Encouraging Moms Who Homeschool

Let's get brutally honest for a moment. Homeschooling isn't always our kiddos favorite thing in the whole wide world. (And I know this is true for all homeschool families, not just my homeschool family...I mean, none of us LOVES every aspect of home education every second of every day, right?) Over the course of a couple of decades and some change of homeschooling my five children, these three things helped "turn that frown upside down" & ended up being the things that helped my kids to love homeschooling. (Hold the eye roll please, because my children are all adults now and they have actually told me that these things made homeschooling pretty great for them.) As always, I'll keep this post short & sweet. THING #1 that helped my kids love homeschooling:            They could work ahead in any & every subject & once they finished that year's assigned work, they were DONE homeschooling for the year...as in FINISHED, no take backs, pinky swear...

  There is a unique long-haul kind of praying that only mothers understand. We begin praying for them before they are born, as they develop and grow and are knit together by God in the womb. As newborns, oh my how a mother prays over that little baby! The first year, there is a lot to pray about. Developmentally alone, those prayers could fill an entire prayer journal for many moms. Toddlerhood, well, praying all the time, those shooting arrow kind of prayers all day long for protection, for patience, for the ability to be fully in the moment, for sleep, for safety, for time to both slow down and speed up, depending on the day. And that is just the start of a praying mom’s lifetime of prayer. I thought I'd share the YouTube version of this podcast episode with my blog readers. I hope it encourages you today, my fellow praying mom! And thank you for being a mother who prays for her children. You're making a difference, both now and eternally. (2) Encouraging Moms to Keep Praying...

 I have an important question for all my fellow homeschoolers...   Pets or no pets?  This is actually a serious question. For so many reasons! Pets are a big commitment. They add a lot to our lives, and to our homeschools, too, I suppose. But they require a lot as well.  It's not a one-size-fits-all thing, this question of pets or no pets. And not all pets are created equal. Dogs require a lot more work than, say, goldfish. An ant farm can be part of science for the homeschool family, but can a slew of ants be considered pets? (rhetorical question - we all know the answer).  So, are you a pet-loving homeschool family? Do you have your own personal version of a hobby farm?  Maybe, like our family, severe allergies limit what kinds of pets are a viable option.  If so, did you find a workaround that allowed your children to enjoy some form of pet in spite of allergies or other concerns? Pets or no pets? Pets that have a long life-span, or shorter? If you'...