It’s fall already! I thought it would be fun to just do a little bit of a chatty post and share what is going on in our life and homeschool. Normally I write helpful “How To” type posts, but it’s fun to step away from that for a little bit and just have a chat with friends. Pour yourself a warm beverage and read on. Also, this is a conversation post, so I would love to hear what you are up to in the comments!
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Homeschool
We are well into our homeschool year and things are going well, for the most part. We ditched Carter’s science curriculum, because it was just terrible. I don’t usually use the word terrible when describing curriculum, but it’s an appropriate description in this case (you can read what we were using here). There was a whole lot of opinion and very little science in this curriculum. He was constantly arguing with his curriculum, and it was just bad. My husband made the point that we don’t want our kids to enter into a conversation with someone and sound stupid because they are spouting a bunch of unscientific opinion and stating it as fact, so we dumped it. We ended up going with another Master Books science course and we like it MUCH better. Other than that, we are just plugging away with the school stuff.
Starting Trim Healthy Mama (I Quit Eating Sugar)
Yes, you read that right. Around Labor Day I decided to dip my toe in and test the waters of Trim Healthy Mama. One of the main principles of THM is no white sugar and no white flour. I have gone over a month without processed sugar (including products with added sugars), and I can truly say I don’t miss it. It was a little bit rough at first and my face broke out in some weird bumps, but other than that it has been going well.
My reason for trying Trim Healthy Mama was mainly for overall sustainable health, not really weight loss. I am very pleased that weight loss has been a pleasant side effect of cleaner eating, and I’m actually seeing numbers on the scale that I haven’t seen since my twenties. If this sounds like an ad for Trim Healthy Mama, it’s not. I don’t fully agree with them on everything, and they actually turned me down for their affiliate program, but it has been such a good experience for me I want to tell everyone about it. You can buy their books from Amazon (which accepted me into their program), or even check your local library. But if you want to buy the books, and be totally awesome, you can click through my Amazon links below.
Trim Healthy Mama Food and Recipes
I am also really enjoying cooking again! I used to love to cook and bake, but I kind of lost the joy of cooking when it felt like all of the good food just caused issues with my health. I have been making decadent desserts and have not counted calories or points and don’t feel guilty for eating seconds. I just focus on clean ingredients and making food that tastes good. It truly feels like food freedom. With my re-born love of cooking, I am thinking I will start posting some recipes on here. I have come up with things like my own cleaner version of coffee shop drinks that actually taste good. I’m looking forward to sharing some of these with you all once I figure out how to post recipes and actually take the time to get pictures and stuff!
What I am Reading
I am part of a book club and I love that it keeps me reading books. If it wasn’t for this the only books I would probably read would be our homeschool read alouds. We are currently working our way through Atomic Habits. This book is amazing. I want to say life-changing, but it’s only life changing if you actually apply the principles. Maybe I should say it’s potentially life changing. I have always been a big believer in habits vs. goals, but this book takes that idea and kicks it up a notch.
I have also been reading the book of Revelation in the Bible. This is such a tough passage of scripture to understand, and frankly there are a lot of mysteries in this book that are not revealed. I think the chaos of the world at the moment has me interested in reading this again, and a lot of our book club discussions have veered off into Revelation. No, it has nothing to do with Atomic Habits, but we are not your typical book club.
Recent books I’ve read to my kids are Across Five Aprils, The Perilous Road, The One and Only Bob, and our current read is Captain Nobody.
YouTube Channel
I have a YouTube channel (in case you didn’t know). I haven’t posted any new videos in awhile, but I’m working on it. Actually, I really like doing videos, sometimes more than blog posts. The problem is I have to share an office with my husband. It’s actually our shared office/guestroom/YouTube studio/clutter collection room. This brings a fun set of challenges of not having a space that’s always video ready. I am working on solutions to this issue though so I can get more videos out. Stay tuned, but don’t hold your breath. This stuff takes time.
Essential Oils I am Loving
No, I’m not part of an MLM. I really do love using essential oils and my favorite brand is Plant Therapy. What I love to put in my diffuser for fall is cinnamon, orange, and frankincense (1-2 drops each). This combo creates a perfectly cozy fall scent.
I think that’s it for this month’s coffee chat. I look forward to doing more of these coffee chats in the future. Now it’s your turn. What are you reading? Have you tried any new recipes or made any big changes lately? I would love to get to know you more in the comments!
