Home School Life

Well today is the day and I have officially done nothing to prepare. There’s no candy in the house. The kids’ dad got their costumes and they’ll be out with him tonight. This will be my first Halloween since having children that I can do whatever I want. I may actually stay home and give [...]

I. Love. Books. One of my favorite alone-time indulgences is to go to the bookstore, get a cup of coffee, browse the aisles and then walk out with new book under my arm. There is so much to love about books — the cozy feeling of snuggling up on the couch with a blanket, that [...]

Oh my, I forgot how much I love quilting! I love the colorful fabrics. I love sewing short little seams that make such a big difference. I love pressing seams open and finding a block that lays beautifully flat. There is a precision and exactness to it that soothes the soul in a way that [...]

Every morning The Girl and I go for a walk before beginning our school day. We walk to school, drop the boys off then continue on our way, taking the dog to the woods near our house. We only take about 15 minutes, but it is a ritual that just makes my morning. This morning [...]

Now that my loft is all cleaned out, I’m dying to get to the sewing machine. Lately everything I see is inspiration. I’d love to create some cool, transformed vintage clothing for my children. A little lace here, a few buttons there, even a dash of embroidery — voila, old clothes made even better than [...]

So I finally cleaned out the loft. I’m realizing that I am very lucky to have a space like this. It is a little area off my bedroom with folding shutter doors that close it off. It is open to the downstairs below and because of this it really does not work as a mini-bedroom [...]

It’s not often that I devote an entire weekend to indulgent crafting and home-making. But this October weekend is so rainy I can’t resist (even though my gutters are crying out to be cleaned.) 

Friday morning I suddenly got an impulse to bake bread. Laurel’s Kitchen is the foremost authority on bread baking and I’ve learned [...]

This week I’m finally feeling how different it is to not be consumed with teaching a class this year. All through my teaching years the hardest time of day for me was after 9 pm. After a long day of work and then coming home and doing the dinner/bath/bed routine I was always exhausted. But after my [...]

It’s funny what a couple of days in the kindergarten can do to a person. I’m finding myself yearning to live in a much more conscious way, with an awareness of how my every interaction with my children affects them and how the circumstances of my life affect those interactions. I will confess to not [...]

That really is my goal. Throughout my teaching years I felt that my life was so busy I couldn’t even think about it all. I could never say that my work was done. There was always something more to be doing. Towards the end of last year I couldn’t wait to graduate the class so [...]