So how is Catholic school treating your family? That’s the question Joel and I have received a lot since enrolling our oldest child in Catholic school and not homeschooling this year. Given it’s National Catholic Schools Week, the time seemed right to offer a response to that FAQ.
Lessons from the Car Line
We’re now a school car line family (yay!). Thanks to the movie Mr. Mom, Lisa’s making connections between car line rules and the Mass.
Sometimes life takes you down new and unexpected roads
During my undergrad years, I took class titled Death as a Part of Living. During the first lecture, we took an informal quiz of sorts that had us inventorying life events — a job change, marriage, the birth of a child, a death of a loved one, a move, starting college, etc. The more events a person experienced […]
Thirsting for Holy Leisure: Our Decision to Homeschool
When we started this journey, I’m not sure that Joel or I would have been able to even defend our choice to homeschool. So WHY, indeed are we even doing this? When the going gets crazy, and it did and does, what’s the overarching goal that we can come back to, to help us reset and regroup rather than prematurely throw in the towel? Well here’s a little behind our WHY, and it’s what I come back to when the going gets tough.
Pray, Work, Rest and Play (Vol. 2)
Welcome back to our weekly series — Pray, Work, Rest & Play — where we share a bit about how we’re striving to incorporate an order, a rule of sorts, to our daily routine here at Das Schmidt Haus. A routine that organically involves prayer, work, rest, and play.
Up this week: Responding to the homeless, stepping away from mindless mobile web surfing, keeping occupied with Busy Bags, and having fun with books and bread.
10 Ways to Stress Out During First Month of Homeschooling
While cleaning my home office recently, I found a stack of papers I brought home with me after retiring from the workforce. Before pitching, I thumbed through them and had a great chuckle at one piece hidden away in that mess. It was a flyer titled “How to Stay Stressed” and it satirically proposed that we humans must really enjoy constantly feeling at our wit’s end because we are really good at inviting stress into our homes. The “self-help” flyer’s author was even so kind to offer strategies for how to stay crazy stressed out.
It provided a much-needed laugh because, you see, I’ve done a fine, yes a very fine, job of welcoming stress into Das Schmidt Haus the past month. So I got to thinking about how I could stay stressed out as our family continues to dig in and pull up our homeschooling boot straps. In the event you, too, are looking for tips and strategies for how to lose your marbles, here are a few suggestions.
6 Quick Takes and 1 Not-So-Quick Take
Another round of Quick Takes courtesy Das Schmidt Haus (although thanks to a not-so-pleasant encounter at the OBGYN clinic, Lisa got a little “ranty” with #1 this week!). So it’s a “6 Quick Takes and 1 Not-So-Quick Take” edition.
Lord, it is good that we are here
It’s been an interesting week here at Das Schmidt Haus. As I reflected late last night, I keep ruminating on a phrase from sacred Scripture — a couple of words Peter said after Jesus took him, James, and John up the high mountain: Lord, it is good that we are here.
Hornets, homeschooling cheers and fears, an interesting recipe that appeared in our mailbox, an invite to be interviewed on Sirius/XM, and whiskey tasting — all part of this week’s Quick Takes.
The Trip To Birmingham I Can’t Talk About Yet (7QT Style)
Remember how Seinfeld claimed his shows were about nothing? This is a blog post about nothing, really. Last week I was invited to attend a media event in Birmingham, Alabama. Due to a media embargo, I cannot say much about any of the Who-What-When-Where-Why-How’s of the trip until after July 1. In the meantime, though, I do have permission to share a few photos.
7 Quick Takes: The All Things Green Edition
It’s the 7 Quick Takes: All Things Green Edition! From St. Patrick’s Day crafts and food, to a bathroom re-do project, to yet another photo of my mom’s Rome adventures that has me green with envy (this one hurt more than the others!), and a couple cute photos of the kids thrown in for good measure.