Back in 2005, I got into real estate. Big breath.
As I was joining the ranks of real estate agents, a friend told me, “Get into real estate and get right back out. The bubble is about to burst.” He was right, though it took him three years to be right. Continue reading
This spring, I started three paperback books written by Grace Fox, a Christian author, speaker, coach and global worker: Tuck-Me-In Talks with Your Little Ones, 10-Minute Time Outs for You and Your Kids, and 10-Minute Time Outs for Moms. I started reading each one because I use them on different occasions – two with my children, one on my own.
I don’t want to wait to finish them all before I share these great resources with you. In no particular order… Continue reading
One of the objections people have to homeschooling is that they do not feel qualified to teach every subject or any subject at all. I understand. I had to wrestle with that issue and here’s what I came up with. Continue reading
“I don’t feel like doing math right now.” Has your child said that to you? Probably, in the beginning of your homeschool career, when the child was all new to the experience of homeschooling.
Surely, since then, your child has learned that we do our school work first, regardless of our feelings, and then we get to do what we feel like doing, within reason. If not, you have a long homeschooling life ahead. Continue reading
The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila is the latest addition to my cookbook collection. It’s a great book to read – it contains lots of stories from Alana’s life in the kitchen and around the house, besides the recipes. Alana says she is of Jewish descent, but her name sure sounds Romanian. She blogs at Eating From the Ground Up.
As a homeschooling mom, I really enjoy taking care of my children and providing the best educational experiences for them – including cooking experiments. Continue reading
God is in the business of answering our prayers – even those we don’t have enough faith to pray. As I hosted the latest Raising Multilingual Children blog carnival, I felt pricked in my heart about French like never before. In our homeschool, I do read to my children in French and talk to them in French now and then, but it’s not enough.
They need conversation, preferably with small people like them. Immersion. I started dreaming about a French play group. If only there were francophone children in East Tennessee…
Wait a minute! What if? What if I could bring together a small group of homeschoolers and I taught them French as they played?
I went from “if only…” to “what if?” in a matter of days.
“If this is from You, Lord, please lead me to start a French play group. I don’t know how, where, when or with whom. I feel this calling. I will take it one step at a time and watch for Your guidance.”
I did not exactly say those words, but that was the spirit of my unspoken request.
I felt called and I took the first step. I made an announcement on our homeschool support group’s page on Facebook, asking if there was any interest in a French play group.
The first reply came from a French lady who lived 30 minutes away and had a son about my son’s age… We even had five mutual Facebook friends and had lived in this area for about the same time (nine years). What are the odds?
She was thrilled to have a French play group getting started. I was thrilled to find her.
Had I not asked, I would have never known. As I told my husband, he said, “Ask and ye shall receive…” Continue reading
First, an explanation: OPCs = Other People’s Children. Before deciding to homeschool, I thought I would go teach other people’s children for a living while my own are in their respective classrooms. I never followed through with that plan because I felt short-changed.
How could I be away from my children for seven hours a day? How could I step aside and allow another person to see the sparkle of “now I get it” in their eyes? Homeschooling became the only solution my heart could accept.
It’s one thing to leave your school-age children behind for the day. It’s another thing altogether to leave your baby behind. Thankfully, I did not have to do either.
Now, let’s take it to another level. If you have five minutes, grab a box of tissues and watch this clip from Paris je t’aime.
You don’t need to speak French to understand what is going on. There’s not much dialogue. Continue reading