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30 Things I've Learned
One of the Best Things I Did as a Homeschool Mom
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…
Look Up
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…
Read Aloud to Your Children
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…
Be Willing to Sacrifice
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…
Figure Out Your Distractions and Solve Them
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…
Say "I'm Sorry"
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…
Two Easy Steps to Help Keep Your Priorities Straight
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…
Does Your Routine Work for You?
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,…
One Small Change: Big Results
Is something tripping you up that's making it hard for you to press on? Think about it for a minute. Maybe you’re able to list a dozen things, but can…
When the Fig Tree Does Not Bud
In the first week of this new year, my Dad was hospitalized with Congestive Heart Failure, my brother was diagnosed with Cancer, and our family's beloved Pediatrician and friend of…
Teach Your Kids the Bible
I remember thinking when our children were young, that I had no idea where life would take them. (With our children now having spent time in every continent except Australia,…
A Secret to a Better Day with Little Ones
If it's 10 o'clock in the morning and you're already pulling out your hair with your little ones, let me pass on a secret to you. After 35 years of…
Ping-Pong and My Future Self
Ping-pong, ping-pong, ping-pong. "We could go on like this for hours," we laughed. My 85-year-old mother and I had ridden our bikes to the Rec Center where we picked up…
Establish Open Family Communication
A couple of decades ago, when our older children were growing into their teen years, my husband said to me that, "We should not be surprised at anything our kids…
Put Discouragement Where it Belongs
Are you discouraged today? Are you one who is familiar with discouragement, like me? It should be no surprise that discouragement is pretty common among homeschool moms. I mean, we're…
Looking Back, What Matters Most
Thirty-five years ago my husband and I had our first baby, a precious daughter we named Kristin. Over the next 17 years, we had seven more children, each one as…
Child-Training: Be Consistent!
If there is a magic word in parenting, it is consistency. Consistency is what makes all other aspects of parenting come together and produce success. Where is the value in…
Child-Training: The Influence of Example
I don’t remember what precipitated things that day so long ago, but I remember in anger toward my husband, jumping in our van and hitting reverse to get out of…
What Has the Locust Eaten?
The grasshopper came off the oriental grass that blows against my screened-in porch. Off and on for hours that day, I admired the grasshopper's underbelly as he sat attached to…
Child-Training: Appropriate Consequences
We had a pretty well-behaved and happy young family at the time, but it seemed as if lying, laziness, arguing, selfishness, and every other bad character quality had taken over…
Child-Training: Expectations
Grocery store trips were always a challenge back then. On this particular day, the worst part was crossing traffic between the store and the parking lot. Along with my cart…
Child-Training: The Power of Attitude
One day at the doctor’s office, our much-respected pediatrician said to me that our children were really good kids. I think I just didn’t know what to say and responded…
Child-Training: Take Responsibility
The home can be a beautiful place where the parents are loving and responsible, and the children are happy and thriving. The parents and children respect each other, and everyone…
Be Yourself: The One God Created You to Be
For too long in my life I put aside praising God out loud, offering spiritual lessons as they came to mind, and putting my faith into words for others to…
Execute the Plan
We can have an excellent mission and a well thought-out strategy, but if we don’t execute that strategy, we are no further ahead. The execution, the actual carrying out, of…
Develop a Strategy
If you have taken the time to create a mission statement, congratulations! Knowing where you’re headed is half the battle! Now it’s time to strategize. I feel like I should…
Decide on a Mission
The day I brought our children home from school to homeschool them was not the day we decided on a mission or planned a strategy! Beyond the, “I know I…
My Story: How It All Began
Thirty years ago I found myself on my knees beside my side of the bed pleading for God’s direction. I had no idea how soon he would lead our family…