The Christian Homemaking Podcast: Simply Convivial with Mystie Winckler

I’m not the most naturally affectionate or tenderhearted mother. As much as I do love my children dearly, it is hard for me to remember to show kids love like I ought. As far as Myers-Briggs typing goes, I am an INTJ, and one personality description I’ve read specifically calls out INTJ as not an ideal type for mothering.

Yes, read a novel. It doesn’t even have to be a Great Book. Just a story. Get out of your own particulars, relate to someone else, and gain perspective. When we read novels, we are able to see the world from another point of view, experience different settings and lifestyles and circumstances, and are better able to see how small circumstances build into a big picture – into a story.

Moms, with affection, might tease their children about not growing anymore, about skipping a birthday, or otherwise staying right where they are. Is that because we want to stay right where we are? We’re comfortable in this role of mom-to-young-ones; we love the affection and the antics. Yet time stops for no mom. The children continue to grow, whether you wanted it or allowed it or not. The quest...

As I’m sure you’ve already felt, beginning your family starts a seismic shift in your life. For the past number of years, you’ve faced milestone decision after milestone decision. Now you have the degree, you’re married, you own a house, and you’re holding your first child. It’s time for the calm, right? The coming of normality. Now starts the “real” rest of your life, what you’ve been building up...

Do you know that quote? It’s from My Fair Lady , when, after months of agony, Eliza & Professor Higgins are draped late at night in the library, Higgins still insisting, “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain !” Eliza moans, “I can’t! I can’t! I’m so tired. I’m so tired.”

Pull out the glasses, set the table, time to get ready for company. Ever noticed that funny feeling where you turn on a different persona, a different ability to handle life, at least momentarily, when you open the door or answer the phone? It shows us our actual ability to exhibit self-control. Too often, our tone and tactics with our kids do not. When we jump on them, pester and harp, then switc...

Children are not born either good or bad, but with possibilities for good and for evil; therefore, our duty is to encourage the good traits and discourage the bad.

Children are born as image-bearers of God, yet also subject to sin. They are not blank slates. They are not malleable, shapeless lumps of clay. They are not mere animals. They are not angels. They are people, persons, individuals, from the beginning. They are made in the divine image and are not made to be simply fodder for the economy.

Our attitude is the most important factor in how we handle life, and it is a multi-faceted component. One of the components of an organized attitude – and one we don’t consider often – is imperviousness.

Given the definition of classical education we developed previously – that classical education is a set of principles that focuses on developing a love of truth, goodness, and beauty – I then give you this, from Charlotte Mason’s Philosophy of Education : "[Education should] qualify their children for life rather than for earning a living."   One sentence, and that’s the real crux of it. What is t...

Entropy is real. Entropy is part of the current natural order. The dictionary defines it as, “a gradual decline into disorder.” That’s real life. Gardens grow weeds. If we want to handle life well, we have to align our mindset and our actions with that reality.

Life goes through different phases, stages, and seasons. Nothing we do will change that. Instead, what we do should work with that reality. Planning and organizing while knowing that life will change and shift and our efforts will not last forever (or maybe even that long) will look different.

The enthusiasm of our young children energizes us. When they delight in poems, birds, stories, and singing, we take a deep breath and are relieved. This education thing we’re trying is working. Then things get patchy. The 12-year-old puts on a stoic face, shuffles in the back of the group, leans away at the table. He argues about doing his assignments, or reading that book, or doing so much math....

Own your thoughts: Change the subject in your head. When fear or doubt creeps in, we don’t need to reason with it or explain it away or answer it. We can simply pray about the issue that’s vexing us and then “change the subject” we’re thinking about. We don’t have to engage fear or doubt and overcome them with willpower or logic. The response of faith is to pray, then turn it over into God’s hands...

We’re kicking off the year with a conversation Virginia Lee Rogers and I had about keeping our attitudes organized in the midst of real life.

Season 12: Finding Rest as a Homeschool Mom This season of the Simplified Organization Audio Blog is excerpts from an hour-long live chat all about resting as a homeschool mom. Find the link below to access the replay in its entirety! Decision fatigue is super real, and it’s not just our kids pestering that puts us over the edge, it’s ourselves also. Our own minds are always going, going, going. A...

The result of an education in wisdom is a resilient integrity which knows what should be done and has the strength of mind and body to do it.

The classical tradition does not see itself as a new thing, but as part of the stream of Western civilization that started in Greece, grew in the middle ages, has suffered much recently, but still exists, particularly if we educate our children in its gifts and blessings and warnings. It is the culture of a people who sought truth, of a people then who met Truth, of a people who tried – though mes...

We’ve all felt the exhaustion, the overwhelming sense of vague failure or defeat, the frustration of feeling like our goals are impossible. Maybe some women out there can manage, but we aren’t and cannot be. We need rest. We know we need rest. But we aren’t sure how. The only kind of rest we can even think of is a “turn it all off” sort of rest. Go away. Escape. Shut down. Stop the madness. And th...

General and wide knowledge is the foundation of the educated mind, the roots that nourish it and cause it to grow. In order to bear fruit, we must learn and know.

We’ve all felt the exhaustion, the overwhelming sense of vague failure or defeat, the frustration of feeling like our goals are impossible. Maybe some women out there can manage, but we aren’t and cannot be. We need rest. We know we need rest. But we aren’t sure how. The only kind of rest we can even think of is a “turn it all off” sort of rest. Go away. Escape. Shut down. Stop the madness. And th...

Quintilian wants young children to be exposed to literary thought and literary quality, because they are naturally receptive and retentive at this age – so what they are exposed to will matter to their entire course of life.

We’ve all felt the exhaustion, the overwhelming sense of vague failure or defeat, the frustration of feeling like our goals are impossible. Maybe some women out there can manage, but we aren’t and cannot be. We need rest. We know we need rest. But we aren’t sure how. The only kind of rest we can even think of is a “turn it all off” sort of rest. Go away. Escape. Shut down. Stop the madness. And th...

We can’t simply demand character out of a person, nor can we explain it with abstract and theoretical definitions and expect that to be sufficient. We have to illustrate – model, tell stories, practice, make analogies – if we want to help people (ourselves, our children) change. And doing so is demanding. It’s hard work. It’s good work. It’s necessary work.

We’ve all felt the exhaustion, the overwhelming sense of vague failure or defeat, the frustration of feeling like our goals are impossible. Maybe some women out there can manage, but we aren’t and cannot be. We need rest. We know we need rest. But we aren’t sure how. The only kind of rest we can even think of is a “turn it all off” sort of rest. Go away. Escape. Shut down. Stop the madness. And th...