The following article is taken from chapter 14 of The Convivial Homeschool: Gospel Encouragement for Keeping Your Sanity While Living and Learning Alongside Your Kids, Mystie’s first full, paperback book – now available here. Rest is the virtue between negligence and anxiety. Sarah Mackenzie, Teaching from Rest I am not a very good napper. Occasionally…
We have used a year-round homeschool schedule for over twelve years – for all of our homeschooling years to date. I believe it makes both planning and living a homeschool lifestyle easier and better. Here’s the scoop on the why and the how of homeschooling year-round. Yes, we are those sorts of homeschoolers who school year-round. It seems like…
I remember being so weary, so tired, as a young stay-at-home mom with small children. There was so much to do. So much to do, in fact, that it seemed a monumental task just to decide what to do. My fatigue was compounded by the fact that most of my “so much to do” was…
Oh, Monday morning woe! Dishes piled in the sink, counters overloaded with random bits, laundry mounting high out of the hampers. Extra gunk on the floor, toys left out, books strewn everywhere. Everywhere I looked, I saw evidence that I was starting the week behind. Everywhere I looked, I saw that I did not spent…
We’ve all felt the exhaustion, the overwhelming sense of vague failure or defeat, the frustration of feeling like our goals are impossible. Maybe some women out there can manage, but we aren’t and cannot be. We need rest. We know we need rest. But we aren’t sure how. The only kind of rest we can…
by Abby Wahl The idea of self-care seems to be everywhere in our current culture, proclaiming that unless we are intentional about taking time for ourselves, it won’t happen. We are lead to believe that withholding self-care will have disastrous consequences. These consequences will supposedly affect not only our physical and mental well-being, but also…
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….
Do you know what it means to teach from rest? Teaching from rest is not easy or gentle or comfortable. Teaching from rest is homeschooling faithfully. Rest. You know you need it. What do you picture, when you think of yourself resting? Walks on a beach? A nap? Curling up with tea and a novel?…
Really, it’s pretty amusing when you step back and think about it. Here we are, mothers of bustling families, running around like crazies all week, wishing for time off or a day out, and griping in our own heads about the amount of work there is to do. Sunday comes, the 10 Commandments are read,…
So, I’ve written about why time budgets are important and helpful and also shared the details of my own. It’s so easy to fill out that spreadsheet or piece of paper with an idealistic frame of mind that does not account for the realities of working out a plan in a house full of people….