featuring a motherhood session with Valerie & her girls

We started school this week. The last days were filled with quiet anticipation and bittersweet longing for more time. More lazy days. Sundrenched afternoons by the pool. Now, the end of August is near. I associate this time of year with flaming sunflowers, ripe, heavy wheat fields swaying in the soft winds. The constant, fine dust of mowed hay in the air. I can almost smell it. Reminiscing while sharpening pencils.

This is our second year of homeschooling. I love the flexibility. The involvement. For years, my family has worked towards the freedom of doing school/work from any place in this world. We finally have succeeded. I am not sure I can describe the significance of this, but people who know me know how much this means to us.

As summer is ever so slowly fading, I can’t help but feel little tucks of excitement. One chapter coming to an end means the birth of another one. Filled with new challenges, new friends, schedules, and room for growth. Opportunities to expand inquiring minds. Moments of achievement paired with resignation, struggles, and frustration.

While I love to romanticize and find magic in the mundane, I am also realistic. The experiences that we have collected as a family last year proved to us that this education model requires a lot of dedication, time, and teamwork. A lot of push and pull. Disagreeing. Overcoming differences. Overcoming egos. Mostly on me and my husband’s part.

As I sit here, the evening light flooding into my studio, with the delicious smell of home-cooked dinner in the air, I can’t help but be hopeful. To trust that all things will fall into place.

Here is to a new page in our story. A story of growing together. Thriving within the chaos. The utter belief that you can create something beautiful. That you and your family create their own path. And succeed.