I come to the same place at least a few times a day. A place where I want to temporarily ‘check out’ of my current circumstances. It’s a combination of tiredness from physically caring for my family, and of weariness from near-constant conversation with young children most of the day. I want to tune it…
One of my bigger challenges as a mom of three little boys is coping with highly fractured time. Gone are the days when I could spend an hour getting myself dressed and ready for the day, mosey to the library to get a bit of work done for uni, wander back for lunch, read a…
When it comes to homeschooling, I’m only just starting out in the game. While it’s been on my radar since my oldest child was a baby, he’s not even five yet, and while we have a ‘morning time’ most days, it’s just a drop in the ocean of experience to years of teaching a curriculum…
In previous posts, I’ve covered both why we are doing preschool at home this year, and how we are keeping it in line with Charlotte Mason’s educational philosophy. Now I’d like share the five books I have in our preschool basket. Each of these books is appropriate for my nearly four-year-old. Some are just a…
One year ago, I assumed I wouldn’t do any sort of a formal preschool with my kids. Charlotte Mason advocates starting formal lessons no earlier than age six. So why complicate things? I trusted the method, and the wisdom of many home educators who said, ‘Wait on formal academics’. How things change in a year,…
How many ways can you manage sibling conflict? My kids are very young – nearly 3 and 1.5 years old. Both of them occasionally bite the other (for no apparent reason). The older quite likes to push the younger down (for no apparent reason). I see them both snatch toys, pull hair, and do everything…
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…
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…
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…
When N was on the way, I started researching home education. (Can you say ‘planner’?) Blogs of home educating parents mesmerized me. I saw home education as an opportunity to have a flexible schedule, to live in any number of countries, and to protect my kids from the ‘carrot and stick’ education that I had growing up…