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 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
I think somewhere in my eagerness to begin homeschooling, I had created a vision in my mind that reality has failed to live up to. Now that we’re about half a year in, I’m starting to bend and make way for the reality that this… Read More
Turbo TV is on in the background. My kids are having friends over and are up late on a school-night, watching television. I hear a character announce himself, defiantly, I am the fastest on this planet! In a world of racing snails and aliens (seriously,… Read More
This will pass. This will pass. This will pass. This will…can you PLEASE just do what I’ve asked without being disrespectful to me or annoying to your siblings? …pass. This will pass. It has to. I’m telling myself this as I load the dishwasher, with… Read More
My children are currently playing quietly throughout the house, building LEGOs in one room, imagining a magical ball with Barbie in another, some occasional sounds of explosions and whispered exclamations from Asher in the bedroom. Despite our slow start, the day ahead of us remains… Read More
We’re up to our eyeballs in South America today. I, sipping coffee and still in my comfortable fleece pj’s, am riding along the Orinoco River with some explorers from the 1980’s, blond mullets and all. We are spotting monkeys and macaws and learning about how… Read More
It’s mid-November and every vision of our school year, every high standard I held myself to as a mother, as their teacher – they are the piles of rubble and dust that I am now climbing over and brushing from the bottom of my bare… Read More
I wrote this six years ago, in the fall of 2007 when it was just Alex and Lila: He’s pushing trucks around the house, hiding in duffle bags, zooming over the arms of the sofa, making squealing noises as they try to stop before diving… Read More
So, this arrived today. With it came a sense of relief, of happiness in finally being officially settled into this decision. After months of talking the talk, we’re now on the books. Which means, of course, we have to walk the walk. We’ve been blessed… Read More
The Frozen Moon 