Each month I get a number of e-mails and private comments asking interesting questions that may be applicable to more than just the person asking. My plan is to select a few thought-provoking and practical questions, keep the asker & identifying details anonymous, and share my answers with all of you, at the end of each month. Let’s…
Category: Grow as Homeschooler
Is THIS The Reason You’re Spiritually Stuck?
Are you spiritually “stuck?” Feeling like you have questions but no answers? Stagnant in life but unsure how to start growing again? I was 16 years old when it began. I was a coming-out-of-rebellion teen; she was a young mom (in her 20s) with 3 little ones. In free moments of my busy high school life,…
How Embracing “Good Enough” Can Help You Be a Better Mom
Wanna know what my kids have for lunch these days? It’s pretty much the same thing every day: homemade lunchables. Thin deli-sliced ham or turkey, and cheese, with Ritz. Sometimes I have fresh fruit on hand to go with it. Other times, it’s canned fruit, nuts, or packaged cookies. It’s not in cute Bento boxes. It doesn’t…
The Perfect Homeschool Day
You know what we had this morning? We had the perfect homeschooling day. Well… …perfect *for us.* Probably not anything close to what you’re imagining in your head right now. You DO know that the “perfect homeschool” doesn’t exist, right? But here’s what our perfect homeschooling day looks like: We make forward progress in areas…
What If the Littles Grow Up Different From the Big Kids?
One of the things I was at least mildly concerned about at first, in regard to having a big family, was the common observation that in a large family, the younger children often grow up in a quite different way from how the older children were raised. Accusations sometimes go along these lines: You were…
10 Things My 75-Year-Old Self Might Say to Me
Get into Scripture more than you are currently doing. Dig more. Study more. Read more. Memorize more! It is the one thing that will always make you wiser, richer, and change you. Let it be what flows from your mouth in counsel & conversation, in good times & bad. Treasure it! Seek to serve and love Doug…
Quit Stressin’, Worryin’, and Complainin’ About Your Children
Kids can easily lead us into stress, frustration, and worry, as Christian women, but those aren’t biblical solutions for how to deal with motherhood. This is the nitty-gritty of being a mom, and I really believe we can take those thoughts captive and refuse to take on anxiety, fear, worry, and a grumbling attitude. We can actively choose…
“Do The Next Thing”
Do the Next Thing From an old English parsonage down by the sea There came in the twilight a message for me; Its quaint Saxon legend, deeply engraven, Hath, as it seems to me, teaching from Heaven. And on through the hours the quiet words ring, Like a low inspiration: DO THE NEXT THING. Many a…
Most Popular Articles of 2014: Year In Review
2014 was my first year of writing at JessConnell.com. Since we’ve nearly reached the year’s end, I thought I’d do a quick “year in review,” to give you the opportunity to read any articles of interest that you may have missed. In January, I released my first book, One Thing: Top Tip (From a Mom of 6). It’s…
Convictions & Choices, part 1: Don’t Do It Because “They” Do
We recently talked about not doing something “just to prove them wrong.” Today I want to talk about the flip side: Don’t embrace a conviction just because others do. Just as the world often goes along with lifestyle decisions because of the people around them, Christians sometimes take on the convictions of others around us without…