Homeschooling our 15 children has made me really appreciate public school teachers! After all, teachers deal with whole classrooms of children at diverse backgrounds with different learning styles and needs every day. There is a real reason they devote a quite a lot of time to “classroom management.” … Read More…
Families, especially large ones, need space. Not necessarily space in terms of square-footage, but space in terms of Unscheduled Time. Our family seems to crave this, and so we try and make it part of the rhythm of our lives. While the activities and requirements of existence must … Read More…
When we homeschool we are facing two fronts; we are not only having to deal with the shortcomings of our children, but we are also being forced to face the realities of who we are (or aren’t). This, I believe, is the amazing aspect of teaching one’s own … Read More…
If children do not know where they are supposed to be and what they are supposed to be doing, they get creative trying to figure things out, and the results can be disastrous! I once passed a park in a rural area and witnessed a fascinating display. A … Read More…
It takes more than just a little ingenuity to feed a large family in a small family world. I grew up in a family of three–my mother, my sister, and me–so there was little opportunity to learn how to whip up a batch of 6 dozen cookies (that … Read More…
This post is not about looking one’s responsibilities straight in the eye, although that is a good subject to cover! No, this post will be all about creating a “neat” out of a mess! It’s obvious that, no matter how we try and keep a lid on clutter, … Read More…
It could be said that most of our time is spent dealing with all of our “stuff.” We have to shuffle it around, polish it, maintain it, categorize it, pick it up, stow it, etc. This is only exacerbated when your family has been multiplied by love! Along … Read More…
In my last installment in this series, Large family crisis reduction: getting ahead {part 1}, we discussed the basic ideas behind doing things ahead, or, as Don Aslett puts it, creating a “frontlog” instead of a “backlog.” Of course there are times when even the best of plans … Read More…
Are you constantly feeling like you are chasing one disaster after another, as if you are endlessly “running behind”? I know exactly what you mean… If you’ve never lived in a large family, it is probably hard to understand just how “dynamic” life can be! I grew up … Read More…
People ask me how I have not only survived but thrived while mothering 15 children. First of all, I tell them I couldn’t do anything without the Lord. If it weren’t for Him I would be such a dark, horrific mess, but He walks with me, and He … Read More…