Louisa had a great time building a cozy country cottage in miniature! All you need is cardboard, glue, acrylic craft paint and some tissue paper for flowers to bloom around your door! This doesn’t have to be a female craft. Boys can make a fire station (complete with second floor fire-pole) or a space station . . .whatever you can imagine . . .
Mother! The most important person in a young child’s life, indispensable to her husband, focal point of the home, and the one who makes everything right. Big job.
Also, the most exciting job: my first choice! I wouldn’t want any other. The joy of being with my children, the diversity of their personalities, the thrill of learning together daily, and helping them learn about life and how to live uprightly– these things make me feel devoted to motherhood! There isn’t a job that holds such rewards!
There is an eternal law decreed that for every X number of good homeschool days, you will have to endure 1 bad homeschool day.
Calculating the frequency of bad homeschool days is an easy matter. Simply multiply the number of children you have under 5 by the number of children you have going through puberty. If you are pregnant or nursing, multiply this total by 2. (If you are morning-sick, overdue, or having nursing problems, multiply this total by 100.) Add the number of insensitive comments made by your husband since dinner last night. Divide your new total by the number of hours of sleep the students got last night, or the number of hours the teaching mother got last night, whichever is less. If students have eaten junk food within the last 8 hours, add 10. Divide by the number of days in a year and there you have it!—a completely accurate forecast of today’s chances for a blooper day.
Louisa (at age 8) teaches her own scripture lesson to the family, just like she has seen her Mommy do countless times!
Today I thought to myself, “If I didn’t have kids to teach, I’d go back to bed.” Ever feel that way? Teaching children really helps us to do our best—doesn’t it?
Emily turns 15 with her towering ice cream cake!
Company’s coming . . . and it can be a bit nerve-wracking wondering just what your kids are going to say or do! Get them ready to host guests—or to be good, mannerly guests themselves—wherever you go!
My son Ammon helps with the cooking
“Father, where shall I work today?”
And my love flowed warm and free.
Then He pointed out a tiny spot
And said, “Tend that for me.”
Some things I wish I had known when I began homeschooling:
1) Put homeschooling first, for your kids sake
When I began homeschooling, I thought that I would somehow just add homeschool to my already busy life. It didn’t take long to realize that is impossible. There are only so many hours in the day! I came to the realization that in order to give my children a good education, it would have to be my first concern during “school hours.” I had to commit to the priority of educating my kids. I had to turn off the phone, avoid interruptions, and focus on my children—a very joyful occupation!
Hot . . . Cold
Wet . . . Dry
New . . . Old
Open . . . Shut
Children can grasp the idea of opposites at a young age. If you take advantage of this concept when teaching math, it cuts your work in half!
Instead of teaching subtraction, teach “opposite addition”. If you know that 3 + 5 = 8, then you can do the opposite. When you see this problem: 8 – 5 =___, just make it into a backwards addition problem. Start at the opposite end (the back) and add this way: what number plus 5 equals 8 ?
Summer and company go together like bread and butter. Consider what a visit from this special guest would be like! It makes me want to re-evaluate everything I say and do in light of His company, and be far better than I am.
