Encouraging Moms Who Homeschool

You're reading this blog post. So you are most likely a homeschooling mom. (I'm a genius for deducing that...) But what else are you? Don't just give the pat answer(s) that come to mind immediately. Really THINK on this for a sec... What are you, lady? Besides a mom who homeschools her kids, what exactly are you? Have I got you feeling frustrated yet? If so, GOOD! Then I have done my job today and made you look a bit deeper than you usually do. And maybe you saw some things you really didn't like when you took that deeper look... But maybe, just maybe, you saw at least one thing that you really & truly love. I clearly recall a particular day when I realized that I had sort of, well, lost some of the best parts of me. And that was kinda scary to admit to myself. I mean, what do you do when you realize you are living in this body but you somehow misplaced a key part of what makes that body uniquely you?! I may have had a bit of an internal freak

If you know me (that is, know me in real life versus the blogging world) then you probably know that I am none too fond of the self-help mentality. It's not that I have anything at all against people in need of help; I put myself at the top of the list of people I know who need help. But the notion that I can somehow fix myself ~ let alone fix anyone else! ~ is a complete misnomer.  It's a continual cycle of "work harder" followed by gut-wrenching disappointment. And there's a reason this is the cycle of self-help...it's because we cannot fix ourselves! That's God's job, and He's exceptionally good at it . Having said all that, I'd like to share about something that we moms do have the ability to change for the better. Our attitudes. I'll go so far as to say that I feel many homeschool mamas could benefit from an attitude adjustment (me included!). We're often so tired, over-worked, and spread thin that we succumb to

Today's post is a short one (primarily to share a video with more details about The Once-A-Year Homeschool Planner  ~  An All-in-One, All-Student, All-Subject Planning System  ~ click on the link below to watch it!)  BUT I did want to let you know an easy way to KEEP MAMA HAPPY, whether or not you end up using the planner. Here's the deal: Keeping up with planning and grading can be really difficult, especially when you are home educating several kiddos at the same time. It's easy for the homeschooling mother to feel overwhelmed and even discouraged...and a mama who feels that way is probably not simultaneously super-duper happy. Here's a tried & true idea that has helped me avoid the overwhelm & discouragement: Plan in "batches" & grade student work every... single... day! (Not sure how to batch plan ? My next post is going to be all about that topic!) Don't just roll over and go belly-up by giving in to the commonality among homesc