Handmade Homeschool

Say HI to Sarah

She is a mother and adventurer, a reader and La Leche League Leader. She is silly and serious and runs on the treadmill to save her waist line. She likes tea and knitting, which led to art, which led her to an adventurous view of the world. Her blog Handmade Homeschool
is a celebration of four handmade, custom lives.

I just LOVE LOVE LOVE her blog, her writing and especially her ideas and opinions on homeschooling. If you have been contemplating homeschool or just looking for related ideas check her out.
Really you gotta : )

I just couldn't resist because she has so much loveliness on her blog,
so I put two peek posts up from
Hand Made Homeschool.
I could read her blog ALL day. 


She holds my hand

posted July 30, 2009

We walk along the street, the dog zig-zagging from one smell possibility to another, and her hand reaches out to find mine.

She is twelve years old.  Confident of her selfhood but not always of the world.  Beautiful. Logical. Full of deep, careful thoughts.  And she holds my hand.

This gesture of connection stretches my heart.  A heart that grew so much on the day she was born that it felt like it cracked its outer shell, and yet her smooth, cool fingers expand it again.

In the grocery store. On a walk. While camping. At the mall.

To be trusted by such a being, to be loved by such a girl-woman, to have her seek me out… It is a beautiful connection. It is a beautiful hand.  A beautiful world.

Loving the mothers we are

One of the hardest jobs we face is learning to appreciate the mothers we are. Like thieving quilters we steal bits of other mothers, from dreams, books and playground conversations, and stitch them together into an ideal mother. We hold it up to the light and admire its colours and patterns and despair that we will ever match its splendor.

We see Susan’s patience, Beth’s outdoorsy nature, and Caroline Ingall’s virtues. We envy Jan her homemaking skills, and Hannah her playful spirit. We steal these facets, but never the whole. Do we see that Susan’s patience is countered by permissiveness, or know that Beth worries that she’ll never teach her children math? No, because that realism is counter to the crazy quilt we seem driven to construct.

I have despaired. I have known deep in my heart that I will never be the playful, wise, patient, and virtuous mother of my dreams. One day I realized that if I were all of these women, or even one of these women, I wouldn’t be myself. I wouldn’t have my strengths and my quirks, and it wouldn’t be stories about me that my children tell when they are grown.

Am I a playful mother? No, but I’m a great storytime mother. And I a fabulous housewife? No, but I don’t worry when the kids make a crafty mess. I am me. I am beautiful and strange, riddled with weaknesses and buoyed by strengths.

It’s time to love the mother you are. Throw away the crazy quilt. Make instead a patchwork of *your* days. It will have tears, and missing threads, and little sticky jam fingerprints. It will have the colour and pattern of your life woven into its design. It will be wonderful and unique, just as you are a wonderful and unique mother.

by Handmade Homeschool

~A GREAT giveaway today- $50 credit to centuryfinds.com

I could browse and shop this place all day.

To win just share your favorite LOVELY blog in the comments section below.

Comments

[Chelsea B]

Very sweet blog...shes such a hands on happy mother!

I like this blog:
http://lobsterandswan.blogspot.com/
Love the creativity!

[SarahE]

Love Sarah's blog. She's wonderful. I don't have her on my reader, I have her in my 'favorites'. I save her blog for a day when I need a lift and go there and read every. single. post that I've missed since the last time (usually 5-8 days) I visited. Some blogs are just too uplifting to have in your reader - you need to save them for when you *really* need them.

One of my favorite blogs, a really lovely blog, is http://ordinarylifemagic.blogspot.com/. Her gorgeous blog was what inspired me to take my 'family blog' public and put work into it so that it was more of a window into the life of an 'unschooling' family and not just a 'look at my cute kids, Mom and Dad!' blog.

[Sarah]

I think I am too late for the giveaway, but here is a site I enjoy:
http://quilttaffy.blogspot.com It isn't just about fabrics and quilts. The ladies who write it are really funny

[Amy]

I, too, love Sarah's blog. She has an incredible way with words and her post on mothering that you have included here is one of my top favorites.

I would like to recommend and introduce to you a lovely blog that always makes me ache for simple beauty and creative outlet every time I visit --

Beauty That Moves by Heather
http://beautythatmoves.typepad.com/beauty_that_moves/

LOVE, love, love your blog idea. I'll be back!
Amy

[Brittney]

I really like this blog

http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/

[Chelsea]

another lovely site:
http://papertissue.tumblr.com/
I love the images

[Sarah]

One of the lovely blogs I frequent is
http://bizzybeecreationscrafts.blogspot.com/

[PS~Erin]

I loved this post so much. It is really touching.

I am excited to have found your blog as well! Sounds like a lovely place!

[Heather D.]

Love the creativity of this woman.

also love the blog thebrightsideproject.com

[Dani]

I just found your blog and I love this post! I'll have to come back for more!

[Kat]

Love this. My sister was homeschooled and she loved it.

http://vixenvintage.blogspot.com/ is a beautiful, lovely blog.

hugs,
Fritzi Marie

http://kitty1111.blogspot.com