raising rileys

a homeschool life conversation with brandi mcintosh

With some difficulty (not a morning person) I rise around 7 each morning and get started on breakfast. This morning Ellie surprised me with eggs ready. She's my early bird and frequently helps in this way, knowing how much it helps her morning zombie of a mama out. (Mamas of young children - easier days - they are coming)! By the time breakfast is ready, the younger kids are up and Gavin (15) joins us with a little help. ;) We've all agreed we prefer to get going somewhat early so that we can move through our day at an unhurried pace and have time for what matters.

a homeschool life conversation with maren jones

Hello! My name is Maren & I am the lucky wife of Dan Jones. We met on a blind date in high school & have been married for almost 18 years. We have 6 children: Averee 13.5, Adelyn 11.5, Owen 10, Reese 7, Gavin 4 & Fisher 3. We live in beautiful Southern Utah. We enjoy the outdoors; boating, camping, fishing, hiking, traveling, playing games, & watching movies. But nothing beats a date night, or even better-a vacation with just us two.

school lately

Homeschool is such a full experience. I attempted to express my feelings about it the other day to my husband as we drove. It's as though my love for my children has deepened and expanded through this experience. That's interesting because I didn't think that love could increase because it was so great--but it has.

grumpiness and a gorgeous autumn day

Ever have those mornings where there's a general aura of grumpiness going around? Maybe not in your home, but it occasionally happens in our home. I think it usually relates to one sort of stress or another when it comes from me or my husband, and when it comes from one of the kids, I can oftentimes correlate it to not enough sleep or some sort of little sickness (a cold or something) making it's way through our home. Either way, the reality is that sometimes grumpiness takes a bit of a hold on us.

exhausted yet fulfilled

By about 1:30 today I was feeling pretty exhausted. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been working on a lot of things trying to get caught up and doing my best to put my full energy and heart into our homeschool (along with all the other regular life stuff). I think we're doing pretty well, but boy, it's no small effort! That's why at around 1:30 I was scooting the boys out the door so they could play a while and run around in the backyard while I could sit down and take a break for a few minutes!

on humility & time management

It’s Monday, and the school year is fast approaching. I am excited for it! Last school year when Matthew was four, I viewed it as my ‘preparation year’ for homeschooling. The year I’d take to develop the self-discipline to homeschool and to figure out how to weave it into our family’s busy life and to try out some different teaching techniques. It was a wonderful year and agreat learning experience for me. I feel so drawn to homeschool for our children, for our family—but along with many other moms, I’ve asked myself, “but how?? How can I find the time in my already busy life to do this?” Here are a couple of things that are helping me. I hope that maybe they are helpful you too.