After 14 years of teaching our children at home, I’m done….I think. After all of the hours I have spent counseling other parents on how to fix their homeschool problems, I know enough to know that there isn’t one here. I’m not hanging up my hat because I’ve finally found that one child I can’t teach, or because of burnout or fatigue. I just no longer feel called to do this any more. Which is a weird thing to say... Read more

This is not the parish I went to on Sunday. It’s just a picture from the internet. Don’t write me about how this is your church and you don’t have sound system issues and your parish is beautiful. It is. I just needed a picture of a modern church interior. This Sunday, I went to Mass at the “other” parish in town. It’s smaller, and less pretty than our usual church, the priest is not a great speaker, and the... Read more

Imagine that there is a child you love. A child born not from your body, but in your heart. A boy you have loved and raised since he was 6 months old, and now he’s 5 years old. Then imagine that as much as he is your child in fact, he is not in law….and you can’t afford to do anything to change that. That’s the situation of one of the moms I know from WCMX. (Wheelchair Motocross.) We huddle together on... Read more

My life often seems to be a dizzying blur of activity – homeschooling, mothering, housekeeping, writing, blogging, radio show, CrossFit coaching, speaking, plus the rest of life. It’s a swirl of activity that makes my ADD brain happy and tends to keep me out of trouble. Then came this week’s trip to Portland, OR to record a new round of shows, only to come home and discover that many of the activities which make up my life seem to be wrapping... Read more

Friends of ours are being sued for allowing their children to play outside. Yes, that’s a thing. It all began with a play house. This play house.   Here’s the back story: The Counts family built this playhouse on their side patio after receiving permission from the HOA. The neighbors went to the HOA meeting and complained that it blocked the view for them and their dogs. (Available in the HOA meeting minutes.) Mrs Counts went outside and looked and... Read more

  Every few years in homeschooling circles, people seem to grasp onto one book or another and it becomes the thing to do to sing its praises. Fourteen years ago, when I started the homeschooling adventure, it was Peter Rabbit and all things Beatrix Potter. Moms gushed about tea partied in their gardens and how they were bringing this beloved classic to life. These days the fad seems to be the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Moms everywhere... Read more

Five years ago today, I wrote a post about my frustration over the portrayal of boys in movies, books, and video games. We have, I lamented, created a society where girls are witty, brave, and smart; and the boys are the comic relief or the happenstance hero. Where teen and pre-teen female characters take charge and lead through knowledge and cleverness, their male counterparts charge blindly forward relying on the female brain to keep him/them from harm. (Think Hermione in Harry... Read more

If last year ended with a scream of frustration, 2015 is ending with a sigh somewhere between contentment and fatigue. In many ways, this year was the exact opposite of the last. There were no furious scramblings for answers or a diagnosis. Our only battle was with the insurance company for wheels for a wheelchair, and that dragon was handily slayed with the help of social media. This has been a year of settling into the lives we have now... Read more

On Christmas Day, amidst the packages and the baking, the playing and the eating, I found myself thinking again and again of that first Christmas morning so long ago. It was such a simple scene by Christmas Day. The baby had been born, and the shepherds were back in their fields. There was nothing for Mary to do but admire what she and God had created, that perfect little boy. I once read Mary described as the Seat of Wisdom and... Read more