Here is a glimpse into what my day looks like. I sit at the schoolroom table with 4 kids (with 4 different grade levels), 2 dogs, 3 cats, and my cup of coffee. It is a Wednesday and we are working on our schoolwork. Two kids are reading on the couch, a dog is playing with…
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Homeschool Encouragement – 12 Helpful Tips
Let’s pretend that you and I could sit down for a cup of coffee and chat. We all need some encouragement in the job of homeschooling. If we were in person I would listen to what is hard. You could share your struggles and mishaps. And if you asked me for advice I would say…
The Speed of Personality – Transitions & Slowing Down
What is restful to one person might be stressful and overwhelming to another. A calm and smooth transition to one person might seem abrupt and difficult for someone else. We all slow down in different ways and at different speeds. We can be kind and gracious to each other with understanding. The way that each…
How to Be Kind to my Future Self
What can I do today that will help me tomorrow? How can we be kind to the future version of ourselves who is tired and worn out? How can we do the thinking right now so that we do not have to do that later? The difficult part of tasks is often the thinking and…
Welcoming this New Year
I love the beginnings of the New Year. I enjoy the fresh calendars, the new planners, the clean crisp notebooks, and the restructuring of my routines. I enjoy having some time for reflection and goal setting. In my time spent planning my next year, I have been thinking about 4 major topics. Ways to find…
All is Calm & All is Bright – Making Christmas Enjoyable
Christmas is always a time of “extra things”. It is a level of busy that is unmatched in any other part of the year. Just thinking of all that goes into the space between Thanksgiving and New Year’s is exhausting. Multiple family gatherings, performances, end of the semester school events, finals and major tests, decorating…
Preparing My Heart For Christmas
I want to be fully present in this season. As I tackle the long list of all that must be done, I get discouraged. I begin to lose my energy and my enjoyment of celebrating the holidays with my family. I get through, make it special for others, I make all the special dishes. But…
How I Inherited a Love for Hobbies & Insouciance
We all come from generations of people who worked hard and then had lots of interests so that they could live abundant lives. They did not wait until they had all the knowledge or watch all the YouTube videos. They just tried stuff. When I think about all that my grandparents were able to do…
Personal Growth & Lessons Learned in Family Travel
Why would we spend money, time, energy, and resources on going to new places with our families? Traveling anywhere is a lot of work. Is it worth it? These were the questions I asked for a long time. Travel with small kids felt heavy and difficult. I did not see the value of traveling anywhere.…
The Writing Process Can Be Messy
Wrestling With My Work- What I learned when I tried to write 1 post on Sabbath and it morphed into 15… It seems fitting that to write these articles about Sabbath I had to slow down. I needed to sit, read, take notes slowly, and reflect. I was not able to write the article by…