Everyone wants to know the best homeschool techniques. That’s what Google is for, right? To tell us. When homeschool days go bad, we wonder if we are missing something or if there are better ways out there we’re missing. We want a lovely homeschool lifestyle, full of laughter and joy and definitely lots of learning…
A sense of humor is mandatory if we want to escape or recover from homeschool burnout, or even simple motherhood burnout. A homeschool lifestyle requires our attention – and the attention we give our kids will either be critical or humorous. Which do you think will be more effective? Let’s look at how to cultivate…
So, let’s be honest. How many of you have felt like you’ve failed your kids? Wait, what? I thought this was about encouragement for homeschool moms. It is. Hang with me, here. Before there is good news, we must recognize the bad news. Despite what you see (or interpret to yourself) on social media or…
“I had always felt life first as a story: and if there is a story there is a story-teller.” -G.K. Chesterton Yes, life is a story – it is a story God is telling for His own purposes and for His own glory. What does that mean for us? It means we are characters. Each…
If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. We know it’s true, but it’s doubly true for homeschool families. If we want to homeschool well, we need to homeschool happily. Our homeschools need happy mamas to work. What do you need to homeschool successfully? Do you need Ticonderoga pencils and an iPad? Do you need lesson…
Some education principles are broad and deep with numerous applications. Intelligent people write volumes on them and we, the average homeschool mom, read and reread, slowly coming to a better understanding. Other education principles are simple, straightforward, and common sense. Yet, that doesn’t seem to make them easier to apply. It just makes me stupid…
Every time I share a photo of our kids’ homeschool checklists, I get requests for the template or questions about our implementation. We’ve been using weekly checklists for more than 5 years. For a year and a half we used Trello for our homeschool, but then returned to paper in order to reduce screen time…
Years ago when my oldest started getting into “real school” and I was adding students both in the phonics-stage and in the pregnancy-stage, I looked at the goals I had written out, I looked at the books I was collecting, and I looked at my pillows (with longing). I realized I was going to have…
So the school year, for most of us, has begun. And, if you’re waiting until after Labor Day, it’s fast approaching. I don’t know about you, but I always start off the year thinking that this year will be more awesome than last because this year I’m committed to really being, well, awesome. This school…
This started off as an introduction to my talk at the Learning Well retreat, but grew too unwieldily. It got the ax in my presentation, but now finds a home here. Learn more about the upcoming retreat at the end of the post! So. When my oldest child was 5 years old – 10 years…