Quietly Content at Home

Mother wore an ample apron to cover her clean dress. She'd tell you that's what it was for if you asked her, I would guess. But that apron had more uses than I could even count. It brought in eggs and vegetables and could hold a large amount. I've seen her use that apron to wipe her dripping brow as she labored over the big range that's just an antique now. Her apron could bring giggles in a game of peek-a-boo with her newest, sweet grandbaby as she hid her face from view. When we kids were hurt or crying we'd run to find her lap. She'd wipe the falling tears away with a bit of apron flap. That apron dusted tables and shooed away the flies. It did just fine as oven mitts to take out bubbling pies. But the greatest of the treasures that old apron could hold, was the endless love from Mother abiding in each fold. by Joyce Johnson, 2010 This is my favourite poem at the moment. It captures the warmth of motherhood and homemaking so well.  This poet has written...

 I successfully taught my now 6 year old daughter how to read at 4 years old using the book  Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons  [Affiliate link] by Engleman et al after educating myself on the science behind reading instruction through La Trobe University, Australia, and scouring resources like SPELD NSW for advice.  Initial instruction only took 3 months or so but it is now 18 months later and she not only reads well but seeks out books and tries to read them to herself. To support and reinforce her phonics based explicit reading instruction, I took the Dolch sight words list from the MyHomeschool curriculum and created my own flashcards. Most flashcards were far too big for my (and my home printer's) liking so I opened the trusty Canva and created my own ten to a page format.  I have provided the PrePrimer level below for free. They are jpg files so just Right click and select Save As to save them to your computer to print later. I use a corner ...

Afterschooling means to supplement a school based education with explicit home learning in the afternoons and weekends.  My five year old daughter and I started a new unit of Charlotte Mason inspired work a few weeks ago. It has been a lovely experience. She can already read and write, and she adores math, so I've been using MyHomeschool' s Kindy Lite as a base to extend her while spending quality time together. So far she has fallen in love with Blinky Bill stories, we have finished The House on Pooh Corner as a read aloud, she is two chapters in to a Billie B Brown chapter books as her 'own choice' and we've brought out the Waldorf Math Gnomes her big sister made during lockdown homeschooling to make mental math more fun. The best of all is the formal introduction of the nature journal. MyHomeschool and Simply Charlotte Mason podcasts have been a great source of information with setting these up and its made us more aware of the plants in our own yard. Since she...

 It seems it was another lifetime, but my husband and I met in another city at university. Of the things I studied during that short time before we decided that our new family was more important, creative writing and archaeology were my best subjects. Feeding all my old drafts, manuscripts and notes (including a novella and a poetry collection) through the shredder a few years back while decluttering old tax papers was the most freeing and cathartic act. What I was writing wasn't bad but those papers had served their purpose back then in my pointless, lonely university days and have no place in my happy, full adult life of family and meaningful work so I joyfully shredded them. And you know what happened next? After thirteen years of writing nothing beyond thank you notes and grocery lists, the words began to flow again. I started with a story about my daughter finding a fairy blown in her window from a storm, then another about my other daughter trying to name her pe...

 I love cross stitch magazines, my Addi knitting machine, making personalised icy pole holders with my Cricut and pumping out dozens of bookmarks. But picking up a crochet hook and some yarn is like arriving home after a long drive. I browsed through a crochet magazine on my library app and reading the patterns was like hearing my first language after working so hard on cross stitch for so long. Attributed to Tasha Tudor I have been using my girl's crochet play purse pattern to make little presents for a special little girl's second birthday. I am so happy with how the rainbow variegated one came out. Making it brought me so much joy after a long and tiring term. Left, centre are my crochet pattern linked above. Right is a daisy square by Melanie Ham I made into a bag.

There are thousands of wholesome book lists online and just as many parents and educators ready to share theirs. This is my list of enjoyable, clean and heart felt books for children aged 3 - 12 years. This list is a good place to look for a comfort read and a good story. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt The Magic Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Graeme Heidi by Johanna Spyri The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett Pollyanna by Elaenor H. Porter Ruby Red Shoes by Kate Knapp Little Pilgrim's Progress by Helen Taylor Because of Winn Dixie by Kate Di Camillo Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing ...

 Learning to ride and care for horses is a wonderful experience for so many children. A love for horses can be explored and enjoyed through stories when getting to the stable is not possible. Here are some suggestions for books about horses and their humans. First we will go through some classics then all the series I have come across as a librarian. The classics are read and enjoyed by both boys and girls but the series on this list were written mostly by women, for a female audience aged 8 - 16. Horse Diaries however would appeal to boys who enjoy historical fiction for children such as My Story, My Australian Story and Royal Diaries. This is a simple list of cherished classics, for further details please check Common Sense Media, Booktopia, Amazon and any of the other wonderful lists of horse books that give summaries of the stories. Goodreads is not particularly good for reviews of classics or anything with religious characters. Classics The Black Stallion series ...