A Poem: But I am in the Woods
I hear a distant chainsaw But I am in the woods Is it a beehive in the vines? I hear a far-off car alarm Or is it birdsong? I hear a creaking door Or are those ...
Category: Blog
A Poem on Life with Small Children
You may relate. – In Suzanne U. Clark’s The Roar on the Other Side: A Guide for Student Poets, she instructs students to write two poems, one about a cacophonou...
How I Study My Children and Nurture Their Natures
God designed the gambit of skills, interests, personalities, bodies, characteristics, learning styles and spiritual gifts then artfully whisked them together to...
What My Kids Do All Day: The Joys and Struggles of Low-Tech Parenting
When Abby complained, “I’m bored.” Her mother wisely responded, “That’s okay. You don’t have to be entertained all the time.” Few moms give grace to themselves ...
Letters to My Children: A Poem about Daughters
I wrote this poem after a springtime stroll with my 6-year-old daughter. It is about a tree, but really it about her. I wrote the poem into the journal I keep f...
The Early Years: Our Preschool Routine & Gentle Homeschool Plan
In my recent post, Homeschool Planning: A Guide to Finding Your Rhythm, Building Your Routine and Filling the Slots, I explained how to build a rhythm-rooted ro...
Nature, Art and Stories Collide: An Easy Start to Nature Journaling with Children
In all the host of educational projects and curricula and programs, I have found no greater teachers than nature itself and a stack of excellent stories. Natur...
Ideas and Resources for Daily Family Bible Study
Our family reads the Bible every morning and evening. We keep our study short to make it doable and peg it to everyday events, like breakfast and bedtime, to in...
Homeschool Planning Guide Part I: Finding Your Daily Rhythm
I realized a year into homeschooling that I was planning our days backwards. I had been making long lists of goals and resources that I wanted to implement, the...
Homeschool Planning Guide Part II: Building Your Rhythm-rooted Routine
In Homeschool Planning Guide Part I, you studied your daily rhythm. Now it’s time to use those insights to artfully form a routine for your family. Make a secon...
Homeschool Planning Guide Part III: Filling the Slots
In Homeschool Planning Guide Part I, you studied your daily rhythm. In Homeschool Planning Guide Part II, you used those insights to build a rhythm-rooted routi...
How I Focus on Instilling a Different Skill or Habit Every Six Months
Children are a wonder. Their hearts are already inclined to drink deeply of knowledge and beauty and their hands are ready to take on new challenges. So develop...
The Word of the Day: How We Learn Big Concepts in 15 Minutes a Day
Each day after math lessons, we gather around the table to read a poem, recite our memory work, track the calendar, read aloud, draw and study our Word of the D...
Choosing Solitude and Simplicity: My Story of Turning Down the Noise and Decluttering My Soul
Simple living is a hot topic lately, both in print and in the echo chamber of the internet. The idea is not so much a new trend as a return- we are grownup chil...
A Poem: Our Clearing
Reds doodledoo in our gong-like metal barn.Pregnant cows moan from neighboring pastures.Squirrels dart down bare branches.Amid them birds sing a dozen echoing t...
Little Women and Becoming Marmee
When I first read Little Women, I was 23 and I was Jo. Adventurous, free-spirited, confident, loud, a bit self-absorbed and dramatic. Not pretty Amy’s pettish s...
A Poem on Orphan Care
I came across William Blakes poem, “The Chimney Sweeper,” in Suzanne U. Clark’s book, The Roar on the Other Side: A Guide for Student Poets. She teaches, “Blake...
Freedom like a Sunny Room
Freedom is in believing God’s promises more than our worries. It is in loving His commands more than our desires and trusting His truths, even when it means dis...
January 2018 : January 2019
Last week, I returned to the tranquil cottage where my daughter and I spent our first week out of the NICU. This time, I was taking a personal prayer retreat th...
Letters to My Children: A Prayer for My Daughter’s Mother (Me)
This post is part of my series, Letters to My Children (more here). I wrote this letter to my daughter, though the message applies equally to sons. My Daughter...
Not by Might, but by the Holy Spirit
Love and obedience are inextricably linked. During the last supper, Jesus states the importance of obeying His commands quite clearly. This passage once intimid...
A Lesson After the NICU: Receiving Rest
After six weeks in the NICU, our baby’s going home day was set for January 3. At 3:00 AM that morning, our 3 year old climbed in our bed with a fever. It was th...
A Lesson from the NICU: Interrupted by Tenderness
Through the past four months, most days were marked by a steady and unearned peace. But, as I have recounted in this series, some included bouts of fear and tea...
Lessons from the Hospital Bed IV: Counting on Promises
Our daughter was born eight weeks early as planned and has spent several weeks in the NICU as expected. While I took the respite of the decade in the hospital f...
Lessons from the Hospital Bed III: Redefining Perseverance
The doctors said our daughter could not survive labor. Thankfully they had a plan and I knew God would strengthen me for the five-month-long journey. I sought G...
Lessons from the Hospital Bed II: Refining Gratitude
I sat on my couch with kids piled up on my lap as long as I could, soaking up every moment before I left for the hospital. Closing the front door and riding thr...
Lessons From a Hospital Bed I: Experiencing Peace
I have a rare and dangerous pregnancy complication with our fourth child. In a nutshell, our healthy little girl cannot survive even early labor. To ensure that...
Library Books and Rabbit Trails: A Full Yet Simple Way to Preschool at Home
I have dubbed my approach to homeschooling my preschoolers Library Books and Rabbit Trails. It’s simple and wonderful. We read books aloud and they do what kids...
My Journey from Idolizing My Own Endeavors to Nurturing My Children
I did not become a nurturer on my first child’s birthday. In fact, it took three children for me to finally feel confident and interested in the job of thorough...
“Yet the Deeds Will Not Be Less Valiant Because They Were Unpraised”
I reread Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and was halted by a wisdom-packed conversation between dutiful brave Aragorn and glory-hungry complaining Lady Eowyn. S...