Recently, I introduced Charlotte Mason’s concept of masterly inactivity. Her thinking was that it is often best to ‘let children alone’ except in situations where we need to provide guidance and support, or to assert our authority. Additionally, in School Education (affiliate link) Miss Mason explains that there are several areas where parents really should practice masterly inactivity. I’d…
As I mentioned last week, we’ve moved house recently. The backyard in our former home was mostly a brick patio, with a patch of grass roughly the size of a postage stamp. Our new garden isn’t enormous (especially by American standards). However, there is plenty of room for the boys to run, play, and enjoy…
Folks, we have moved! We are still in the same town, but this house is probably twice the size of our former home. There is a garage, and a real garden. We have a ton of wallpaper to strip and a million ideas about how we want to personalize our new place. Even with all…
Imagine you are at the playground with your toddler. He makes his way to a ladder leading to a slide. After considering it, he climbs up one rung and stops. He looks at you, and starts to fuss: he seems unable, or at least unwilling, to finish climbing the ladder. What do you do? From…
We are getting ready to move! We’ll be going from a tiny yard to a decent-sized garden, and I’m so excited. One of the things I’m looking forward to is creating a mud kitchen for the boys. Sensory, open-ended, loose parts play. It’s going to be awesome! I’ve been gathering ideas for a while, and here are…
What do we do with our children? Obviously we have to meet their basic needs. Food, water, clean diapers, sleep, shelter. I’d throw ‘secure relationships’ into that list, too. But what about when they aren’t eating, sleeping, or being cleaned? What do we do then? There is a lot of emphasis lately on doing enriching things with…
I like to think that I have an arsenal of songs to sing with my kids. I pull them out when they are tired of being in the car, when we are waiting in line, any time where their patience is running thin and I want to keep the mood light. Of course, they are…
I turned 30 last week. As I approached the end of my twenties, I decided I should have some sort of a bucket list of things to do before the big day arrived. Unfortunately, by the time I made this decision, I only had about six weeks left until my birthday. I had time for…
There have been a few times recently when I have not heard my toddler, N, when he is speaking to me. N is incredibly verbal lately, and like most 2.5 year olds, he babbles and repeats himself a lot, so on some level, I’m simply not expecting him to address me in conversation. My husband has called…
I saw it again: another blog post with an at-home preschool schedule that consisted of a morning of indoor activities. I doubt this mom is forcing her kids to stay inside. I even bet that they spend plenty of time outside. But the outdoors deserves an intentional place in our home preschool planning. Last week, the…