Most Thursday evenings you could find us all in the family room, seated comfortably, and focused on the old white, tall hamper turned upside-down. That was the makeshift podium our kids used for their weekly oral presentations. Fondly known as “Oral Presentation Night,” and documented on our oversized monthly calendar as “OPN,” it was something we all came to look forward to.  The hamper would get emptied of its dirty contents and placed upside-down on the family room floor. Whoever wanted to go first went first.  The rules were easy. Come prepared to give a talk on something of inte ..read more

Are you homeschooling today by choice? If so, be thankful! During this pandemic, many have been forced into a new homeschool role. For thirty years, my full-time career and role was homeschool mom to eight children. (Some days it felt against my will, lol.) I am writing today for those who find themselves in this difficult role, whether by choice or otherwise. My message is three-fold and in it, I hope you will find some comfort, advice, and encouragement First of all, BREATHE.  No child is going to live or die by doing today’s math lesson. Wait! Math lessons are important, and I don’t me ..read more

I have so much to say about reading! If I am an enthusiast about anything, it is the concept of teaching children to read well. I will be writing more about the subject in upcoming blog posts, but for now, I would like to make the following recommendations. Whatever reading program you choose, make sure it is phonics-based. Phonics gives your child decoding and word attack strategies. Basically, it teaches the sounds that each letter and letter-grouping make, enabling any child to sound out any word, which is the key to literacy. Many years ago when I taught our first child how to read, I inve ..read more

Our seventh child was just four weeks old. We had moved a thousand miles from our home in the country where our kids had played happy and free. Now, we were living in a gated community in a big city. My husband had been home with us the past year, but now his new job demanded more hours and more of his energy than our family was used to. The lifestyle and cultural changes coupled with the disappointments that brought us here were palpable. Settling in was just plain hard. But heavier than that was my postpartum depression. It seemed to get worse with every baby and this time it was intense. I ..read more

Teaching your children to read well is one of the best gifts you can give them in life. It is the core of all other subjects and a foundation for future success. Do you know the best place to begin? By reading aloud to your children daily and from a very young age.* Our oldest daughter had been in kindergarten for just three months when I met with the school principal to remove her from school to homeschool her. Thirty years later, I still remember his parting advice – take her home and love her and read to her. That was easy, we had been doing that from the start. We don’t just need to take m ..read more

My cherished Israel plate crashed to pieces on the floor. The cause was due to the unbridled exuberance of our normally responsible preteen oldest daughter and son. That was a bad day. My dear friend had brought the plate all the way from Israel for me. The few things that were special to me were all broken now. That plate represented my last special “thing.” (Which brought about its own new-found freedom from “things,” but that’s not my point here.) My point is that raising children comes with sacrifice. Sacrifice, as I am using the word here, means “to give up something that is valuable to ..read more

Distraction is defined by Dictionary.com as “a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else.” If we’re not careful, distractions can creep into our lives and go unnoticed. No one decides to be distracted. I first started thinking about this when I realized that our children were waiting for me to finish cooking or laundry or something so that they could be taught their school lessons. I remember a couple of our children waiting and asking, “Mommy, when can we do our school?” Mothering and homeschooling are such worthy investments of our time and talent, that we need ..read more

I really blew it that day. I have blown it many times, but the lesson I learned on this particular day is priceless to me. Without that lesson, our family would look much different today. Happening more than three decades ago, the details are fuzzy, but as far as I can recall I got frustrated and yelled at our precious two-year-old daughter. I felt horrible. When my husband came home from work, I told him what I had done and how terrible I felt. Then he said it. “Well did you apologize?” Silence. Apologize? I never thought of that! (Honestly, I don’t think I had ever used the words, “I’m sorry ..read more

It all seems so easy. As a Christian mom, my ordered priorities are God first, then my husband, and then our children. But wait. Is that realistic for a homeschool mom, or any mom? Those squeaky wheels – I mean children! – seem to need our constant attention. They can certainly turn our priorities upside-down. Of course, that’s not what we want, but I have been there and I know that it can sure feel that way sometimes! So how can a busy mom keep her priorities straight? Begin your day with God. Even if it’s just when you first open your eyes in the morning and you’re still in bed, connect with ..read more

What is your daily routine? Your morning routine? Do you have a routine? If you do, you know what a “servant” it can be. In a way similar to habits, a routine can work for you. Routine is defined as “a sequence of actions regularly followed.” Routine’s synonyms are regimen, practice, and my personal favorite, groove. For example, when we had two toddlers, our bedtime routine was to serve a cup of warm milk with story time about 30 minutes before bed. Once the stories were over, we tucked our toddlers in bed and enjoyed the rest of our evening. Of course, once we started homeschooling our routi ..read more