Confessions of a Once a Month Cleaning Dropout

by on January 29, 2012
in home maintenance & management · 30 Comments

Written by Jamie Martin, editor of Simple Homeschool and Steady Mom

Well, now.

This is awkward. (Kidding–kind of.)

You see, one day over nine months ago I had no idea what to write about for an upcoming post. Brilliant thoughts seemed scarce to come by, and I eventually decided to share how I cleaned my house once a month.

It never occurred to me that this would become one of the most popular posts ever published on this blog. Or that it would lead to three more posts on the same topic.

In fact, I still occasionally receive emails from readers letting me know that once a month cleaning (OAMC) changed their lives. So you can imagine how I started to feel when I realized that this method, which had once been a perfect fit, was no longer working out in our home.

What had changed?
[Read more...]

Join our Day in the Life Series (& Weekend Links!)

by on January 29, 2012
in links · 5 Comments

Written by Jamie Martin, editor of Simple Homeschool and Steady Mom

Today I want to pass along an invitation. You’ve read about our homeschool days–now let us read about yours!

Next Friday, February 3rd, I’ll give you the opportunity to share about your homeschool day.

Here’s how it works: Sometime this week, write a post on your blog about your day in the life. Then come here on Friday and link up to your post, so we can all take a read. (If you don’t have a blog, no worries! You can always share in the comments.)

I look forward to reading your posts!

And here is some weekend reading to keep you busy today:
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Rachel’s Homeschool Day in the Life (with a 6, 8, 12, & 15-year-old)

by on January 27, 2012
in organization · 25 Comments

The following is a guest post by Rachel DeMille, co-founder of Thomas Jefferson Education

Wednesday evening, Family Reading Time…

“Can I ever learn?” I asked, almost ready to cry.

“Of course you can,” said Leon. “You’re smart as the others, I suppose. The sevens and nines of the multiplication table are the stickers, but you ought to do them if other girls can.”

[~Laddie]

I pause my read-aloud, and ask: “Who thinks the nines are hard?” They giggle.

I had already taught them the tricks with nines.

“Which were hardest?” I ask.

Sara (18, in college), Eliza and Ammon vote for Eights. Emma (19, college) says Sixes and Sevens. Meri and Abi have no opinion; they are really more interested in the main character’s pet blue jay. We read on, but a thought stays with me: There has to be a way to demystify Sixes, Sevens, and Eights!

So lying awake early next morning, I challenge myself to find a pattern. Tangents and sidebars spring up as I make mental sticky notes to myself on vocabulary cognates between math-world and real-world, as I ponder what candies would be useful in teaching primes and composites, and…

EUREKA! I found it! But that starts me thinking about a pattern for Sixes, so I turn it over and over like a rubik’s cube, and then…
[Read more...]

Sarah’s Homeschool Day in the Life (with an 11-year-old and 14-year-old)

by on January 25, 2012
in organization · 16 Comments

Written by contributor Sarah Small of SmallWorld at Home

The first thing I had to do when asked to take part in this year’s “Day in the Life” series was to look back at my post from last January.  I wondered how much our daily life had changed in a year.

Well, a lot.

Long gone are the exhausting, bustling days of going from child to child with a little one playing all around us. Gone are the sticky crafts and, blessedly, the endless games of Candyland. Gone are those evenings spent “doing bedtime,” with baths, books, snacks, and one-more-drink-of-water. And in the not-so-distant past, my days were filled with hustling about, trying to figure out schedules for an elementary, a middle-school, and a high-school student.
[Read more...]

What holds you back?

by on January 24, 2012
in inspiration · 20 Comments

Written by Jamie Martin, editor of Simple Homeschool and founder of Steady Mom

You don’t find many half-hearted homeschoolers. Some of us stumble into this educational choice for a variety of reasons, true, but those who continue this lifestyle long-term are generally people of conviction, purpose, and belief.

And yet.

Have you ever felt like something is holding you back? Have you ever found yourself homeschooling (or parenting) through fear–that you don’t have enough resources, that you aren’t good enough, that your children aren’t learning enough?

Personally, I have been blessed with a beautiful family–three children that my husband and I added to our ranks in less than three years. I wanted to be a mother, and eventually, a homeschooler; I believed this was an important part of my mission in life.

But I also felt a huge burden of insecurity–of not being up to the task.
[Read more...]

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