Written by Toni Anderson of The Happy Housewife

I have a child who hates school.

This is hard for me to admit because it feels like I failed. I failed my son, my family, and the homeschool community.

The bottom line… ten years ago I tried to force a square peg into a round hole, and it didn’t work. Instead of focusing on what he could do I worried about all the things he couldn’t.

Now I’ve spent the past eight years trying to undo the first two.

Four years ago another son started school, and like his older brother he wasn’t eager to learn. Thankfully I’ve learned a thing or two over the years and took a different approach with this child.

It’s working.
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Written by contributor Rachel Wolf of Lusa Organics and Clean

When my son was two our life took an unexpected and terrifying turn.

An unrelenting seizure, a flight-for-life, and a week in the pediatric ICU would forever paint how we remembered his second year.

Though he survived and life returned mostly to normal, that single event was defining for how we would remember his toddlerhood.

Some years later I sat down to begin writing my son’s story.

Starting with our pregnancy, I would share highlights of each year of his life.

Pregnancy, birth and his first year were easy.

But I got stuck on two. I didn’t want his seizure to become his story.

So I made a mindful choice.

I would tell the story of what I wanted to remember.

Instead of writing “When Sage was two he had a terrible seizure and was in a coma. We were so afraid,” I wrote this:
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Written by contributor Sarah Small of SmallWorld at Home

As I write, three teenagers in Santa hats are in the kitchen loudly singing, “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.” It is 7:15 a.m., and I hush them because I don’t want them to wake “the baby.” The baby is almost 12, and like most tweens, he likes to sleep in.

We’re a long way from reading quietly during the baby’s naptime. We’re a long way from making handprint wreaths and salt dough ornaments.  My daughter and her friends are making their lunches before they head out to co-op, where they’ll have a full day of classes: ecology, American literature, American history, geometry, ACT Prep, and drama.

They leave. My 12-year-old still snoozes; the cat snores softly on the couch. The house is almost perfectly quiet. There is not one single toy visible to me, not even a Lego guy head.
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Written by contributor Jena Borah of Yarns of the Heart

My homeschooling days are now in the past, and I’m glad I have piles of journals, full of memories. Here’s a look at my entry fourteen years ago as we were preparing for Christmas. The kids were 9, 6, and 4.

November 19, 1998

Today was a good day. Meg (age 6) is making progress in reading. We played reading games and I changed the clue word for the letter u to “up” instead of “umbrella” because sometimes she pronounces it “imbrella.” I made signs with the word up and arrows and put them all over the house.
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This time of year we often find ourselves buried under a pile of “to-do’s.” Even for those of us attempting to embrace a less commercial holiday, many of our tasks involve shopping in one form or another.

Today I’m thankful for the opportunity to share with you a way we can multi-task with a mission, combining our shopping errands with something much more significant.

It’s called Pure Charity.

I recently bought some items we need for the upcoming season–a bike for Jonathan this Christmas, these winter boots for Elijah, and a homeschooling mama’s best friends–new books to add to our shelves.

These purchases weren’t extras, but items I would have been buying anyway. By using Pure Charity, the stores I bought through are giving a small percentage of the money back to me–to donate to the charity I choose!

It’s a win for me as I shop, a win for the store I buy from, and a win for the charity–everyone’s a winner!
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