Christmas came like a blur, left like a blur, and before I very happily tuck the last of the nativity figurines into tissue paper and coil up the lights, I find that I must record one little story. Here’s what you first should know: I grew up in a family that Did All The Things at Christmastime. You […]
The Truth Behind Pinterest Worthy Images
On Monday morning the kids and I created an advent garland. Sure, we were a week into Advent, and yes, it had taken me that entire week to wrap my mind around this project after reading a tutorial over at Five In Tow. All I wanted was something to help the four year old count […]
Children Are Persons (so are we)
The screen taunted me, not doing what I demanded of it. “How in the world did you guys get it to do that thing last week?” I exclaimed. Shrugging, the ten year old wrinkled his brow into a question mark, matching mine. Ellenor shouted off all sorts of inapplicable advice. Havilah wriggled deeper onto my lap, and […]
I Blame The Toddler
Aside from the completely awkward run in with the counseling center, this week shaped up to be an adventure in its own right. It probably began the morning my 2 year old woke me by tap-tap-tapping on my nose. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Feeling the soft chubby index finger over and over, I dragged open […]
Discussing Sex And Culture With Kids
I spent the afternoon discussing sex trafficking, pornography, and the grocery store’s placement of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition (at the eye-level of third grade boys). Sometimes, all the sunshine in the world–all the love, all the joy, and all the hope–seems utterly tucked into shadows. I’m raising sons in this place, on this planet. […]
Sabbath Weeks
My friend Katie linked me to this article on “Sabbath Schooling,” a style of scheduling the homeschool year so that every seventh week is a week of rest. We have been schooling this way for nearly three years now, though we’ve never given it a name. More or less, we school for six weeks and […]
Homeschool: An Update
The past few years the kids and I have followed Ambleside Online’s scheduled homeschool curriculum, with great enjoyment and success. So when we came into this deployment year I weighed a few schooling options, and ultimately decided to stick with Ambleside despite its heavy reading load. After all, we knew the rhythm, we liked the […]
In Sickness and In Health
A stomach bug has hit our home, knocking three children and two parents down; leaving only the baby and the six year old standing. As I squatted next to a toilet at midnight, holding back the hair of two little girls who were simultaneously puking into the same blessed porcelain bowl, I glanced over at […]