Before moving forward, it’s always best to look back and evaluate. Yet when we evaluate, it’s almost always with an eye focusing on what we didn’t like and what we didn’t do. Let’s look back over the previous month and think about what we’ve learned, so we can take those lessons and move forward into fall. Share what you learned in the comments! #1 – Blank half-sized notebooks are the perfect portable brain dump vehicle. When my friend Sarah’s new … Read More
Season 12: Finding Rest as a Homeschool Mom This season of the Simplified Organization Audio Blog is excerpts from an hour-long live chat all about resting as a homeschool mom. Find the link below to access the replay in its entirety! Transcript So, start off by listing the things that you currently do for rest. What do you currently do when you feel like you need a break? Of those things that you do for rest which ones do you … Read More
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 year will be different because I will be different. So, a decade into homeschooling and having rounded the bend of my thirties, maybe that idealism … Read More
Season 12: Classical Voices on Classical Education We can’t simply demand character out of a person, nor can we explain it with abstract and theoretical definitions and expect that to be sufficient. We have to illustrate – model, tell stories, practice, make analogies – if we want to help people (ourselves, our children) change. And doing so is demanding. It’s hard work. It’s good work. It’s necessary work. It is best and easiest to begin how we mean to go … Read More
Online conversations quickly devolve, and none more quickly than those centering on self-care. Yet, this conversation has traction and persistence for a very valid reason: We so ardently wish to not burn out, but to continue doing the good work set before us. We want to be effective. But we aren’t sure how. We’re weary in the good works God has given us, even though the Bible says we shouldn’t be. As with most online “discussions,” each person comes to … Read More
Season 12: Finding Rest as a Homeschool Mom This season of the Simplified Organization Audio Blog is excerpts from an hour-long live chat all about resting as a homeschool mom. Find the link below to access the replay in its entirety! Transcript And, thank you all for the participation even before we began on what is rest. I think that we’re all, kind of, on the same page – is what it sounds like because this is what I was … Read More
Season 12: Classical Voices on Classical Education Listen: Transcript Mystie: Alright, well, welcome to season 12. I’m so excited to get this season started, and I’m here today with Virginia Lee to start our season off. Virginia Lee: Hi, everyone. Mystie: For the podcast this season the Simple Sanity Saver is Math-U-See tips. Even if you don’t use Math-U-See I think you’ll still be able to pick up some ideas, some tips, some things to think about. So, what ages … Read More
We’re all starting back to regular routines right about now, and trying to gear ourselves up to stick with the plan as best we can. We’ve probably all tried all three of the options before – schedules, routines, and winging it – and found none of them satisfactory. What should we try next? So often, those first days back, when our good intentions are so strong, something happens: kids get sick, someone breaks an arm, the baby gives up on … Read More
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 ago now! – I was twenty-six years old. I had read stacks of books about homeschooling because I was about to embark on the project … Read More