Homestead Schoolhouse

 To me, Christmas truly is a season and not just a holiday for one day.  Once I became a mom, I wanted Christmas Day to be spent at home with my children instead of running around from house to house.  Within two years of becoming a mom, and after having two children, I got my wish.  Unfortunately, it was due to the deaths of some precious family members, which we all know, can change the trajectory of how things begin to play out within a family.  Still, although I miss them all very much, I would not change what we do.  I love being home with my children on Christmas Day, grazing on "finger foods," watching Christmas movies, and playing with their new toys or trying on new clothes.  Leading up to Christmas Day, however, is when we really make the most memories.  Many years ago, I started to do "The 12 Days of Christmas" activities with my children as part of our celebration.  I would purchase small gifts and put them in their stocking and e...

 A couple of weeks ago, I was working in the garden and noticed a firefly (or lightning bug if you prefer).  It was the first one I had seen of the season, and I couldn't wait to go tell Ean.  He loves to catch them and put them in a jar, or whatever we can find.  We usually try to build an entire habitat to make sure the firefly has food and even water, and sometimes, we catch multiples so they don't get lonely.  Catching fireflies as a child is a good memory for me.  Not all of my childhood memories are good ones.  Is anyone's?  In fact, a lot of my childhood memories aren't great.  Or the ones I can actually remember anyway.  I have vague memories of some things that were unpleasant, but fortunately, the memory often works in my favor.  I just can't always remember the bad stuff. Fireflies though, I remember.  I remember being at Grandma and Grandpa's and catching them in the yard on warm summer nights.  Sometimes, we'd...

    I believe it was Nike that used the motto "Just Do It!"  I recently thought about it when I was listening to a podcast about getting things done.  The guest on the show stated that the longer you wait to do something, the more likely you are to talk yourself out of it, and that you'll never be more ready than you are today.  I think it's good advice, at least for someone like me.  I like to research and learn, but at some point, even if you don't feel ready, I think it's best to just get to work.       I waited for two years to approach leaving my job to be home full time, and once I made the decision, it was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.  Again, I felt a huge relief once I told everyone at work what my plans were, and no one threw stones at me, but instead congratulated me.  Wait, what?       It happened when I was planning to homeschool as well. I read and researched for two years, bu...

     During my elementary years, I grew up living with my grandparents, who were homesteaders.  At the time, the word "homestead" was not one I was familiar with, although it was a very old word.  Instead, I would say that we lived on a small farm, which was also true.        We raised cattle that would later end up on our table.  We bought hogs from another farm that we'd have slaughtered.  I distinctly remember helping my grandpa make homemade sausage using a hand meat grinder in the basement of our home.  We raised rows and rows of strawberries that my grandparents would sell, and I was happy to help them pick quart after quart to be sold.  And I was paid for my efforts!       I remember a very large garden and breaking beans on the front porch.  I also remember picking tomatoes off the vine and eating them just like I would an apple.  Speaking of apples, my grandpa also had an impress...

     Five years ago, things got strange for my oldest daughter as she attended school.  Suddenly, my child who had always loved learning and enjoyed school, was focused on things that had nothing to do with learning.  She was instead becoming increasingly uninterested in attending school, and building up anxieties.  It would be a while before I learned that she was being relentlessly bullied by another student.       I always knew it could happen.  After all, I had been teaching for many years at that point and had seen things like this over and over again.  But it's different when it happens to your own child.  That isn't to say that I never took it seriously before.  I did.  I always wanted what was best for my students and did what I could to help them.  This time, however, it became personal, in a more flesh-and-blood way.  I began to understand what some of those parents before had tried to get me ...