The Cozy Sparrow

The morning we left verses the morning we arrived🤣🤣.
I am so thankful for these wonderful two months and that I am taking away not souvenirs but new intentions.

I mainly want to be more intentional about three things.

1.) Food. People in the DR seemed to buy for the next few days with a spirit of sharing what they have. We waste so much, I am ashamed of it - so going forward my goal is to buy less, shop local when I can and as organic as I can find.

2.) Possessions. Less feels like more. We lived comfortably for two months in a 2 bedroom apartment and the only things I missed from my overstuffed house was drinking from the tap and flushing toilet paper 🤣. I’m not sure where this will lead me, but I feel a good purge coming on.

3.) Quality time with friends and family. We developed such a special community down here where we shared and helped and hung out. I loved it so much and I want to be more intentional about carving this out in my life.

I’m excited to see where this goes!

We are coming up close to the end of our trip. I am feeling so full of gratitude for an amazing time and that our friends could join us for our final hurrah!

What’s more fun than being in vacation? Being on vacation with friends!! So thankful our good buddies who also homeschool could come and join us for our final stretch!! Reading by the pool with friends!! Got to love some sneaky school!!

Someone pinch me, I think I’m dreaming!! (But not hard, ‘cuz I am a wimp.) I am loving the slower pace living in a holiday destination is brining. It takes away a lot of the stress on vacay to se it all. My FOMO is not going crazy. We work a little, homeschool a little, beach or pool a little. Life is good. It’s been such a gift to pause on all the normal life stress and fill our days with small, solvable problems. I have finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up - a snowbird!!


moms

How we built community as we travel…

Ok. So I’m definitely no expert on this one as this is the first time we have ventured into world school, but the best thing I did so far was join as many ex-pat groups as I could find on Facebook. I am in a mom’s group and women’s one and have met wonderful people through there. I have gone out for coffee with some amazing ladies and had another family over for a bbq/pool party. It has been my favourite part of travelling, meeting people and making friendships. My husband and I joke we have had more of a social life here than at home!

We in particular were super blessed to meet another ex-pat homeschool family in our building. They are the sweetest family we have enjoyed beach days with, started a mini-coop with our kids and the children have had a blast running back and forth. They even surprised my son with a cake on his birthday!

🙏

Why we chose world schooling.

For the last few years, I have had a dream to try world schooling for a year. Shows in which people up and move to another country have always intrigued me. What is their inspiration, their motive?

For me, a sense of adventure and curiosity about other cultures is a big part of mine. I have always loved to travel, but through my twenties and thirties didn’t do anything on an international level for a variety of reasons.

Once we had kids I kept putting it off. Sadly, I have gone through some personal loss of friends and family over the last few years. My last loss, something snapped. Life is precious and short. My husband and I sat down and evaluated what was working in our lives and what wasn’t. He went back to school for a year to land his dream job and I started budgeting and planning to travel.

We opted to world-school for two months to start as a learning curve, to see what works and doesn’t and also logistically it was easier to plan than a full year. At this point, I’m glad we chose smaller scale as I don’t think my kids could be gone much longer, but we are so glad we tried! I don’t think it will be our last experience. I’m already thinking about what may be next!

Have you tried world schooling?

My kids keep me laughing (and groaning!) That’s for sure!!

I’m by no means an organization guru. Just yesterday I went on a rampage, grabbing clutter that had accumulated around my house. When you homeschool, it tends to take over every crevice of the house!

What I am doing this year that has really helped maintain the chaos, is use two carts. One for all of our art supplies and one for our day to day use books only. Each child has a bucket of their own. They roll and can move to any room we are in. Or if someone wants to work in their room, they can easily grab their bucket and go.

The other supplies are in an assortment of cupboards and bookshelves. Making our puzzles and games accessible and next to a table has also been a game changer.

What’s been your best organizational hack?

Hello! I’m Kristi!! The Cozy Sparrow started as a way for me to share the Reno of our BC Box-style, 70’s home with friends and family. As much as I love decorating I found creating new content to be a challenge because once I get a room the way I like it, it stays that way for about 5 years.

This page has morphed now into a place I share our homeschooling journey with three littles, ages 8, 9 and 10. I also work as a teacher and special education coordinator. My husband and I both work to home educate our children. Our style is somewhat eclectic - I love a few philosophies/movements, mixed into lots of project based learning and living books. Welcome to my page!!

Rainy day learning in the forest. The kids attended a Halloween program with friends. We hiked to six stations that dispelled popular myths about our forest friends. Such as, not all bats carry rabies and moths are helpful pollinators, not pests. The forest always calms my heart, even in the pouring rain!!


naturewithchildren

This puzzle poster is a fun way to present a topic with various layers, for a group. Each child researched one topic then shared what they learned to each other. They then presented to a learning group we are in. - My older two are learning about the levels of Canadian Government. We integrated our youngest’s study on community helpers and looked at government workers. They had to write up what they learned on the back. A field trip to the legislative buildings in BC helped us with learning about our provincial government!

Sometimes I like to just leave paints out and see what happens. I love these watercolour paper notepads. They don’t leak through and it’s a no-glue scrapbook in the end! What’s your favourite easy craft?

Thankful for a partner who is up for adventure. He’s a good daddy and dearly loved by his kiddos. Wishing all the other dads out there a Happy Father’s Day weekend!!

My Erin Condren vertical, life planner order came in. I wanted something a little more customized to my style. I have used the Apologia Homeschooling planner in the past, but I found the pages between weeks never were used and I wanted to try something a little smaller. Also, having to fill in the dates and months was not my favourite. I will let you know how it goes!

Four our kids, I chose the EC student planners. I like the goal planning and keeping track of their month at a glance, which for my kids is all they really need. The planners don’t have a weekly layout, but as we are homeschooling again -they don’t really need it just yet. So far, I like that it ties into Career Education. What I am not so sure about is they have to add stickers for all the months and days. I will let you know if they stick to it, or it becomes a mom work project come the month of April!

Lastly, I ordered the self care and meal plan journals. I can tell you I won’t use them weekly, but every once in awhile I do a big plan for both and this will be one spot to keep those goals organized. I love using a pen to paper system. What systems do you use to stay organized?

We were gifted these felt stories and they are so very fabulous for a number of reasons. My daughter is putting together the Charlotte’s Web story board. We just finished this novel study. This is such a simple and fun way to assess her reading comprehension and see what she remembers. Also, acting out favourite scenes, sequencing - so many ways to go and I love it ties in drama. We have about 7 stories in total, so these will be floating around all summer! Sneaky learning for the win!

Around noon today, I sat down on the couch, with my cup of coffee I had started at 6:30 am, earlier. Between that time I had: tidied the whole house with John, vacuumed, made bbq sauce from scratch/got the ribs going, deep cleaned the kitchen, cleaned out the fridge, made a brunch also from scratch, re-organized homeschooling stuff and scurried around keeping the kids occupied with a variety of activities. I'm about 3 sips in when my young son walks in and says,

“So. You just gonna sit around with no bra on all day?”

I seriously have no idea where he got that from. And P.S - it’s a pandemic! Little bud will also have to learn what not to say to a busy lady 🤪. However, I’m so thankful for the gift of home. A place to gather, relax and stay in pjs much too late!!

How about you? Are you a pjs late on the weekend kind of person? Or get up and going (including fully dressed?)

It’s been the perfect Saturday. Lazy morning coffee, baseball and brunch out. Then a small hike. Just what the dr. ordered! What’s your favourite way to spend the weekend?

It’s the last days of my peonies for this year! It’s a time in the garden I look forward to every year!

Looking forward to our summer reading club as we wrap up school. We chose The Tale of Despereux to read with some friends this summer. Our plan is to meet once every week (or two weeks) and complete a fun activity that goes along with the chapters we have read. Then summer fun wherever we meet. I work through the school year, and like to disguise some of our learning through the summer where I can. I am hoping to get to a bit of math practice as well. Although, I say that every summer and it never happens! Good intentions!

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We enjoyed a field trip to Butterfly World yesterday. It reminded me of the joy of home learning- how you want, when you want. Better enjoyed with friends. The kids were witness to two butterflies emerging from their chrysalis. Did you know while in their cocoon, caterpillars basically melt into a pile of goo, then emerge a butterfly who will only live approximately two weeks?

I’m sure that would preach a pretty powerful message on the purpose of pain in transformation. Beauty after ashes! After this pandemic year, I still feel a bit goopy , but am so hopeful of those days of beauty to come!! (Hopefully mine will last longer than two weeks!)

Enjoy today, friends!

A little love from my garden today. These red peonies are a fave every year of mine. The white poppies were planted two years ago and only just bloomed. I guess good things are worth waiting for!

I have always loved flower gardening. Last year we became amateur, covid veggie gardeners. It was a bust as the deer got in. This year we have fortified the fence - so here’s hoping!!

Are you more of a veggie or flower grower?

This will be my last purchased bouquet for awhile. (It’s resting upon some of our poetry teatime reads.) My flower garden is coming up in full bloom! I love being able to make bouquets from my own backyard. My kids love being asked to as well - especially in the old days of having company over, pre-covid restrictions.

However, where I live has eased restrictions- we can now have 5 people over to our house. Feels like a dinner party is calling! The province is hoping by fall, things will be more “normal,” whatever that means!!

Until then we may have a few small summer backyard parties. It’s how I usually roll anyways. I will be out picking a bouquet later today.

What’s your favourite flower from your garden?

The school year is quickly wrapping up! We are finishing math and reading every day. I also plan on a lot of field trips for the rest of the month. We are starting a summer book club, that I am looking forward to with some friends. Do you school through June, or end in May?

Ah, sweet summer!! We are so close! I have been so quiet lately on IG. Working full time, homeschooling, pandemic. I am tired. And my house is messy. I think we all know the picture perfect frames on IG are not reality. I love going to a friends house that isn’t all together. It feels authentic and I feel honoured to see the real them. I am ok with sharing my mess with friends. The world via IG is another story, lol. So for now - here’s some peonies from my garden. 🤪.

Starting off our physical science unit with some fun hands on learning. I love these K’nex kits for simple machines. It’s a neat way for the kids to not only learn about each tool, but build it and then use it!! I try as much as positive keep science and as hands-on.

And now that the sun is shining the deck is our go to school room and my new office! The perks of working from home!

Happy Easter weekend to all those who celebrate!!

I have been a little quiet around here. I was feeling a little tired out and in much need of a spring break. We have had a switch in weather and am starting to feel renewed!! We got a fence project completed yesterday with our neighbors. We had been procrastinating forever and just doing it feels so good!! I feel some synergy going for the rest of our yard!! We are going to be fixing a couple more gates and levelling an area for an above ground pool. And the exciting news - plans for a hot tub!!

We may not be able to travel, so we are working on making our backyard a destination point for this summer.

Does anyone have a hot tub brand you love and has been awesome? We are a family of five, so looking for enough room. Thanks!!

This is a throwback to the other week. The herring run comes through for only a few days every year and changes the dark waters into a brilliant turquoise. I feel so blessed to live in so much beauty!!

What natural phenomena abound where you live??

I love the changing of each season and spring always puts me in such a good mood. This little pop of yellow reminds me of all the beautiful spring colours. We use this little cabinet for all our extra books that get dumped in the living room. One day I dream of a library, but until then - I will just hide as many books as I can in each area of my home! They are everywhere!!

Sweet P: “If I were the government, the first thing I’d do is get math out of schools.”

Don’t we all have that one thing that is just a thorn in our side?? So thankful for spring break and a little reprieve. We just got the kids seasons tickets to a ropes course we have here. I also plan to spend some time in my cozy corner featured here, reading and drinking lots of tea!!

Do you take a spring break, or power through to finish the year??