My youngest daughter and her best friend are playing intermittently with a recorder and chattering back and forth on toy phones. They’re across the house from me, but here, we’re never far enough apart to be unheard. My sons are playing a video game with… Read More
I’m sitting in the grey light of a Friday morning, at the tail end of a week when it has rained and monsoon like winds have gusted, shaking down the the final bursts of autumn color. It’s the tipping point of the year, the final… Read More
It was probably about a year ago, we were sitting around our friend’s kitchen table, kids running around upstairs, us lingering in the moments between the kids settling down (hahahahahahaha) and us playing a game, and we started scrolling through housing listings on our phones.… Read More
We lose ourselves, sometimes. In pieces, in moments, in the steps between up and down, in the busyness of a day or the stillness of a single minute. We lose ourselves in boxes, in vehicles, in the transition from one space to another. We lose… Read More
Dear Beginning of the School Year Melanie, You think you’re ready. You’ve prepped yourself by reading homeschool blogs, talking to homeschool moms, buying subscriptions to online education sites, printables sites, buying enough books and curriculum to serve an entire classroom of children, more than enough for… Read More
I find it increasingly fitting that as our school year unravels like a sweater with a loose thread, my children have become (much later than their peers) obsessed with the movie Frozen, and in particular, the anthem: Let It Go! Because, oh, we’re gone. I… Read More
I’ve decided that there are few crueler things you can do to a woman who suffers from (mild?) misophonia, than give her nine year old son a palate expander. Unless, you want to give her son a palate expander at the same time that her seven… Read More
Our morning routine has slowly unraveled into a morning meandering. Alex wanders in and out of my room as he checks tasks from his list: Word Problems over oatmeal – done. Reading Comprehension – done. Chapter of reading book of his choice – done. Language… Read More
In the kitchen, Evaline is laying on a flattened cardboard box on the floor with a marker-doodled, naked, baby doll. She murmurs excitedly and I catch a word here or there as I stand by the sink, stirring my coffee. Look, my castle! I love my sister. Oh,… Read More
I think somewhere in the far (very far) recesses of my mind, where things are neat and organized, I had a vision of doing school at home in an, at least somewhat, organized manner. I pictured specific hours, specific daily routines, life on a schedule.… Read More
The Frozen Moon 