Comments on: Q&A: Homemaking and Mothering

By: Robin Smith

Robin Smith — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:03:47 +0000

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By: Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship

Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:26:31 +0000

Truly fabulous post. A quick reminder for the first commenter, and one I have to try hard to remember daily, too: Our children's souls are far more important than their bodies, which are only temporary. As much as we ARE called to be good stewards of our health and environment, we can't get too stressed out about it to the detriment of our family's home atmosphere. Soul first, body second. (My blog is dedicated to taking baby steps in that direction, too!)

By: Brooke

Brooke — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:42:43 +0000

P.S. I was charmed to see the Little House on the Prairie books on your resource list -- I am a descendant of the Ingalls family, and our son Charles is named for my grandfather and his 2nd cousin. You'll know my grandfather's cousin as "Pa" from the Little House books. :)

By: Brooke

Brooke — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:34:33 +0000

Stephanie, a million thanks for posting my question here about transitioning to being a SAHM. The resources you've provided are wonderful, and I so appreciate the words of encouragement. Your blog is truly a blessing to me and my family!

Thank you to Milehimama and Nola, too, for the great comments and suggestions. :)

By: Christy

Christy — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:53:57 +0000

I totally agree that the journey toward natural living can seem tough and confusing to figure out at times. I've learned alot from reading blogs and just trying one thing at a time, setting goals, choosing what I'd like to learn... and mostly realizing its a process. I share my journey and the things I'm learning along the way at onelittlewordsheknew.blogspot.com

I can relate to the preschool post as well! I am beginning to homeschool my little ones and have posted some ideas of what we use and am going to be posting more about that this fall as we jump in to something more routine.

By: Nola

Nola — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 19:37:24 +0000

I forgot to add two things: what I meant by saying that kids can help out a lot is that they can also learn and be engaged that way, and it teaches them many good skills! For activities beyond having your child help you around the house or playing independently, there are some really good toddler and preschooler activity books (some ideas even go beyond those ages in some of them) by Trish Kuffner, especially her "Surviving your toddler" and "surviving your preschooler" books, they are filled with activity and game ideas. They are great for SAHMs too because she is a SAHM and so the ideas use mostly things you already have around the house. I have seen many books like this for kids but these ones are the best I've seen personally. I found them first at our library and now own one.

By: brittany

brittany — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:41:40 +0000

hello Stephanie, ive been reading through your blog and love all the wonderful tips that you share! have you by chance found an alternative to using disposable shavers? I can't think of anything other then chemical removers that I am loathe to use but I hate constantly tossing out used ones. thanks!

By: Nola

Nola — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 02:36:59 +0000

For the first question, I wanted to say that its great that you are wanting to begin, and I can TOTALLY relate to it being overwhelming! Pick one thing and work on that. Put aside the rest. I really like Stephanie's e-book as well, that she linked to. I get overwhelmed easily as well, mostly due to perfectionism...and her book reminded me that everything is best done one at a time, in baby steps.

For the second question, congratulations! That is wonderful you can make this transition. I am a SAHM to a baby and a 3 year old. Although activities/learning are great, kids can help in many ways (I know around that age, although I can't quite remember, my daughter helped with sorting laundry, passing it to me to hang/throw in the dryer, she also knew how to put spoons into the drawer for me, that sort of thing) and as your child grows there are many more things to help out with. Now she can even fold laundry and put away many of the things that she can reach, help empty the dishwasher etc etc. We do a small structured learning time most days (started around age 3 for us) and a small Bible time (children are amazing at memory work once they can talk well, its incredible!) and also she has time playing by herself. She has access to some basic, good toys that use her imagination (mostly second hand, certainly not a lot of money spent on them) blocks, dress up stuff, kitchen stuff, a car mat and some cars, some music, books to look at, etc. She loves listening to Bible verse CDs and we play that sometimes in the background (we love the Steve Green ones). Play for children is learning! Certainly figuring out some flexible routine like mentioned is necessary too. I hope it goes well for you!

By: Milehimama

Milehimama — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:11:40 +0000

I would like to recommend some books for Brooke:
Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready by June Oberlander has tons of age appropriate activities for small children to do - not just "busywork" but fun activities to help develop the muscles, concentration, and other skills for later schooling. It has 260 activities (one per week, from birth to age 5)

Teaching Montessori in the Home, the Preschool Years by Elizabeth Hainstock contains instructions for implementing Montessori activities at home.

Both books are available at Amazon and many used book websites!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 10:25:46 +0000

I want to thank you for this post. I am an elementary teacher (with early childhood education, no less) and I am getting ready to be off for the summer (two entire months with my daughter hooray!). She is 21 months old and I had been thinking that I wanted to begin some gentle homeschooling type activities with her. You have really helped me to get excited about our summer and I can't wait to start making plans for our learning together!