Recently I was able to get away for a glorious (and gloriously quiet!!) week alone. [If you don’t know, I have 9 children, ages 19 down to 2 years old, and I’ve been a stay-home, homeschooling mom for the duration of those years.] For most of my life, getting away like this has been an impossibility,…
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Rocking Out to the Limbo-Land Jukebox
As our winding story nears yet another “bend,” our necks are craned, but we can’t (YET) see which direction the river flows from here. Within a week, we are scheduled to hear back from the “committee” whose decision will either send our boat down one leg of the river: running a family business each summer in Colorado…
Build Now or Regret it Later: A Letter to Mothers of Young Children
“The mother who takes pains to endow her children with good habits secures for herself smooth and easy days; while she who lets their habits take care of themselves has a weary life of endless friction with the children.” ~Charlotte Mason Dear Mom of young children, Do you realize the incredible power you have…
When Your Family Doesn’t “Get” Your Parenting Decisions
So you’ve decided to homeschool. Or, not allow sleepovers. You don’t watch certain kinds of movies, Or, you don’t own a TV at all. Or maybe, even though they’re Christians, you’re convicted in ways that are obviously different from the convictions they have, or had. You can feel judged. They can feel judged. They can…
What Do You Give Up, In Order to Homeschool?
A friend recently asked this question: What do you give up, in order to homeschool? Yes, we GAIN a lot in return… but every homeschooling family weighs difficult choices, and makes real sacrifices, in order to make it happen. So what do you give up to make it happen in your home? Here’s my answer: A…
Cooking for a Crowd, on the Cheap
Q FROM A READER: How do you feed your large family? The older my son gets, the more he’s eating, and I’m realizing I need to get better at cooking more food for less money. Yup, with 9 kiddos (8 of whom are sons!!), you know I understand! This is an ongoing point of analysis…
A Hard Year, the Joy of Baby #9, and the Ideas that Drive Us
Well, it’s been more than a year since I’ve written here. And a lot happened in the last year. WHAT WE DID, BETWEEN JUNE 2017 & JUNE 2018: Through our extended family, we’ve experienced some life-changing pain– the death of two grandparents, and my brother went through an unexpected divorce. They married the same year we did, and though we…
Preparing to Hike the Wonderland Trail with kids
Last summer, we hiked the Wonderland Trail with our 7 kids (ages 14 down to 18 months). The Wonderland is a 93-mile loop trail around Mount Rainier, with 22,000 feet of elevation gain. People have taken anywhere from 20 hours to 15 days to hike the entire thing. We did it in 12 days. Here’s…
25 Kid-Friendly Conversation Starters
We LOVE to use questions (“would you rather…” “what if…” “which of these…”) to start discussions with our kids over meals, during hikes, and in car rides. We’ve used books, and card sets, but they often contain foul or off-color questions or prompts. So I thought I’d share some of the questions we use, to help…
12 Tips for Hiking with 3 to 6 Year Olds
Hiking with toddlers and preschoolers is quite different from hiking with older children. Especially if you’ve been an avid hiker with only adult-sized people, you are going to have to dramatically change your expectations. Nonetheless, hiking with 3-6 year olds really *IS* possible, and you can even ENJOY your hike together. We hike often with…