The Next Adventure(s)
- kkoury1
- Feb 21, 2025
- 3 min read
We've made it to 2025, and as always, a new year is full of possibilities for both good
and bad. 2024 ended with some really hard realities for ourselves and our community, and 2025 has begun with many others in our communities feeling afraid and unseen. There is not a lot we can do to face these bigger and sometimes harsh realities, but I also do, continually, have hope for a better and brighter future. A lot of my hope rests on the next generation of children and young adults who are invested in recognizing their own emotions and investing in relationships that benefit themselves and the world around them. I feel that my greatest investment in our future is in the time and lessons that we pour into our children.
Currently, we are traveling with our boys for a month long stay on the Emerald Coast in Florida exploring the lovely, peaceful scenic Highway 30A and the twelve or so small towns between the highway and the beach. We're soaking up the sun during our stay and enjoying time with lots of loved ones in the area. We've traveled to the beach every year since Cyrus was less than one, and I've taken to (somewhat facetiously) calling it our pilgrimage to the sea. The boys love the beach and the sea, which makes me happy. The logistics may be a lot sometimes, but it's such a joy and privilege to be able to travel with them.
Another new development that is continuing to make month like trips like this possible are that we have decided to homeschool our boys! Even as a former college professor and a Ph.D. in English, I wasn't quite sure I was up to the ask-- it all seems so formative and important-- but a couple months in I think we are all enjoying it and finding our groove. My boys both attend a private preschool two mornings a week, but as my oldest turned five last September, I felt like he was ready for more, so we jumped into kindergarten after the first of the year. I am basing our curriculum this year off the guide provided by Little House Learning Co. called "A Quiet Growing Kindergarten." This curriculum follows the Charlotte Mason method, which focuses primarily on the child as a whole person, which I really like as a focus and fits in really well with our parenting/ family ethos.
The curriculum uses the Charlotte Mason method as a basis and then provides curriculum suggestions and a full 36-week calendar of how and when to use the curriculum books. As a reference point both for myself in the future and for anyone who may be interested, I thought I would list the books that I have ordered and am using in this first quarter or so of our kindergarten year. I ordered all of these books (and a few more but these are most used/ favorites) from Amazon, but there are others on the list in the curriculum from other sources.
In addition to starting homeschooling with the boys, this year I also jumped into the process of publishing my first book and working as an affiliate editor for the same publisher, Nine Tries Publishing, based out of Essex, England and founded by my Oxford friend, Tom. There will be more to come on both ventures, but I'm enjoying the work very much so far, and it feels good to tap into some creativity again. Let's go, 2025! Let's all be kind...
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