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Podcasts

Mason Jar Podcast with Cindy Rollins
Episode #42: Charlotte Mason and the Young Mother

Ultimate Homeschool Radio Network with Kathy Lee
Interview with Elsie Iudicello from Farmhouse Schoolhouse

Wild + Free Recordings:
Episode 2: Chasing the Spark
Episode 27: Family Camp and Elsie Iudicello
Episode 28: Elsie Iudicello and Jennifer Naraki
Episode 33: Practical Tips for Natural Learning

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@Farmhouse_Schoolhouse

Bad mornings. The humans in our home awaken to a day of fresh mercies and meet it with the full force of our human sin and frailty. Exhaustion from a sleepless night, grumbling children, broken hearts, sensory triggers, anxiety, frustration, a full range of emotions that can emerge with the sun and bare pointed teeth at whatever plans I have laid out. Imagination is powerful. It’s a tool I often use to make dreams a reality in our homeschool, but it can also be a detriment when the image becomes an idol that supersedes the limitations of our reality. The reality is that we are flesh and blood. The reality is that we have hurts and we hurt one another. This is life together, no matter what kind of furniture you have in your home or what tools are in your homeschool cabinets. Life together, the pleasant aroma and the raw stench. Friends, motherhood and homeschooling have taught me: Mornings are full of ministry moments for the giving and getting of grace that set the course for our day. Every morning I have a chance to fill my aches with beauty and truth through the word or a piece of music or by watching a sunrise or by hugging a demanding child that needs my nurture. Yes, I count the last one as soul filling because it is a holy moment, a picture of God’s grace holding me much the same way. Every morning I have the choice to bark at a disobedient child or really engage with them in a loving way. It is hard to make the right choice, but the pain of practicing the discipline of giving gentle words to turn away wrath, well, that is a beautiful habit I want in my life. I love morning time, but I will be the first to confess that it has bordered on idolatry for me at times. I remind myself that no item on my to do list is more important than my relationship with my children. Wisdom and discernment come into heavy play here. Sometimes the right call is to lean into the grace and space of the routine, encouraging each other to press on. Sometimes the right call is “let’s pray and then forget Bach and Grimm for the day. Let’s get donuts and play at the park.” There is no hurry, pause and consider their hearts. Consider the giving and getting of grace. ✨✨
“Less time making the bed- more time for goats to be fed!” 😂 I have two boys that wake early-ready to take the world head on! I also have two boys that like to greet the world a bit more slowly. Finding a system that worked for everyone took time! Years ago we established a TOP FIVE for our boys to complete each morning before breakfast. These five items vary depending on age (see more on stories today and a blog post Friday!) but one common item was making the bed. Bed making is a must around here. It tells us the transition from sleep to activity has begun. It helps us care for our personal space. It launches those ready to tackle the day or it gently pushes a slower riser into action. But no matter how much we practiced, no matter how much I walked through it with them, A few children still struggled with making the bed. My youngest son’s SPD would come clearly to the front each morning for the bed making battle. I began to look for other options. I didn’t want to give up on our goal, I just needed to find a way that worked for us. Sometime last year my sweet friend @jodimockabee shared about @beddysbeds, a wonderful company that makes cozy zippered bedding, and we decided to give it a try. Well, zipping the bed up gave his senses such a thrill he gets excited to make the bed now. He zips up and say “less time making the bed more time for books to be read!” (Swipe!) This may seem like a small thing, but it’s a huge personal victory for him. Bed making is a wonderful practice and sets the tone for a day full of using spaces and then tidying them. It reminds us to be faithful in the little things and sows seeds for greater diligence. Sometimes the smallest changes can have the greatest impacts on our mornings. The changes don’t always have to be radical. What’s one small change you have made that has made a difference for your family’s mornings?
I have always been a night owl, reading and writing late into the night, therefore Mornings have always been hard. When I was a child, my mom would put my sneakers on me while I was still asleep in bed just to help get me out the door in time. Freshman year of college I was late to Dr. Ryken’s English class nearly every Monday (Sorry, Dr Ryken!) Then I became a mother. 3/4 of my children are Early Birds at ❤️, resulting in the opportunity for painful Sanctification, mine to seize or waste. 😭 No plan or system could motivate me. Then I realized I could not keep going the way I was going and remain a healthy, productive, intentional and loving mother. I recognized that my children were working hard to set healthy habits and good character goals and knew I needed to embrace the discipline I was requiring my children to exercise into the sorest spot of my day. This motivation was strong! I knew what I wanted my mornings to look like so I set small goals and began right away. I took to heart the piercing words of my precious friend @jennifernaraki and fought for my own health. For myself, my kids, my marriage and in response to my friend who is fighting far worse than early mornings. The alarm rings and I struggle to rise. I listen to The Daily Poem Podcast while I brush my teeth and wash my face. I drink water. I take my vitamins and a shot of Ningxia and drink my tea with collagen powder to help my joints. I light a candle, turn on my classical music playlist, pray and read my Bible, filling my soul so I can pour out again. This discipline has brought the picture into being, a precious gift instead of grudging sacrifice. When my children tumble into my sphere of being to greet me, I SMILE at them instead of mumbling as I reach for the caffeine. This smile of motherly affection, joy and encouragement is what starts their day and communicates loudly that they are a gift to me and that our relationship is important. They know it’s hard for me. They know I crawl to the word to fill and sustain me, I’m not flying solo. They watch me lean into the pain of discipline, they give grace when I fail, they cheer me on as I have cheered them on. 😁📷 @apoolephoto
We left the cold and cloudy mountains of North Carolina in the wee small hours of the morning. After 7 hours of driving, our car broke down in the middle of our road trip home. We arranged to have our car towed away and found a rental van. We drove the last four hours home and walked in to find the AC broken. Those were the circumstances of our day, the second day of the New Year we were hoping would be smoother than the last. But 2018 taught us to look past our circumstances and keep our eyes on the unchangeable nature of God. Today we chose to be thankful that we broke down in front of a gas station, a hotel and a chipotle. We were grateful to have the help of a police officer and for quick communication with our mechanic back home. We were blessed that out of all the unknown roads we traveled today, we broke down on the very exit that led to a friend’s home not five minutes away. She brought water and snacks and hugs that revived our spirits. When the rental company driver came to fetch us, he remarked again and again how surprised he was to find a family of 6 (+ a pup) stranded on the roadside in such a state of peace and good cheer. It was a gift to be able to share with him why we had that peace in the midst of difficulty. Our family word for 2019 is “Faithful” and we’ll be sharing a lot more this month about what that means for us, but today was a great illustration of one facet of this word. The box fans are now running and our hearts are full of thanksgiving for a safe return, a chance to live out what we teach our kids and a sweet advent season up north with family. Happy New Year dear ones. Thank you for your love and support this past year. Thank you for every prayer sent our way and every dollar given to our adoption fund and every kind and encouraging adoption story you shared. Thank you for all of the kind messages you sent while we were away from IG enjoying a break from tech life, it’s a joy to read through them. I am so thankful for the beautiful friendships IG has brought our way and we are looking forward to sharing more with you in 2019 whether at conferences, through IG/blog, or my book which will be ready later this year 🎉 Thank you! 🎆🎆
We’ve been “chasing the spark” around here for years. It’s still our favorite way to learn. If they start asking questions, if they dig up knowledge on their own, in the wise words of Charlotte Mason, “it becomes their own possession.” My older boys (11&10) received their first MEL Chemistry box from @melscience this month. (You can watch our first experience in my saved stories) They were thrilled to find REAL glass and chemistry tools and to see all the ample WARNINGS of danger on every box and experiment set. My second born assured me, “Knowing how to navigate the rules in the face of possible danger and disaster is a great part of being a scientific explorer.” 👨🏼‍🔬 Each box contains enough supplies to repeat each experiment. It was amazing repeating the experiment a day later and hearing them explain what was happening each step of the way. I was relieved to see clear concise visual instructions on a laminated card and on the app! 💁🏻‍♀️ But the best bit, the part I loved most as a homeschooling mama, was seeing their curiosity ignited! Yes, we grew Tin dendrites and watched Tin hedgehogs bloom, but the real joy was hearing questions like, “who discovered tin? Can we look up the story of tin? Where do people find it and whats it used for? What is electrolysis?” I opened our MEL app and we made use of their suggestions for taking the experiment further. We read through all the disposal rules and even that sparked important conversation about how we use and dispose of materials. One little brother walked in and saw our tin hedgehog and immediately said: “those grow in our backyard!” So now they are researching burs and snowflakes and hedgehogs and wondering how spikey structures form in nature. From beginning to end, this is a learning experience that produces a chain reaction of questions that draw children farther into the world of chemistry. I can’t wait to discover more alongside the boys this year with and through their kits from @melscience. I have a long list of books to search for at the library now so they can gather more information. 😂 cheers to chasing the spark!!! 🔥
Friends, I have made many, many mistakes as a mother. I have yelled and wounded my children. I have apologized and been forgiven. I have days and moments recorded in my brain that I wish we could all forget. Today my second born ran through the kitchen, stopped, ran back, and dropped a quick kiss on my cheek and said “thanks for the hot cocoa and the stories, Mom. You’re so good at loving us. I appreciate you.” He ran off. I stumbled into the library & lowered myself into a chair, overwhelmed. Today my son modeled something I have been doing in our home for many years but never verbalized. He caught it anyway, no long lectures needed. Around the time this picture was taken (8 years ago!) The Lord encouraged me to not just notice the things my children were doing incorrectly. I listened. Whatever energy I put into noticing deficits in habit or character, I determined to pour twice as much into nurturing the good they were doing and the talents they already possessed. This gave me our 1-2 rule. For every character or habit we are working to correct or instill, we have two that we are nurturing. This makes the whole business of growing up far less exhausting and demoralizing. I knew noticing wouldn’t be enough though, I needed to speak the good I saw right back at them and into their hearts. How does this look practically? I try to give each child several moments of encouragement throughout the day but this is hard to do every single day. To make sure no one slips through the cracks, I have a special routine in place. Say I have a child born April 9th (which I don’t) every 9th day of the month (I set reminders📱) I seek them out and carve some quiet one on one time with that child in whatever capacity speaks the most love into their heart and then I praise the heck out of them. I bombard them with love and noticing. I talk about who I see them becoming. I ask about their dreams and then we dream together and they leave knowing that I see them and I’m cheering them on. Today my boy ran by and looked passed my mistakes. He noticed me, saw my heart, and cheered me on. Today God reminded me that He is greater than my mistakes. He floods motherhood with grace. 🌊

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