Written by Kara S. Anderson

I’ve been thinking a lot about my green tomatoes lately.

It hasn’t been a good year for tomatoes at the Anderson Ranch. We’ve gotten a couple of precious Cherokee Purples, and a few handfuls of Yellow Cherries, but mostly, our tomatoes have stayed green, or been attacked by chipmunks or never grown at all, their little flowers curling up; giving up.

Meanwhile, in a corner nearby, our hot peppers have gone absolutely bananas. One plant really took off, and we’ve had more hot peppers than it’s advisable to eat.

We’ve pickled some and made hot sauce, but honestly, we’re all tired of our eyes watering and our throats burning, and a little irritated that the tomatoes couldn’t at least pull their weight enough to give us a few jars of salsa.

But gardens do what they do. We can water them and weed them, and yell at them and cross all our toes, but there are good growing seasons and not as good growing seasons, and there are roughly 8,000 variables, and if we think we really have any control, we’re fooling ourselves.

Home education is similar, of course. There are math years and Shakespeare years and years when we worry that our children are not blooming – they are slow to grow in a particular area, and so we tear our hair out and stay up at night worrying.

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Written by Kris Bales of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

A few years ago, it was very popular for mom bloggers to write about being the “yes mom.” There were blog posts, Facebook status updates, and Instagram photos capturing those yes mom moments.

I know because I wrote and snapped many of them myself.

Maybe it’s still a thing; I don’t know. In case it isn’t, the gist of it was don’t tell your kids no when you could just as easily say yes.

Yes, we can have ice cream before dinner tonight. Yes, you can jump in the mud puddle. Yes, we can play a board game.

It was a fabulous concept – one whose implementation resulted in some amazing memories with my kids.

However, it’s important to remember that it’s okay to say no, too. [Read more…]

Written by Jamie Martin of Simple Homeschool

A note from Jamie: We wrote this series last summer, but I thought that revisiting it at the start of a new school year might be an encouragement. So check out some of the posts below and remind yourself that even if you’re facing something tough, you can still make homeschooling work for you and yours. Be blessed!

Ya’ll, homeschooling ain’t always easy. And it isn’t always happier ever after.

Sometimes it’s downright tough. You know, don’t you?

This world has troubles and homeschooling families aren’t immune to them. Tough marriage seasons, rebellious children, cancer, miscarriages, depression, financial struggles, midlife crises.

You get the picture.

You don’t always read about these topics on blogs, because well, they’re personal. They often involve our dearly loved children, too, whose privacy we respect and want to protect.

The danger of not writing about these situations, however, is that it creates an illusion that our lives are all peaches and cream.

Roses and buttercups. Always well-behaved children and energetic moms and dads joyfully learning together 24/7.
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Written by Jamie C. Martin of Simple Homeschool

What an amazing couple of months it’s been!

Give Your Child the World had an incredible launch (thanks to you!), and we read our way around the world together as a community, too.

Now we all have back to school on our mind, and I’ve loved seeing how many of you have taken advantage of Amazon’s incredible discount on my book to add it to your geography/literature/history shelf for this school year.

But back to homeschool shouldn’t just be about the kids, should it? Oh no, the mamas and the papas deserve some fresh-start inspiration every bit as much as our little ones.

AND SO, I’ve been busy behind the scenes working with others to bring a little dream to life for you.

Give Your Child the World is a tool to help your kids fall in love with the world, and today I have a gift to help YOU fall in love with it! It’s a back to school present and a thank you for all the support.

Check it out:
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