Today began like most other days. My two year old whom we affectionately call Lamby came bursting through my bedroom door to give me kisses. I ask my older girls who came chasing after her to take the baby and Lamby out so I could sleep just a little bit longer. Sleep is often disjointed for me, but necessary. I didn’t end up getting more sleep. The commotion outside my bedroom door was just too much.

After my daily routine, which consists of grooming, listening to scriptures, and listening to some of my book on audio, I made my way through the hallway with remnants of laundry and toys.

We are enjoying our wonderful friends this week. Ideally I would love to have a week to show off our routines and for everyone to play the perfect hosts and hostesses. That doesn’t seem to go according to “plan” and thankfully my friend knows us and appreciates our imperfections. But, why do we do this to ourselves? Most of us do. Catching ourselves in it is the way to turn it around. So, I decide to change my mindset and just be us. Loving, open, accepting us.

Pledge of Allegiance is always fun in our home. A lot of energy and enthusiasm is displayed by my kids for our country. How can they help it? They’ve come from a long line of veterans and freedom loving people; and their daddy is a soldier. We always sing Three Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue after the pledge. Prayers, hymns, discussion, little ones wandering away from the group, and lots of reading time make our time together complete.

In less than an hour, we ascended to the icy and beautiful peak in Switzerland as we read, “Ascent of the Jungfrau” by John Tyndall. Step by proverbial step, the climb was steep, but not treacherous from where we sat in our home. Without feeling the numbing cold, we viewed ice stalactites thanks to google and learned new words in this adventure.

During discussions with my friend we’ve focused a lot on homeschool and the how-to’s that people teach and that come in abundant supply. I think that’s where people start feeling like failures—-when the “how to” isn’t followed precisely. Its human nature to want to feel confident in what we’re doing. Andrew Pudewa gave the analogy of classical education as being a globe. Each method is a continent. It doesn’t matter which continent you choose to live on, the most important thing is living in an environment that is conducive to your family and your family’s mission. Sometimes my “continent” looks like the Amazon and sometimes the Yorkshire Dales. Sometimes I am confident in my course and sometimes I feel like I’m cutting through the underbrush.

Continue more with me on this journey as I make my way one day at a time.