TO CIRCUMCISE OR NOT TO CIRCUMCISE? Q: To circumcise or not to circumcise? I’m anxious about the subject and my husband and I disagree. What do you guys do? And what were your reasons? Thanks! First, don’t be anxious (this is a biblical command for believers!) and stop reading nonsense anxiety-giving mom stuff on the…
Author: Jess Connell
Reclaiming JOY in My Personal Bible Study
For the past few years, I’ve been dissatisfied with my personal study of the Bible, and I’m trying to hash out why. My goal is to reclaim joy in my studies of God’s Word. Here are some things I’m thinking through as I try to discover an approach to God’s Word that rightly honors Him as the truth-teller and…
The Problem With Grade Levels
This morning, we’re starting our 2015-16 school year. In our homeschool this year, we have 8th, 6th, 4th, and 2nd graders (and a kindergartner). Phew! Just writing that makes me tired. But let’s talk about grade levels. When people ask my kids what grades they’re in, my homeschooled kids (mostly) know what to tell them……
Should We Train Our Children for Non-Moral Personal Traits?
Here’s 4-minutes of my off-the-cuff thoughts about training our kids’ quirkiness. SOME HIGHLIGHTS: 00:25– “it’s just an annoying habit; should we train for it or not?” 01:00– example from my real life, yesterday, with my two-year-old 02:00– encouragement from Gregg Harris 02:45– why this is extra-important to me as a homeschooling mom 03:00– how I…
Josh Duggar and the Problem We All Have
Well, so here it is. After Josh Duggar molested a number of girls and got caught a number of times, he went on TV, got himself a wife, and sold purity and courtship and not kissing until marriage. We all watched as his dad gave him a purity talk, which we now know, he did solely for the camera, because he…
Mama, What Habits and Norms Are You Giving Your Children?
We have a family habit of taking off and dropping our shoes by the back door when we come in. Then, twice a week, one of the little boys has a chore of tidying them all. Looking back, it would have been better for me to teach them all to practice diligence from the beginning, by having…
What Our Kids Crave From Us
What do our kids want from us? Of course there are different possible answers to this question: time energy loving affection Or, as my five-year-old just said when I asked him, “candy.” Good grief, I love him. If you’ve been a parent for almost any length of time, you know that kids reveal things about you that weren’t…
What I’m Reading, Thinking, Doing – 8/14/15
READING: The disappearance of childhood and what we can do to get it back ~ by Jamie @ Simple Homeschool I appreciate this article: Is Self-Promotion Sinful?— it hits at a lot of questions that have nagged at my brain. Authors are in a different place now than in the last hundred years because publishers have…
The 7 Times I’ve Heard “It’s a Boy!”
There have been seven times in my life I’ve personally heard the words, “it’s a boy!” 1. In July 2002, following a painful, long delivery, after fearful words were spoken about meconium and the baby didn’t breathe for a long while, I heard, “it’s a boy!” as an afterthought before the NICU team whisked him away….
10 Reasons I Believe Formal Education Is “Better Late Than Early”
Early in our homeschooling journey, someone put the book, Better Late Than Early, by Raymond & Dorothy Moore, in my hands, and it has invaded not only our homeschooling, but every area of our parenting. “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” ~W.B. Yeats There is a general approach to education in…