February is nearly over. How are those new year goals going? Have you been consistent with your goals? After the new year high has worn thin, after the gray and cold has taken its toll, we need to get honest about what it takes to stay consistent with our goals. It is not unusual to…
Pesky paperwork, asking obnoxious questions. If you stay home, what is your listed occupation? What do you fill into that occupation blank at the doctor’s office, at therapy, on your tax return? Is homemaker a legitimate occupation or should you just leave it blank? Even as someone who earns money on the side, I write…
Moms often experience burnout, but we can address the issues at play and not give in to the temptation to give up. If you’ve been homeschooling for a few years, you’ve probably felt it, and probably around this time of the year. Even if you aren’t homeschooling, still the temptation rears its ugly head. Burnout….
One thing I do miss about not being on Instagram is that I have no place for brief thoughts. Of course, there’s also no pressure to have brief thoughts every day, but a place to process small events can be helpful. In lieu of social media posts, I’m reviving the old-school practice of a hodgepodge…
When our homes are a mess, when we don’t know what to do with all the stuff, when decluttering feels like its own never-ending job, then we get stuck and frustrated. We think decluttering will solve our problems, but the pictures painted by tv shows, magazines, and Pinterest just don’t fit our own real life….
I suppose a reflection post on 2020 ought to begin with all the cliches about strangenesss, unexpectedness, and unpredictability discovered in odd times. I’ll assume you know all that already and are, like myself, tired of such comments – though it’s hard to say anything else at times. It is all just so odd and…
One of our goals as homeschool parents is not only to teach our kids to read, but also help them love to read. Some are on board with this goal and therefore conclude we shouldn’t make our kids read, because that will kill the joy. They tend to suggest fun and easy books because how…
Most of us began our lives as wives and mothers not only without any training or instruction in running a home, but also without any real examples in our own history and life to follow. We so desperately want to do a good job, and we jump in with both feet and suddenly find we’re…
A new year is like a promise of a fresh start, a new beginning, a turning of the page that might mean the turning of a new leaf. What can we do to start the new year well? I am always trying to turn over new leaves. Too many times I’ve tried turning them overnight,…
It’s one thing to start the school year strong, but quite another to keep at it after the weeks start blurring together. Motivation to homeschool ebbs away, and we can’t wait for some natural, overwhelming incoming tide to return. Instead of being tossed about on the waves of our emotions and hormones (which turn into…