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

I never intended to write about my current location here, or in any online space. I crave privacy and am tiger-mother fierce about protecting that of my kids. But when you see the town in which you live and love plastered across national and international news, the time has come to open up.

I make my home in Newtown, Connecticut–scene of last week’s 2nd deadliest school shooting in US history. If we had not chosen to homeschool, all three of my babes would have walked through the doors of Sandy Hook Elementary on Friday morning.

Who knows if all three would have come home again.

This tragedy hits close, shockingly close, to our home. Within walking distance families currently nurse a private grief that I find unimaginable.

What disturbs me, though, is that most of you are hearing about Newtown for the first time. Please know that there is another side than the sheer horror of what you’ve seen.

There’s the truth–what life is really like here. And though we’ve only lived in this town for a year and a half, this place will be part of our family’s heart, and history, forever.

This is Newtown as I know it:
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Written by Jamie Martin, editor of Simple Homeschool and writer at Steady Mom

Last Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, we followed our usual tradition of chopping down our Christmas tree.

But there’s another tradition we always follow on that day as well, and I was reminded of it when one of my children asked:

“When will we get the Christmas books out?”

It wouldn’t be the holiday season without a selection of special titles to read and share together, would it?

So here’s a list of 20 favorites–most of these reside in our personal home library, but a few are new-to-me popular titles I’ve heard about online. Enjoy!
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The following is a guest post written by Sarah Olmsted of Imagine Childhood.

I‘ve always thought children are better teachers than yoga instructors. Don’t get me wrong, I love yoga.  It’s something that makes a huge difference in the way I feel on a daily basis. It strengthens my mind, my body, and my spirit. It helps me shake off the worries and cares of my day.  It reminds me to breath deeply and intensionally.

But my yoga instructor still can’t hold a candle to a kid when it comes to teaching me how to be open, present and engaged in my life.  In my experience, children are the definitive authority in this arena.

So, on days when I’m feeling particularly stuck, I tend to gravitate more toward the sandbox than Savasana.

Here are ten life lessons I’ve learned on the playground.
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Written by Jamie Martin, editor of Simple Homeschool and founder of Steady Mom

I know of a few stay-at-home homeschooling fathers, dads who take on the majority of official teaching duties or co-teach throughout the day with their spouses. It always warms my heart to hear of fathers devoting their time to families in this way. But for the most part, it still seems like the majority of teaching responsibilities in a homeschool often resides with mothers.

Occasionally I hear dissatisfaction or questions about this from moms/wives:

“How can I get my husband more involved with our days at home?”

“How can I get my children to view my spouse as an active participant in our homeschool–even though he spends most of his day away at work?”
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