Update: Cultivating Responsibility
Every semester, I revise my kids’ weekly to-do lists. I slide the sheets into a plastic sleeve for them to check off with a wet erase marker. Twice a day,...
Category: HOMESCHOOL
Six Months Practicing Drawing
When I was a child, I drew a lot. I drew at the table and on the floor and on my bed and in the yard. I drew while I listened or while I talked or while I daydr...
Six Months Reading Aloud
In 2016, I discovered Sarah Mackenzie’s Read Aloud Revival podcast and it changed the trajectory of my parenting. I binge listened as Sarah interviewed scholars...
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 ...
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...
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...
A Daily Action Plan for Parents Navigating School Closures
Nonworking parents, I created a potential daily schedule to help you as you plan your coming days with kids home from school. I don’t know your kids’ styles and...
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 th...
Why Nature Is a Wellspring and Mainstay in My Children’s Days
My kids and I spend a lot of time outside. Nature has become a mainstay in our family life and has proven to be a wellspring of joy and countless educational op...
Natures Role in Children’s Natural Development; My Memories and Theirs
I remember being six years old living in a log cabin on Texas acres. I remember sitting on the porch watching a lightning storm with my dad. And watching deer a...
Favorite Spring Time Picture Books
Here in California, spring comes in late February. What an adjustment for us after living in Upstate New York! We love taking a stack of books and cups of coco...
Making the Most of Your Library While You Have Little Kids
So your child is interested in horses (or beetles or manta rays or castles). If you already read my post, Library Books and Rabbit Trails, you know how great a ...
Homeschool Planning: A Guide to Finding Your Rhythm, Building Your Routine and Filling the Slots
Rerouting to Homeschool Planning Guides I, II and III. I have divided this post into three parts: Homeschool Planning Guide I: Finding your Daily Rhythm Homesch...