Thoughtworthy (Quick Survey, Podcast Episode, and Feeling Overwhelmed)

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The long-awaited annual Scholé Sisters Christmas episode is now live!!

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We were talking a bit in the Sistership about feeling overwhelmed. I can easily feel this way when my husband is away for work. I especially felt this way when he was gone for almost three weeks in October! I thought I’d share my tips here, in case anyone finds it helpful.

A big thing I’ve done that helped is reiterate basic manners. Specifically “don’t interrupt” — I realized everyone was talking and making demands at once and my brain would just shut down. Also, I’ve gotten all the children (youngest is 11) much more involved in the schedule to help them see we have only one car and two drivers (teen son) much of the time and we have to make decisions in light of those realities.

I couldn’t believe how much interruptions were slowing down our homeschool day and how reminding people to take turns and be respectful (like when someone was narrating to me or needed math help) actually made everything go faster over all because I was faster when I wasn’t switching subjects so much.

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Flourish is back! I know a lot of you were waiting for this, so don’t miss it while it’s available. Flourish is created to be an ideas- and philosophy-based annual review process for Charlotte Mason homeschools. It takes you beyond child examination questions to help you troubleshoot your year and set goals in light of what you learn through the process (I call this pause before you plan). This is helpful even if your year was a good one!

It’s a big process, so it’s only designed to be done in full once per year. With that said, the components can be helpful if you find yourself in a situation where you feel like it’s all starting to fall apart.

Click here to grab your copy or get more details.

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This month in 2018:

A well-chosen book can be so helpful to a child.

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I’m working away at the 2020 Afterthoughts Events Calendar and generally planning my year. I’ll be honest: I have less free time than ever, which means I really need to prioritize. Would you have time to take a quick 3-question survey to help me out? If so, please click here.

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This week’s links collection:

• A Tyrannical Minority and Silent Majority from National Review
  • “To be clear: ‘Affirming’ a child’s ‘social transition’ is a form of social-psychological treatment, one with very little research behind it, and one on which no school counselor, teacher, or parent should embark lightly.”
  • The biggest concern I have here is how silent everyone feels they must be — and how often silence is interpreted as agreement. Where is courageous boldness and honesty when you need it?
• Apostrophe society shuts down because ‘ignorance and laziness have won’ from Evening Standard
  • This seems a little over the top — the guy is 96. I can’t help but wonder if the shutting down has more to do with his age than the character deficits.
  • Remember this in Christmas card season: “The rules Mr Richards gave for apostrophes are: They are used to denote a missing letter or letters, they are used to denote possession and apostrophes are never ever used to denote plurals.”
• California CEO and Seven Others Charged in Multi-Million Dollar Conduit Campaign Contribution Case from The United States Department of Justice
  • Let me get this straight: George Nader, one of the star witnesses in the Mueller Report, is first a convicted pedophile who was arrested again in June for and now he’s indicted for child sex trafficking (which we already knew), has now been indicted with others for a conspiracy to funnel illegal campaign funds during the 2016 Presidential election? Sounds like a quality guy.
  • I wonder how many pedophiles the Clintons can be associated with before people actually think it’s weird.
• Omega 3- Protocol for Brain Injury from Brain Health Education and Research Institute
  • When people tell me they’ve “tried Omega-3 for my concussion” and then say it didn’t help, I always find they aren’t taking enough. Our son had a concussion last month and recovered within a couple weeks by taking 3.5 grams of DHA — and he’s still a little guy.
  • I highly recommend checking out this protocol and finding a doctor who encourages getting braver with doses. High dose DHA can feel like a miracle.