Have you ever been going along in life, doing seriously awesome at several things, but then you’re automatically pointing out everything you AREN’T doing well right now? Â It’s crazy! Â We moms tend to be so hard on ourselves, and act like we should be able to maintain every area of life at an A+ level.
Let’s think about this:
An Olympic athlete that just won a medal was not also at home organizing their closet or baking brownies with their kids.
A business person that just closed a multi-million dollar deal was not also reading Story of the World to their kids that were snuggled up with blankets all over the living room.
A mom that successfully got the dog to the vet to fix what ails is not a mom that can also be weeding the perfect English garden or taking her children to the art museum.
Let’s not do this to ourselves, ok? When we do well at something, could we just cheer ourselves on and appreciate our efforts and growth and loveliness? Without pointing out all the still-waiting areas of our lives?
That’s the one thought I want to share with you today. Be your own biggest cheerleader! See the many good things you do and just say, “Hooray! That’s awesome! I love it that I got that done!” And if the thing you got done was resting while you recovered from illness, or nursed the baby, or cleaned a sweet little face, or loved your husband, or got the pencils sharpened, that all counts too.
All of the pieces and parts of each day and the love and care you pour out for your family matter a big, whole bunch. Let’s treat ourselves like we believe it, ok?
I would love it if you’d comment and tell me some things that you have been doing great at recently! Take 2 minutes and do it. Then I can cheer you on, too. 🙂
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the upcoming presidential election here in the US, and I’ve seen a lot of comment from parents bemoaning our options for who to vote for. It’s a disappointing election cycle for many reasons, I think almost everyone will agree. What surprised me, though, was how many people I saw on facebook talking about how terrible it will be if this candidate or that becomes president, because they will be a terrible role model for their children. Wha??? Â Since when is a president automatically a role model?
I recall back to times when celebrities or sports stars were found to have done something criminal or morally reprehensible, and I’d see angry mothers on the news saying something like, “Hey! My kid looks up to you! You can’t act that way!” And I’d think, “Why does your kid look up to a total stranger?”
I mean, sure, you can appreciate that someone is talented or accomplished, but that doesn’t mean that their entire personhood should be admired as a role model for children.
But we’re a society of people that do this, even adults. How many times have you or someone you know looked for parenting advice from a stranger that got a book published, instead of asking someone that you know in real life?
I think one part of this is that we tend to idealize that which we cannot see. It’s the imaginary ideal! Â We don’t know how author XYZ actually interacts with their kids, or if their family seems happy and functional. We’ve not been in community with them to see how they’ve weathered the storms of life. A book, blog post, tweet, or facebook comment is only giving you a piece of a much bigger picture, and when we try to build this into something that we can endorse and admire, we are getting onto shaky ground.
I recall years ago chatting with a friend and she was getting all swept up in her admiration for the president at that time, saying, “And I just KNOW he is a Godly man who only wants to do the right things for our country!” and I remember thinking, “Friend, you don’t know that guy at all. Get ahold of yourself!”
As parents, I believe we need to shift our perspective on this and get our thinking right.
I have never held up famous people or strangers as role models for my children, and I won’t be starting now. Just because someone holds an elected office or is good at sports or is in the movies doesn’t mean they are automatically admirable.
Your children’s role models should be YOU,
and hopefully some other
trusted and well-known
family members or community members.
Family is where everything starts. Parents have an incredible opportunity to guide and influence their children, regardless of what is going on outside your home. Be wise. Do your best to create the culture you believe in. Invest your time and energy in building strong relationships with your children.
 I have had a terrific day with my kids. We swam. We laughed. We talked. We drove at night with the windows down and the radio up. As the wind was whipping through my hair and I let my hand surf the wind, I thought of how when I’m gone, my children will hear these songs on the radio some day, and they will remember how we sang along and danced in our seats and drove through a late summer night after a perfect day.
It may be because I turned 45 this year. Or possibly it’s because I’ve been sleep-deprived for the past 7 months. Either way, I feel very conscious of the fact that I’m living in the second half of my life now. I’ve always wanted it to count and been mindful of how I invest, especially when it comes to my children. But it feels more urgent now. I’m almost to the finish line of raising kids. About 5 more years and then they’ll all be 18+. My days of having them all nearby, available on a Wednesday night to hang out together, are probably pretty limited. Two have already flown from the nest (fortunately not too far away), and one is graduating at the end of this school year. The final 3 will follow in rapid succession. I feel like these final five years are going to be like a mighty whooosh of my chickadees flying out the door and into the world to learn and grow and adventure in new and exciting ways. Like a wild, windy life of nearly 30 years of babies and boys and pets and pancakes and tents and toys and late night talks and kitchen dance parties is going to suddenly be reduced down to a quiet breeze of memories.
I don’t regret one moment of the whirlwind I’ve spent snuggling, reading, listening, laughing, crying, teaching, trying, or indulging my dear ones. I’m willing to bet that you won’t either. Love ’em like these days won’t last forever. Because they won’t.
Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, I was a much younger mom with several little kids, living in a perpetual cycle of pregnancy, breastfeeding, mommying, and homeschooling.  In fact, I gave birth to six wonderful human beings in that decade, and somehow we all lived to tell the tale!
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A few statistics:
The two farthest apart kids were around 3.5 years apart in age. (kids 1 and 2. Â After that I got reckless. Â lol)
The closest two kids were about  13 months apart in age.
When the 6th kiddo was born, I actually had 3 kids under 3 for a few weeks. Â Woo bessie!
And I also did a gig where 4 of my kids were in diapers at least part time for quite awhile.  (People always act like this must have been horrible for me, but really, diapers were the least of my problems!)
We homeschooled from 1997-2003, then kind of splintered off into some public school/some homeschool for a couple years, and then went back to the majority of the kids being homeschooled til now. Â My oldest graduated from homeschool. Â My 2nd child graduated from public school. Â My 4 remaining teens are all homeschooled with no changes in sight.
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We started homeschooling in 1997 when my oldest was 5. Â (yeah. Â 19 years ago!) Â He had been joined by a little sister that was maybe 18 months old, and I was newly pregnant with my third child. Â From there we grew in size, age, and number until there were six kiddos. Â When the final baby was born, my tribe was 10, 7, 5, almost 3, not yet 2, and newborn. Â GO BIG OR GO HOME, right? Â
This is the cutie crew I was working with in the spring of 2003. (Is it any wonder that homeschooling became overwhelmingly difficult for me during this season? That’s a story for another day.) And what does my oldest have in his hand? His pet gerbil, of course!
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I’m going out of my way to tell you this because here is what I notice:  Moms with young kids tend to feel like other moms with young kids are the only ones that have ever gone through this stage of life.  Once a person has kids that are all grown up and looking like a really cool rock band in the pictures they share on facebook, people are not thinking about how you all looked rolling into church 13 years ago with runny noses, stinky diapers, bed head, and 8 year old kids claiming they can’t read in Sunday School.  I promise you, it wasn’t glamorous.  At all.  But we made it through, and I have some seriously awesome, smart, beautiful, wonderful, talented kids today.  See?
Today I was reading in one of my facebook groups, and a mom was sharing about how defeated she felt. Â It’s three weeks in to her first year homeschooling a kindergartener and a preschooler, with a 2 year old and new baby on the way. Â #Nobigdeal. Â lol
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She talked about how it all feels like herding cats, with nothing to show for it at the end of the day except exhaustion, some tears, and wondering how this can ever possibly work. How will they get their school work done with all this little-kid-action going on? And did I mention that soon they’ll welcome a newborn baby into the family, to really spice things up? Â Yeah. Â And she wanted to know, is it always this hard? Â Will it get better? Â Is it even realistic to try to do this? Â How do I DO this? Â
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I saw this post earlier in the day, passed it by initially, but couldn’t get this mom out of my mind.  I was remembering how those days used to be at our house.  Toys strewn from stem to stern.  Spills.  Crumbs.  Chaos. But also so many sweet and beautiful days filled with walks, gardening, baking muffins, going to the library, playing with friends, playdough, singing, and so much more. Sometimes it would feel like this can’t possibly work out.  And other days we were in the zone and I could see how lovely and valuable this lifestyle of learning together can be.
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Today I want to share with you some ideas that worked well for us, and maybe will be helpful to you all as you blaze a trail through the craziness of real life, and find a path and a peace with the way homeschool works for you. Â Some affiliate links have been used.
Reading and Audio Books
Reading to the kids all together is great. We have loved the Sonlight books for many, many years, and my kids would always beg for more. Â There’s a great variety of science, literature, history, and more, all delightful and appropriate for gathering up your little ones to enjoy. Â
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I can remember times, though, when toddlers that grabbed at pages and wiggled and shrieked endlessly made it impossible to enjoy a nice book while snuggling on the couch. Â In that case, try audio books! You can wrangle a toddler, nurse a baby, clear the table, and STILL have something worthwhile going on. Â You can get them through audible or your library. Our library has a ton of audio books that have a physical book that kids can look at while listening. (great for new readers, pre-readers, dyslexic kids, and pretty much everybody else old enough to be trusted with a book) Terrific if you’re getting one kid down for a nap or nursing the baby, and still want something productive for the older ones to do. Â Audio books are also great with headphones for quiet times, and to listen to in the background while playing with playdough or blocks or some other activity.
Story of the World audio CDs are great for most ages, and many libraries have them. That’s another good option for background listening without needing to put full attention into it at this age. Great for listening to while playing with playdough or building with blocks or drawing!
 Baking together! A homemade cooking or baking session a day (or less often, whatever works for you) is great for measuring, counting, taking turns, etc. Plus it’s fun to eat muffins you helped make! Think of all the things that go into making something:  Reading, sequence, measuring, pouring, stirring, changing to doubles or halves if you’re making a different amount than the recipe calls for, substitutions, cooperation, taking turns, clean up, and kitchen skills!  Seriously, moms–all of this counts.  Look at a Montessori catalog sometime and see how many things exist to help your children to learn these very skills.  It’s real stuff with value.  Honest.  (and let me tell you–it is nice when you eventually have a 13 year old that can make a pan of brownies without you having to be involved except to eat one.  Start working toward this goal now!)
Nature Walks
Nature walks are good for littles with wiggles. Fresh air, sunshine, a clean breeze, a change of scenery, and some vitamin D is good for everybody including mom. Â Nature walks can be organized or spontaneous. Â Maybe you look for a certain color on your walk today, or gather some cool rocks or leaves. Maybe you’ll start a collection. Â Maybe a windowsill will feature some of your recent finds. Â Maybe you’ll make a poster or start a little book where you let the children tell you what they saw and you write it down for them. Â Find opportunities that seem reasonably doable for you and give it a try. Â Don’t turn it into a difficult, regimented thing. Â Just enjoy and see what’s out there and notice what your kids get inspired about. Â Maybe once they’ve walked awhile and then gotten home to eat a muffin, they will be still enough for you to read a little about nature or something. Â Perfect.
And if you live someplace where you have sidewalks and store fronts and not that much nature? Â That’ll work too! Â Look for the letter S or the color green everywhere you go. Â Wave to the lady across the street. Â Discuss what happens at the dry cleaner, jeweler, and accountants office. Â Bake cookies and take them over to the firemen. Â There’s lots to learn in the town and city, too! Â And you can collect and journal about your adventures just as well.
Reading Lessons　
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If your child is ready to learn to read, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons takes under 20Â minutes a day, with no prep time. Â It’s inexpensive and works for a lot of families, so might be worth a try for you. Â Many libraries offer programs like Hooked on Phonics and others to teach children to read, so you may want to look into what you have access to in your local area. Â Whatever you do, keep it realistically short, and if your child seems overwhelmed or unhappy, take some time off and circle back to it when they seem ready. Â That might mean try again tomorrow. Â It might mean try again in a month. Â It might mean try again after Christmas break. Â A kid that is stressed or crying is not a kid that is learning, or loving to learn. Â You have the opportunity to give them a positive learning experience, so let it be, and don’t worry too much about the time frame. Â Many children really click with reading more around 7 or 8 years old. Â For most kids it is not realistic that they will be reading at 5 or 6, so don’t worry if that’s the case for your kiddo.
Math
A simple math book from Horizons or Singapore or even walmart or a parent-teacher store works for youngsters. Â You can get a general Kindergarten level workbook for less than $10 here. Â Often they are quite happy to Do School in this way, for short bursts of time. Â At these young ages they are learning very basic concepts. Â You do not need to spend a lot of money on this or give it a lot of stress. Â Practical math is all around them, and most basic workbooks will give them what they need. Â A page a day or so is fine. Â No need to make it heavy handed or unpleasant.
Puzzles
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Jumbo puzzles like Melissa and Doug floor puzzles can teach a lot and develop important developmental skills. Some of our favorite floor puzzles from over the years were the Alphabet Train, world map, United States map, the solar system, animal themed puzzles that raise awareness about endangered species, the rainforest, farm animals, and more, sea creatures, presidents, and many others! Doing puzzles is great for the mind and the content can be an easy jumping off point for learning things.
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Wooden puzzles are also great, and are especially good for the little ones that may ruin the paper-covered cardboard pieces of floor puzzles. Â We’ve enjoyed the upper and lower casealphabet puzzles, animals, and many others.
The Lauri crepe rubber puzzles are also terrific. Â They are quiet, durable, can get chewed and slobbered on by the baby, can go in the dishwasher, and give you years of service. Â I also love the lacing puzzles they have, which are great for hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity.
Fun and Effortless Memorization
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Young children are natural mimics. Â They love to memorize catchy tunes and sing songs and show you how smart and clever they are. Â Take advantage of this developmental stage by giving them good things to memorize! Â
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Even if you are not in Classical Conversations, if you can get their memorization CDs and play them in the background, you all will learn a ton. The Timeline Song is full of hundreds of historical events throughout the history of the world.  Your children will be dazzlingly brilliant when they know this epic 13-minute song, and they will forevermore be delighted every time they learn about an event in history and say, “Oh YEAH!  The Punic Wars!  We know about that from the Timeline Song!”  Seriously–it’s cool, and very helpful on down the line.  (We still find it valuable in high school.)
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The Classical Conversations CD includes many other catchy memorization topics. Â Skip counting is an invaluable tool for future math learning and is so easy for young children to learn. The CC history memorization songs are also catchy and helpful. Â The science facts will prove useful as well.
Hint:  if you are not in CC, it doesn’t matter what Cycle CD set you get.  Off-year cycle resources are usually cheaper than current year ones.  All 3 cycles have the same timeline song and skip counting, but much of the rest of the content is cycle-specific.  So if you like the first one you get, you may want to go ahead and eventually get all 3.  Cycle 1 CD here.  Cycle 2 CD here.  Cycle 3 CD here. You can also find these CDs on the used market.  Here’s a good Facebook group for buying CC items that have been used.
This young age can absorb so much information through song memorization, while having fun and playing. You can literally just play those songs in the background or while you’re in the car, and let the learning happen without forcing anything.
Field Trips
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Field trips to interesting places are wonderful for kids of all ages. Concerts, events, the fire station and post office! A little bit of everything, as you have the time, energy, and ability for it. All of it is excellent and over the years you will have seen and done so many interesting things with your children!
Educational TV and Movies
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Educational programs are great, too, and can be a sanity-saver for a weary mom. Â Even if you are a No TV family like we are, you can watch a lot through your computer/ipad/kindle/phone/DVD player/netflix/whatever. Â Amazon Prime and Netflix offer so many great shows for younger kids, like Liberty’s Kids, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Between the Lions, and others. (they tend to come and go as far as availability goes, but often are quite inexpensive to purchase) Your library probably has a good selection of videos you can borrow. Â Learn sign language! Â Learn to speak Spanish! Â Learn a ton about science thanks to The Magic School Bus and Bill Nye the Science Guy! Â No need to avoid these excellent means of visual learning–your kids will love it, it’s easy on you, and YES, my dear, they are really, truly learning.
Rethink Your School Day
It may help you to let go of thinking you will be having an official School Day. For some that works, for others it doesn’t. Think about what a regular day is like in your life without Homeschooling. First think about all the great places where learning already exists, and know that yes it really does count! Â Does your 5 year old help you bake? Â Do you read a bedtime story? Â Do they color and play and imagine? Â Do they like to tell you their stories? Â Do they collect little nature items from around the yard? Â Do they help you in the garden? Â Say hooray and know that you have a nice start on a natural learning environment. Â Good job!
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Then think about where you can fit in extra learning in a natural way. Maybe at 9:30am it’s a good time to bake muffins, and by 10:30 they will be ready to eat for a little snack while you all listen to an audio book or CD, or maybe you can even read to them.
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Maybe once the 2 year old is down for a nap the others can do some floor puzzles. Perhaps you can also get in a reading lesson and a math page. Bravo!
Maybe you will find that daddy can read a science book at bedtime to the bigger kids each night.  Learning doesn’t have to be limited to 8am-3pm, you know!  Maybe a little practice writing their name while you’ve got a little one in the bath in the evening.  I don’t know exactly what it will look like for you, but I know that for most families you will find natural spaces within your existing routines and practices to enhance in ways that give you an opportunity to bring in other parts and pieces of their education that you want for your children.  Keeping in mind what’s realistic for you and your kids is helpful.  Not feeling pressured to stick with each thing forever can be helpful too.  🙂
In Acceptance Lieth Peace
One of my favorite all-time quotes from a poem by Amy Carmichael is, “In acceptance lieth peace.” Â Often our stress and worries come from wrestling and resisting what IS, and trying to change things that cannot be changed. Â I have found that being able to accept how things are has given me a lot of peace over the years, especially when it comes to the demands and challenges of motherhood. Â Yes, it can be so crazy when you have a bunch of little ones. (or even just one or two!) Â It goes with the territory. Â Some days you will take naps or give up on school and go to the park. You may decide to put some of the kids into preschool, Mother’s Day Out, or public school for awhile. Â And that’s ok too. Â Homeschooling will still be here for you when you’re ready. Â Some days you will be able to see so clearly all the sweet and good stuff that comes from all the investing you’re doing in your family. Â And those days will often give you strength to get through til you have another one.
The truth is, time changes everything, and this season will not last forever. Â (though some days it certainly will feel like it!) Â As you invest and love and encourage and go along day by day, all of that good stuff is stacking up into something more powerful than you can imagine. Â I love this verse from the Bible:
So let’s not get tired of doing what is good.
At just the right time
we will reap a harvest of blessing
if we don’t give up.
Galatians 6:9Â
 I hope that some of these ideas might help younger moms as they work to figure out how homeschooling can work for them.  I’d love it if you’d leave a comment sharing other great ideas, or to ask specific questions if you need suggestions for other areas that haven’t been mentioned in this post.  🙂
In almost 20 years of homeschooling, I think it has been an almost constant wish of mine that I could somehow get a clone of myself. Â (ok. Â Let’s face it–I’d need several clones.) Â When the kids were little, it was challenging to keep all the schooling going amidst nursing the babies, potty training the toddlers, and trying to overcome my sleepiness! Â When they were in the middle years, I still had some pretty rascally little guys running around, and the small matter of a tiny little business I was trying to breathe life into, in addition to nurturing a love for learning for the school-aged kids. Â And now that my homeschooled kids are all teenagers, I STILL feel like I could use more help to multiply my time. Â After all–I want my kids to get everything they need, but I need a few things every now and then too. Â (the nerve!)
We have been longtime fans of audio books in our family. Â With two dyslexic kids, and with a whole tribe that also loved to build with Legos while they listened, audio books have provided hours and hours of enriching entertainment and literature exposure without adding one more thing to my To Do list. Â (except, of course, wrangling kiddos through the library, keeping track of all the discs, paying for the ones that got broken, and paying all the late fees…..) Â I’m so happy with the solution I found. Â Affiliate links have been used in this post.
Last year I decided to try out Audible. Â Audible starts out with a free 30-day trial where you can get two audio books of your choice. Â After that you can become a Gold Member (ooh la la! Â Sounds so fancy!) and pay $14.95 per month and get one audio book per month. Â They also have some great discounts and sales for members that have allowed me to get two books per credit, or add books to our membership for just a couple bucks.
Although I had heard about it before, I had never bothered to look into it too deeply. Â The books I had seen in the ads didn’t look like books I would want to read, and certainly didn’t make me think Homeschool Tool.
But then I saw some other homeschool moms talking about all the great classic literature available on audible and how they loved using it with their kids, and I decided to check it out.
Jackpot!!!
Audible has TONS of books that coordinate with Sonlight and other literature-based curricula, as well as books that your kids will just enjoy reading. Â And not only that–these books are usually read by famous actors and skilled storytellers that do a wonderful job of conveying the storyline, building suspense, adding voices and special effects, etc. Â If you aren’t a gifted out-loud reader, you and your kids will LOVE having books read to you in this way! Â (and if you’re like me and truly love reading books to your kids, Audible can be perfect for times when you’re not available or need to free up a few hours to do something else.) Â Yeah, it might be $14.95 for a book, but when the book takes 10 or 20 hours of your life to read, sister, THAT is a bargain! Â So whether you are recovering from having a baby or the flu, want to get ahead in the kitchen, or just take a nap, audible is there for you.
(And ohmyword fellow mothers–when your kids love fantasy books and you just hate to read them, or they want to listen to the Redwall series, but you don’t want to struggle through all the accents and such, Audible is a godsend!!!)
Other Audible Books that Homeschool Moms will love:
Audible has several options and benefits for you. You can start with a simple 30-day Free Trial and get 2 free audiobooks so you can see how easy it is. We mostly use the audible app on my phone for listening, but you can also listen through the computer, and share the books between devices if you have certain kids that want to listen during their afternoon rest time or whenever it works for them.
Monthly members get 1 new audiobook of your choice each month. And yes, if you don’t make a selection, that credit will just sit in your account til you’re ready for it.Â
Monthly members also get 30% off other audiobooks, plus access to exclusive sales that are often BOGO or deep discounts. (I get a lot of homeschool books this way! Very economical, and I’ll always be able to find the book when I need it!)
If you don’t like a book, you can swap it! So, for classics that have more than one version available, this is great if you find that the one you got isn’t as enjoyable as you expected. Â (however, Audible has customer reviews, which makes it really easy to choose a winner)
You can also purchase audible books through amazon, straight-up, with no membership. It’ll cost you a little more, but might work for those of you that aren’t interested in the member benefits.
Having a helper to keep my kids enjoying great literature even when I can’t personally read to them has been a huge benefit for us!  I hope it’ll be a help to you as well.
It’s the end of the school year and you’re probably ready for a break. But wait! Give a gift to your future self by taking a little bit of time to reflect on how the school year has gone, and to help form some organized ideas about what will best serve you and your kiddos in the year to come! Â Listen in as I explain the How and Why of End of Year Evaluations for your homeschool. Â (jump the video up to 3:56 to avoid having to listen to my technical difficulties. Â And please ignore whatever that is that was going on with my hair. Â lawsy.)
As I mentioned in the video, I’d like to eventually create a printable to help walk you through the steps to doing a really effective evaluation. Until that happens here are some notes to help you get started:
Questions to ask yourself. Â Points to ponder:
 The overall school year.  How did it go?  What was the general mood and mindset about the materials? Â
Consider each individual child. Â What growth did you see? Â What needs do you observe? Â Where did they really thrive? Â Where did they struggle? Â Ask them for their feedback as well.
You! Â How did you feel about the school year? Â What were the positives and negatives for you? Â Are you getting the things you need?
Your husband. Â What are his observations? Â What is he seeing going well? Â What concerns does he have?
Percolate. Â Let the information sit for awhile and just digest. Â You want to leave room for clarity and inspiration before you go any farther.
Brainstorm about possible solutions, things you’d like to add/subtract from next school year.
Percolate some more. Â You don’t need to buy stuff before you’re ready. Â Give yourself space to find the best fit. Â
Welcome to the Enrichment Lifestyle Blog! I'm so glad you're here. :) I'm Erica Johns, and I love to encourage homeschool moms and help them enjoy more of the beauty of the arts in everyday life.
About me: I started my homeschooling journey in 1997 and graduated the last of my six children in 2021. Amidst all the hard work, crazy days, uncertainty, and lost pencils, what I think we really gained was the gift of a lifetime: TIME TOGETHER. So awesome! Click my pic to learn more.
Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, I was a much younger mom with several little kids, living in a perpetual cycle of pregnancy, breastfeeding, mommying, and homeschooling.  In fact, I gave birth to six wonderful human beings in that decade, and somehow we all lived to tell the tale!
It’s the end of the school year and you’re probably ready for a break. But wait! Give a gift to your future self by taking a little bit of time to reflect on how the school year has gone, and to help form some organized ideas about what will best serve you and your kiddos in the year to come! Â Listen in as I explain the How and Why of End of Year Evaluations for your homeschool. Â 
