make joy normal: cozy homeschooling

send us a text via Fan Mail! Such a pleasure today to chat with Leah Boden, author of the upcoming book Modern Miss Mason . We delve into who Charlotte Mason was, keys to her educational philosophy and encouragement for this season of motherhood.    1:07 - Welcome Leah  and creating a family vision 9:21 - Who was Charlotte Mason? 22:06 -  Shaping our understanding of children and education  30:27...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Reflecting on the choices we face as parents in our approach to discipline. Art programs by Catholic Heritage Curricula Ever Ancient, Ever New: Art History, Appreciation, Theory and Practice if not carrot and stick, then WHAT (blog post) Try Riversidefm, Our recording platform.  I use it because it’s easy. I use it because good tech support matters. https://riverside.f...

send us a text via Fan Mail! In the context of receiving first Holy Communion, what if we feel that our child is not ready? Should we postpone or push through? Is it possible to read too many books and how to say no in a gentle and loving way.  00:28 -  What if you feel that your child is not mature enough to receive first Communion?  16:23 -  Could I be doing too much in my homeschool? 33:03 - Wh...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Today we discuss how to discipline a child who is being physically aggressive, dealing with an early riser and engaging in a loving way with a child who is highly talkative. Great questions!  1:19 - How do you respond to a child who is being physically aggressive? 11:41 - How do you deal with an early riser when you need more sleep? 22:31 - How do you engage with a tal...

send us a text via Fan Mail! In this episode, Christina has a big reveal... we talk about things I've said no to over my homeschool journey, and how to encourage reverence in our little ones.  2:23 - What have you said "no" to in your homeschooling years? 7:30 - How to assess what is working and what is not working 11:21 - When teachers become homeschoolers 15:12 - How to encourage...

send us a text via Fan Mail! What does breastfeeding have to do with homeschooling?  A lot actually!  Gina Peterson from Catholic Nursing Mother’s League addresses some questions that were submitted from a listener.  We discuss tandem nursing, what we can let go of, negotiating the season of littles, nurturing ourselves through this time.  And some ways to fill your tank and theirs.  3:36 - A litt...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Elizabeth and I address some listener questions today, starting with how to encourage independent writing.  3:12 - What are your thoughts on creative writing? 12:50 - Hosting a writing co-op 14:06 - How to encourage your kids when school seems boring 18:26 - What if we miss something? 20:06 - Finding time for extracurricular courses  27:15 - Putting educational materia...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Father Harrison joins us to discuss the importance of creating life-giving experiences surrounding the faith, how our children learn by modeling, and the importance  of Sacramentality in the home.  We also talk about building community and  Fr. Harrison's most recent book . 00:57 - What is family catechesis? 10:48 - Jesse Tree tradition and how truth is known 18:0...

send us a text via Fan Mail! In this episode we look at tools for fostering relationships and growing in kindness. How to get along, what to do if we are struggling with a particular child, how to regain perspective and ways to simplifying our lives. 1:01 - Importance of getting along 4:12 - Starting in small ways 5:31 - Focusing on one relationship and being present 8:03 - Finding order in our li...

send us a text via Fan Mail! My guest today is Julia, a listener with her fourth little one due anytime.  She asks really good questions!  We chat about learning in the early years with just young children, should we do a reading program when our child is already fluently reading and how to respond when moms start talking about what curriculum they use.  Julia also asks me how I got started on thi...

send us a text via Fan Mail! I started binge listening to Fallon and her co-host Kori a month or so ago, when my daughter told me about their work.  Fallon, homeschool mom and a woman who wants to help you to optimal nutrition, shares her story of healing and her passion in the quest for women's health.  Among so many other things, well nourished women have more energy, more stable moods, hig...

send us a text via Fan Mail! You will love love love Allison.  Oh my gosh, this interview was just an incredible pleasure and kind of mind shifting.  Listen while Allison and I take turns having epiphanies.  Listen while Allison creates some of the best analogies I've ever heard on the importance of keeping a home.   Beauty, virtue, laundry.  We cover it all.    00:14 - Welcome Allison! 4:02...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Today I interview Sylvia Dorham, children's author.  The beginning of the interview had a glitch so we miss some of Sylvia's biographical information!  Sylvia is a Catholic mother of ten, who has a great love of beauty and recognizes that we learn better through rhythm,  rhyme and beauty.  We discuss her "Monks" books and her newest book, Our Lady,...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Kelly joins us today to talk home management skills. She shares valuable insights on keeping a home, building routines and homeschool planning. We talk about creating a rhythm to our day and slowing down to focus on what's important. 0:14 - Welcome Kelly! 2:37 - Simple home management: planning, routines and chores  11:22 - What's your process for planning? 1...

send us a text via Fan Mail! In this episode, dedicated and darling listener, Bianca, brings her questions (and her baby boy!) to the show.  We focus on our kid's faith.  When they're little, they just gotta go with what their parents do, but as they get older, what?  We talk about why I don't talk about my adult kids, and building a family culture.  We also address what it's l...

send us a text via Fan Mail! To wrap up this little series on creating homes, I'll add part two for record keeping.  This includes some course planning and working with our high schoolers strengths and weaknesses and our own! If your kids aren't at high school yet, you'll still get a sense of how education happens in all the places.  3:17 - Write down everything 6:46 - Creating a cr...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Today I interview Elissa Frankham, who has gone through the Woman School program, and recently begun her own mentorship.  She shares with us her journey with honesty and empathy...we've all known moments in our lives where things just "aren't right." How do we get unstuck?  00:18 - Welcome Elissa! 2:27 - When isolation and overwhelm took over  7:27...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Elizabeth and I talk about ways to think about plotting out our homeschool year.  We cover organization, lesson planning, the philosophy of planning and how curricula can be used without it owning us.  2:47 - Planning the school year - start here! 8:38 -  Choosing what you're going to study as a family 11:25 - Planning for individual children and including the chi...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Well, how does this play into creating the kinds of homes we want to raise our families in?  In my opinion - HUGE.  Chaos undermines kindness.  Order is a form of beauty, and order in our brains, and reducing brain clutter makes us more available to the people that we love.  Because I have a scrambly sort of brain, I had to find ways to record what we do and how we edu...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Welcome, Mariette!  And apologies on my end for the background noise; I had inadvertently left a secondary mic on, picking up my noise...thank you for your patience with my technical inabilities, my dear listeners. Mariette, the natural Catholic mom, joins me for a beautiful conversation about health, homes and holiness.  Listen as she guides us gently to living a life...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Christina and I continue in this part two of the little series "creating homes".  We talk about order and its part in our sanity and spiritual life.  The seasons of motherhood and developing order when order seems like a distant reality... 00:59 - Feeling overwhelmed and keeping up with housework 8:43 - Reaching out for help when we need it and building commu...

send us a text via Fan Mail! I am starting a little series for the next few weeks on creating the homes we desire for our family life.  The idea came from this article in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2223: 2223 Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect,...

send us a text via Fan Mail! In this episode, Elizabeth and I talk about car travel, and summer and road trips approach.  We share some of our little life hacks for making the car trip a little better.  Share your ideas with us in the comments!   00:13 - Recap, we've been away for a long time! 5:05 - Bringing a soccer ball for travel stops  8:07 - Our favourite audiobooks, listening together...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Elizabeth brings some great questions today.  When do you force a child to push through something difficult.  The importance of math facts.  Addressing grade appropriate milestones.   00:15 - What is your favourite mom hack? 5:19 - When a child pushes back out of laziness or stubbornness 12:48 - Practicing math facts, math support 20:40 - How do you gauge if your child...

send us a text via Fan Mail! This short talk was previously given at a conference, I know I'm on this rant all the time, but I think it needs to be shared, so once again, a balance of order is so important for increasing the peace in our lives.  Contact On Instagram at @make.joy.normal   By email at makejoynormal@gmail.com Search podcast episodes by topic   www.bonnielandry.ca Shop my recomme...