Your September Wonder Guide 🍃✨

Cherith Winslow — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 19:58:13 GMT

IT’S HERE! The first official edition of The Wonder Guide. I can’t wait to walk through this preschool year with you.

This month we’re starting strong with 3 very special units: Nature, Home, and Harvest.

Nature and Home are two environments where wonder flourishes best, if you ask me, so that makes them a perfect place to start. These themes are central to my philosophy of preschool homeschool and foundational for the whole year ahead of us. Many other future units will color in the frames of these two broad important units, especially nature.

So while this post contains activity ideas to go with this month’s three themes, there also are some important (pressure-relieving and sanity-saving!) tips and principles that will serve you all year.

Thirdly, we’ll enjoy the Harvest unit just as fall rounds the corner, pumpkins ripen, and orchards open for apple-pickin’ season.

Let’s begin!

🌳 Nature Unit

Here are my tips for a rich, worshipful, adventurous start!

Welcome to the Wonder Guide!

Cherith Winslow — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 18:02:43 GMT

Dear Christian preschool mom,

Do you have a desire to savor these special little years, make meaningful memories, and foster wonder in your little one, but sometimes feel overwhelmed by all the options, burdened by the cost, or bogged down by the details? I can relate.

Enter: The Wonder Guide. ✨ From one homeschool preschool mom to another, The Wonder Guide is my effort to lighten your mental load so you can bypass the hours of scrolling on your phone for ideas and skip to the good part: the part where you get to watch your child’s face light up with wonder at this amazing, beautiful world God has made.

A Little About Me…

You might be seeing this because we’re already real-life friends. If not, I hope we’re about to be!

I’m Cherith—a mom of two precious kids (ages 4 and 1) with a heart for homeschool and for community with fellow moms on the same journey.

I am not a robot. (Isn’t it a shame I feel the need to say that?) I am a real human and the only thing you will find here is fully human writing from my beating heart to yours.

I am not a mom who has it together by any means; I’m just a mom who loves my kids, loves Jesus, and is depending on Him for the grace I need to mother and homeschool well.

I am not a seasoned homeschooler looking for apprentices to inspire (although FIND THOSE WOMEN!).

Rather, I am a young beginner homeschool mom myself, simply looking for community and a place to share what I learn as I go.

Last year was my first year homeschooling, and this year I am bringing you along for round 2—editing out what I didn’t love last year, keeping what I loved, and searching for even more opportunities to go deeper with ~~my preschooler~~ OUR preschoolers, together.

Personally, I am heading into my second year using The Magic of Childhood preschool curriculum by Claire Mariah-Murray, which serves as the inspiration for this series. If you are using the same curriculum, I think you will find this resource especially useful as you look for activities to help you go deeper with each weekly unit. But even if you are not using the same curriculum, I think you will find this community well worth joining!

A Little About Wonder…

Wonder is a verb.

To wonder is to feel curious, to want to know.

I don’t have to tell you that your child is proficient in this. I’m sure you’ve already fielded at least a million “why’s” in your parenting career so far. It’s a rite of passage, I think. No one had to teach your child to be curious; they just are.

As a Christian, I believe that this innate curiosity is a beautiful gift from God. Kids naturally want to learn. I believe part of our job is to simply give our children space and freedom to let that curiosity and imagination RUN and flourish—especially in these foundational little years.

Wonder is a noun.

Wonder is not just something we do; it’s something we experience and embody.

And if you ask me, nobody embodies wonder quite like a preschooler.

So while I’m teaching my preschooler, he’s also teaching me. Through his eyes and by his side, I get new glimpses into what it looks like to have simple, vibrant, childlike faith. I want to see the world more like a child!—to explore creation as though for the first time, to marvel at God, to embrace my questions (even the unanswerable ones), to experience every day as the next best day ever. While you teach your child, keep your eyes and ears open for what they might have to teach you, too.

“For to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14, ESV).

If you ask me to define wonder, I could point you to any dictionary.

But if you ask me to picture wonder, I’m going to picture the wide-eyed smile of my four year old.

I’m going to sift through images in my head from this past year of homeschool: memories of him wandering through wildflowers, examining mushrooms, picking apples, holding butterflies, painting masterpieces, and building imaginary worlds.

Those are the moments I’m after, and those are the moments I want for you, too.

A Little About The Wonder Guide…

The Wonder Guide is this.

You’re here! This publication is The Wonder Guide—a little dream God put on my heart to support, encourage, and equip you as a fellow Christian homeschool mom.

Here’s the nitty gritty.

A minimally-priced paid subscription to this publication gets you:

📨 Your monthly Wonder Guide: a newsletter with a list of 3-4 weekly seasonal & educational themes for that month, paired with specific activity ideas to go with each theme. Think of this like a curated menu or an inspiration board, making memory-making simpler. This publication will run from September 2026–August 2027. 12 months. 12 guides. 52 weeks of wonder.

💬 An exclusive chat with other homeschool moms where we can share what we’re teaching, what we’re learning, and what we’re loving! This resource is not meant to just be a one-way street, but a sweet community of likeminded moms supporting each other.

♥️ Not only are you enhancing your own homeschool journey; you’re also supporting mine. Your paid subscription is a small but meaningful way to bless my family and encourage me as a fellow homeschool mom who’s trying to give God what I have (measly fishes and loaves, though it were), and asking Him to bless, multiply, and use it for His glory.

Five dollars today will sign you up to receive the first ever Wonder Guide letter in your inbox on September 1st. (Eeeek!)

I would absolutely love for you to join, friend. Sign up here (and make my day)!

Subscribe now

The Wonder Guide is You.

So, “The Wonder Guide” is what this is—a resource for you to use in creating memorable moments in these precious preschool years.

But “The Wonder Guide” is also what you are.

You, mama, are the wonder guide for your child—the one who gets to nurture their love of learning, who gets to witness their wonder, and who gets to even experience it alongside them. No one can force or fabricate awe for our children, but we are the ones who get to foster it.

What a gift. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to miss it.

So will you join me this year, friend?

3 Pieces of Homework (seems only fitting, right?)…

Subscribe here, if you haven’t already! ↓