There’s something so beautiful about the wide open space of a new calendar year, isn’t there? It’s a chance to start fresh.

The first few months of school have centered around creating routine and a sense of normalcy for my girls in the midst of challenging circumstances. Although we start our school day a little later than we used to, I try very hard to maintain a daily rhythm that provides consistency.

Typically, I piece together our Morning Time using living books, poetry anthologies and a variety of other resources. The truth is, I found it challenging to do that in our first term of school. After looking around for some help, I’m so happy to share what I think will be a wonderful answer to prayer. Beginning this week, we’ll be embarking on a new and exciting journey with A Year of Tales, created by Lisa Wilkinson at Wilkinson Nest.

A Year of Tales is a gentle kindergarten to grade three curriculum centered around the tales of Beatrix Potter and designed to nurture relationship through story-centered learning. It includes scripture memorization, character study, picture study, copywork, handicrafts, poetry, spelling, recipes, field trip suggestions, and plenty of living books. It leaves room for the core subjects that we’re already using, but brings together all the truth and beauty and goodness that we crave.

In short, it’s amazing.

I can’t seem to start a new curriculum without going overboard trying to make it extra special, so I scoured our local antique stores for Peter Rabbit and Bunnykin dishes for our tea times, bought some fake garden vegetables to put on display, sewed some little carrots to use as math manipulatives, and even needle-felted some of the characters from the books.

Although there is some preparation each week (for example, procuring supplies for handicrafts and baking), the curriculum is incredibly straightforward and easy to use. It feels like a huge weight has been lifted to know that we can still lose ourselves in beautiful books and poetry and art and all the rest, but someone has curated and put together the lessons for me.

We’ll be kicking off the week with a special Beatrix Potter tea time. I’m looking forward to creating beautiful memories to cherish as we learn and grow together.