Keeping Company :: January 2016

Keeping Company is one year old!

Last year, you all shared hundreds of wonderful posts here, detailing the Keeping going on in your families.  In addition, there were hundreds of photos tagged over on Instagram, thousands of views and clicks, kind and encouraging comments spread over the linked blogs, and lots and lots of helpful conversations.

Thank you for participating, whether as a blogger, Instagrammer, commenter, or just a reader.  I am so grateful for the inspiration and community.

In case you missed yesterday's post, I'm making a small change for this year: I'm going to merge my "Invitation" and "Link-Up" posts into one post on the first Tuesday of each month.  So every first Tuesday, I'll share the linky for the new month's collection.  I'll also feature a few posts from the previous month's collection, or ask some notebooking-related questions, or round up some of the best recent Instagram-tagged photos, or do some combination of those things.  I hope you'll join in the conversation!

And if this link-up has been helpful to you, consider sharing it with friends!  Feel free to link to this post or to the main Keeping Company page on your blog or social media.  And Instagram users: if you see a notebooking photo you find inspiring and think should be tagged, let the poster know!  I'd love any CM-schooling moms who could benefit from this community to be included.

In the Past Month
The December collection featured some great posts about nature study in cold, rainy weather that I thought you all might appreciate.  We had a super cold (for us!) and rainy holiday, so I'm looking for ways to continue our science studies even while indoors...

Lisa shared some wonderful examples from her kids' science journals.  I'm looking forward to starting science notebooks with my Big Kids next year, so I appreciate her photos and write-up of the experience.

from Olive Plants All Around My Table

Looking for some rainy day nature study?  Carol and her crew built a snailery!

from journey-and-destination

Crafty in Coffeeland has some helpful ideas for getting outdoors in the rain and for bringing nature study indoors too!

from Crafty in Coffeland

And over on Instagram...

top (l to r) - athena_amidstthereeds - happylhomemaker1 - obispo98
bottom (l to r) - msjschole - rjnsix - alison_winter

Keeping Resolutions
Get it?  Ha.  Really, though: I am hoping to keep my Keeping resolutions this year!  Are any of you making notebooking goals for this coming year like I am?  Here are mine:

:: A weekly entry in my nature journal.  This was my goal last year too, and I did a pretty good job of holding to that.  There were some weeks missed over the summer, and once Justin was born, my nature journal pretty much fell out of use for the last month of the year.  But that was to be expected! This year, I'm resolving the same thing: just one entry a week, any kind of entry.  It might be a note about the weather, or a list of wildflowers in bloom, or a dry-brushed bird, or a whole write-up of a nature outing with sketches.  And I plan to share my entries here on the blog over the course of the year--that's a great motivation!  (By the way, I'll be sharing "A Year in My Nature Journal" here on the blog next week with all my nature journaling from 2015.)

:: A weekly check of our Calendar of Firsts.  Again, this is one I'm continuing from last year.  I have it on our weekly assignment sheet, but I sometimes still forget to add entries if my kids don't remind me!  I'm placing it on the shelf with my nature journal so I'll remember to pull it out at least every Friday.

:: A {From My Commonplace} post here at least once a month.  My simple reading goals are to keep up with my Well-Read Mom group and my local CM study group, and those books provide plenty of rich commonplace fodder!

:: To keep a Century Chart with my Big Kids for their Year 5 studies.  They are doing one now for Year 4 and it looks like so much fun!  I am kicking myself for not keeping one alongside them.  This summer, I'll be sure to prepare a chart for myself too.

I encourage you to share your Keeping resolutions too if you are so inclined!

The Link-Up

Instructions:
:: For bloggers: You should see the linky below.  Click on the "Add my link" button, and it will prompt you to include the information for your post.  Once you submit it, your link will be added to the list, and others will be able to click over and read what you have shared.
:: For Instagrammers: Tag related photos with #KeepingCompanyCM to join the link-up.  (You can also add individual Instagram photos via the linky if you prefer.)

Guidelines:
:: Remember to link to a specific post and not to the homepage of your blog. 
:: Any posts about CM-style Keeping are welcome!  The prompt is optional.  Your post can be as simple as a photo of your commonplace book.  And please don't feel like you have to be an expert.  We are all looking to grow in these habits together. :)
:: Feel free to add more than one post.  The link-up will be open for a month, so you can come back and add more if you are so inclined.
:: You can grab the button over there on the sidebar if you'd like to add it to your post or site.

Looking forward to seeing what you all are up to.  As always. thanks for participating!

An InLinkz Link-up