Hip Homeschool Moms. A Vibrant Community for Homeschooling Families.
We all spend our lives searching, searching, searching. We fall in love with noble quests in stories and great adventures in movies and epic accounts in history. All just magnificent synonyms for searching. I spent almost thirty years searching, mostly in all the wrong places. For love. Then for about ten years, assuming the effort…
What may seem trivial to me is anything but trivial to my little ones. I wrongly mistook encouraging independence with rushing through bedtime routines. And in the rushing, an important connection was lost. Over years, the relationship wavered. For the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world. ~William Ross Wallace…
Do you ever feel your family struggles to find enough space for screen-free family time? Maybe you battle to tame the techno tyrants within your home. I know I can relate to this struggle. There are times when I see my entire family engaged in a screen rather than being connected with one another. It…
We have four kids. In the house. With me. Every day. Of course they don’t each have a personality that meshes well with mine or with each other. Every day (sometimes every moment) is a challenge. I’m raising leaders, not followers. But the catch is that I do want them to follow my directions. It’s a delicate…
I have 4 little boys, 3 of whom are addicted to all things Minecraft, iPad, and computers. The boys enjoy their games just like I enjoy checking Facebook and scouring Etsy. So, I do not have a huge problem with technology in our home. However, the whining about when they can play and how long…
Recently I read of a novel gift to give your kids. The suggestion was to open up an email account for your child when he or she is born. Then, every so often, email your child little letters, photos, memories of special occasions and so on. On his or her 18th birthday, give him/her the…
Sometimes we learn hard lessons. It’s difficult to let our children learn from the consequences of their actions, but those are often the best remembered lessons our children will learn! Below is a lesson you can read with your children in order to begin a discussion about learning from consequences and superficial behavior. I hope…
When love came unexpected – softly – like a hurricane, we hardly had time to pack a suitcase, much less prepare! Our story of adoption is different than most. We had not planned to adopt. Our first son was a honeymoon baby. Boy number two came a few years later. Our life was progressing as…
When I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in 2000, I came face-to-face with my own mortality—and learned some profound lessons that transformed my view of reality. I would never sign up for my cancer experience, but neither would I trade away the treasures mined from it. Above all, I learned to live…
When my daughter came to me, all teared up and frustrated over a friendship issue, it took all my power to reign in my mama-bear instincts and just listen. At 11, on the brink of that roller-coaster of hormonal emotions, she needs stability and reason. She needs guidance and perspective. It occurred to me that…
About three years ago, we effectively eliminated television as we knew it from our home. No, we did not banish all electronic entertainment – not at all, actually – but we decided it was time to take control of the entertainment that entered our household and what we were exposing our children to. Rewind about…
If you’d like to love more and spend less this Valentine’s Day, this offer can help you do that! All parents want their children to be happy and healthy and to know how to handle stress and deal with it in a constructive way. In fact, we parents often need to learn to better handle…
