Confession: I'm not a good unschooler. I had intended for this year (or at very least the first few months) to be a break. Aside from Morning Time (A Year in the Hundred Acre Woods), math and reading, our learning was supposed to be entirely delight-directed. We were going to dive into the world of … Continue reading A New Year of Homeschooling
In the noise and in the hustle, there’s a voice that whispers, “Come, My child, and rest.” In the twirling, whirling chaos of life, there’s a place of quiet that beckons. Peace, Even in the midst of it all. “Come away with Me.” Words so sweet, so full of promise. Words so soft, they … Continue reading Rest for the Overwhelmed Mom
Despite the early hour, the latest pop music blares through the coffee shop speaker system. My seven-year old sits across from me, happily eating a chocolate-banana muffin and spooning whipped cream off her maple hot chocolate. She's going to be wired later. I'm not sure if it's the muffin or the prospect of hanging out … Continue reading Book Review: Memory Making Mom
I don't remember an evening that we didn't gather around the dinner table growing up. My dad would sometimes come in a bit late, tired after a long day of physical labour, but always, we ate together. Our lives, our day, revolved around our evening meal. After dinner, my dad would pull out the big … Continue reading Family Rituals: The Key to Happier, Healthier Kids
To the mom who feels forgotten, You go on social media, longing for connection. And you see pictures. Pictures that were you once upon a time. Sometimes, you miss it. It was a lifetime ago that you had it. The camaraderie of coworkers. The dinners and events. Phone calls and meetings and the whirlwind of … Continue reading To the Mom Who Feels Forgotten…
"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." ~Aristotle This year, we're reading Home Education in our homeschool group. Home … Continue reading Charlotte Mason and Habit Training (Thoughts on “Home Education”)
They were so little. The youngest just a toddler. It was the last day of our homeschool co-op, and I promised the girls that if they were ready early enough, I would take them to the coffee shop beforehand for a special treat. They were so little. Yet they got neatly dressed in record time, the … Continue reading The Stranger in the Coffee Shop
The dryer buzzes loud in the morning silence with another load to be folded. There are piles of already-folded laundry on the living room floor next to bags that have yet to be unpacked from a weekend away. Our school day is starting soon and the girls should have been awake and ready long before … Continue reading You are not enough … and that’s okay.
A Lancaster bomber flew low overhead, black against the grey November sky. My children covered their ears as the strains of the national anthem were swallowed up by the plane’s roaring engine. The crowd in front of the old town hall was solemn. Even the youngest seemed to sense the importance of this moment.
The sky was a brilliant blue streaked with wisps of white. As we walked through the forest, red and gold leaves gently fell around us. “Look at that!” my daughter said, pointing to an old log. “It’s beautiful!” The log was rotting and covered in fungus. We stooped low to examine it. “Did you know … Continue reading Embracing Where You Are
