I remember the first Valentine’s Day after losing my brother to suicide (a story I'll share another time). The kids and I were making heart-shaped sugar cookies and one of them broke into pieces. I remember feeling like that cookie; broken beyond repair.

It was hard for me to be a wife and mom during that time. I just wanted to curl up in a ball. I felt guilty, angry, anxious and incredibly sad. My feelings were choking the life out of me, and without me even realizing it or meaning to, they were choking the life out of my little family too.

For good or otherwise, mothers set the tone in the home. One of our most important jobs is for us to build connections and form deep relationships with our kids. But how can we do this feeling hollow and empty inside? A broken heart makes filling into others so difficult.

I know I’m not the only mama who has felt herself drowning in feelings at one time or another, so today I thought we could have a heart-to-heart about finding...

~ By Joey

Trust is not as simple as it seems. At least not for men. And maybe especially not right now with a virus turning our world upside down and making jobs and income uncertain. We are men after all, our role is to provide, to protect… How do we provide for our families when our jobs are uncertain or maybe already lost? How do we protect our families from a virus that can’t be detected until it’s already been contagious for several days? How do we plan when we don’t know how long this will last?

My wife and I take walks together many mornings and lately, like many of you, these have turned into every day events as we are limited to exercising from home. We usually spend the time talking about our kids, dreams, and new ideas that each of us have. Our walk is a beautiful one that takes us up the side of a mountain (really a hill) on a trail not often used by others. The trail is a loop starting with a steep climb through the brush-filled hillside and...

~By Heidi

“You were made for such a time as this.” I’m writing these words to all of you during these crazy COVID-19 days, but today, I want to especially write them to the mom and dad who’ve been thrown into the unexpected world of homeschooling.

Throughout our homeschooling journey the response I hear when people find out we homeschool is, “Oh, I could never do that”, "I just don't have the patience". But you, you who taught your child how to use the potty, tie their shoes and ride a bike, why do you feel you can’t teach them about the adventures of the wild west or the accomplishment in learning how to read? 

You don’t need a teaching certificate on the wall to prove you know how to love. And that’s all homeschooling really takes. Love is courage and patience and selflessness (and more) all rolled into one. Love is all of these in action. And I’d be lying if I told you I was capable of any of these things –...

A few years ago, when I first started homeschooling, I remember wanting more than anything to know what my typical day would look like. I was so thankful for Simplehomeschool.net's posts on a day-in-a-life-of... homeschooling series. It was then that I realized that homeschooling days look different for each family. And in fact, each family's day-to-day looks different as well. That is the beauty and the freedom in home-educating your children.

If you are visiting from Simplehomeschool.net, welcome to our blog home. If you would like to get to know us a little better you can read more about us here. We are new to blogging, but are enjoying the journey of documenting our lives.

One of the things I love most about homeschooling is that our days are unique and never look the same. My children are all still young so we are able to move through our day without a strict schedule. I find that having anchors in our day is where we find our rhythm and balance. My favorite days are the...

~ By Joey

When my wife, Heidi, first mentioned that she might like to home school our oldest son, Caleb, I was... less than excited. I didn't want him to be that weird and awkward kid with little to no social skills. The kid that can tell you all the good local repeaters and their frequencies for his HAM radio but who can't carry on a normal conversation with his peers. I know that I shouldn't stereotype, but that's what immediately came to my mind.

Now I am not opposed to nerds (I am one) or HAM radio operators (I am one of those as well), I just wanted our kid to be "normal." Then again, what does "normal" really mean? In the years to come (yes it took years), I have not only been convinced that home schooling was where God was leading us, but I have also started to question my definition of "normal" and whether or not I even want my kids to even be "normal". I can't remember all the turning points in my journey toward home schooling, but I can list five reasons that I am in...

~ By Heidi

Homeschooling for us didn’t just happen; God literally led us to it. For some reason before having kids, both Joey and I had a very negative image of homeschooling. But God used our kids to change us. Our oldest child had a quiet, introverted personality, and at the age of three, I knew we were going to have to keep him home for Kindergarten. Even though it was three years away, I knew school would crush him. I started attending homeschooling conferences and reading books about it. By the time Caleb was six and ready for Kindergarten, I was sold on homeschooling. It took Joey a little longer though. He wanted me to homeschool until third grade and then introduce Caleb to school and “socialize” him. I didn’t want to homeschool without Joey’s support, so I started praying hard about it and trapped him in the car on road trips to read some of the books I had read. I also coerced him into coming to a Carole Joy Seid homeschooling conference with...