Hip Homeschool Moms. A Vibrant Community for Homeschooling Families.
As August and a new school year quickly approach, I find myself gazing longingly at the school supply aisle. The pencils! The rulers! The planners with blank pages begging to be written in. It’s almost too much, and I almost always slip a few packs of glue sticks and washable markers into my cart. This…
I believe that having a flexible homeschool routine is the key to a much more relaxed and joyful homeschool. The culture of busyness we are living in is robbing us from fully enjoying our lives and our families. Two years ago I burned out… and then said goodbye to a busy and hurried homeschool schedule….
Dear Mom, I was an obstinate student. I gave you a lot of grief over just about everything. I cried over math. I resisted history, science, literature—pretty much everything related to school. All I wanted to do was play, draw, and read books that I picked out from the library. Somewhere along the way, I…
Dear Younger Me, Where have twenty-three years gone? When you set up your first school space in the spare bedroom, you had a vision for your children. You wanted them to finish homeschooling well, realizing the path for each learner may look different. You hoped they would be prepared to hold a job or be…
It really is true: The days are painfully long sometimes, but the years fly by faster than a sneaky toddler snatches a cookie from the counter. Here I stand 20 years after our choice to homeschool our oldest child was made, with three adult sons launched and loving life, two daughters still in high school…
From an early age my boys wanted to know how everything worked. If it could be taken apart and studied, they wanted to do just that. They asked hundreds of questions every day about everything they observed. They were constantly moving and constantly hungry. They took every available opportunity to test their boundaries. They had…
Dear Younger Me, I see you standing there… two months into your very first homeschool year–worn out and worn thin. While your friends are shopping or meeting for coffee, you are sounding out blended vowel sounds and adding single digits. You spend your mornings trying to keep the attention of a 5-year-old boy while keeping…
Dear Younger Me, There is something humbling about having the ability to look back on the life you’ve lived and saying, “Thank you, Lord.” Thank you for holding my hand when darkness was all around me. Thank you for carrying me when I couldn’t get up. Thank you for working all things out for my…
Hi Heidi. I see you have a lot on your “to do” list today: Breakfast. Defrost ground beef for something. Have kids start morning chores while I… nurse the baby. Have kids get schoolwork out while I… put baby down for morning nap. Read 1 chapter in world history. Label maps of Byzantine period….
Dear Younger Me, This letter is from the future. Emma is almost 18 years old when I’m writing to you (Jimmie 1.0 I call you). Emma is now a senior and already admitted to a huge university several states away. I know you would freak out if I told you some of the changes that…
As a homeschool mom, especially if you don’t consider yourself artistic, you may be wondering what’s the difference between fine arts and crafts. Aren’t they the same thing? The answer is no. They are indeed related and even overlap now and then. But the essence of fine arts is “a product which is appreciated primarily…
Teen entrepreneur, that’s what they called me. All of my 8 siblings would get that title or something like that by everyone who met my family. The questions poured onto my mom and dad… “Why are your kids so perfect?” “Are they all this hardworking?” “Are you all this creative?” “How do I get my…
