpful when you are sharing a room with your little brother. The lofted bed is actually just a bunk bed without the bottom front railing installed. Once Alder is ready for a big boy bed, we’ll likely utilize the bottom bunk (or we’ll have a mattress on the floor for a bit, depending on what he is ready for).

The closet is also one of my favorite aspects of this little room. Before Alder was born, I asked my dad to build a custom shelf for the closet so that we could better use the space. Because we keep our boys’ wardrobes on the small side and also keep only a handful of toys in their room, the closet then has space in it to play, which gives them more space to spread out and keep their toys set up.

We are in the process now of looking for a new home to live in, but I am so thankful for this little room and all it has taught me about simplicity. Our society is quick to tell us that we need more space and more things, but I’ve often the opposite to be true, especially with our boys. Less is more and I think this little room has proven that to be true.

setting intentions

January 8, 2021 Megan Rodriguez

I love January. Cold, dark, crisp, cozy January. After thoroughly enjoying the Christmas season, I love how spacious, fresh, and tidy our little home feels after all of the decorations are put away and how we settle into the simplicity of the new year. For me, the turn of the calendar is a time of reflection - what were the joys of the past year, what were the challenges (as it was 2020, we all know there were many challenges!)? But more than that, I love to look forward to what the new year holds and I love to lean with intentionality into how we can live this new year to its fullest. There are many opinions about setting resolutions, goals, intentions - call them whatever you want - but I find that taking time to set intentions for what I want our year to hold is so very beneficial. I think it gives vision and direction to the year. It provides an opportunity to put priorities in order and to come together as a family and establish what our true values are. I think to live life well, especially with a family, it is helpful to live life intentionally. So with that, I thought I’d share a few of my intentions with you in an effort to encourage you to take time this year to be intentional - to live the life you want you and your family to live, no matter the outside circumstances. It is your life, your year. What do you want it to look like?

Intention #1: OUTSIDE, OUTSIDE, OUTSIDE

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that we love to spend time in the woods. We have a weekly homeschool group that meets in the woods where the kids run wild and free. We try to get outside everyday, but it can be challenging with errands to run, toddler naps, meal times, early sunsets, and aaallllll the snow gear that winter in Minnesota requires. That being said, the benefits of being outside are immeasurable. And I don't use that word just for emphasis, scientists have still not been able to fully measure/define the benefits that we receive from being out in the natural light. It’s phenomenal! Some of the benefits include bringing balance to our circadian rhythms thus providing better sleep, boosting our immune systems through vitamin D from the sun, strengthening our microbiome through microorganisms in the air and dirt, grounding our bodies by connecting our bare feet to the earth, increasing physical balance and confidence as we move our bodies over unpredictable surfaces such as a rocky path in the woods, the list goes on and on.

So, this year I decided to be more intentional about our time outside in two different ways. First, we’ve decided to join the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge. You can print your own hour tracker on their website and they also have a TON of resources for why spending time outdoors is so good for us, and especially good for our kids. This challenge is going to be a stretch for us as it’s is a lot more hours than what we are used to doing, but I’m so excited for how it is going to grow us, challenge us, and increase our love for being and playing outside.

The second way is that I’m committing to quick sunrise walks several mornings per week. This is something I’m doing all by myself (at least when Dan is not traveling). The benefits for being out in natural light within two hours of the sun rising are fantastic - even if it’s just for a few minutes. So, for now, I’m taking a few minutes before breakfast each day to take a quick walk around the block for some fresh air and bright morning sunlight.

If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of the sun and being outdoors, here are some podcasts and articles that have been helpful for me:

https://wellnessmama.com/56086/nature-health-benefits/
https://wellnessmama.com/91779/blue-light-improve-health/
https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/sunlight-and-vitamin-d-theyre-not-the-same-thing/
https://www.westonaprice.org/podcast/why-getting-cold-this-winter-is-a-good-idea/
https://www.1000hoursoutside.com/blog/exposure-to-morning-sunlight

Intention #2: BREAK UP WITH MY PHONE

Ok, I’m not actually going to completely break up with my phone, but I’m putting some serious limits on our relationship. Gross. The fact that we can even say we have a relationship with our phones is gross. Isn’t it?!?

First, we bought analog, battery operated alarm clocks. They haven’t arrived yet, but I’m so excited! I found these solid wood ones on Etsy that have a gentle beep and the hands of the clock do not glow in the dark, making them a great choice for sleeping without artificial light (which is very beneficial, btw). Once we have our alarm clocks, we are hoping to keep our phones out of our bedroom. This will reduce our exposure to blue light before and after sunrise, which is beneficial for proper melatonin production and good sleep, and it will also reduce our exposure to EMF’s (electro magnetic fields), which can be harmful for our bodies in many ways.

Second, I’m committing to not checking my phone before sunrise and before spending time with the Lord in the mornings. I’ve actually been doing this since August when I participated in an Instagram challenge called #wordbeforeworld hosted by Well-Watered Women Co. For 30 days I spent time reading the Bible in the mornings before looking at my phone and I’ve kept it up ever since as I found it was a FAR more fulfilling way to start my day. Now I’m taking it a step further by not allowing myself to look at it until after the sun has risen (which really only applies in the winter for me here in the frozen north), or even better, until after my morning walk. It is beneficial to receive the full spectrum of light that we get from the sun before exposing our brains and eyes to the blue lights from our screens.

Several of the links above go into more depth on the importance of full spectrum sunlight verses blue light. Here are some resources about EMF exposure:

https://www.westonaprice.org/podcast/272-the-shocking-truth-about-electricity-emfs-with-arthur-firstenberg/
https://wellnessmama.com/129645/emf-exposure/
https://wellnessmama.com/podcast/emfrf/
https://wellnessmama.com/podcast/emfs-wifi-radiation/
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/03/15/emf-home-remediation.aspx

Intention #3: Read More Books - Real, Paper-Bound Books!

We read a lot in our home. It’s hasn’t always been this way, but the past 5 years have seen exponential growth in the amount of time we spend reading and it’s one of my favorite things. Our boys LOVE books. When I bring new books home from the library, it’s like Christmas! They can’t wait to sit down and page through each one. Oak spends time almost every day listening to audio books of his favorite chapter books in his room during his quiet time. And Dan and I have both started reading so much more fiction in the past couple years and we often end our days together reading before bed. The past few years have included a lot of travel for us and so I had started reading more ebooks in an effort to simplify travel. I still think this is a great option for travel, but since 2020 tethered us to our homes, I decided to put the ebooks away and to reach for the paper-bound books instead. I think a pretty paper-bound book is so much more inviting than another screen at the end of the day (and then there’s the whole screen/blue light thing again…)

Last year I made a goal to read 8 novels. I read 7.5 and I’m technically giving myself until the middle of January to finish that last book. My goal, my rules. Once I finish that last book I’ll set my 2021 goal. I’m thinking I’ll go for another 8. I also read a lot of non-fiction and would like to set a goal of reading a non-fiction book every month of two this year. One of the things I’m most excited about reading this year is the Bible. Ha. I’ve read the Bible most days of my life since I was a teenager, but it’s been a long time since I’ve read it through in a year and this year I’m going to do just that! I think reading the Bible in it’s entirety in a year gives us an opportunity to see the love story of God as it has been woven throughout history and it helps us to see our place in that story - which is a beautiful thing to behold. This is the plan I’m using this year.

Intention #4: Foster more independence and family helpfulness

I love the mindset that raising kids is really about raising adults. How do we raise adults who are loving and kind humans and who also know how to and desire to meaningfully contribute to society?? As Oak nears the age of 5 we are working on fostering more independence in him while also helping him to see and understand his role in this family. Simply put, he’s learning how to do chores! Ha! But the deeper side of that is that we want him to learn the why behind the chores. It’s not “because I told you so.” It’s “because you used a dish and so now you clean it up because we all have a role to play in order to live well together as a family.”

Some resources that I’ve found helpful on this topic are:

Parenting with Love and Logic, by Foster Cline and Jim Fay
Loving Our Kids on Purpose, by Danny Silk
https://wellnessmama.com/podcast/how-to-raise-an-adult/
https://farmhouseschoolhouse.com/rhythm/whistle-while/

Cheers to you and yours as you begin 2021. May it be a year of growth, intentionally, and purpose. We get one life to live. Let’s live it well.

fairytale preschool

February 28, 2020 Megan Rodriguez

Our little Oak tree just turned 4! He’s such a delightful kid - kindhearted, creative, observant, funny…I could go on and on. This past fall we started doing a once a week homeschool fairytale preschool and it has been so fun! We decided awhile back that we would homeschool him for kindergarten and then go from there. The main reason for this is that I don’t love how all kindergartens, at least in Minnesota, are full day, every day now. I personally think that’s too much for 5 year olds and we wanted to give Oak more time to play, be outside, and cherish the simplicity of childhood a bit more. With that in mind, I also knew that I wasn’t really interested in putting him in a part-time preschool program. The socialization would be great, but I don’t think its necessary for 3 year olds to know their numbers and letters - there is plenty of time for that! And as for socialization - we have our weekly Free Forest School outdoor play group, his class at church, and occasional play dates with cousins/friends. However, I still felt like we could add some sort of formal preschool-like activity to our week simply to add some intentionality and structure. Something that was special just for Oak. Considering all this, I knew I wanted this preschool time to include storytelling of some sort. Waldorf education places a lot of emphasis on oral storytelling and I know there is a lot of educational value that comes from the art of narration, so I really wanted to start incorporating these things into our weeks. So, I searched for some simple preschool homeschool curriculums and found a few that were story based and nature based, which is so great, but I also felt strongly that I didn’t want to spend money on these things. That just felt unnecessary for us at this time.

Then I came across a quote that is attributed to Albert Einstein. It reads, “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”

Fairytales! That was the answer!

So I created our little Fairytale Preschool and it has been so lovely. On Tuesdays we spend about an hour doing our preschool and that’s it for the week. It’s such a small part of our week, but it has had a large impact. First, Oak loves it. He lights up when he finds out that it’s time for preschool. It’s also added creativity to his play and structure to his week. I’ll talk more about these things below, but here is what our Fairytale Preschool looks like:

Oral Storytelling:
- I orally tell the fairytale for the week with props and figurines. I use wooden Waldorf people and trees that I bought on Etsy and painted with watercolors. I also use our Schleich animals and have even used cartoon pictures I’ve printed from my computer. I use what I have and make imaginary leaps when needed (like a German shepherd being used as the wolf in Red Riding Hood because we couldn’t find our wolf that morning!).
- I orally tell the story the second time, but have Oak help me with parts of it.
- If the story is short or if Oak is really into it, we tell it again, but I let him tell even more of it himself.
- We sometimes “play” the story with the figurines - this is essentially whatever Oak wants it to be and it often means the story takes interesting turns that may or may not include an appearance by a dinosaur.
Recipe:
- We then make a recipe in the kitchen that is often related to our story - pie for The Three Little Kittens, apple cake for Snow White, crispy green beans for Jack and the Beanstalk, or sometimes we just make granola - because we need granola!
Picture Book:
- We then read an illustrated version of the fairytale. I try to pick versions that are beautifully illustrated and stay true to the original stories. There are a lot of fairytale books out there and they are NOT all created equal. Finding a good version has been very important and sometimes challenging.

That’s it! It’s very simple, as I said, but it’s been so wonderful! Here are the fairytales that we used this past fall and their recipes. I’ll write another post after we’ve finished our spring fairytales as well.

Jack & the Beanstalk - Crispy Green Beans
Little Red Riding Hood - Apple Cake
Three Billy Goats Gruff - Oat, Seed, & Nut Granola
Snow White - Apple Breakfast Cookies
Three Little Pigs - Pumpkin Bars (this was an unrelated recipe)

Emperor’s New Clothes - Applesauce (this was an unrelated recipe)
Tom Thumb - Little Hotdogs (Tom Thumb) wrapped in dough (like Tom hides in a shell)
Sleeping Beauty - Granola (we needed granola!)
Three Little Kittens - Mini Pumpkin Pies
The Little Fir Tree - Lemon Cream Cheese Snowballs
Hansel & Gretel - Graham Cracker Candy House (This was in December, so it was very similar to a gingerbread house)
The Gingerbread Boy - Gingerbread Christmas Cookies

So far, here are a few of the things I’ve noticed from this intentional time together each week:

Connection: This has been such a great thing for us. Having this intentional time together each week, which is almost always when Alder is napping, has been so good for our relationship and overall connection. His demeanor on preschool days is often cheery, lighthearted, and easy going - rather than other days when there can be more challenging behaviors.
Creativity: The use of the Waldorf people and our use of blocks as buildings/towers/etc. has given him more ideas for how to play creatively. The Waldorf people are extremely open ended - they can be pretty much anyone from an ogre to a prince, or witch to a maiden. Oak already plays a lot of stories - he is often pretending to be a character from a book or a story, but we’ve seen an increase in this since starting our preschool.
Structure: Oak is a quintessential first born, so having a clear structure for the week is very helpful for him. He asks most mornings, “What day is it today? What do we do on [Tuesdays]?” I love that this small part of our week has added a bit of structure that has been meaningful to him.
Recall and Compare/Contrast: It’s been fun to listen to him retell the fairytales to Dan in the evenings. Some he remembers better than others and some he understands better than others, but he overall gets them and enjoys retelling them. Reading different versions of the fairytales in picture books and watching some the Disney movies has also given us opportunities to discuss similarities and differences - which has been really fun to watch him do! It’s amazing the different things he picks up on and how he is able to compare and contrast things even at such a young age.

I will revisit this all again later as there is more to say - like the whole topic of how dark so many fairytales are! But for now, I’ll leave it here. It has been a wonderful start to a wonderful year with Oak. I’m so thankful for this intentional time we’ve had to explore stories together.

gift ideas for minimalist kids

December 5, 2019 Megan Rodriguez

Oh, hey! I have a blog! It’s been over a year since I posted. We’ve been busy adding a new member to our family (well, two if you count the cat and baby), following Dan Rodriguez around the country here and there, and just living life. I’m hoping to get back to this space a bit more regularly in the months to come and hope to share more about our sweet baby boy, Alder Chapman, as well as other aspects of our little life. However, with the holiday season upon us, I thought I pop on here and share a few of our favorite kid gifts that we received/given over the past few years.

We live in a little house with less than 1100 square feet of finished space and we love it. With a small space, two kids, and two cats, though, we have to get creative with how we organize and what we bring into our spaces. Because of that, we’ve learned how to be rather specific with the types of kid things we welcome into our home, and that includes gifts. For Oak’s first Christmas and birthday we asked for wooden toys or quality/long-lasting plastic toys, books, and no batteries and we’ve held to that standard ever since. Our families have mostly respected those requests and it as helped us to keep the simple home that we desire and value. Through all of that, we’ve found a handful of kid gifts that have been wonderful additions to our home, so I thought I’d share a few of those with you. Keep in mind, we have two boys, ages 3.5 years and 8 months.

Dan and I use the rhyme “something you want, something you need, something you wear, something you read” to guide our gift buying for our kids, so I’ll break down gift ideas into those four categories.

Something You Want

Let’s talk toys. What makes a good kid toy? How do you pick ones that will keep their attention, that will last, and that are sustainable? We’ve found that the more open-ended a toy is, the better. When you look at a toy, ask yourself - what different things can this toy be/become? For example, wooden blocks can be used as houses, towers, castles, fences, but they can also be used as pretend food, to make up games, to learn counting/math, so much more. Even better, take magnet blocks as an example - they can be all the afore mentioned things, but they can also be airplanes, cars, people, animals, etc. The more things a toy can be - the longer it will be played with and cherished. A batman toy will always and only be a batman toy. As for quality, we love wooden toys for babies/toddlers/preschoolers. They are durable and often very well made. We have added a few plastic toys into the mix as Oak has grown and when we do, we choose solid plastic toys that are not easily breakable and that don’t have/require little pieces that can easily be lost. Some of our favorite plastic toys are Schleich farm animals, dinosaurs, and Hotwheels cars (which Oak called Hottires last week. Ha.) For sustainability, choose wood or choose things that will live beyond your kids’ use of them - things that can be passed on/down.

Our favorites so far:

Tegu Blocks - we LOVE these!! They are magnetic wooden blocks, built sustainably and made to last for generations. Love, love, love them. They now carry a toddler line, so we’re going to give Alder one of their cars for Christmas this year.
Regular Wooden Blocks - any brand will do, but you can some great sustainable options at Bella Luna Toys.
Lincoln Logs - we’re excited to add these to the mix this year! Did you know they are made in the U.S.?
Waldorf Wooden Toys - Bella Luna Toys has great options for these. We have little Waldorf people that we’ve been using for our Fairytale Preschool (If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen me post about that a bit. I’m planning to blog about that soon!) and they have been such a hit. The people can be ANY kind of person! Soooo different from an action figure or even a Playmobile person. They are so open-ended! We are planning to give Alder these houses for Christmas. They can so easily be played with with the people, the plastic animals we have, the blocks, and the Lincoln Logs. The options are endless.
Games!! We love games. A few favorites we’ve added are Count Your Chickens and Animal Upon Animal. We also play UNO and Go Fish a lot.
Puzzles! Melissa and Doug has great floor puzzles for this age, as does Crocodile Creek.
Schleich Animals - Oak has a wooden barn that Dan built for his second Christmas and we love the Schleich animals that we’ve filled it with. They are so sturdy, beautifully made/painted, and very realistic in both size and design.
Wooden Play Kitchen - both of our boys play with our wooden play kitchen on a regular basis. There are so many options out there. We found ours secondhand and have been so happy with it. I think all of their play food is Melissa and Doug and it holds up well and is pretty open-ended.
Cars/Trains - There are so many options out there. We have the IKEA wooden train and it works great. The Melissa and Doug wooden cars also work with the train - as do Hotwheels. Think wooden or secondhand. The wooden cars/trains we have are safe for babies, which is a plus.

Something You Need

We use this category for anything from stainless steel water bottles/lunch boxes, to winter gear, to wool long johns. This year Oak will be receiving a new knitted hat and mittens and Alder will likely get a water bottle or a pair of insulted mittens from Polarn O. Pyret.

Our favorites so far:

Klean Kanteen - we love their sippy lid water bottle. We also have a ThinkBaby stainless steel water bottle with a sippy lid and a straw lid. It is fine, not super durable and can leak, but it has handles, which made for a good first water bottle. The Klean Kanteen is much better. The only downside is that it doesn’t have handles, so it’s a little harder for a baby to use.
Winter Gear
- REI - affordable/quality kids outerwear
- Polarn O. Pyret - great wool options and outerwear!
- Ella’s Wool - great wool options!

Something You Wear

We’ve mostly used this category for winter gear as well. As I use a capsule wardrobe method for our boys, we don’t tend to need much for clothes at this time of the year as we are already a ways into winter. This year I’m using an old men’s wool sweater I found at a thrift store for $5 to make them matching long johns. This could also be a good time invest in some quality organic clothing. I know quite a few friends who get organic pjs for their kiddos each year. Some good companies for organic clothing are:

Something You Read

Books…I don’t know where to begin. We love picture books in our home and love giving/receiving them. However, we also love our local library and because of that, we keep our book purchases to a minimum each year. Read Aloud Revival is a FANTASTIC resource for book lists. I visit her picture book lists each month and choose books from the library from those lists. Here are a few of our all time favorite picture books that you may not be familiar with:

Sleep Tight, Farm
Big Snow
Flora’s Very Windy Day
Up in the Garden, Down in the Dirt
Over and Under the Pond
Over and Under the Snow
Sonya’s Chickens
City Moon
Bear Snores On
The Whatamagump - our friend Tyronne Wells wrote this one and it comes with an EP of awesome kids’ songs!
Thousand Star Hotel - our friends the Okee Dokee Brothers wrote this and it also comes with an album of great songs!
Cat Tale
Steam Train, Dream Train

It’s hard to keep kid stuff to a minimum, but it IS possible. Be specific in your lists for family members and purchase things mindfully for your kids and others that you buy for. The simplicity that comes with fewer toys and more meaningful toys is so very worth it.

a different kind of fall

October 12, 2018 Megan Rodriguez

You know that place of decision that we each find ourselves in at different points in our lives? The one where we have two choices (or more) and there are such great positives and some negatives about both and the pro/con lists just don’t help make the decision?

That’s the place I found myself in this past spring. We had just lost a baby to miscarriage and my plans to be home with a toddler and a new baby this fall were gone. We firmly believed another baby would come soon, but what would life look like in the meantime? I loved my job (teaching ESL at the University of Minnesota), but life was also feeling a bit out of control with my part-time work schedule, Dan’s periodic touring paired with his gigs and studio time when not on the road, and childcare situations that just weren’t ideal or consistent. We had been planning that I would stop working, so maybe that was the answer even though November was no longer bringing a new baby into our lives. But then there was the job I loved…the students, my colleagues, using my brain in ways that home life and motherhood often don’t…what about all of those things??? Would I regret prematurely ending (or putting on hold) a job that I loved so much? But then there were those times in the classroom where I found myself thinking about the next picture books I should get at the library for Oak and wishing we were playing and exploring in the woods together instead of being apart while I worked…those strong pulls were there too.

It was in this decision making process that I began to remember all of the dreams that have always been there — that my one desire, if I did nothing else in my life, was to raise children who have a love for life, a love for people, and a love for Jesus. Being a mom was what I had always wanted and here was an opportunity for me to fully and wholeheartedly embrace that identity, that role, and that season, and let it fully fill my days. The decision was no longer so hard. Would there be regrets about what I was giving up? Maybe. Would there be regrets about the time I got to spend with my sweet Oak? Probably not. Would there be times that I would need a break from full-time stay-at-home mommyhood? Absolutely. Would it allow us to simplify our lives and create a more peaceful home? Yes, more than ever before.

And so I said my goodbyes-for-now to my sweet colleagues and moved into a typical summer followed by a different kind of fall. This is my first fall since kindergarten where I haven’t been either in school or working/teaching in a school. I love fall and I love the new beginnings and crispness that comes with the new school year. So, instead of digging into school books and schedules, we’ve been digging into this fall with picture books, artwork, nature walks, and lots of time at home for playing. I thought I’d miss the school life/working life more, but that has yet to happen. I am loving this life. I love our daily rhythms that include relaxed mornings with (relative/attempted) quiet reading time in the living room, morning time at the table with breakfast, Bible stories, and nursery rhymes, after lunch story time, and before dinner play or art time. And our weekly rhythms of errands, nature adventures, days at home, walks, and playdates with friends/neighbors. As of now, every week is looking different, but the overall flow of the weeks are the same and it’s creating so much consistency and predictability. I’m already seeing the benefits of that with how much more easily Oak can enter into pretend play or transition from one thing to the next without a battle. And the extra time at home has opened doors for me to follow a few other passions of my own.

We are also expecting a new baby in March and so I’m treasuring these few months of special time with Oak before we grow in love and people in this little house of ours.

I love how our hearts can answer so many of the questions and decisions we face in our lives, but it’s so easy to let the “shoulds” of societal life guide us instead of listening to what our hearts are quietly trying to tell us. I’m so glad I listened. And so glad I went against what seemed like a more financially stable option and went with what was a better choice for the overall wellbeing of our family and home. There is beauty in less. There is beauty in the simple. I’m so excited to continue to embrace that beauty.

{summer} solstice mittens

June 23, 2017 Megan Rodriguez

Summer Solstice Mittens, you say!??! Say what!?!? Yes. There are two reasons for these summer mittens for my babe. One: I'm learning that I have to plan ahead to in order to optimize the amount of time that my handknits fit this wee one. Fall/winter knitting does not provide enough time to wear those items before they are outgrown (such as this wonderful cardigan). So, I'm using summer to prepare for winter, just like I do in so many other areas of our lives, and I love it.

Two: We're heading to Summerfest in Milwaukee next week and while we'll be there over the 4th of July, there have been plenty of times in the past years where hats and mittens are not only wanted, but desperately needed to keep the lake wind chill away from our bones. So, a pair of mittens was in order for the Oakster as the only other pair he had was from when he was first born and they barely covered his hands anymore.

This pattern is a simple one that I've made quite a few times now for many different little ones in our lives. It's the Family Mittens pattern by Carrie Bostick Hoge that appeared in Taproot Magazine, Issue 3. I knit them up in some left over Malabrigo that I used for Oak's Helmet Hat that he got for Christmas and some green vintage wool given to me by a dear friend. (My Ravelry link can be found here.) These mittens should get him through this next winter and possibly beyond as I added a bit of length to the cuffs and the garter stitch pattern provides a bit of stretch all around.

He seems to like them, even though he's a bit confused as to what to do with them. :)

our new brood

April 14, 2017 Megan Rodriguez

Chicks! We have new chicks! And let me tell you, watching chicks grow through the eyes of a 13 month-old is absolutely wonderful. He LOVES his chicks! He walks his little push cart past them and stops to say hi and check on them periodically throughout each day. He talks to them and says good morning and goodnight. He feeds them spinach and gives them kisses. He knows to be gentle with them and does a pretty good job carrying that out. And he is very diligent in telling us that the heat lamp is hot. Our experience with our first batch of chicks 4 years ago was so much fun, but this is an entirely different kind of fun and I'm loving it.

We got 5 chicks this time around. One Rhode Island Red, named Rosie the Red. One Golden Sexlink, named Marilyn (Monroe...of course). One Barred Rock, named Fingers II...we lost Fingers I to a raccoon last fall and while they are different breeds, Dan wanted another Fingers. And lastly, two Black Australorps named Dumpling and Noodle Soup. That gives us a total of 11 birds, but we are planning to cull 3 of our older hens by the end of the summer in order to make room for the youngins and hopefully revitalize our egg supply for next year. Our egg supply is up, but definitely not where it was before when our birds were younger. It will be sad to say goodbye to our older hens, our first ladies. I'm not ready yet...but I know it's what is best for us and so I'll be ready when the time comes.

But for now...CHICKS!!!!!! Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate and happy spring to all!

an {almost} zero-waste birthday party

April 7, 2017 Megan Rodriguez

It's been over a month now since our little guy turned one and since we celebrated that special day with family and friends, but I wanted to take a few minutes to share with you about the little party we threw for him!

Have you explored the world of first birthday parties on Pinterest??? A few words to describe it would be "adorable," "amazing," "wonderful," "overwhelming," "expensive," "obsessive"....dare I say "scary"??? I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. I love it as a place to keep track of links. You can be so visually organized on Pinterest, which is awesome! I love it for the plethora of ideas that you can find on there for just about anything and everything. I hate it as it I think it fuels the issues that we have in this culture for constantly wanting more and being discontent with what we have. So, as I started planning for this special one-year-old's first birthday party, I had to continually remind myself that he is one and would not remember this party, nor was the party about having perfect decorations or amazingly cute treats. No, it was about celebrating the birth of our beloved boy with those we love.

Simplicity became my mantra (I'm sure you're shocked, right?!) and out of that desire for simplicity grew a desire to keep this party as eco-friendly as possible. Because, parties sure can create a lot of trash! My goodness! Between disposable plates, cups, pop/beer cans, utensils, plastic wrap, food waste, wrapping paper, decorations, etc., there is just a lot of trash! So, I intentionally thought through all that would be coming in and going out and did my best to limit the trash where I could. Here are some of the ways I was able to host an {almost} zero-waste birthday party.

I made a "forever" birthday banner! I knew I wanted a birthday banner for the party and so I tossed around ideas of making one that said "one," and that could be use for subsequent children turning one...but as the usefulness of that was a bit limited, I decided, "Heck! We need a banner that can be used every year for each birthday!" And the "forever" birthday banner was born out of leftover fabric scraps, most of which hold sentimental memories, like fabric from the crib sheets, Oak's quilts, a dress I made, our wedding decor, handmade gifts for family/friends, etc.

I used photos as decor. I've been wanting to print a bunch of pictures and put them into albums and in frames in our stairway, and so I decided to print pictures of Oak from his first year and put them up all around the room we used for the party. I used garden twine, mini clothes pins, and masking tape to attache them to the walls. The tape was recycled, the twine will be reused, and the mini clothes pins will be saved for other such events/decoration needs.

I used things I already had for decor. We had some leftover tree trunk slices from my brother's wedding that we used as centerpieces Also, for Oak's Halloween costume last year he was an Oak tree made out of felt leaves pinned to a shirt, so I used the felt leaves on the tables as well.
I printed simple coloring sheets for the tables. They were then recycled after the party and the crayons we used were from our church's stash, where we held the party. We were also able to use the church's cloth tablecloths, which was awesome.

I bought compostable plates, cups, straws, and utensils. These were a bit more expensive than regular plastic/paper disposables, but it was important to me to compost them rather than throw them away.
I used real dishes where I could. I brought a basketful of mason jars that we used as glasses and used real dishes for the food I brought. Where food was concerned, the only trash we created was a bit of plastic wrap and the only recyclables were beer cans and a lemonade jar.

I do believe that the wrapping paper ended up being thrown away, rather than recycled, as I didn't help with that clean up process, but other than that, all things were composted or recycled and clean up was pretty quick and easy!

And for those who are wondering...I made this Harvest Cake for Oak's birthday cake. It's made with carrots, zucchini, and beets and sweetened with mostly maple syrup. It was probably the most nutritious cake any of us have ever eaten! And it was very delicious! I used all cream cheese for the frosting, instead of the goat cheese/cream cheese blend it calls for, simply to keep expenses down, but I'd love to make it again sometime with the goat cheese...because goat cheese...yum.

The party was a success! It was simple, fun, and we had a wonderful time celebrating our little Oak tree. He loved being with his family and friends and throughly enjoyed his cake and opening presents. It was a fun day, indeed!