Motherhood Archives - Page 10 of 10

In the Thick of It

I have some great posts that I want to write but my time is not my own these days. Currently my little ones are watching a show so I can type this out really quick and then head to my sewing machine to get some stuff ready for a trade fair that I’m attending this weekend. My house is in disarray, I have frozen lasagna for supper (and that’s the best supper my family has had in the last while!) and I feel like I’m running on fumes. Coffee fumes that is.

Quick update: The farm renovations are nearing completion. Another couple weeks and (Lord willing!) the barn will be ready to go. Which means that I have some more packing to do. God is really showing us His hand in things and, though His ways are hard to understand, I try to remember that He is in control and will take care of His children.

Bought a 20 book set about science and C and I started reading them as soon as they were out of the car. He is learning new words and absolutely loving the books. mama cat nursing her kittens

Both boys are enthralled with the new kittens in the barn and are learning to be gentle with them. They are the first tame kittens we have had in quite a few years. Their mama is tame but usually she hides her kittens so we can’t tame them. I think that God knew we needed some soft, snuggly kittens in our lives right now.

Motherwort is being tinctured right now, echinacea wil be tinctured in the next couple of days, and herbal teas and vitamins are ordered. Hoping we’ll be able to make it through cold & flu season without any chemical drugs.

Care to share any of your favorite cold & flu remedies? I’d love to add some more natural methods to my arsenal!

Help for Postpartum Depression

by Tessa | Motherhood, Personal Development

I have been battling with depression for a long time. I know for sure that I was depressed at about 15 and it has been a thorn in my side ever since. Sometimes I’m winning the battle and other times I need to be reminded that the battle isn’t my own.

After a nasty bout of post partum depression last year, I wanted to share some words with those who are currently in the thick of it. I know that I have a number of friends who are there right now so this is for you:

Dear Friend,

I want you to know that you’re in my prayers. You always are (in case you didn’t know) but particularily at this moment about the emotional roller coaster that is your life right now. One thing that I used as a reminder of the light at the end of the tunnel was putting a few Bible verses on index cards and putting them in my chore card box so I could read them every day (or at least every day that I remembered to open my box!). Even if I didn’t do the chore cards, I felt better just reading my verses out loud. Here are the ones that I found regular strength and comfort in:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Psalm 32:8

Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always. Remember the wonders He has done, His miracles, and the judgements He pronounced. 1 Chronicles 16:11-12

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26

So do not fear, for I am with you; Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous hand. Isaiah 41:10

No matter how bad I felt, whether it was last year with my PPD or the worst year of my depression 8 years ago, I always had that Light at the end of the tunnel. The promise that this valley would end. And it will. You’re not going to just “snap out of it” and you’re not going to find a miracle cure (though if you do then you have to share with me!!!!) but you will slowly build things up again. One step at a time. Until you get to the point that you can look back and realize that it’s been a while since you had a bad day, your only goal is to survive. Like that popular poem says, “rock your babies, because babies don’t keep.”

You are a fabulous mother and your children know how much you love them. They will never forget that no matter how out of control you may feel. Breathe in, breathe out. And cry if you need to. And always remember that there is a Light. Let me know if you need help finding Him!

Love always from your friend who has been there and survived.

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Is Homeschooling Right for Your Family?

by Tessa | Motherhood

Have you thought about homeschooling but are still trying to figure out if homeschooling is right for your family? I came across a website that made me think about my reasons for wanting to homeschool and actually put them on paper. This was an awesome exercise for me to go through because not only did it make me evaluate my reasoning (part of it is because I just can’t stand the thought of sending my children away from me for 8-9 hours a day) and expand on that, it was also good for my husband to see what some of the reasons were. He was initially a little more skeptical of homeschool but fast forward a few years and he has turned into a homeschooling advocate. This is a great exercise to go through if you have ever wonder is homeschooling right for your family.

Here are the thoughts that I put on paper as I followed the outline on the aforementioned website:

Our Educational Beliefs

1. We believe children should love learning.
2. We believe a parent’s main goal for a child is to teach him/her to:
a) Love God wholeheartedly
b) Love others as they love themselves
c) Love him/herself (confidence/self-esteem)
3. We believe all children learn by different methods and learning should be tailored to suit the child (not vice versa)
4. We believe children are naturally curious and should not be discouraged from pursing those interests.
5. We believe education should not be restricted to a certain subject or method.
6. We believe a parent/teacher should only ever have enthusiasm about a child learning, not disappointment over what they haven’t learned.
7. We believe that if we work on our weaknesses, we end up with strong weaknesses and weak strengths. Instead we should focus on improving our strengths.

Life Goals for Our Children

1. We hope he learns to listen to his Heavenly Father in all things.
2. We hope he shows commitment to what he starts and is a man of his words.
3. We hope he becomes a wonderful, loving, involved husband and father (if God leads him that way).
4. We hope he does everything to his best ability.
5. A man of impeccable morals and ethics, We hope he always does the right thing, no matter what others do.
6. We hope he takes care of the mind and body God has given him.
7. We hope he is not afraid to be who God made him to be. Not ashamed of who he is.

Why we are going to home educate our children:

1. No one has a better vested interest in their education than we do.
2. To give us flexibility of time to pursue life instead of grades.
3. To stay close to our children – emotionally, mentally, and physically.
4. To take the money we could spend on school and use it for education instead.
5. To be the favorite and respected teacher that they think about when they grow up.
6. Because we want my kids to learn in a way they enjoy.
7. Because kids learn better/more if they are not restricted by grades/curriculum.
8. Because we will not allow anyone to make my child feel stupid or inferior.
9. So our children will learn with, intereact with, and appreciate children in all age groups.
10. So we can learn right alongside our children.
11. Our school systems do not recognize the uniqueness of our children and their specific needs/interests.
12. To know what our children are learning.

I highly recommend that all parents fill out the first two parts of the activity. Then take a step back and figure out if the conventional school system will be able to meet those goals. If so, then you know what to do. If not, perhaps it is time to look at an alternative for your child’s future.

So how did you answer the question of is homeschooling right for your family?

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Amatuer Bird Watcher

by Tessa | Motherhood

C has, since he was quite young, had a special place in his heart for birds. I remember when he first learned to sign it: We would be sitting at the table and he would point out the window and sign “bird.” Adam and I couldn’t see any so we just said, “yes, birds live outside.” After a couple of weeks of him regularly insisting that there were birds out that window I finally decided to take him to that side of the house to see his reaction. It turns out there was a bird nest right above our window. You couldn’t see the nest from inside but C must have seen the birds flying in and out of it when Adam and I weren’t looking.

He was about two when we splurged and bought him a “Birds of Alberta” book. He flipped through it pretty regularly for a while but then it got put in the jumble of books on the shelf.

The birds have recently returned from their soiree in the south. And the bird book has reappeared. My father purchased a set of small binoculars so C can now officially go birdwatching. It is incredible how much he know about specific species and how many he can identify! For a while we would read about a bird (or two, or six) every day. Now he brings the book a couple times a week to learn (or relearn) about one bird at a time.

I believe that this is unschooling at it’s finest. Provide the opportunity, and children will get curious. Learning without pressure or prejudice. All I need to do is encourage him. And learn about birds alongside my son.

Random bird fact: Did you know that a house swallow waits until other birds build a next and then swoops in a takes it from them? (C doesn’t think that is very nice.)

Curriculum or Not?

by Tessa | Motherhood

My son is heading into that age that people will start asking about schooling choices. I was asked last year if we were planning to send Caleb to preschool. I said that we weren’t because he could play just as well at home or at a friend’s house. The response, “Well I guess he can just go to kindergarten in a year or two.” This was from someone who knows (or should know after being told multiple times) that we are going to homeschool our children.

This conversation has popped into my mind a few times over the last few months as Caleb has recently turned four and therefore he is technically eligible to be enrolled in kindergarten in a year. Which isn’t going to happen of course but our intentions will become a lot more apparent and concrete when the actual time comes to not enroll him. This means we will have a lot more explaining to do and questions to answer about our choices.

I don’t plan to write at this point about how we came to the conclusion that we feel like we should educate our children at home, or even our goals for our childrens’ education. What I want to talk about is the “how.”

I have been sitting on the couch the last few days with a sick baby (or toddler as I suppose he is technically called now). We have basically sat on the couch snuggling and nursing. It is times like these that I’m glad I have a laptop! I have been reading reviews after review on homeschooling curricula. There are some really amazing programs out there and I wish I could try them all. I learned about all the different methods and I just know that it will be a lot of fun. I may be a bit of a nerd because I wish I could do them all just to expand my own knowledge base. I get excited abut trying to figure out which one we should buy.

Then I look at my oldest son.

He loves to snuggle up on my lap with a story. He loves to play outside. He loves to help his daddy work on the farm. He loves to play games or do anything that involves interacting with people. He does not typically enjoy sitting at a table with crayons or a pencil. He only occasionally enjoys doing something “crafty” like playdough or cutting or stickers. After adding my son’s personality into the picture, I couldn’t find one single curriculum or plan that suits him.

I also evaluated the educational beliefs and practices that I apply to myself.

I am interested in birth and breastfeeding. A couple years ago I read about 10-15 different books (textbooks and other reference books) an numerous online and magazine articles on these two topics alone. As I studied and educated myself on these two topics I also learned about attachment parenting; the family bed; the science/biology/chemistry of a woman’s body during pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and mothering; the history of those topics and how it affects us today; and the way that other culture currently and historically birth and raise children. I did a “unit study” on those topics by reading “living books” and taking a lot of notes that I sometimes formed into essays/letters about what I had learned. In short: I “unschooled” myself. I had an interest in something and wanted to apply it to my life so I sought out the answers.

If unschooling works for me, why would I deny my child the opportunity to learn for himself by attempting to teach him things that don’t matter and don’t apply? He will learn about what interests him when he is ready to learn it. At that point I can encourage and assist him in figuring out how to learn it. My only goal as his mother and teacher at this point is to direct him to the Lord. Everything comes back to God. If he knows and trusts the Lord, what more does he truly need?

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own”
The only “curriculum” we are going to make a point to study is the Bible. Seek the Lord and He will lead. And we are not going to worry about how our sons will learn how to live in His world because they will learn all they need by simply living in His world.

Though I’m a nerd and I need to admit something. I think I am going to buy a curriculum for Adam and myself to go through. He has actually agreed! It is one that is based on the Word and teaches you how to use the Bible as the basis for all your studies. Adam and I are looking forward to reading about history and science in a way that we have never seen it approached before. Going to pray about it a bit more to make sure that the purchase is led by God and not my own excitement.

Disclaimer: I understand that unschooling (or even homeschooling for that matter) is not for everyone. I do not judge you for choosing to do what you feel is best for your family so please don’t judge/criticize me for doing what I feel is best for my family. The most important thing is to follow God’s leading.

Where is God leading you? What do you feel is the best education solution for your family and why?