August Progress and September PowerSheets Goals

Ah, September. I’m glad you’re here.

The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze.
– “September” by John Updike

As the weather cools and the tea warms up, I’ll be memorizing this poem with the kids this month to kick off our new homeschool year! (More to come on that soon!) Here’s a quick recap of my August progress, and my September goals are below, too.

August Monthly Goals:
— Finish fall homeschool planning – Friends. It’s DONE! I spent 457,290,347 hours on this and I’m so excited about our plan for the fall. Separate post coming.
— Plan my fall schedule – I start back to homeschooling two mornings a week starting next week. I did a thorough time analysis to see where I’m spending my time at work currently and had to make some cuts to make this happen. We can’t do it all and do it well, but we can choose to cultivate what matters most in each season! Thus, the podcast is on hold so I can focus on teaching this fall. Sometimes we even have to lay down good things to make room for what’s needed in each season.
— Print my What Fires Me Up list from the Making Things Happen Conference – While I didn’t type it up, I did put my hand-written list out on my desk. I’m calling this a win and done. Done is better than perfect.
— Do the Write the Word Challenge. For the first month this year, I wasn’t as consistent with writing the Word and I felt it. There were some nights I felt like I just needed to stare at the ceiling in bed to let my mind unravel and so that’s what I did. But, I’m back to it and SO happy to have started the new Confidence journal.
— Have a planning party for upcoming birthdays and our waterfalls hiking trip – Josh’s birthday, my dad’s 85th birthday, and our waterfalls trip were wonderful. My little dude is 5! We had a great time hiking through Brevard with the kiddos last week—we did about 5 to 7 miles per day. The kids were awesome and Josh’s little bear, Beary, came along for all the hikes. It was so cute.

August Weekly Goals:
— Shabbat – We’re about to dive into a Hebrew for Homeschoolers course together as a family on Saturdays. Naturally, Ari is leading us through this and I’m looking forward to learning alongside the kiddos.
— Lift weights – I did this 5 times in August and I’m happy with that small progress.
— Memorize my goals – Continuing this in September, as it’s been very helpful!
— Enjoy the garden + birds – We finished the My Side of the Mountain trilogy on our trip and it was so good. We laughed, cried (okay, just me), and couldn’t get enough of these books. We are now fascinated with not just songbirds, but peregrine falcons. Highly recommend these beautifully-written and delightful books. We can’t wait to read all three again.
— Write in our Legacy Journal

August Daily Goals:
— Bible reading
— Write the Word
— 10k steps every day
— Digital fast – A month off of posting on social was good for me and the realization of a 2020 goal: spend more time with God than the world. I have a few fun things to share with you this fall there (2021 PowerSheets are coming and I have one more thing that I can’t wait to do with you – I’ll let that be your very cryptic clue for now!), but this has been a good new rhythm for so many reasons—namely time! I’ve had to let go of Instagram DM’s (it’s another inbox that takes up hours of my week) and generally don’t have social apps on my phone. Just like with my schedule and the podcast, I made an intentional choice here. Saying no to one thing means I get to say yes to something else!

In case you missed these!
— Are you ready for a fresh start? 2021 PowerSheets® are coming!
— Have you found yourself homeschooling this year? Plan it with joy and clarity.
— Gracie’s Garden launched. Order now and join Gracie, Sarah, Joshua, and me in the garden (and Nutty, too!).
— Read about one big lesson I learned in my garden
— Here are 10 things you can teach your kiddos in the garden!
— Let me guide you page-by-page to do your September PowerSheets (complete with music and a trip out into the garden) in the September PowerSheets PrepCast.

On to September. I have 2 goals for 2020 (each with 4 mini goals under them) that are focused on growing something that matters to me in the big picture. Here’s what’s on my Tending List for the month ahead:

September Monthly Goals:
— Start the homeschool year with ease and joy (expect a big post with more soon!)
— Write the big list for Q3/4
— Work + Worship

September Weekly Goals:
— Wonder in God’s creation
— Listen to the birds
— Shabbat
— Memorize my goals

September Daily Goals:
— Bible reading
— Physical Bible time (instead of digital)
— Write the Word
— Move it!
— Digital fast

Prepare for September with me! Listen to the September PowerSheets PrepCast below. Be guided step-by-step to prepare for the month ahead—with great music and time out in the garden:

Your turn! How are you doing? Anyone else feel like their brains need more rest than they imagined? I’d love to hear!

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