I think most of us have in mind a homeschool journey that is full of serene, orderly days when we first start out. We plan for smooth schedules and obedient, enthusiastic children. But, as we try to teach them, we keep running up against something. You ask your daughter to read a paragraph and she has a meltdown. Your son gives you an attitude when you explain another way to work out a math problem. Your kids start fighting over who's going to do which part of the science experiment. Or maybe you have lofty goals of your children becoming world changers, but you seem to be stuck in a never ending loop of correcting the same behaviors. If homeschooling isn't going to "fix them", then why bother? Too many moms give up on ... Read More...
Why It’s Not Your Job To Make Your Kids Happy
The other night, my family and I went out for dinner. In addition to the big screen televisions placed in various positions, my kids were distracted by a boy around 5 or 6 at the next table over who played games on his tablet the whole time. Last Sunday at church, there was an antsy toddler in the row across from ours. My husband went to find him a coloring book and crayons to keep occupied, and by the time he came back the little boy's parents had given him one of their iPhones. Technology is a big part of this next generation of kids we're raising. My children can't remember a time when there weren't smart phones or social media. And it can be a wonderful tool. Our nine-year-old has an iPad that he uses to create drawings, ... Read More...
How To Fit More Joy Into Your Motherhood
Out of all the adjectives my children could pick to describe me several years ago, I don't think "fun" would have been high on that list. "Stop running around and get ready for bed!" "Be careful. You're going to make a mess." "It's not time to fool around and play now. It's time to be calm." I've said all of these phrases at one time or another to my kids. Out of context, they are understandably normal things a mother would say to her children to redirect them to pay attention or begin a task they've been asked to do. However, in my haste to maintain order and discipline, I frequently ended up putting the kibosh on their joy. I believed that efficiency was the highest priority in my homemaking, so I became a multitasking ... Read More...
6 Myths Christian Moms Believe
So often there is a disconnect between the mom I am, and the mom I want to be. Or make that the mom I think I ought to be. A lot of times, I feel like Julia Roberts' character Isabel in the movie Stepmom. In the opening scene, Isabel is frantically trying to get her live-in boyfriend's two children ready for school. She struggles with making them breakfast, getting them dressed, and even finding the youngest child, who has hidden himself in one of the kitchen cabinets. She has a moment of panic when she realizes that she hasn't washed the daughter's shirt for Purple Shirt Day, and as she suggests that the girl just wear orange instead, she's met with eye rolling and obvious disdain. Then in the middle of all this chaos their ... Read More...
10 Bible Verses To Address Your Child’s Behaviors
My six-year-old daughter's behavior has been off the rails lately. Emotions too big for someone her size. An attitude and tone of voice too ugly for someone so beautiful. I used to be soft in the discipline department once upon a time, and this has allowed weeds to grow that now need to be pulled. One day I wised up, and became like Denzel Washington in Remember The Titans when he took over the team. Discipline is good and necessary, but discipline alone tends to focus only on changing external behavior. Obedience gets the job done, but the heart deals with how the job is done. One of the goals we have as parents is to change the wrong beliefs our children have in their hearts. These beliefs create tension in family and sibling ... Read More...
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