My children like to read a magazine called Muse. Honestly, I love this magazine too–although I don’t always agree with their perspective. There are fascinating stories of scientific discoveries and interesting tidbits about history. It is the type of publication you sit down to read and an hour later you look up with a start, [...]
Today I was playing a duet with my ten year old son at his piano lesson. My part was unusually high but not loud. Both he and his sister covered their ears at one point because the pitch of the sound was shrill enough to bother their ears! My ears were not bothered at all! [...]
So I’m driving around with my middle son (who is adopted from foster care) and he is listening to the Steven Curtis Chapman song–”All I Really Want For Christmas” which is about an orphan who wants a family from Santa. He stops the song and looks at me and says “Are there really kids out [...]
Holidays with adopted kids or kids who struggle with ADHD, ODD and other disorders can be SUPER stressful. That’s why, for two days only, I’m GIVING away my Stress Free Holiday E-book. Get strategies to help your kids this Christmas season and make things go much more smoothly. Put your name and email address in [...]
Bedtime can be a truly traumatic time for foster kids. When our children first moved in sometimes it took three hours to get them to fall asleep. They were older and had been through a lot. Some strategies we employed then were eventually effective and included the following: 1. No television after 5pm in the [...]
The cold and rainy weather is upon us and my poor Gabriel is an emotional wreck. This time of year always throws him for a loop–though it gets less severe each year. Tonight at bedtime he said he didn’t feel “right” lately. Happy he could identify that feeling, I asked him why he felt weird [...]
Yesterday was Thanksgiving. We sat down with the kids and watched an old Little House on the Prairie Holiday Special. In it, Ma described her first Christmas as a 10 year old girl having lost her father and living with a new step father. Her step father was actually a kind man but young Caroline [...]
“I want it!” The screaming from down the hall became more intense as I made may way from the opposite end of the house. “What is going on?” I asked. Surveying the scene I noticed the tell tale signs of a meltdown as I observed my nine year old son sprawled out on the floor, [...]
Winter is coming. The leaves are changing, there is a chill in the air, and the frost is on the pumpkin. Winter can be a great time of rest and renewal if you let it be. It can also be very tempting to turn on the television a lot now that the kids are indoors [...]
When children are homeschooled it is easy to combine subjects like History, Science, and Geography and teach lots of ages at once. This can be intimidating for families who have never attempted it before. It can be freeing for the family bogged down with 4 children all doing varying levels of 7 subjects using textbooks [...]
