On Loving Learning and Making Home
The Coterie {June 2025}
It’s June in Ohio, which usually means school is out for summer, but school is just getting started around my house. My eldest daughter turns 4 next week, but I feel like I’ve just started to get my feet under me with homeschooling. We began in November when my littlest was still only a month old, and I jumped in with a preschool curriculum from The Peaceful Press. I’ve been learning and adapting as I go since this has been a season of much chaos, but I’ve been impressed with this books-based curriculum.
I’ve started diving deeper into books on homeschooling and philosophies of learning and I’m giddy with excitement at the possibilities homeschool could provide for my daughters. From ruining my eyes reading a faded PDF of Dorothy Sayers’ Lost Tools of Learning at 11pm while dream-feeding an infant, to listening to books on Charlotte Mason at 1.5X speed while I do dishes. It’s been fascinating — an answer to prayer for wisdom over my daughter’s schooling.
A strange curiosity has taken over me as I learn more about teaching (something I never in a million years ever thought I would endeavor to do) and how I can apply the principles to my unique and wonderful daughter. School was frequently a source of anxiety for me and regretably, my focus was often simply performing at or above the level of my peers. Everything was pragmatic, reduced to grades and test scores, to get out ahead, a means to a stable career with a dependable income.
But in all my days in a classroom I missed something. My senior year of college, I finally had room in my schedule to take a few electives so I took drawing and painting. And it set my heart on fire. I threw my all into every assignment, attended every open studio, and loved every second of it. I’d always loved art, but I’d never thought I was talented enough to pursue it.
That year, I also took a class called Civilization and the Arts where we studied classical music and art. I put it off till the end because everyone said it was too hard. Too much work to take on with a full course load. It ended up being my favorite class of my entire college career. I never missed a single class and I studied for hours (joyfully!) hoping to get a perfect score on the final exam to show my professor just how much I had loved the class.
Until that point, I didn’t know school could feel that way. Exhilirating and challenging and engaging. But I was at the end, right? Graduation was right around the corner and I was headed into a stable marketing career. No need for Bach, Mozart, and Caravaggio in a cubicle.
(I don’t work in a cubicle anymore. I wipe noses and write books, and I wouldn’t change that for the world.)
As people have started to ask me whether I will send my daughter to a traditional school, I realize now that I’m at a crossroads. I’m able to give my daughters a chance to learn without the one-size-fits-all approach to standardized education.
“The purpose in a man's heart is like deep water,
but a man of understanding will draw it out.” Proverbs 20:5
I know my girls better than anyone on this planet and I have an opportunity to find what sets their hearts on fire and weight their education towards the areas where they show the most interest, passion, and gifting. Of course, we will meet all our state requirements, but I can help them discover the purpose God has for their lives and the chance to foster a life-long love of learning. What a weight and what a privilege!
I didn’t appreciate the liberal arts education I had, while I was getting it, but as I set out to teach my, girls, I don’t feel like I’m getting a second chance. I feel like my real education is just beginning.
“Is it not the great defect of our education to-day (—a defect traceable through all the disquieting symptoms of trouble that I have mentioned—) that although we often succeed in teaching our pupils “subjects,” we fail lamentably on the whole in teaching them how to think? They learn everything, except the art of learning.”
- Dorothy L. Sayers
What does it mean to make a home?
Lately, I’m trying to answer this question for me and my family, away from the narrow scope depicted on social media. To say nothing of the toxic idolatry and legalism I’ve seen come out of the tradwife movement (I suppose that’s actually saying something), as a stay-at-home mom, I want to create a home that is welcoming, beautiful, safe, and full of purpose so that I can help all of us flourish in the callings that God has placed on our lives.
As I learn more about homeschooling, I’ve been looking at home with a new set of eyes. It’s not just a roof over our heads, but a place of learning where we can safely ask questions, try new things, and grow deeper in our knowledge and love of God.
I’m still asking myself this question in new ways but I’ve come to a few conclusions about what our home needs to be a place where thriving happens:
More prayer together
Lots of Bibles within arms reach
My husband leading the way
Room to make big messes
Clean and tidy, but not Spartan
Sanitary but not sterile (except the toilets. Those get wiped almost daily!)
Gentle routines, not strict schedules
Open windows (except during allergy season)
One load of laundry a day (Why are the girls out of pants already?!)
Books, books, books (We make weekly library trips.)
Classical music (this is for my sanity)
Saying no to busyness
Please note, none of the above can be bought at a store (except books. Shop local!) Regardless of what you see on social media, home is made, not bought.
June's Coming
by John Burroughs
Now have come the shining days
When field and wood are robed anew,
And o'er the world a silver haze
Mingles the emerald with the blue.
Summer now doth clothe the land
In garments free from spot or stain—
The lustrous leaves, the hills untanned,
The vivid meads, the glaucous grain.
The day looks new, a coin unworn,
Freshly stamped in heavenly mint;
The sky keeps on its look of morn;
Of age and death there is no hint.
How soft the landscape near and far!
A shining veil the trees infold;
The day remembers moon and star;
A silver lining hath its gold.
Again I see the clover bloom,
And wade in grasses lush and sweet;
Again has vanished all my gloom
With daisies smiling at my feet.
Again from out the garden hives
The exodus of frenzied bees;
The humming cyclone onward drives,
Or finds repose amid the trees.
At dawn the river seems a shade—
A liquid shadow deep as space;
But when the sun the mist has laid,
A diamond shower smites its face.
The season's tide now nears its height,
And gives to earth an aspect new;
Now every shoal is hid from sight,
With current fresh as morning dew.
Upcoming Events!
This is a friendly reminder that I have two upcoming events! First, I will be at the Columbus Book Festival, July 12-13, signing and selling books at the Indie Author Alley. (I’m hoping to have hardcovers ready to sell there too!) If you’re in the area, I would love to meet you!
Are you a Christian author? I will be attending the Realm Makers Writer’s Conference and Expo July 18-20 in Grand Rapids, MI. If you see me, please come say “hi!” and I’ll give you bookmarks and stickers!
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For wisdom and excitement for our homeschooling journey
For health (we’ve had sniffles running endlessly through the house and I’m SO ready for us all to feel 100%)
For diligence and creativity in my writing time
For my upcoming in-person events, that things run smoothly