March

I love the quotes from the chapters. And March is a chapter that is very close to my own heart. Finding beauty in your own backyard.

I forget so often that our home is the grounding place for our family. There is abundant beauty to be found, even in the messiness. While Mr. J doesn’t travel, he does have very long hours and there are seasons where we only see him a few minutes each day, sometimes the boys don’t see him at all. The story Sarah tells of having a party instead of all the otters possibilities that come from a tired mama having to go it alone for a while was very convicting. I’ve been much more mindful of how I let circumstances effect me because I set the tone for our days.

Do you ever struggle with choosing joy over the emotions that exhaustion can bring out?

Sarah refers to the atmosphere we create as “not House Beautiful but home beloved.” (p. 82) How do you create this in your own home?

We need to remember that we are creating beauty in a broken world. While we can’t make life, with all it’s crazy messy happenings, beautiful, we can still make our homes a haven and remember to teach our children that even in the brokenness there is beauty.

Awakening Wonder

Sarah begins this section by referring to one of my all time favorites, Anne of Green Gables. Anne has a way with words that truly do inspire wonder. Have you ever thought about the fact that you aren’t just viewing nature when you are outside? You are actually experiencing God’s creation. How amazing is that tiny little shift in perspective?

The list of books on page 85 is one you should definitely check out for your read aloud time. If you’re like me and don’t always want to be reading out loud but enjoy listening as well, Audible is a wonderful resource. We still get exposure to wonderful books and I get to keep my voice and enjoy listening, too.

Sarah mentions something that just exploded off the page on page 86, ” . . .wonder is the fundamental condition of education.” Read that again and tell me your hands aren’t up in the air with shouts of Amen. Or maybe that’s just me. But that sums up my feelings on education so succinctly. I just love it.

Sarah shares many practical ways to find beauty. Which ones speak most to you?

• Finding beauty in convalescence
• Finding beauty and fun on rainy days
• Finding beauty through walks, wanders, and hikes
• Finding beauty through impromptu adventures
• Finding beauty through local events and attractions
• Finding beauty through gardening (my favorite!)

April

A Heritage of Faith

This chapter deals with how Clay and Sally implemented rituals and traditions and daily practices of faith to help guide their own family and everyone who came into their home.

Keeping our home as the training center for faith is something I struggle with. We do well with morning devotions and bible study for a while, then life gets busy, then we all get short with each other, and then we start again. Do you ever struggle with keeping a steady schedule for this?

I also love the 24 Family Ways. They are included in Educating the WholeHearted Child, a book I think every homeschooling family should have.

Sarah mentions these Clarkson family traditions all as ways to create a home filled with a faith building heritage:

• Starting the day off right with God
• 24 Family Ways
• Prayer Times
• The Music of Faith
• Reading and Writing Faith
• Celebrating Rhythms of Faith – We had a Christian Seder dinner last year and it was amazing! Have you ever tried one?

Which of the above do you think you can incorporate into your home? How?

Thanks for joining in and I’ll see you next time for chapters 9 and 10! Stop by the Facebook group to join in more conversation.