10 Books That Changed My Life

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Not often can I say a book has changed my life. I love reading and over the years have read countless books on all sorts of subjects. When I was younger, I read mostly parenting books. 

I haven't read any of those in many years now. As I've grown older and more experienced at life, I've grown to like myself and not feel I need "experts" to tell me what to do. Most of those books only served to make me feel like I wasn't a good-enough parent anyway. And traveling from one expert's opinion to another only served to confuse me.

There were some books, however, that made a difference for me. In chronological order of life-changing effect are...

10 Playthings All My Kids Have Enjoyed

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I have five children ranging in age from 10 to 27. None of them have ever had an overabundance of toys. Actually, for the most part, they did not have store-bought toys. 

I've never seen the logic in expensive, breakable toys. Yes, they had their certain "things" along the way. Lee Anne loved Polly Pockets when she was young. My son collected POGS. Mostly, they've enjoyed traditional toys, the great outdoors and their imagination. Today I share with you...

10 Playthings All My Kids Have Enjoyed

The Face of Homeschooling: Interview with Kendra

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Welcome to the May 2013 edition of The Face of Homeschooling, where we help dispel the myths and stereotypes of homeschoolers through interviews with homeschool parents (and sometimes kids). 

This month, I'm interviewing Kendra Fletcher of Preschoolers and Peace. 

Q. Tell me a bit about why you decided to homeschool.
A. We began homeschooling in 1997, when our oldest child was just 4. I had no intention of homeschooling, but he was super precocious and already reading, both of which I felt were a recipe for disaster in a kindergarten classroom. I wanted to give him the best environment to learn in, and I knew having him home for a few years would be a good start.

Our Khaotic Weekend {Khaotic Kon 2013}

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In my life this week...

I have spent an inordinate amount of time planning. Planning blog posts. Planning projects. Just planning. I'm kind of over it at this point. This computer screen has become my frenemy. It helps earn an income but boy am I sick of staring at it!

But let's talk about something far more interesting: 

Khaotic Kon 2013! 

I don't know how many of you know anything about anime, manga, Jpop and such things, but Alexis is hyper-focused on this stuff. She has been for a long while. I've never been very into it (of course much of this stuff didn't exist when I was a kid). But last weekend I attended a con with the kids. I had a blast and so did they.

I don't always interact in social situations, but I watch people. What I saw that weekend impressed and fascinated me.

• Everyone was so sweet. I saw no snobbery, "cliques" or any other negativity. Everyone was genuinely kind to each other. 
• Alexis isn't alone in her hyper-interest in these things. I knew there were others interested in anime, J-pop, manga, etc. What I hadn't realized is that so many people were interested in all of the same things she is. Everyone there seemed to know everything about everything. 

Homeschool Bloggers: We Don't Have Perfect Lives

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For a long while, I've been tossing around ideas about homeschool blogging. Until recently, I always presented "the facts". Information, resources and sharing activities: Those were the basic menu options here at The Holistic Homeschooler. That recently changed when I wrote a couple of posts like this one, this one and finally this big one.

Each time, I was hesitant to post.
Each time, I was anxious while it was "out there".
Each time, I contemplated deleting the post.

I was uncomfortable because of some posts I read a year ago.

10 Things Charlotte Mason Homeschooling Has Taught Me About Myself

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One of the surprising things about being a home educator is how much we, the parents, learn. Perhaps we learn some new things while participating in studies with our children, but we learn so much more than that.

We learn lessons about homeschooling. We about our children. We learn about ourselves. Today, we're talking about the latter. Here are ... 

10 Things Charlotte Mason Homeschooling Has Taught Me About Myself

1. I love hiking and camping. I never did either as a kid. As a young mother in my 20s, I scoffed at the idea when my then husband suggested these things. What? Me? Tents and bears and snakes and dirt? Are you crazy?

Charlotte Mason's insistence that nature is a great teacher led me out of doors. Nature walks became hiking trips. Hiking trips became camping trips. 

As it turns out, I love doing both!