As I write, we have 9 days of school left. 9 days. And as I write, it occurs to me how much different our next school year will look. I should correct that. It occurs to me how different our next school year is already beginning to look. I generally spend this season planning for […]
What Follows “The Decision”
Many parents are making a decision right now: next school year, we are going to homeschool our children. A number of these same parents know other homeschoolers, and knowing someone else on the journey is a source of peace in the midst of uncertainty. There are others, though, who might not be as fortunate, and […]
The Un-Charlotte Mason, Charlotte Mason School Day
Worksheets. When we began homeschooling, our kids were in a private Christian school where it seemed as if their lives were captured via worksheet after worksheet. I can remember loving their recorded progress, and saving each sheet. Then at some point, space got tighter and the worksheets just kept coming—and coming. By the time we […]
Brand New Seasons, Same Old Reason
The kids “pulled a fast one” on me, as they say, and decided to take different missions trips with the chuch’s youth ministry. This meant that each kid took a different week for spring break, and Mom got no break! Geesh! Though I would have loved to spring ahead by sleeping in this past […]
Spring, With All Things New
There exists statistical data that suggests a connection between weather and mental health. More specifically, these studies suggest that there are those who suffer from seasonal depression during the winter months. It is colder, generally drearier, and the weather begs for us to stay indoors—potentially isolated from those around us. If we follow this same […]
Why Love Must Reign
Past the cards, gifts, and chocolates that mark this season, if we are to succeed at all in educating at home, love must reign, even in places where it is difficult (read DISCIPLINE). Love marks every sacrifice in the Word of God, from Gideon to Ruth to Jesus himself. And believe me, friends, home education […]
God Taught the Tough Stuff; Will You?
There are lovely stories in the Bible. Children’s movies have been made of these stories; devotionals for the young are full of them. But God also covered the tough areas, as in the rape of Tamar by her brothers. He dealt with the incestuous acts of Lot and his daughters. He covered the beheading of […]
Reading List for a Mom’s and Son’s Last Year Together
So…while I ponder my own reading list and my re-commitment to nighttime reading on my personal blog, I also thought that it’s not too early to begin thinking about what the children will read on next year—especially our son. Next year is a hybrid of our son’s senior year. By “hybrid,” I mean that he […]
6 Ways to Change Your Mind and Your (Homeschool) World
Our pastor once preached a series of messages from a central theme: If you can change your mind, you can change your world. The sermons were rich, packed with thought-provoking and life-changing ideas. Yet, the premise was simple. So much of the gap between mediocrity and success—in any aspect of our lives—is a result of […]
What if Your Child HATES Homeschool?
Another homeschooling parent shared an article with me from the Huffington Post entitled, “I’m Done Making My Kid’s Childhood Magical.” You can view the article in its entirety here, but the general premise was that as parents, we put an undue amount of pressure upon ourselves to make each day of our children’s lives […]
Where is Christ in Your Christmas?
I once saw that Halloween is now the most celebrated holiday after Christmas. However you feel about celebrating Halloween, the data is apparently there, and the messages across the airwaves are reflective of that data. Thanksgiving gets no love from Madison Avenue; candidly speaking, there is not much money in it (although there is PLENTY of […]
Texas, Home of the Mammoth(?)
Early in our homeschooling journey, we made a point of taking a year-end trip that wrapped up whatever we studied into a neat (albeit, sometimes expensive) little bow. Our studies of rock striations led us to Big Bend National Park and to the Grand Canyon. And what would a study of Civil War […]