This morning while I wiped the deodorant my toddler stole off of her toys, I heard her getting the cereal box out of the pantry. Before I could wipe the rest of the deodorant from the play food, I could hear little pieces of cereal spill all over the floor. Then she ran and stole a glass of water from the counter, spilling it everywhere. That was just the first 5 minutes of my day. If rest, intentional play, and relaxation sounds like a fantasy as a mom, it doesn’t have to. I’ve noticed lately that my friends are pulling back from things. Everyone is stressed out and stretched a…

I’m not an Instagram mom. There are no airbrushed, #blurfilter images of me and my children in our perfect homeschool room. We’re not baking sourdough from scratch while we listen to Mozart. And I’m not up at 5 am working on school plans for the day. But the opposite mom stereotype can be just as harmful. A lot of us instead fall into the “hot mess mom” culture trap. If we can’t be perfect let’s embrace the mess and chaos, Right?! Just throw the towel in, forget about schedules, expectations, or putting pants on in the morning. The Harm of Hot Mess Mom There’s a big difference between realizing our…

. This post contains affiliate links. Read our affiliate disclosure here. Like many things in life, we get out of it what we put in. I’ve found that when I take the time to read inspirational books, I feel more inspired to pour out beautiful thoughts and ideas into our home. A good Charlotte Mason reading list is a key way to do that. “Education is a life, nourished upon ideas; and education is an atmosphere––that is, the child breathes the atmosphere emanating from his parents; that of the ideas which rule their own lives.” – Charlotte Mason, Parents and Children, p. 247 I’m Too Busy to Read First off,…