For years, we have enjoyed nature-focused science curriculum that essentially required that we spend time out of doors each day. However, this year, we are working on more project and experiment-based science which is totally fine. But it turns out that if my curriculum isn’t constantly insisting that I head out of doors … well, I don’t do a great job at it.
Read MoreWhen most people picture “homeschooling preschool,” they imagine a tidy table, a child quietly and obediently tracing letters, and a mother who never loses her patience—or her coffee. Real life is rarely that polished.
Preschool at home is your 2-4 year old climbing you while you read, the breakfast dishes still in the sink, and a lesson that lasts as long as their attention span—which is to say, not long. And yet, that’s exactly where real learning happens: in the rhythm of ordinary days.
Confidence in these years doesn’t come from lesson plans or laminators. It grows when you begin to understand what preschool is for.
Read MoreIf you’re shopping for little ones this year, here’s my short list of gifts that feel fun and quietly do the work of growing fine-motor skills, attention, language, and confidence. These are the kinds of toys I love to keep in on hand for that post-nap slump. These gifts are beautiful, durable, and developmentally rich.
Read MoreMost kindergarten and first-grade programs are built around academic checklists—letter sounds, handwriting drills, simple math, maybe a weekly theme or holiday craft. But at Gentle + Classical, we believe these early years are about something deeper—something more formative, meaningful, and enduring than a simple list of skills to master.
In Gentle + Classical Primer (and all our programs), we approach education as the formation of a whole person—intellect, virtue, imagination, and spirit. Instead of just teaching what, we focus on why it matters—through stories that shape the moral imagination, scripture and catechism that root a child in truth, and hands-on experiences that invite curiosity and joy.
It’s not a program you power through. It’s a year you live—together, side by side.
For many Christian homeschool families—especially those drawn to Charlotte Mason and Classical philosophies—history becomes the anchor of the homeschool year. It’s the golden thread that ties so many rich subjects together: literature, geography, worldview, character, vocabulary, and more.
That’s certainly how it’s worked in our home.
For well over a decade, our family has wrapped every school year around history. It’s more than just a subject to check off the list. It’s the story into which everything else fits. History offers the backbone for meaningful conversations, for seeing God’s providence over time, for developing wisdom and discernment, and even for making sense of today’s world events.
It gives our children something deeply needed in today’s disconnected world: context.
This is exactly why we created Sequence 1—a robust, adaptable, literature-rich curriculum centered on history that becomes a nourishing feast for your entire homeschool.
Read MoreAs a child, I had family members—and countless experiences—that deeply rooted me in the natural world. I was blessed with a dear aunt who never missed a chance to point out and name each plant we passed. I had access to a local state park that offered unforgettable school outreach programs. These were formative gifts that shaped how I viewed learning: as something alive, ever-present, and always worthy of attention.
But the truth is, these gifts were rare even then—and even more so now. Maybe you didn’t grow up with someone handing you binoculars and a field guide. Maybe you didn’t have a walking encyclopedia of local wildflowers at your side. If that’s you, I want you to hear this loud and clear:
It’s never too late to learn.
Read MoreHow can I afford to print this all? I get that question ALL the time! Whether it's the stuff from my Gentle + Classical Nature Bundle or our Preschool Bundle, or an annual bundle we participate in, you may LOVE what you see, know that you would definitely use it and get great value from it... but you can't figure out how to make the printing feasible. I hope what I share today will help.
Read MoreIn this 2-part series, I'll discuss my process for decision making on digital products as well as share my favorite resources for making printing affordable! You can read the digital discussion here and the printing help HERE.
It's not an uncommon message for me to receive-
How many pages is this document?
Will I need to print ALL of it? I'm trying to figure out how much it's going to cost all together?
Where do you get your stuff printed?
How can you afford to have so much printed?
How are digital products a saving when printing is SO expensive?
I 100% get it, my friend! Every single one of us is on a fixed homeschool budget, and even if the budget is generous, we want to stretch every penny because- books, right? So I wanted to develop a "guide" for choosing and printing digital products because opportunities abound for these in the homeschool world, and it can get overwhelming!
Read MoreLet’s start here: You do not have to teach Latin to be a classical educator. You don’t have to teach Latin to follow the Charlotte Mason method. You don’t have to teach it to be a “serious” homeschooler or to prove your commitment to tradition. The truth is far more gracious than that, and far more freeing.
Read MoreAt some point in nearly every Gentle + Classical Teacher’s Guide, I include a small but important reminder:
This curriculum is written from my worldview, for my family, based on my current convictions, beliefs, knowledge, and abilities. But it will not be without fault—nor will it always perfectly reflect your convictions, beliefs, knowledge, or abilities.
I include that reminder not as a disclaimer but as a loving acknowledgment of what curriculum is—and what it isn’t. As homeschool parents, we all long for resources that affirm our values, align with our convictions, and point our children toward what is good, true, and beautiful. We want books that don't require a theological tightrope walk or constant pre-screening. That desire is valid. It’s not just reasonable—it’s deeply responsible.
But in the pursuit of that “perfect fit,” it’s easy to forget what the curriculum was designed to do. When we’re not careful, we can begin asking a curriculum to do more than it was ever meant to.
Read MoreFull Disclosure: Some links on this website may generate a commission that helps to maintain and market Life, Abundantly. All Amazon links are affiliate links (this does not impact the price you pay). See my full disclosure here.
Full Disclosure: Some links on this website may generate a commission that help to maintain and market Life, Abundantly. All Amazon links are affiliate links (however, they do not impact the price you pay). Click here for full disclosure.
One of my biggest parenting and education regrets?
It’s not that I wish I had been more rigorous. It’s that I wish I had been more diligent.
Diligence, self-control, and consistency were not virtues that were well developed when I entered motherhood. In fact, because I did not have Christ, I think I barely had any virtue at all. There’s not much that pains my heart more than remembering how unfaithful I often was with my sweet girls.
Praise God that He captured my heart and began a great work in me. Because of that—and because of home education—I began to grow in virtue alongside my daughters. Part of that growth was realizing the wisdom of diligence in home education. There is no growth without consistency.
I’ve now seen both sides of the coin: the struggle that came from delaying academics and leaning too heavily into child-led learning, and the fruit that comes from a diligent, consistent education. They are incomparable.
Lately, I’ve noticed another word making the rounds in homeschooling circles: rigor. I think it’s worth slowing down to ask whether that’s really what we’re looking for.
Education is about formation, not just information.
If your educational experience was anything like mine (public schoolers, raise your hand!), when you picture “education,” you primarily think “information.”
From a traditional schooling perspective, the daily goals look a lot like:
facts to learn
chapters to finish
standards to cover
tests to pass
And if we're honest, these expectations follow many of us into homeschooling. We assume our job is to deliver as much knowledge as possible, as efficiently as possible. Then, we probably need to do a test of some sort so we can SEE that our kids learned and maybe also show others that they're learning too.
Last week, on social media, I shared a post about discernment vs. control for homeschooling parents. It struck a nerve with many parents, so I wanted to share more here, plus the book list I created.
Here’s the gist:
In the early years of parenting, our job is control.
We control:
what they eat
what they watch
where they go
who they spend time with
how and what they learn
I'm afraid my kids think I'm losing it.
I've had a hard time getting through studies, hymns, and readings lately without getting weepy. Whether it's singing Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing or reciting The Lamb by William Blake or even repeating our catechisms about the just wrath of God, I just end up in a big puddle at the end.
It's a hard pill to swallow … to imagine the suffering of my perfect, sinless, loving, compassionate Savior … all because of my sin. That, even knowing what He endured, I still pick up the nails and hammer every day. My stomach turns to think that on a normal Thursday afternoon, my flesh weaves a new crown of thorns to plunge into His scalp. When I am angry, inconvenienced, or honestly just uncomfortable, it is horrifying how often I choose to whip His back with the lashes of my tongue instead of humbling myself at the foot of His Cross.
My sweet Savior, tortured and murdered for my sins. I readily confess it with my lips, I rely on it for the salvation of my soul, and still, in my flesh, I crucify Him again and again.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
I was on the struggle bus last week. I’ll be the first to tell you—February is always a hard month. Even when you don’t homeschool, you can feel it. Everyone is tired of the cold and dreariness, home starts to feel a little claustrophobic, there’s not a lot going on socially as people withdraw, and we start looking ahead to what feels like greener grass instead of continuing to rest and work where we are.
If you’ve been thinking about quitting homeschool because you’re anxious about progress, comparing your days to social media, comparing your kids to their peers, or you and your kids are just plain tired of one another, I want you to know that you aren’t alone. This is a well-known phenomenon in the homeschool world, usually called the February Slump.
How you’re feeling has a name. If nothing else comforts you, let that.
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I mentioned the other day that I was working on a talk about joy—or more specifically, joyful early learning. Praise God, I finished it! Now I'm rehearsing it over and over again (lol). As tedious as that can be, the reason I wanted to give this talk is because… well… I need it, or at least parts of it.
Honestly, based on the emails I receive from time to time, I have a feeling some of you might need it too. About 97.5% of the "struggle" emails I receive are emails I absolutely could have written myself at some point, so there is ZERO shade here. BTDT, for real.
Many of the emails I receive that are related to behavioral and attitude struggles in children are also reflected in the emotional dysregulation the parent is displaying in the email. Sometimes, their language makes it clear that they are genuinely on the struggle bus with keeping it together, feeling overwhelmed, and overstimulated. Even more often, they simply admit it themselves. Whether it's an issue with self-control, anger, or diligence, it's usually confessed before they begin expressing their frustration over their child's struggles with… you guessed it… self-control, anger, or diligence.