Mom example

When You Don’t Fit In

/ Sarah Janisse Brown / Leave a comment

Just wondering? Do you ever feel like you don’t fit in with other homeschooling families? Why?

For years I felt like I had to put my girls in long skirts to be accepted at our homeschool food co-op. I felt bad that we were just faking the Amish look, but I wanted to show respect to the other families… turns out a bunch of them were dressing their kids in long dresses cause I was…

No more! Let’s just be who were are. It took a while to embrace the idea that homeschooling doesn’t have a dress code… unless PJs count.

I also thought that to be in the homeschool cool-club I had to grind my own grain, milk my own goat, grow my own watermelon and sew my kids clothing. I also noticed that most of my homeschooling friends had four kids… I only had three… then I had seven, now fifteen! It doesn’t matter what your family size is! It’s all good!

As a family we did some of these things just for the joy of it, and for health reasons, but we don’t all have to grind wheat to be friends. Here is the truth… a lot of homeschoolers eat Lucky Charms and go to Wendy’s.

I thought that “good homeschool moms” teach their kids to read at age 4. That worked with Isaac. But most of my kids are reading around age 9. Isaac never learned multiplication facts! Here is the truth, a lot of homeschoolers have kids that struggle with math or reading.

It was a hard lesson to learn that we don’t have to dress, eat, sew, skin rabbits, and have a zoo pass to be good homeschooling moms. Here’s the truth, a lot of homeschoolers shop at Walmart, and don’t always eat organic. Some do, cool.

Here’s another one: Good homeschool moms have clean houses and wake up before the sun. I make my appearance at 9:30am on most days, and my house looks like a work in progress.

Another tough one to swallow was the idea that unschoolers can’t be Christians. What the heck? I was a closet unschooler!

Do you need to “hang up” any of your hang ups? Hang ’em in the comments, and support each other!

Welcome to Fun-Schooling where it’s okay to try, fail, make a mess, focus on self-care, dump the mom guilt, let kids make mistakes, overlook our flaws, be content to not be perfect, give grace, drink a lot of coffee, hide the chocolate, hack homeschooling, and drop your kid’s phone off a bridge. Whatever, since we will never measure up to the imaginary standards can we just have a good time trying???? We ARE enough!

You can read more of my journey to joy and freedom in my book – Windows to Our World. Click the image below to grab it!

Let Them Dream

/ Sarah Janisse Brown / Leave a comment
Anna’s Dreams Becoming Reality

God has given each of my children an amazing set of gifts, skills, talents and experiences that shape who they are. I love watching each of them become who they were created to be. Each one has a calling, and for each one it is a unique dream for the future. Each path begins the same, here in our home, but I respect the reality that they each will pursue different futures and goals. Even in our own home, their pursuits and dreams will shape their early lives uniquely.

I pray that we would lay a sure foundation, and that our mission would be to fully equip each one to become whatever it is that they should me. They will not follow my dreams or walk long on my path, they will not hold my hand the whole way, so I pray that my life would simply be to them an example of faith, courage, and integrity.

I don’t expect them to do what I have done, I don’t want them to fall in line with my mission in this world. I want to understand what it is we can do, as parents, to catch their visions and invest what God has given, that they would each be able to shine as they walk bravely into the callings that God whispers into their hearts and minds.

I don’t want to waste a moment of their childhood on worthless things that are irrelevant to their future. So I let go, I set them free. And that looks different from the ordinary idea that each child should have a fair, equal, same, common experience and education. I pray, each day, for the wisdom it takes to let each one learn to handle the responsibilities of their liberty to become….

Fun-Schooling Family Stories: Britt Stilwell

/ Sarah Janisse Brown / Leave a comment

Today we welcome Fun-Schooling mam Brittany Stilwell for a guest post!!

Hi, I’m Britt! I am a homeschooling mother to 7 children ages 12, 11, 9, 7, 5, 2, and 3 months. Together we live in sunny South Florida, right on the coast. We are very familiar with neurodiversities as 3 of my children are autistic, as well as myself. We also have one child gifted with dyslexia.

Finding curricula for my children was quite the challenge considering their different needs and abilities. I never wanted them to feel frustrated or like they were “less than” for not being able to properly fill out worksheets with information they may never remember. Instead, I desired something more for them. I wanted to provide them with an education that would help them learn more about themselves while focusing on their gifts and talents. When we found The Thinking Tree, I was intrigued. Could my children really excel using these beautiful books? We tried several of the Minecraft journals as a family–a favorite theme of ours. Our homeschool was forever changed. We haven’t looked back yet!

I wanted to share a little of what I’ve learned over the years that we have been using Fun-Schooling journals and what things look like for us now that we have found our groove. 💕

  1. Keep it simple! Don’t overcomplicate things. Don’t overthink things. Go in with a clear head and an open mind. Be ready to say yes more often than no. ✔️
  2. It’s okay to buy all the journals. 💸 (Yes! I just said that! lol) It’s okay if your child wants to use all of the journals at once. It’s okay if your child wants to use just one at a time. As long as they are learning and getting work done, roll with it. 🤓
  3. Let your kids pick out their journal(s)! 📚 This is so important to my kids. They really feel in charge of their education when they have the freedom to study exactly what they want and how they want. 🌎 🦋 🔬
  4. It’s okay if all of your child’s books are relevant to their journals, or none are relevant at all. Maybe they liked the pretty horse cover but they want to study George Washington. 🤷🏽‍♀️ It’s their journal after all. Let them really own it and create something that reflects themselves. 🪞
  5. Let them loose! Maybe they only do a few really good pages a day or maybe they get excited for the next page and hurry through. ✏️ Don’t discourage their learning by telling them how you’d rather it be done. I have done this plenty and it has always hurt their spirit. 😞
  6. Believe they are capable, because they really are! 🥰
  7. There is no wrong way to use Fun-Schooling journals, but there is a right way. The right way is to always be sure there is FUN in each day! 🎲

And lastly…

8. Lead. By. Example. 👯‍♀️

I can’t stress this one enough. Emulate the behaviors and habits you wish to see in your children. Yes, personalities are different. I have 7 children and no two are alike, but they are all watching ME. The best things we can teach our kids will not come from library books or curricula, but from within our own hearts and what we do with our hands. 💗

With all that said, below are 5 of the journal and book choices of my kiddos. I love the variety!

Want your story to be featured on the blog? Reply in the comments with your ideas!

The “Why” of Mom-Schooling

/ Sarah Janisse Brown / Leave a comment

Mom-School happens when you remember who you are through your passions, your interests and your needs. You fill a basket with learning tools for yourself, then in your free time you dig into your Mom-School Basket, read a book or watch a tutorial about something you want to learn… instead of watching TV, Netflix, or cruising Facebook.

Mom-School energizes me while the children curiously look into my basket, watch me learn, see me grow… and they discover that I am not just their mom, but a woman with dreams, goals, ideas, needs and desires.

They see me research and join me for an online class, they flip through my Mom-School Journal and see my careful efforts and beautiful handwriting. They see me as someone who is curious, they see me as a detective, an explorer, a creator, a follower, a leader and a friend.

Mom-School is waking up with ideas, and being full of wonder. It’s problem solving and crafting, it’s higher education or a new recipe.

Mom-School is remembering who you are in the midst of the busy season of mothering and holding on to your dreams so your children will be inspired to become who they were created to be, because they are basking in the example of you.

Mom-School is refreshing and calming, and it’s worth your time and mine. Mom-School is empowering to you as a woman and sets the stage for your children to follow your example because you make learning look so delightful.

Join our Mom-Schooling Facebook group here!

Inspiring Your Child to Read

/ Sarah Janisse Brown / Leave a comment

I don’t worry much about reading before age 9. The longer they play the better! When my children start asking me “Mom, how do you spell…?” That’s when I know they are ready for reading. When a child is ready to learn to read it’s so easy to help them.

When it comes to learning to read there shouldn’t be a struggle. Dyslexic children and creative kids struggle because we are trying to teach them too soon. Dyslexia Games helps prepare the mind for reading and writing without stress, and helps to teach reading in a self directed way that works for creative kids.

Still, sometimes the brain just isn’t ready for the job of reading before age 9. For some it may be age 11– kids who learn to read late tend to be very artistic and creative.

The first key to inspiring a child to read is to find out what the child wants to learn about and be attentive to what he is passionate about. Provide books on ALL levels about those topics. Look at the books together, and use books with a Fun-Schooling Journal. Allow the child to do a lot of drawing in the Fun-Schooling Journal if they can’t write, and please do some of the writing for him or her while the child watches and dictates (writing for your child once a week is enough).

The second key is to model a love for reading real books and writing on real paper – in front of your child – that’s what Mom-School books are for. When a child sees a parent reading and writing (not on a computer) they automatically desire to do it too. The brain is wired to give children a drive to do what adults do. (One big problem with classrooms is that all the kids are the same age, and kids are not getting an example of how people learn at a higher level.)

Curiosity will drive the desire to read, and the brain will begin to wire itself to read, write and spell. When a child is curious about reading they are going to learn quickly and efficiently. When a child feels the need to read, they WANT to learn.

When you try to force kids to read, write, and spell before they desire to do it naturally you are going to face a constant struggle. If the child desires to learn, they are going to be active in the learning, and actually teach themselves – it’s beautiful and joyful.

So, precious homeschooling mom, if your eight year old can’t read, don’t worry, just remember the two keys!