Monthly Musings - 'Tis The Season for Back To School!

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I took a break for a couple of months, but I'm going to jump in to some Monthly Musings questions again! Holly at Pink Lady and Patty at Good Better Best co-host this monthly sharing of tips, tricks, and conversation starters. This month we're discussing Back To School! Now, you may be wondering why I'm joining in on this one since I clearly do not have school age children, which is fair! I'm not going to answer every question, but I'll take on some of them with brief answers about what we used to do, and others with what I'm doing this year as I will be teaching a high school writing class for a homeschool co-op. And I'll even save you time reading by just linking to articles from the archives of my homeschool blog, Homeschool Coffee Break, that answer the question, so you can only go there if you're curious about it!

Where do you typically shop for Back to School? Any tips?

As homeschoolers, back to school shopping wasn't much of a thing for us, other than picking up a fresh supply of notebooks and that sort of thing. I bought my curriculum from all kinds of publishers, and most of the purchases were made online.

How do you organize for Back to School?

Staying organized was always a challenge! I tried really hard to stay on top of things. See How Do You Keep Homeschool Stuff Organized? for more.

This year I'm working on updating my lesson plans for the co-op class, and need to get that organized. But! I just realized a couple days ago that I never brought the Teachers Edition of the textbook with me. Somehow I forgot that. So that will make the initial organization just a little bit harder!

Do you meal prep? Any fall recipes to share?

I don't really. I've never been very good at it, despite many attempts.

Any Back to School traditions?

First day of school photos! I didn't start doing that until my oldest two were past convincing that they should cooperate, but I have a pretty good collection of First Day photos of the younger two. Some years we had donuts for breakfast on the first day of school too, which was a special treat.

One thing that was very important to me was choosing a School Scripture each year. It was more for me than for the kids, to help remind me why we were there and about the things that were more important than test scores or school sports or neat penmanship. See School Scripture 2022-2023 for last year's and a summary of all the past School Scriptures!

Slow cooker? Instant Pot? Both? Neither? Link a recipe if you have one.

I have both but I tend to use the slow cooker more often, probably because I've had longer experience with it. I got the Instant Pot a couple of years ago and it was a nine days wonder that I used a lot, but then I kind of got over the novelty of it.

School bus? Carpool? Walk to school?

To the kitchen for coffee and breakfast and then either the dining room table or back to the desks in our rooms. A very short walk to school! We did go to co-ops and gym classes though, which was always about a half hour drive.

Start school before or after Labor Day?

Our usual plan was to start to ease into school mid-August and be at full course load after Labor Day. Some years it didn't work so well. Co-op generally starts the week following Labor Day.

Are you doing any Back to School stuff this year? How does the Back to School season affect your life? Leave a comment and let me know!

I'm linking up with Monthly Musings hosted by Holly at Pink Lady and Patty at Good Better Best.

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 ©2006-2023 HS Coffee Break/Just A Second/A Fresh Cup of Coffee. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. https://morecoffeebreaks.blogspot.com/ 

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What's Up Wednesday - August 2023

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On the last Wednesday of each month, Shaeffer & Shay host a link-up to talk a bit about what's going on in our worlds - food, entertainment, plans, fashion, work, whatever - in the What's Up Wednesday linky party. 

What We're Eating This Week . . . Let's see, so far we grilled hot dogs and brats on Sunday, had baked cod on Monday, and a Kentucky Hot Brown casserole on Tuesday. Tonight is Dinner + Discipleship at church, and I've loosely planned some meals for the rest of the week. Probably grilling hot dogs and hamburgers, and maybe doing chicken parm one night. We want to try smoking a chuck roast―we've heard this is "poor man's smoked brisket" so we're going to see how it turns out! Wouldn't be surprised at all if we eat out or get pizza as well, since our kids will be here for the long weekend.

What I'm Reminiscing About . . . I've been seeing so many Back to School, Back to Homeschool, and College Move-in Day things on the Book of Face lately that it's almost impossible not to reminisce a little about all the past First Day experiences. There's a lot I miss about our homeschooling years, especially kicking off a new year and convincing the kids we needed First Day photos. And first day of co-op was always a big deal too.

What I'm Loving . . . that I'm starting to feel like I have a life again. It feels more like we 'belong' at our church, and I feel less like the 'new kid' trying to fit in at chorus each week. It's a relief to not feel isolated, lonely, anxious, or depressed almost every day. 

I love that we were able to visit the family in Maryland a couple weeks ago, and that they are coming here this weekend. We also had a visit from my husband's sister and brother-in-law last weekend.

I loved this interesting visitor at our front door on Sunday. Not sure why this Cooper's Hawk was hanging out in our neighborhood, but it was kind of neat to see!

What We've Been Up To . . . working every weekday has been an adjustment for me, but I've mostly settled into a routine with that. Wednesday evening Dinner + Discipleship is going back to weekly now that the school year is starting. Last week I finally had that oral surgery to remove the annoying broken tooth, so that was a day off work and a couple days of minor pain. This week I finally got in with a new doctor, and I'm very pleased―I think I found one who is a great fit for me. And hopefully we'll find the cause of my frequent stomach upset problems too.

We try to get out for walks often, and explore a park or something with the kids every week. Things like visiting the pool or a farmer's market are on the agenda most weekends.

coffee and baklava from the farmer's market

What I'm Dreading . . . paying all the bills. Ugh, the oral surgery and now the diagnostics the doctor is ordering. Especially since I'm STILL trying to unravel the huge mess with our dental insurance. I suppose I also dread having to be careful about spending and feeling like I have to pinch pennies, and how inevitable that is with inflation and everything.

What I'm Working On . . . I have to get lesson plans updated and prepared for co-op to start in a couple weeks. I'll be teaching the high school writing class again, but remotely, so I do have lay out my plans a bit differently and share them with my co-teacher. And I need to get the proposed outline to her soon! I also cannot get my chromebook camera to work on anything like a consistent basis, so I've given up troubleshooting and will buy a basic webcam this week so our students will actually be able to see me!

What I'm Excited About . . . a long weekend with the kids! And we are now officially into the 30-day countdown to our Alberta trip! I'm also really excited about the upcoming Sweet Adelines International in Louisville―with each Scioto Valley Chorus rehearsal our excitement builds as we all work together to get our music ready. 

What I'm Watching/Reading . . . every now and again I'll join my husband to watch some comedy or a bit of Star Trek or some other show, but I spend very little time watching TV or movies. I've been in somewhat of a reading slump lately as well, even though the books I've been working on and have coming up are all so good. It's definitely not the reading material that's to blame for my slow-down!

For all the details on what I'm reading, see my book blog at Just A Second.

I'm currently working on:

 Composition As Conversation by Heather M. Hoover

The Starlet Spy by Rachel Scott McDaniel

The Vanishing at Castle Moreau by Jaime Jo Wright

Recently completed:

Reykjavík: A Crime Story by Ragnar Jónasson and Katrín Jakobsdóttir

Rebecca (Daughters of the Lost Colony Book 3) by Shannon McNear

Up next:

Voice of the Ancient by Connilyn Cossette

Queen of Exiles by Vanessa Riley

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Murder Most Fair by Anna Lee Huber

A Fatal Illusion by Anna Lee Huber

What I'm Listening To . . . RadioU, my favorite podcasts, and my varied Spotify playlists, just depending on the time of day and my mood.

What I'm Wearing . . . t-shirts and jeans or capris most of the time. I'm wearing my hair a little shorter since my last trim on the weekend, but it will grow quickly!

What I'm Doing This Weekend . . . Well, I'm not sure what specific things we'll do, but we're having Landon and Meaghan and Aubrey, and Spencer here for the weekend. We told them to bring swimsuits so hopefully the weather will cooperate and the pool won't be too crowded! It was closed for maintenance yesterday and I haven't seen anything yet about when it will reopen. I'm sure they will prioritize getting it open for the long weekend. Right? 

What I'm Looking Forward To Next Month . . . I'm really looking forward to co-op starting and getting back to teaching, even though it will be so different and I don't feel ready yet! The Alberta trip begins right at the end of September, so technically that's something I'm looking forward to in October.

What Else Is New . . . A new city park opened this week, adjacent to our neighborhood. It's quite large and has an interesting looking playground that our granddaughter is excited about visiting, and a long wetlands walking path and boardwalk that we're eager to explore. We've previewed just a little bit of the boardwalk and are planning to see more of the park starting this weekend.

 I signed us up to participate in the 55+ Supper Club at church, so that will be a new experience for us! Owning our advancing age! haha

I was going to say this was my fun meme of the week, but it looks like this library was limiting the fun . . .

This post is linked at What's Up Wednesday for August, with Sheaffer & Shay.

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 ©2006-2023 HS Coffee Break/Just A Second/A Fresh Cup of Coffee. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. https://morecoffeebreaks.blogspot.com/ 

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Everyday Images #16

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Fresh Cup of Coffee helps continue the coffee breaks and conversation. 

Welcome to another installment of my challenge and reminder to myself to take photos somewhat regularly. I went through past photo challenges and came up with a list of prompts at the beginning of the year and am trying to find opportunities to take pictures of these things each week. These were the prompts I assigned myself for the past couple weeks:

August Prompts - Everyday Images #16

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selfie (quarterly)

shady

logo

spiral

lonesome

window view (quarterly)

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selfie (quarterly) - I will probably never be comfortable with taking selfies, or even with having others take photos of me, which is partly why I make myself do it at least once a quarter.

shady

logo - I kept forgetting to look for a good opportunity to get a photo of a logo, so I chose this photo I took of the Keurig I got this week, with a bonus Coca-Cola logo on the coffee mug.

spiral  - I love spiral notebooks!

lonesome - Just one lonesome cattail. There were lots on the other side of the boardwalk.

window view (quarterly) 

And a few bonus photos:

For some reason, the late day sun shining into the grocery store struck me as an interesting photo. 

We previewed part of the walking trail and boardwalk in the park near us, visiting at dusk one day and in the afternoon on another day. I think maybe today is the official opening.

We got home from church on Sunday and this Cooper's Hawk was waiting at our front door.

I am sharing my photos every other Tuesday, along with my prompts for the next two weeks. You can use all or some of the prompts for your own photo posts, or none of the prompts and just link up a post featuring your photos. Simple rules: Your posts must be family-friendly; the photos must be your own; and the post must be mostly photos. If you do share I'd appreciate a mention and link to A Fresh Cup of Coffee on your post.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

September Prompts - Everyday Images #17

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same spot (monthly)

plant (quarterly)

chaos and/or order

workspace (quarterly)

change

paper

~~~~~

This post will be linked at Pictorial Tuesday, hosted by Peabea Scribbles, and at  Wednesday Words and Pics hosted by Denyse's Words & Pics

Pictorial Tuesday

Don't miss a coffee break! Subscribe to A Fresh Cup of Coffee by email. 

©2006-2023 HS Coffee Break/Just A Second/A Fresh Cup of Coffee. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. https://morecoffeebreaks.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.