3 Myths about Homeschooling that Might be Keeping You from Enjoying it (or Deciding to Start)

Photo by Senjuti Kundu on Unsplash

There are several ideas that tend to create concern around the idea of homeschooling. These myths can keep those of us who have been homeschooling from fully enjoying it and they often keep those who are considering the lifestyle from even beginning. If we can reframe these issues and shift the way we are thinking, I believe we can really savor our days home educating.

Myth #1: Homeschooling means giving up on having an orderly home.

Myth #2: Choosing the right curriculum is everything.

Myth #3: Only the children’s personal growth and education matter.

Let’s talk about that first one, Myth #1, Homeschooling means giving up on having an orderly home. Here’s what you might be thinking: It will always be messy. There will no time to clean or do the laundry or cook dinner except in complete chaos and we will just have to endure that chaos until our kids are grown. If we like a neat house and peaceful days, we will just have to grin and bear it. When we can no longer tolerate the chaos, we might have to send everyone to school.

Truth: You can make home management a beautiful part of what you are teaching your kids in your homeschool. Housework does not need to get in the way of the lessons and activities you want to experience with your kids. Homeschooling is as much teaching our kids how to live life as it is how to do math or observe nature. Charlotte Mason said, “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline and a life.” Teaching kids how to create a home is important too!

And then there’s the curriculum dilemma, Myth #2, Choosing the right curriculum is everything. YES, it does matter that the Math curriculum works for your child and choosing the right History books can make studying it more enjoyable for your family. However, learning together at home is not just about replicating traditional school. Adding in what I call “the true, the good, and the beautiful” will end up having a greater impact on how much you enjoy homeschooling than simply checking the boxes of traditional subjects. So what do I consider “the true, the good, and the beautiful” and why do they matter more? These are the activities that can be experienced as a family. They are the ones that children of many different ages and personalities can enjoy together and respond to in their own ways at their own developmental levels. I’m talking about reading literature and poems together, listening to music, doing art, getting out in nature, and creating traditions. You will remember these shared experiences most because they strengthen relationships, awaken the imagination and build camaraderie. They bring the element of JOY to your homeschool and that will carry you through when you grow weary.

Myth #3, Only the children’s personal growth and education matter, is one we tend to automatically believe when there is no time for ourselves as moms. Our days are filled with driving, scheduling, and supporting the endeavors of our children and there is little time to even consider what we would like to do or learn. But our own personal growth is tremendously important because our kids are going to do what we do in the end. Our ability to parent effectively and coach our children to have healthy mindsets depends upon our own emotional health. We are not just teaching our children how to be good at academics or their chosen extracurricular activities. We are showing them how to live life well. This is good news - not just another to-do for us. It means that our own self-care is actually necessary. Our own curiosity and interests are important. If we want our children to become lifelong learners, making time to pursue our interests is an example we want to set. You are more than just a supporter, you are a unique and creative person, mama!

I’ve been creating a new course for homeschool moms and I’ll be offering part of it as a FREE CLASS starting next week. The FREE CLASS is called 3 Secrets to Creating Order in your Home while Homeschooling: How to get the Housework Done and Meet Each Person’s Needs without Missing All the Beautiful Experiences You Want Your Children to have in Your Homeschool.

I’d LOVE for you to join me!!! Just go to jillpulver.com/freeclass or CLICK HERE to register and choose the best time for YOU!

As always, I’m cheering you on, mama!

The Challenge of Putting Life into Words

It’s that time of year when students are finding out which colleges have found them acceptable. Or for younger children submitting transcripts or interviewing to start at a new school, how they will be seen compared to others. For adults changing jobs or moms rejoining the workforce, resumes attempt to describe what we’ve accomplished and who we’ve become. In all these situations, the typical categories are limited. It takes creativity and clear-sightedness to describe ourselves accurately. People can’t really be described completely with just a few measures. I’ve learned as a homeschool teacher, as a mom of college students and as a woman returning to work at 50, that there are many ways to put words to our life experiences.

One of the aspects of homeschooling that stresses parents out is record-keeping and worry over whether enough is being done in each subject area to fulfill grade level requirements - whether someone is holding us accountable to that or not. In my experience, most homeschooling families are accomplishing much more than they think they are, and if they could translate into words all they are actually doing, worry over their performance would be quieted. Here are a few ways to do it, whether its for a charter school teacher, to please your relatives or even to create a transcript for college admissions.

“Document your homeschool ‘as-is’. Remember that a transcript is your homeschool experience translated into words and numbers that colleges understand.”

-Lee Binz - “Setting the Record Straight”

This quote by Lee Binz in her book, “Setting the Record Straight” was so helpful to me both when my boys were in middle school and I had to create transcripts so they could attend public and private high schools and also when my daughter homeschooled through high school and applied to colleges. I created transcripts that spoke “the love language” of the schools who were asking what my kids had learned. You can do this too!

There are several applications for this technique:

1) When you are in a difficult season and aren’t sure if you’re doing enough.

Maybe your children are all young, or you have a new baby. It’s easy to feel like the many interruptions in your homeschool day are sabotaging your school-aged children’s education. Perhaps your child is going through a difficult transition or is having health issues. Your gut says to ease off the school requirements but you’re worried that you’ll be in trouble if you don't accomplish enough tangible work. My best advice for this situation is to keep an old-fashioned record book from a school supply store like Lakeshore and write down everything you do each day.

Did you read aloud to your children? Write “English literature - name the book/author”

Did you practice math facts in the car on the way to baseball? Write “Math - addition facts practice”

Did your children watch birds building a nest in the yard this morning? Talk about it. Have them draw a picture of what they saw and write 1-5 sentences about it depending on their ages. Then write “Science - birds”

Piano lessons and practice? Write “Music - piano 2 hours” for that week

Baseball practice and 2 games? Write “PE - baseball - 5 hours” for that week

Did you go on a field trip? Write “History: Field trip to Natural History Museum to see Egypt exhibit”

In her inspiring book, The Brave Learner, Julie Bogart says, “Everything can be taught through anything.” and “A robust education is the ability to make meaningful use of any and all information.”

We discount so much that we are doing that is educational. Now, I’m completely in favor of diligence and consistency. Keeping up with Math or Grammar lessons is important. And I’m not saying that you should make up school work that is not real. But when life circumstances complicate our best laid plans, and lessons don’t look like school, there is no need to despair. A homeschooling lifestyle makes education part of our home life - we naturally bring a spirit of curiosity and learning to so many common parts of daily life. As parents who also teach our children, we tend to bring that learning mindset into all of life. If we watch a movie, we can’t help but ask about the time period it was set in.. We choose to watch documentaries and other educational media because we are lifelong learners. You can count much of what you are doing with your children as real learning if you write down what you did in words that sound like a lesson plan.

It’s kind of like what we do when we have been out of the work force for years and need to update a resume. We take the school fundraiser we ran for the past 3 years and describe it as:

“Event planner: Successfully planned and executed annual fundraiser that grossed over $35k per year, overseeing all aspects including venue selection, catering, recruiting volunteers and building strong relationships with community leaders. Increased income 80% year over year.”

Right?? Just as parents who are not working at a paying job are still accomplishing and growing in their life, our children are growing and learning even if they are not finishing the math book as planned.

2) When you need to create a transcript for your children.

One of the beautiful advantages of homeschooling is that your children have time to find out who they are and pursue their interests. When we keep records of their work, we need to include more than just the Math curriculum they completed or the History book they read. A complete picture of the whole child has to include things like “Advanced Ballet, 8 hours/ week with final performance 2 times per year.” which could be listed as Physical Education - 10 units. It can include “Wood Shop/ Carpentry - 5 units” because they build a chicken coop, a bench and two raised garden beds.

Lee Binz is the expert on this and she provides examples of how to take what your child is doing and who they are as a person and put it into the love language of colleges or other schools.

So I hope this encourages you. As the school year wraps up for many of us, take a look at what you did with fresh eyes. The number of math lesson completed is important but, if it’s few, that doesn't mean that other learning did not happen. In what other ways did your child grow this year? Even if you can’t submit “Grew in character and leadership as an older brother, teaching younger children how to play baseball and build forts.” to your Charter Teacher, YOU can acknowledge it and write it down! Real life and growth is not linear and perfectly measurable, and if we wanted to only see our children that way, we wouldn't be homeschooling. Don’t let measurement steal your joy, my friend. You have done much more than you know. So give your kids the gift of acknowledging who they are outside of the normal school subjects. And, while you’re at it, write down what YOU’VE accomplished this year - or in the past 10.

“CEO - Smith Family: Successfully kept 3 children safe and healthy, providing meals and personalized accommodations along with enriching and memorable family outings and vacations. Administered a school and taught History, Math, Science, Language Arts, Nature Study and life skills. etc……”

When you put it in words, it’s pretty impressive, mama! Maybe the best gift you can give yourself this Mother’s Day is to acknowledge how you’ve grown and what you’ve been through this past year. Write it down - even just as a quick list. And smile. The obligatory cards and flowers will be given this weekend, but your own quiet “I’ve done well” might mean even more.

I’m cheering you on!

p.s. Speaking of the important work you are doing, for more support around parenting, education, and creating a home you love, check out my free resources HERE.

Summer Reading

My kids always wanted summer to be free from normal academics and, since my own childhood never included schoolwork in the summertime, I was understanding of their desire to take a long break between school years. The one thing we DID do each summer was to read books, and we made it fun by creating a summer reading program. There was a wonderful children’s bookstore in our town that ran a sweet summer reading contest with prizes given at the end of the summer if kids hit their goals. We only did the store’s program for a couple of summers, but it got us in the habit and I simply created our own program in subsequent years. Here’s what we did:

I created a simple document and each child wrote their goal for “Pages Read” over the summer. There was a start and end date (usually between the last day of school and Labor Day weekend in the Fall). The rule was that mom had to approve the book choices. I wanted them reading quality literature at their reading level. Sometimes I required a variety of subjects/kinds of books like historical, non-fiction, fiction, etc… I also initialed after each title added to the list, confirming that they had indeed read it. At the end of the summer, we all went out to ice cream or frozen yogurt to celebrate their accomplishments. If you have boys, the element of competition is often motivating.

You can grab a copy of that Summer Reading Record form along with links to our favorite summer books here:.

Quality booklists made this project so much easier. Here are a few we used over the years:

Exodus Books - Outside of a Dog Booklists are organized by grade level, by series, classics, etc.. I love that they got the name of their booklists from this quote:

Another favorite source for book ideas is The Read-aloud Revival. Sarah Mackenzie has a wonderful podcast and website where she interviews children’s authors and publishes a free booklist.

If you need more inspiration around the idea of reading beautiful literature with your kids, listen to Carole Joy Seid. She has recorded seminars for sale, but was also on Sarah McKenzie’s podcast.

Finally, for younger children, I have several picture booklists HERE. These are our family’s favorites - the ones my teens still pick up from time to time because they hold so many fond memories of cuddling up on the couch together over the years.

I hope this gives you some ideas as you wrap up the school year and start imagining what your kids will do all summer. Let me know how you do summer at your home. Do you take the summer off of school or do enrichment throughout the summer months? Let me know in the comments!

May Day

May 1 is this Wednesday and it always creeps up on me so I wanted to share, a few days ahead of time, a fun project we did when my kids were younger. You might want to gather supplies and set aside time to do this in the next few days.

When my kids were little, I was always looking for traditions we could create - fun ways we could celebrate the everyday and enjoy the rhythms of the year together. One of our favorites was May Day. We didn’t ever figure out how to set up a May pole and dance around it, but we did make bouquets of flowers for our neighbors to welcome springtime and let them know we loved them. I’ll show you how we did it.

We started with patterned paper from a craft store like Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. it’s prettiest when the paper has designs on both sides, so look for a pad of paper like this. It can be useful for many other crafts and school projects.

1) Form the paper into a cone and staple in place.

2) Staple a long ribbon to the inside of the paper cone to serve as a handle.

3) Put a grocery store produce bag in the bottom with wet paper towels in the bottom to keep the flowers somewhat watered.

4) I usually purchased a few bunches of flowers at the grocery store to anchor the bouquets.

5) Have kids select flowers and greenery from the yard to complete the bouquets. Show them how to arrange them, but let them be the floral designers.

6) Deliver them to neighbors, friends, family, etc. by hanging on their front door early in the morning on May 1.

Enjoy this fun springtime craft, nature study and neighborly act with your children!

For more Springtime inspiration, grab my Spring Picture book List - I’ve gathered all our perennial favorite read-a-louds for you to enjoy with your children. You can take this list on your next library trip, to the bookstore or choose one next time you have a gift to give. Enjoy!!!

Bouquets ready to be delivered.

Deciding to Love Math

One of the BEST choices I made in our homeschool journey was to do math consistently. We started and stuck with a curriculum called Saxon Math. Only now, as I look back can I fully appreciate the strong foundation and mindset it instilled in all of us and I’m so grateful. I’ve added a video at the end of this post explaining more about how this curriculum works and why I love it.

I’m going to make the case that embracing Math is one of the most beneficial things you can do for yourself and your children. It’s not just about understanding how to do it - it’s deeper than that. When you decide to work at understanding Math concepts and you commit to doing the work, you show your children how to be problem-solvers and that skill and mindset will serve them for all their days.

We want our children to be academically successful yet we often perpetuate the cultural norm that it’s cool and common to be bad at Math. When we look at our child’s Math lesson and joke that “it’s beyond me” or “I am NOT a Math person” we think we are being funny or humble. We are simply agreeing with everyone else that Math is a task to be endured; that it is NOT something worthy of our time and effort. But what we are doing without realizing it is showing our children that it’s okay to give up and not try to figure things out. We don’t do that with sports, so why do we allow it with Math?

The truth is, life does not let us get away with that! There are always going to be problems to solve and solutions to find. When we create a habit and model for our children the process of looking closely at a problem we don’t understand and taking time to use our minds to THINK and WONDER and PONDER and SOLVE a problem we are giving them an important LIFE SKILL!

If you’re not completely annoyed with me at this point (or even if you are), keep reading and I’ll show you how to embrace Math in your home and homeschool.

1) Examine your own mindset. Banish phrases like, “I’m no good at Math.” There’s a good chance you have your own old stories running in the back of your mind about Math, especially if you adopted a belief early in life that you weren’t good at it. If you FEEL inadequate or ashamed about Math, it’s because of the thoughts you are having about it. Really take a moment to write down what thoughts go through your mind when you think about Math. Once you examine your own thoughts, you can change them. You will also realize the power of those thoughts and be more motivated to make sure your children don’t cement negative thoughts in their own minds. Speak life. Do not say, “You are not a Math person.” Say instead, “You might not love Math, but you sure are good at it.” What you think about becomes reality and your attitude towards Math is contagious.

2) Start early* in age-appropriate ways to lay a firm foundation. Early competence breeds confidence and early confidence will fuel your kids when problems get more difficult. Here’s where Saxon Math really helped my children. In the K-3 grade levels, the daily lesson is heavy with routine, repetition and hands on activities.. It included the use of manipulatives which are very effective and fun for young children. I’ll admit, it was a lot of work for me as the teacher. Every day, I would fill out a little form with the daily exercises using money, counting, arithmetic, telling time and later word problems. I would sit and read the lesson with my child at that age because they weren’t yet reading themselves. It took effort and required that I plan a schedule of activities for the other children so I could focus on one at a time.

Only later did I experience the fruit of all that labor and consistency. Once my children could read on their own, they were able to complete their Math lessons on their own. They knew how to read a lesson and do the work because we had done it over and over again together. They also knew that I was invested in their Math success and would help them when they had a question. The habit of doing Math first, every day made it much easier to stay on track. Most of all, they had a firm foundation from all that practice. They knew their Math facts, so addition, subtraction, multiplication and division were easy and didn’t hold them back as their lessons got more complex. As a tutor now, I see often how painful Math is when these foundational pieces are not in place. It is difficult to learn Algebra if you don’t have your multiplication table memorized!

*A clarification about “starting early”: Toddlers can count cars or oranges - but only for FUN. If we radiate joy and wonder at learning, our toddlers and preschoolers will WANT to learn. Even still, no formal lessons are needed at all until age 6 or 7.

3) Make it fun and personal - allow Math to be relatable to every personality and giftedness. I understand that Math will not be every child’s first love, but there are so many ways to make it work for each person so please don’t let that be an excuse to hate it. My oldest daughter is an artist. She’s a day dreamer, a writer and a dancer. Math felt so uninteresting to her but I found ways to make it relatable. When she was little, she loved fairies and spent considerable time building fairy houses in the yard or drawing fairies so, when we came across a multiplication problem, I would say something like, “Oh these mathematicians! Sometimes they use so few words! Let’s pretend that you are hosting a party for 100 fairies. You can sit 10 fairies at each table. How many tables will you need to decorate for the party??” If I had a child that was baffled by long word problems, we would take the opposite approach. “Okay, this feels like way too many words - let’s simplify it by writing what they are saying in numbers and symbols. The word “of” means times, the word “is” stands for =,” etc… Find creative ways to make Math relatable to your kids by talking about it in terms that interest them - Do they love cars, trains, dance, or Marvel heroes? Talk about Math concepts in ways that make it real to your child. Making it fun and personal does NOT mean switching curriculum every 6 months because your child is still not enjoying Math. When you keep switching, you lose time and create holes in your student’s knowledge base. You create a mindset in which the teacher or the tool is blamed for not imparting knowledge well when it is actually the student’s job to take in knowledge and make it their own. So make the best decision possible to find a curriculum that works with your child’s learning style or special needs and then commit to staying the course. If you pick a high quality, well-designed program it WILL do the job if you do. Put your head down and do the work.

Making it fun and personal does NOT mean switching curriculum every 6 months because your child is still not enjoying Math.

4) Be consistent and create habits. Competency breeds confidence and early thoughts about one’s Math abilities stick. When you do these lessons regularly, it becomes less of a burden. We did Math at least 4 mornings a week. It does not work to do Math once or twice a week because concepts are easily forgotten if they are not practiced regularly. It slows progress and creates more moments and memories of NOT knowing how to do something. This is so important especially in grammar school because remembering how to do things and making a habit of working out problems builds character and grows competence. The more moments of success your child has early on, the more skilled your child will be and their confidence will determine their belief about their ability which, as we know, will determine how they feel about their own Math ability for a lifetime.

5) Always be a problem-solver - you don’t have to know all the answers, but you do need to be willing to be curious. Be willing to THINK and PONDER and try different solutions yourself in partnership with your child. Show them how to look back at the explanation in their Math book. Reread the lesson. Be a scholar! You are modeling for them how to solve their own problems later in their schooling and throughout all of life. If you reach an impasse, get help because you WANT to know the answer, not because you’ve given up. This is important. We shouldn’t google the solution or watch Khan Academy or hire a tutor because we have given up but because we WANT to understand.

Sprinkler Repair courtesy of youTube, Ace Hardware and ME!

Life will provide many opportunities to problem-solving either in our work or our homes. A toilet handle will need replacing, a sprinkler will break, a car battery will die, a schedule will need to be adjusted. A can-do mindset serves us for the rest of our lives and it is strengthened by early experiences as a problem-solver.

I’m proof of this concept, having learned many ways to care for a home over the years. I didn’t WANT to have to learn these skills, but I did. Did I feel overwhelmed by household tasks? Yes! Did I WANT to throw in the towel and get someone who was skilled or trained to do them for me? Yes! But I learned to calmly “work the problem” until I found a solution. In the end, it really wasn’t that bad. Math wisdom, my friends. Math wisdom.

I even created a FREE guide so others could learn from me: Fix-It Mama Household Basics.

You see, it’s not about whether you were going to need to use the Pythagorean Formula as an adult, it’s about appreciating the beauty of problem-solving and finding a bit of joy in struggling to reach a solution. So, have I convinced you to value Math more? I hope so. I hope you feel encouraged and a little bit inspired. If you haven’t been doing this, start slowly. Mind your mind and be really gracious with yourself and your children.

The best way to do Math in your homeschool is early and consistently, but it is very common for students to have missed this experience. If this is true for your student, it’s not too late!! We can adjust our thinking at any stage of life. If your student needs help finding some joy and competence in Math, I’m hosting a 4 week class for students who need some encouragement and support. It’s designed for Junior High students preparing to start Algebra.. The goal is to strengthen skills, encourage a love of Math and build confidence. You can read more about it and sign your student up here: Algebra Prep School. Maybe we should have a mom version so we can have fun with Math together. I’ll serve wine.

Here’s a video about Saxon Math and how I’ve used it with my children and with my tutoring students over the years. A few links mentioned in the video:

Saxon Math video on the Rainbow Resource website

Saxon Math placement tests on the Rainbow Resource website

5 Ways that Time in Nature will Change your Life

I find comfort in accomplishing tangible tasks. Because of this, I tend to put time in Nature in the category of recreation. Unless I’m gardening, being outside doesn’t usually provide an end product that I can see so I resist giving my time to it. But every time I do get outside, my mind is refreshed and I know that the time spent makes whatever I’m working on better. Here’s what I’ve learned about nature’s benefits:

1) Fresh air and new scenery refreshes the mind.

A walk around the block is a quick reset, but spending an hour or more on a hike is transformative. Yesterday, my kids and I drove into our local open space - Mt. Diablo State Park. The green fields, early blooming trees, and running streams were stunningly beautiful. As we drove higher up the mountain, the scenery changed to bare oaks and scrub bushes and we were surrounded by a cold fog. We hiked a steep trail for the last 2 miles to the summit, climbing over rocks and admiring the moss and lichen growing profusely on the trees. Getting my heart rate up and looking closely at the details along the trail, I was aware of using parts of my mind that had not been tapped of late. When I got home I was full of ideas and had a new perspective on my work.

2) It’s a great way to spend time with your teens.

Nature is the great equalizer. I live with 5 teens/young adults and finding an activity to do together is often a challenge. Food and media are the favored choices these days; family outings are more difficult to pull off. But going on a hike; being outdoors has been an easy sell lately. The more we go, the more memories we have together. When we have fun together outdoors, the more likely it is that my gang will be up for doing it again. It becomes a habit. Maintaining a strong family connection as our kids get older is a challenge. (I think our teens WANT to do things as a family, they are just pickier about how they are willing to spend their time.) Going on an outdoor adventure is a great solution.

3) Nature Instructs

Spending time in nature is a great way to build critical thinking in young children. Naturalist John Muir Laws teaches his students to ask questions as a way of observing in nature. They are, “I notice” - talking aloud about all the things you see (easy to do with a toddler or young child!), “I wonder…” and “It reminds me of…” You can read more about this process and other tips about Nature journaling in his book, The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling.

4) Nature instills a sense of place.

All too often I focus on my own house and yard, forgetting to spend time in the greater landscape around me. When we explore the place we live, we feel more grounded, more at home in our community. Visit your local state park’s visitor’s center for local guides to trails, plants, birds and history. One of my goals this year is to try as many trails in our local state park as possible, identifying the plants, trees and flowers that grow there and learning the history of the place names. I love the image of childhood that John Greenleaf Whittier paints in his poem, The Barefoot Boy. We memorized this over many weeks in our homeschool - it’s a favorite for sure! As a mom, I’m inspired by the idea that my children could possess as their own the beautiful natural world around them by knowing it well. Listen to a few of these lines: “Oh for boyhood’s painless play, Sleep that wakes in laughing day, Health that mocks the doctor’s rules, Knowledge never learned of schools, Of the wild bee’s morning chase, Of the wild-flower’s time and place, Flight of fowl and habitude Of the tenants of the wood; How the tortoise bears his shell, How the woodchuck digs his cell, And the ground-mole sinks his well; How the robin feeds her young, How the oriole’s nest is hung; Where the whitest lilies blow, Where the freshest berries grow, Where the ground-nut trails its vine, Where the wood-grape’s clusters shine; Of the black wasp’s cunning way, Mason of his walls of clay, And the architectural plans Of gray hornet artisans! For, eschewing books and tasks, Nature answers all he asks; Hand in hand with her he walks, Face to face with her he talks, Part and parcel of her joy,— Blessings on the barefoot boy!” I love that our children could feel the thrill of being masters and caretakers of their world, that they could look back on their childhood and think “ I was rich in flowers and trees, Humming-birds and honey-bees;…”

For more nature poems, grab my list of Favorite Poems.

5) Nature reminds us of God’s faithfulness.

I tend to worry about life. I feel the weight of responsibility to provide for myself and my children financially, physically, and emotionally. I easily slip into thinking that it’s all up to me. Observing the wonders of nature reminds me that even the smallest details are creatively and faithfully executed and repeated. The seasons change, the sun rises, the stars show up, the trees lose their leaves but new ones blossom, the flowers bloom, the grass greens and dries, birds sing, nest and have babies. It all repeats, creatively, faithfully, reliably. But we only witness these miracles if we are paying attention.

I love the hymn, Great is Thy Faithfulness. “Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above, Join with all nature in manifold witness To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.”

Ways to get started:

A hike away from streets, houses, and noise is ideal but we can start with our children in small ways, sending them in to the yard with a magnifying glass, planting a garden, or filling a bird feeder with seed and watching to see who shows up. Have them collect things they find interesting then set out paper and colored pencils and let them sketch what they found. Pull out a field guide and try to identify flowers or trees or birds. As they get older, pick a hike that everyone can do and repeat it regularly. The photo at the top of this post and the one here is from our favorite hiking spot. My kids are big now, but we still think of this spot as one of our special places and like to go. We even took our family portrait up there one year.

Carole Joy Seid has inspiring advice that can help me know if we’ve been spending enough time in nature:

“If your kids aren’t dirty enough at the end of the day to need a bath, then they haven’t spend enough time outside.”

They don’t have to get THIS dirty, but if they do, it will be a fun memory!

How do YOU like to enjoy nature?

Getting Organized in the New Year - Teaching your Kids how to Never Need Marie Kondo to come Rescue Them

Have you watched it yet? Like so many, I’ve been enjoying the Marie Kondo Netflix series on Tidying Up. I never read the book, but the show about families who desperately need help getting organized in their homes has been inspiring and instructive. My 13 year old daughter has been watching it too and she recently commented that it surprised her how the people featured on the show seemed unable to manage their homes before meeting and being trained by Marie Kondo. It was one of those revelations kids have when they see that not everyone has had the same experiences in life that they have.

Since my kids were little, they have been doing chores. I made managing our home a team effort, delegating age appropriate tasks to the children over the years. It was my way of surviving with 5 children but it had so many benefits that I could not have imagined. They learned simple tasks like making their bed, dusting, vacuuming, wiping down the bathroom counter, cleaning windows (the Windex spray bottle was always fun!) and picking up their toys. We mostly tidied up together and I would throw the windows open to the fresh air and play music to make it joyful and fun.

Every once in a while we would tackle bigger tasks together. I taught them how to clean out their drawers, passing down clothes they had outgrown to the next child or putting them into the “grow into” box in the garage. Whenever they asked for new clothes, I asked them to first go check their drawers to see if they REALLY did need more.

My daughter’s drawer after a clean out - when she goes through her clothes, she sees all that she already owns and can share with someone else the items she no longer needs.

About once a year, we would all empty the garage onto the driveway and take an afternoon to purge the excess then organize it again into a functional storage space.

When we clean out a really full space, we start by emptying it of everything that will need to be addressed. If it’s not a shelving unit or a large item that is staying for sure, it comes out. It’s so much easier to make decisions as you put things back in the space than to stand in the middle of a mess and wonder where to start.

Doesn’t this look like a Marie Kondo inspired effort? These guys have done this over and over again throughout their childhood - about 3 Saturday mornings a year some big household task is tackled whether is gardening, cleaning the garage, or decluttering their bedrooms. We do it together because we all live here.

Now, don’t misunderstand me - our efforts never approach Martha Stewart perfection and I’m not as good at cleaning as I am at tidying up, but those team efforts at simplifying our home and giving away what we did not need created some helpful habits in my children which will serve them in the long run.

What’s your situation with clutter and household organization? Do your kids have experience cleaning out a drawer or a garage? Have they learned Marie Kondo’s method of asking if an item “sparks joy” for them or not? Do they know that they can thank an item for being part of their life before letting it go? (I love that one!)

I found this video a few days ago and it made me smile. It’s not exactly the same method Marie teaches, but it’s another good way of deciding what to keep and what to let go. Ask of each item, “Is it useful? Is it beautiful? Do I love it?” If the answer is “No” to all three, let it go.

You can make up your own questions to help yourself or your children sort through and make decisions about what they will keep. A friend of mine posted on Instagram about having her boys ask of their toys, “Is it boring?” That question was more helpful and understandable to them than “Does it spark joy?”

I’m grateful that I needed to find help within my own household. If I had been granted my wish of being able to hire a cleaning crew or gardener regularly my children would have missed the opportunity to learn a life skill. The blessing was in the midst of the challenge.

Several years ago I created a strategy I call “The 22 Skidoo.” It’s our way of doing a quick bit of tidying. If your kids are just learning to pick up the house, try this simple, short exercise. Whenever the house is cluttered, announce, “It’s time for a 22 Skidoo, everyone!” Each person - the young and the old - must pick up 22 items and put them away where they belong. It’s amazing what a quick team effort can accomplish!

I’d love to know what you do in your home to tidy up. Have you taught your children some of these skills?

How to make a Christmastime Birthday Special

My daughter was born on December 28 - right between holidays and in the middle of the week when most people are absolutely exhausted and tired of the hustle-bustle and socializing. I wasn't sure how to celebrate that first year - how could we make her birthday feel set apart and special?

I received a gift that December - the gift of a great idea - and it’s given us a creative way to slip into birthday mode in the midst of the holidays.

It’s the Birthday Tree.

On Abby’s birthday each year, I take the Christmas ornaments off the tree and transform it into the Birthday Tree. The first few years I bought new ribbon and shimmering balls in the theme colors.

On her first birthday, the theme was Angels:

I found ribbon in soft pastels with hints of golden glitter. Guests brought an angel ornament and I added in the ornaments we already had that referenced angels. I love this picture because the painting in the background was me, painted by my grandmother but it looked so much like Abby - she thought it was her for years!

Vintage angel cake toppers, wooden angels from our whirligig, angel tree ornaments and mercury glass candles surround the homemade carrot cake.

Birthday #2 was a vintage 1940’s theme. I chose ribbon in patterns and colors that referenced our favorite children's books from that era.

Birthday #3 was the Princess Birthday and Abby was ready to help decorate her tree - so much fun!!

Birthday #4 was a polka dot theme - all the ribbons were spotted and wrapping paper too! On this birthday, I decorated with old photos of the birthday girl.

Another year, the theme was ballet to match her passion for dance and the kids were all old enough to help make a Bûche de Noël for her.

As Abby got older, we reused some of these original ribbons, mixing them and hanging what felt right that year. We decorated with the ornaments she had received each year. Some years there was more of a theme than others. As I look back, there are a few years when we didn't make much of the birthday tree and there are no photos.

One year, when life circumstances had made the holidays particularly painful for me, I took the Christmas tree and decorations down right after Christmas (I needed it to be over) and made the Birthday Tree out of a large branch from our yard. It felt like a fresh start to a new year as well as a special “tree” for my girl.

When my kids were babies, I made up little songs for them. Abby’s was sung to the tune of Hark the Herald Angels Sing perhaps because she came at Christmastime. I’ll never forget the look on her face at the age of 3 when we were sitting in church and she heard the entire congregation singing “her song”. There is joy to be found in the imperfect and having a birthday at the holidays is one of those lovely limitations that inspires creativity.

I’m not sure yet what this year’s theme will be - perhaps Hygge, since my girl is now 13 and loves that style. Looks like I’ll be shopping the after Christmas sales to find little wooden ornaments and creamy neutral textures.

Do you have a family birthday during the holidays? What has your family done to make it feel special?

Homemade Advent Calendars

Happy December 1st!! Can you believe it’s here already?? We put our tree up last night - the earliest date ever for our family and I’m loving it! I’m ready for the music, the cookie-making, the Advent season at church, and that joyful energy of anticipation and celebration.

Today I’m sharing a sweet tradition - making homemade paper Advent calendars.

Years ago, I found a cardstock template with the little windows already cut out but that product hasn’t been available for awhile, so my kids have been making their own. Here’s how we do it…

1) Use the back of an old advent calendar as a template, tracing the little window openings.

2) Using an exacto knife and a self-healing mat, carefully cut along the lines, leaving one side still attached.

3) Turn the page over so the pencil lines won’t show.

4) Use high quality colored pencils to create a design that covers the entire front of the paper. Christmas books, cards or magazines can inspire the design as well as favorite things like sports teams or pets.

This one tells the Christmas story…

This one reveals what was top of mind for my 10 year old boy one year…

5) Number your windows.

6) Place a matching - sized sheet of paper underneath and trace the shape of the windows onto it.

7) Decorate the bottom page so little images or words fill the places the windows will reveal when opened.

8) Use a permanent glue stick to seal the two pages together.

9) Hang your Advent calendar and open the numbered windows for December 1-25.

Here’s Abby’s for this Christmas.

Have FUN and take JOY, friends!! Let me see what your kids make - in the comments here or on Instagram Merry Christmas!!

Mitten Strings Mindset

One of the most influential books in all my parenting life has been “Mitten Strings for God” by Katrina Kenison. The tagline is “Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry” and those bits of wisdom, shared so beautifully, were exactly what I needed as a young mother of 5 when I first read it years ago. With chapter titles like, “Peace”, “Dailiness” and “Simplicity”, Katrina’s experience spoke straight to my heart with understanding about what I faced but also encouragement to be more mindful about my choices as a parent. I’m forever grateful for that guidance from a mom who had gone before me.

And so, as I seek to connect with and encourage young moms, I must share this book. At the time of this post, we are entering the holiday season. I can’t imagine a better time to lock arms as mothers and think about the choices we are making for our children. How we are spending our time and our money? What really is most important? How can we enjoy these years and find true JOY in them?

I would LOVE for you to JOIN ME for the next 30 days and, whether you just listen in or jump into the conversation, I hope that Katrina’s words and my interpretation of them speaks to your heart and encourages you! Watch the brief welcome video below and consider following along.

It’s so simple to participate in my book study - Just sign up HERE and you’ll get a daily email with the video of the day - a short 5-7 minutes of me sharing my favorite tidbits from the book, chapter by chapter. You will have access to all the videos as long as the course is on my site along with a place to comment, connect, ask questions and gain encouragement. It’s completely FREE.

You don’t need to purchase the book to participate but there is so much goodness in it that I cannot cover in our short videos, it would be a great addition to your parenting library if your budget allows. (Yes, the link to the right is an affiliate link which I hope will eventually help me continue to create fun things for moms.)

I wish for you much JOY as you love and connect with the children in your life.

Warmly,

Jill

Mitten Strings for God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry

By Katrina Kenison