make joy normal: cozy homeschooling

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...

send us a text via Fan Mail! One of the people who lifted me up and encouraged me to look at what God has given me more closely, Katherine is one of my dearest friends.  We talk about being awesome, and how to help others be awesome.   00:12 - Welcome Katherine, how we met and things you do 13:14 - Creating interesting experiences around the liturgical seasons, history  16:57 - It doesn't hav...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Tan has developed a homeschool support system worth taking a look at.  Krista from Tan books is so full of enthusiasm for her work supporting parents and families with what Tan has to offer.  We talk about what homeschooling can look like, and de-stressing the parents who want to create a joy filled environment.  2:12 - Welcome Krista and about Tan books 5:06 - About T...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Greta is a lovely human being.  Second generation homeschool mom with a husband,  four kids and a great attitude.  Adventure, big or small, is a place where we can connect with our family and community.  Greta shares her story, her desire and purpose in adventuring, and her passion.  3:51 - Being a 2nd gen homeschooler and joys of homeschooling 7:49 - About Greta'...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Vivian is so lovely.  Her love of family, literature and God (not in that order) filters out so tangibly to our listeners.  Ignatius has been a remarkable part of our family and faith journey over the years, we're so grateful that they do what they do.  1:08 - Welcome Vivian and about Ignatius Press 2:56 - What is your favourite children's picture book? 11:04...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Elizabeth and I revel in our favourite books once again, story books, novels, parenting,  adult spiritual growth, historical fiction.  So much fun.  1:43 - What is your all-time favourite easy family meal? 5:55 - Favourite story books      Something from Nothing      Our Lady's Wardrobe      Frog and Toad are Friends      Winnie the Pooh      James Herriot's...

send us a text via Fan Mail! TRIGGER WARNING.  See below.  Dear friends...this is pretty raw.  Christina brings a listeners question to the show ~ tell us about your conversion.  It could have been raw-er, I suppose, but  raw enough that I'm not putting it up on social media...  Also, the editing is kind of poor.  Sorry, no excuses.   A while back, someone wrote in that they'd love to he...

send us a text via Fan Mail! If you have children, you need to hear this.  Heather Boyd is an occupational therapist, specializing in... sleep. She is on a mission to help families navigate their baby’s sleep and development through family-centred therapy, evidence, attachment theory, and empathy.  She provides the information and tools you need to help your baby thrive, increase your confidence,...

send us a text via Fan Mail! We discuss some strategies for sibling challenges. 00:22 - What's the best book you're reading right now? 7:00 - How can we help build strong sibling relationships? 12:17 - Finding the common denominator and redirecting 15:43 - Should we let them work it out for themselves?    19:50 - Tools for mitigating those big emotions  33:02 - Using diversion for connec...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Father Harrison shares his wisdom on negative and critical thinking.  We discuss faith, prayers, support and a few good books.  2:00 - Negativity, critical spirit, rooted sin - I'm struggling to overcome these 5:38 - Faith means seeing reality with Christ's eyes  10:26 - The realm of temptation begins in the realm of thought 17:32 - "Jesus, enter this te...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Lauren Loboda, life coach and mom of eight, shares her goals, challenges, successes and journey to  life coaching.  She's real, gifted, and delightfully fun.  We find out what life coaching is, and why most of us might  just need a little coaching.... 1:18 - Welcome Lauren and what is life coaching? 7:33 - Life coaching or spiritual direction?  14:17 - Negative th...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Introducing Nathan Meffert, the developer of the Saintmaker Catholic planner.  This is so good, I produced this little  episode as there is a time constraint on the season that is coming out soon.   This is a short supplementary episode about a Catholic planner that was brought to my attention.  It’s new season is April 1, so I wanted to get it into my listener’s path...

send us a text via Fan Mail! And a few other topics as well.  We cover a lot of territory in this episode! 2:42 - Do you have any non-negotiable lessons for the day? 5:01 - Do you have any book recommendations for teaching science? 13:50 - How do you dig deep in a unit and get your kids excited about it? 20:59 - Could you recommend a single book resource for teaching different periods in history?...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Today Christina and I cover an array of topics such as finding time to read aloud, managing our time and our stress, decluttering, slowing down our day and being mindful of how we speak. 5:20 - Reading aloud and tips for managing our time and space 14:47 - Stacking our tasks and reading for ourselves 18:25 - How a gentle tone of voice is effective in discipline 24:49 -...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Brittany, a listener from Manitoba, brings her questions to the show, her questions reflect scenarios we've all experienced in our family life.  If you are interested in bringing your questions to me in an episode, contact me here:  makejoynormal(at)gmail.com 4:34 - How do you navigate an older child hitting the toddler out of frustration? 11:33 - How do you deal...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Fr. Jeffrey Kirby shares insights for making this Lenten season a time of spiritual growth and how not to miss the opportunity for deepening of our faith and relationship with the Lord.    4:00 - A primer on Lent : what it is and it's purpose 7:06 - How does the individual and the Church benefit from Lent? 10:32 - How A Holy Lent program is structured 16:15 - What...

send us a text via Fan Mail! My husband Albert and I chat with our dear friends and co-conspirators in our beautiful little Catholic community, Brian and Laurie Dennison.   We talk about why community matters, what it takes from individuals, how to be a part of community and what we can do to build communities. 1:04 - Welcome Dennisons and how our families met each other 8:33 - A snapshot of our c...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Our Dads weigh in on why attachment matters and what kind of relationships they desire to have with their children.  Three Dads discuss how they came to understand gentle discipline, and their movement towards it.  These guys share a range of experiences, long time dad of seven,(34 years,) Dad in the thick of it, baby-15 years seven children and newer dad, with two you...

send us a text via Fan Mail! We cover a lot in this episode! I make a proclamation about flying by the seat of one's pants.  Elizabeth brings several questions to the table.  Is there a correct order to teach topics what if we miss something how do we know we've covered everything how do we teach spelling how to choose dictation passages  and, finally, should we make our kids apologize 1...

send us a text via Fan Mail! Today we welcome back Matthew and Esther, co-founders of Veritas Current Events.  We talk about the importance of addressing current world events with our kids and how to make it relevant and engaging.     2:16 - What Veritas is and how to use it 7:45 - How current events help form our young people 9:12 - Making it relevant and lesson plan overview 35:49 - Age range an...