The Good and The Beautiful Curriculum
Choosing a curriculum for your homeschool can be overwhelming. Are your kids going to enjoy it and learn from it? Is it going to require a lot from you or will your child be able to work independently? I was always nervous about spending a lot of money to find out it wasn’t the curriculum for my family. Up until this year I had pieced together my curriculum from different resources. It was a lot of work on my part and this year I was not happy with a lot of the content. Happily, I found out that The Good and the Beautiful curriculum for English and Math are now…
January 2023: Life – Lessons and Loves
Life Lesson My son hurt his shoulder wrestling. Instead of nights at practice, we will spend afternoons at physical therapy and he will not wrestle this year. Since he found out he will not be returning to the sport he enjoys he laments, “it isn’t fair” several times a day. It started about wrestling but has branched out to anything. His brother gets to continue wrestling practice. His sister gets invited to a sleepover. The fact that he has to clean his room! And yes, this is often a normal response to a lot of things in life, not just for children. How many times do you catch yourself thinking,…
The Hardest Thing I’ve Ever Done
They say that the right thing and the hard thing are often the same thing. I actually use this saying to help me determine the motivation behind my decisions. Recently I made a really difficult decision. A decision that took me out of my comfort zone and will change my life forever. It wasn’t an exciting decision like a job change or new house but a scary, heartbreaking decision of letting go. And it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Awhile back our shower started to leak. It was small and hardly noticeable. Only when all 5 of us showered in one day could you see water dripping from…
What To Do When You Feel Burnt Out
Burnout can happen when my job feels monotonous over a period of time. It can also happen when I have taken on too much and find myself overwhelmed. Burnout is frustrating and can be hard to overcome. Here are some ways I have used to recover from burnout. Take a break! If you can (deadlines permitting), take a moment or take a day to regroup. Sometimes when I have been doing the same thing day in and day out it just takes a break to reset my mood. For example, I used to do a job 6 days a week (kids in tow). Our one day off was Sunday when…
Seek Peace, Not Happiness
When I was younger I used to look for all the things that made me happy. That makes complete sense. Think about when you were a child. Things that made you happy were good. Things that caused you pain were bad. We grow up categorizing our experiences as good or bad based on the way it made us feel. We don’t think about this process but as we get older we start to plan our lives using the same process. We seek the things that make us happy. Maybe we seek happiness in our career, marriage, house, children, financial situation, or in our social lives. The problem with this is…
Living on Purpose | Intentional Living
Last year was rough. Last year at this time (pre-COVID) my dad had a heart attack. Right before Thanksgiving, I lost my minister (who was also my friend) to a heart attack. My Gram passed away after 100 years of life and our beloved family dog also passed. Throw in the pandemic to add fear among all that loss… it was a rough year. But there was good in last year as well. My sister had a beautiful baby girl. We added chickens to our crazy lives and a new puppy. Good or bad, life keeps moving forward and so should we. I have learned that life has BOTH good…
2021 – What I am doing differently this year
I know New Year’s resolutions are cliché and many people are against them. I say, to each his own! If it works for you AWESOME, if you can start a big change at any time of the year GOOD FOR YOU! That is not what this post is meant to be. This post is a reflection of the past year(s) and deciding what I want to continue doing and what I want to change. Reflection is a healthy practice and I encourage you to take time to do this for your own personal growth. The year 2020 was a rough one, but honestly most of my years have felt rough.…
What You Need To Know Before You Get A Puppy
Yay! We got a puppy! Oh no! We got a puppy! This is how I feel about our current situation. Puppies are ADORABLE and can be a lot of fun. Puppies are a lot of work and a long term commitment. Before you are convinced by the cuteness to get a puppy, here are some things you should know. Our beloved dog, Reese, passed away this summer. She was 12 years old when cancer took her. My kids and I were heartbroken. After Reese I wasn’t sure I wanted another dog. They are a lot of work and a long term commitment. Although I missed the companionship of a pup,…
The Kids Will Be Okay | Resilience
When I was trying to figure out how to handle my failing marriage, one of my biggest fears was how this would affect my children. I hated when people told me not to worry, kids are resilient, they’ll be fine. But as a child of divorce myself, I knew that was something people told themselves so they could deal with their situation and not worry about their kids. I don’t think that a person is born resilient or that it is a quality all kids possess. I believe that resilience is developed over time, through experiences. So why am I talking about this? Well it has nothing to do with…
Helping Your Kids Handle Anxiety & Depression
Anxiety and depression are on the rise in children and young adults. Dealing with these conditions can be tough for adults, so it is incredibly important that we help our children learn how to recognize these feelings and handle them in a healthy way. You don’t have to wait to see signs of anxiety or depression to start doing the suggestions below. Parents, help your child implement these actions into their lives. Show them by example, do them together. Too many times we assume our children know what to do with information they are given. Healthy ways to handle anxiety and depression: Establish healthy habits and routines Build good relationships…
