Thanks for stopping by! I'm Magi, a scratch cooking, homeschooling mama, learning to raise good kids, good food, and good fun on our teeny-tiny little farm!
This is less a blog post than a list I’m keeping for my own information. But it may be useful as encouragement for those of you who either want to homeschool and think it will be too expensive, or are homeschooling and wondering where all […]
Can you believe it’s already July? I can. I’m about done with Summer to be honest. We finished our 16/17 school year way back in May, and the lack of structure is starting to get to me. Thank goodness I plan to start us back […]
Homeschooling isn’t really a new sensational thing anymore. It’s almost mainstream. Everyone knows someone who homeschools.
Look, you don’t need me to tell you about all the wonderful benefits of individualized education, more family time, or marching to your own drum.
You need me to tell you what can go wrong.
What?!!
That’s right. It’s not all lap books and tea time over here.
There are some real issues starting to crop up as we finish our first year of homeschooling, and they’re things NOBODY told me. I never read a single word about this dark underbelly of the homeschool movement.
I won’t keep you in suspense any more.
Personal Hygiene has hit an all-time low.
This goes way beyond doing school in our pajamas, and BO. I was pretty surprised that my oldest had a couple cavities at our most recent dental visit. But after some thought I totally know why it happened. We don’t get ready in the morning. Brushing teeth, washing faces, combing hair, were all part of the “getting ready to leave the house” routine. And now we don’t get ready to leave the house until late in the day, if at all. So here I sit in the same ratty sweats that I sweated in yesterday, nursing another cup of coffee instead of brushing my teeth to head out the door, and I don’t even know where the hairbrush is. The kids do the same. Yikes.
All the clothes have become play clothes.
This follows the hygiene issue. We decided to go to church a few Sundays back and sadly discovered nobody had anything really appropriate to wear. Thank goodness we attend a come-as-you-are church. (I was brought up with Sunday Best, so that’s hard for me, but now I’m starting to warm up to it.) When you rarely go anywhere fancier than the grocery store or sports, (which solve their own clothes issues with gear/uniforms) it’s so easy to overlook how the kids clothes are looking slightly too small and dingy if not outright ruined. And my best sweats are about to blow out.
We are using, like, quadruple the amount of toilet paper.
No joke, and the youngest one isn’t even wiping consistently. I don’t know how often the kids were visiting the restroom when they were in public school, but if toilet paper usage is an indicator it was a lot. No wonder public schools need more money.
You know what, though? It’s worth it.
Even with the warts exposed, homeschooling has been a great fit for us so far. The grooming issues are just things were going to have to add to our daily check list going forward, and the toilet paper usage is something I’ll just have to allow for. Goodness knows I wouldn’t have them cut back. I don’t need another laundry issue. 😉
If you homeschool, what is the dark side for you?
Finding Time How about writing the final post in my Mother Culture Monday Series a week late at 7:40 pm? Sounds like someone has her act together, huh? Honestly, that is exactly the point. It’s EASY to let little demands and big demands, (even joyful […]
Can I be honest for a minute? I’m having a hard time replacing “time wasting” with Mother Culture. But that is exactly WHY I need to be more deliberate. The nature of my time wasting habits (internet/facebook) is definitely making my brain dull. I don’t […]
Welcome to Mother Culture Monday #3
How did you do carving out a few minutes for yourself this past week?
I did some time wasting, but for future reference, I’d like to be more intentional about my “Mother Culture Minute” and do something that really feeds me. The goal here is to do something to grow on, not just to take a break and space out, or worse yet, put energy into something that isn’t a benefit to some aspect of your being. (ahem…I will be the first to admit I have a little Facebook problem, which does have some benefits, but is mostly just a drain on time and energy)
Let’s take a peek at Merriam-Webster’s third and fourth definitions of “Culture”.
3. expert care and training (beauty culture)
4. enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired by intellectual and aesthetic training : acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad aspects of science as distinguished from vocational and technical skills (a person of culture)
The word “training” comes up more than once. I take that to mean that culture can refer to education. In this case it can be self-education via reading, listening to lectures, practicing new skills, or for those of us who are really good at carving out time, taking a class.
What specifically should we be reading, listening to and practicing? Well that depends on your lifestyle, and values, but here are some thoughts.
“The mother cannot devote herself too much to this kind of reading, not only that she may read tit-bits to her children about matters they have come across, but that she may be able to answer their queries and direct their observations. ” Charlotte Mason
The above quote is in reference to Nature Studies, (which I highly recommend even if you are not pursuing a strictly CM education for your children) but I think it can be applied across the spectrum of your family’s interests. To paraphrase Miss Mason, your children will adore you for knowing what they want to know.
“The wisest woman I ever knew–the best wife, the best mother, the best mistress, the best friend–told me once, when I asked her how, with her weak health and many calls upon her time, she managed to read so much, “I always keep three books going–a stiff book, a moderately easy book, and a novel, and I always take up the one I feel fit for!” That is the secret; always have something “going” to grow by. If we mothers were all “growing” there would be less going astray among our boys, less separation in mind from our girls.” The Parents Review Vol, 3 no. 2
I think it’s important to not only read and practice things that fill our “Mothering Toolbox”, but also things that fill our own cups. Here are a few ideas:
As to reading, one note for myself is that I want to lean back toward hard copies rather than Kindle versions. The feel and smell of a real book adds to the experience for me, aside from the dubious effect of too much screen time.
What will you do to fill your cup this week?
Thanks for coming back for more Mother Culture! Let’s dig right in, and take a closer look at the words Mother and Culture. Click below to find out what Merriam-Webster says: Definition of Mother (alert… one definition is decidedly naughty…I don’t know why they included it) […]
Oh my. We have been on a bit of a wacky cake kick. We love the classic cake, but we’ve been playing with the recipe, and have some variations that are to die for! Actually “we” is a misnomer. I hardly get involved at all […]
So, today I was feeding my sourdough starter, and I made a seriously Charlotte Mason quality connection.
Mother Culture; you have to feed it, or you run out.
If you’re not a hardcore CMer you’re probably wondering what on earth I’m talking about and how it applies to you.
What the heck is “Mother Culture”?
First let’s talk about what it is NOT. It is not a formula to be the perfect mom. It’s not even a clear path, or a collection of tips to being a good mom. The “perfect mom” doesn’t exist, and there are many, many excellent moms who never gave Mother Culture a second thought.
Here’s one of the many things Charlotte Mason had to say about Mother Culture:
“There is no sadder sight in life than a mother, who has so used herself up in her children’s childhood, that she has nothing to give them in their youth. When babyhood is over and school begins, how often children take to proving that their mother is wrong. Do you as often see a child proving to its father that he is wrong? I think not. For the father is growing far more often than the mother. He is gaining experience year by year, but she is standing still. Then, when her children come to that most difficult time between childhood and full development she is nonplussed; and, though she may do much for her children, she cannot do all she might, if she, as they, were growing”.
Essentially it’s caring for ourselves as well as we care for our families, intellectually, spiritually and physically, so that we have something left at the end of the day, to come back on tomorrow. (Just like we feed our sourdough starter–which is literally a mother culture–MIND BLOWN–so that we always have some for the next baking.)
Simple, right?
Uh…hello? Still with me?
Look, I’m not even sure what I’m talking about here. I have a LOT to learn, and I’m sooooo tired!
I suspect that’s the whole point!
So I’m inviting you to join me as I study up on what this whole “Mother Culture” thing means for our lives, our families and our communities.
For the next few Mondays I’ll share something CM said, or a link, and chat about how it shakes out in my life.
Who’s in??
This is going to start out like a political post, but if you’ll bear with me I think I can bring it around, to NOT a political post. And since it’s rather a rant, it won’t be my best writing. I pay the hosting, I […]