I’ve read Joseph Pieper’s little book Leisure: The Basis of Culture a few times, and every time I find it worth the slog in the beginning to make it to the chapter 4. Chapter 4 confirmed to me that convivial was a word to latch onto and make my own – one way or another….
When homeschool moms talk shop, there’s a topic that is not politic or polite to bring up. There’s a secret that some moms are afraid to bring up and others don’t yet know. We need to talk about it. We need to own it. When homeschool moms get together, they chat about curriculum, schedules, checklists,…
It’s so easy to feel worn down by our work in the home. The work is always needing to be done again, over and over, day after day. Won’t it ever stop? Do you want it to? Of course not. Not really. To wish it all to stop is a death wish – and nowhere…
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a homeschool mom in possession of a large family must be in want of a housekeeper. That’d be nice, wouldn’t it? Some families can actually swing it, but most of us are on our own when it comes to keeping up with both school and home. Of course we…
It was about 5 years ago now that I deleted my old blog and started over from scratch, choosing the name Convivial Home for my new effort. A real estate agent promptly offered me a large sum for that domain, so I sold it and switched my name to Simply Convivial. I did not want…
I was intrigued with a tagline I saw online awhile ago: Don’t let school get in the way of your education. I sympathize. We make distinctions by saying we home educate rather than homeschool. We say “school-at-home” dismissively. Why do we do this? Is there a difference? What is the difference? Should we prefer the…
Isn’t homeschooling a sure way to drive an extrovert mom out of her mind? It depends on the homeschool and on the mom. As an extrovert homeschool mom you can set up your schedule and methods to take advantage of your strengths and fully come alive in your role. Here are five ways to do…
Homeschooling is made for introverts. So say the extroverts. Sure, we get to stay home and keep our circle of influence strong and consolidated. In our day-to-day lives we don’t have to conform to a group or put on a show for others. However, homeschooling means we are constantly at the beck and call of…
Ah, interruptions, the bane of the homeschool mother’s day and destroyer of her sanity. We troll through the internet, seeking the secret that will keep our children occupied whenever we want to get things done, that will magically make our children notice when we’re engaged with someone or something else and can’t listen at that…
We’ve seen them. The child screaming, red-faced at the park, oblivious to parental admonitions. The toddler rocking in the cart, yelling because he didn’t get his way. We sigh and shake our heads as we move along our way. Until it’s us and our children. My toddlers rarely threw real tantrums, but when they have,…