MAILBAG TIME! Question: My oldest is now approaching Kindergarten age and, honestly, I am getting cold feet about the whole homeschooling thing. Sending him to a Catholic school nearby is oh-so-tempting. Even though I'm drawn to it, the whole homeschool thing is very...
I got this mailbag question a week or so ago, and responded to it. Since then, my Cryin' Babies Go To Bed post was shared on a parenting forum, to GREAT misunderstanding, confusion, concern, and general unpleasantness. Sometimes I kind of forget that my blog is...
I've got a couple more mailbag questions I want to share with you guys this week. The first is one I really struggled with myself. Question: I was raised Catholic, but apparently, there is a lot about our faith I was never taught. Now that I'm raising children, I am...
Continuing my mailbag week, another thing I get asked about sometimes is: Books. I didn't want to say "Homeschooling Books" specifically, because even though WE use them for homeschooling, I think any or all of these books could be used by all types of families,...
I shared this image on the Catholic All Year Facebook page over the weekend: I love this quote from Pope Benedict XVI. It comes from a question and answer session he had in St. Peter's Square in 2005 with some children who had just had their First Communion. Some...
Welcome to Answer Me This . . . the internet's favorite virtual cocktail party* in which I ask six totally random questions and we all answer them and get to know each other a little better. Isn't that nice? *this statement may not be true. So, here goes this week's...
Kaitlin from More Like Mary wrote me asking about how we deal with toddlers' picky eating habits. I fired off a quick email back to her before I remembered the super-frustrating food allergy issues her family is dealing with. Our family does not have any allergies or...
In my last post: In Which I am Asked Not to Come to Mass . . . by a Priest, I mentioned that I would like to fill all cry rooms in the country with cement. You guys noticed. And some of you wondered why. Hannah said: I'm confused - what is it that you hate about cry...
A friend asked me to weigh in on this really, REALLY long negative take on Opus Dei, written by an unhappy former member, and the resulting back and forth on her facebook timeline. But, it got way too long for facebook, so I'm putting it here. So . . . what Opus Dei...
Woo-Hoo! God Bless Pope Francis on his Installation Day and Happy St. Joseph's Day! It's a solemnity, so you have to eat dessert. Seriously. We're planning waffles for breakfast and a YouTube replay of the installation Mass for this morning. To see what we've got...
On Tuesday, I wrote about how I keep my two-and-ups entertained during air travel. But what about babies? Just look how entertained he is. For me, six months and under is EASY. They just nurse. The whole time. Trans-Atlantic, trans-continental,...
Thanks to a reader question from my dear sister-in-law (Hi Brie!), today's post is on flying with kids. Ah yes, that's it. Safety first. Although this way is also fun. And this. I have done A LOT of traveling with kids. From a trip to Hawaii with the...
Two-year-old Jack (and his black eye) doing a little mopping. I have had two different readers request that I address the subject of chores and chore charts. For us anyway, this is an area that has seen a lot of flux over the years. Since...
Thanks to Diana for sending in A READER QUESTION! It still counts if I know her in real life right? What things usually look like from where I'm sitting. So, the question is: How do I take care of myself in general, and specifically during the homeschool year? The...
It feels so easy now. The kids can still surprise me, and each one is different of course. One, in particular, is especially noisy. But mostly, I feel like I know what's coming, and how to handle it when it does. It's easy for me to forget now how overwhelming it...
