It's what God gave you time for...

I love the saying "I was a perfect mother...until I had my first child". Looking from the outside in it seems like such a simple task, wipe a few noses, bake a few cookies, read a few stories. If only it were that simple. The world as a whole does not value motherhood on a full time basis. The world says sure it's nice to have one or two children, but why should women waste their skills staying home doing nothing?

Mother's don't just read stories, they plant seeds of character and imagination. Mother's don't just sing lullabies, they instill memories of love and a sense of belonging into the heart of a child. Mother's don't just pray, they build a foundation of faith so the child knows what path to follow. Mother's don't just teach, they inspire the love of learning and the desire to make a difference in the world. Mother's don't just have babies, they raise future leaders of nations.

Beautiful messes

I appreciated the recent article from Upside Down Homeschooling on Embracing the Imperfect. Lest any mom's think homeschooling is easy, it isn't. 90% of the time it is a struggle to stay on task, keep focused and stay positive. I love a clean house as much as anyone (perhaps even more than most) but one only has so many hours in the day and every minute spent cleaning is a minute spent away from my children. My one and only new years' resolution was to relax and not stress about the messes. I did terrible the first few months- walking into a room with stuff on the floor was like nails on a chalkboard. Then I had a baby. I had no choice, I could either scream, hire a housekeeper, or just not care. I do still care, but I am learning to not let it stress me out or feel like a failure because of it. This is what our school room/office looks like right now:

And this is what we have to show for it...

Belgium: Brussels, Waterloo and Bastogne

Our next stop was Brussels, Belgium. We went inside the engineering marvel The Atomium. This unusual structure contains the fastest elevator in Europe, traveling at a rate of 5 meters per second. The highest ball has large glass windows you can look out and see the city. Not quite as fabulous as the Sears Tower (I refuse to call it Willis) but still pretty cool.

The Netherlands: Keukenhof Gardens & Kinderdijk

The main reason for our trip of course was to see the beautiful tulips, and we were not disappointed! The Keukenhof Gardens have the most magnificent flower display on earth. They get over 800,000 visitors during the eight weeks they are open. My sister and I visited several years ago but I didn't have kids then so I didn't realize all the fun things they had for kids here. The boys said it was almost as fun as Disney World!

The Netherlands: Amsterdam

Part one of our trip to the Netherlands and Belgium! First stop- Amsterdam. It took us about 7 hours to get there since we had to stop several times to feed baby. The boys did great as always and Olivia is a model traveler, I think she only cried once and it was because she needed a diaper change. Here is the beautiful side of Amsterdam...

Olivia, three months

We're spending this week in Holland seeing the tulips. I'll share some lovely photos next week, for now you can enjoy these chubby little cheeks!

Choosing a literature based homeschool curriculum

"I'm new to homeschooling (or thinking about homeschooling), how do I choose a curriculum?"

This is THE most common question I get asked about homeschooling, and the most difficult to answer. There are dozens of ways to homeschool, and I am no expert by any means, but I'd like to share how I decide what to teach my children.

Art Appreciation

My boys don't need a whole lot of encouragement when it comes to art, however I also want them to gain an appreciation for fine art from a young age. I was never taught to value fine art and I think pretty sure I'm not alone in this.

Common Core: what it means for YOUR children

I had heard bits and pieces about Common Core but honestly wasn't too interested in it since we homeschool. Then I kept hearing it come up in news articles and on blogs and realized it's something we ALL need to be concerned about whether we homeschool, send our kids to public school, have grandchildren, niece and nephews, etc. it's something we all need to learn and voice our opinion about.

What is Common Core?

As with any issue, there are always two sides. This issue is no different. As far as the supporters (those making money off it) are concerned it's simply a national curriculum designed to make sure everyone gets the same level of education. Sounds great right?

Let's dig a little deeper.

Our 2013-2014 Homeschool Curriculum and Free Homeschool Planner

*Updated planners are available here!

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Since I am trying to be better at following Charlotte Mason's ideas this year, we are using a lot more living books and very few "curriculum" type books. This may seem like a lot of books and in reality we will read way more books than I've listed here, however these are the primary books we will be using. 

This may seem like a lot, however we will be traveling all over Europe this next year. This fall we have a 3 week trip to Italy and Greece, a trip to the UK next spring and will possibly traveling to Scandinavia in the summer. Our primary focus will be to learn about the history and culture of the places we will be visiting and if we don't finish all our literature we will save them for next year. A few of these I'm going to get audio versions and listen to in the car while we travel. 

Up next, I'll share some ideas on how to choose a literature-based curriculum. I've also updated our Free Homeschool Planner for 2013-2014 to help you organize your ideas for this upcoming school year! I updated last year's version plus added a new design.

      

Free LDS Temple Pictures

If you haven't already seen my other website http://freeldstemplepictures.com, I offer free pictures of all the temples I have the opportunity to photograph.

And if you haven't visited in a while, please do, there have been a lot of additions lately. First, and most prominent, is the beautiful soundtrack provided by the talented songwriter Sara Baril. She is amazing, as are the singers on her upcoming album Thy Healing Hands. 

Some of my temple images will be featured in Sara's upcoming music video for her song "A Place to Heal". She would love to have a variety of temple images from around the world. If you or anyone you know has any professional quality photographs of temples in Canada, Asia or Central and South America, please email me a sample!

Gaining a Charlotte Mason perspective (and free printable quotes!)

I know blog posts are supposed to be short, sweet and to the point, but I have so much to say about two books I just read that I simply can't condense it any further than this. I hope you'll bear with me, and just for doing so I've created a few Charlotte Mason quotes you can print for free!

I’ve been contemplating for a while now the things I’d like to study with my boys this next school year.
This year has gone pretty well considering all the changes we have gone through from moving back to
Kentucky, having daddy come home, moving to Germany, living in a hotel for a month, finally getting a
house and settling in, sending my oldest to German school, etc… However I kept feeling like things were
not running as smoothly as I’d like. It was starting to become more of a chore than a joy and I knew I
needed to make some changes for this next year.

Paris Arc du Triomphe and Sacré Cœur

There are so many places in Paris to see incredible views. This is from the top of the Arc du Triomphe.

Paris Marathon, camping, and more

Where can a family of six stay in the city of Paris, make as much noise as they want and have fresh baguettes and croissants for breakfast?

Paris, Musée d'Orsay & Seine River Cruise

We spent the weekend in Paris for the marathon. We hadn't planned on going with my husband since we were just here a few months ago, but at the last minute we decided to join him. I'm so glad we did. I just can't get enough of this city!