When I was in my 20s, I had two warring identities within myself. I was a professional musician and music teacher but also a mother of small children. Why were these warring identities, you ask? Because as a mother, I wanted music that was appropriate and edifying for my children, but as a musician, most […]
Redemption and Hope in Heidi
When my son first discovered Johanna Spyri’s Heidi nonchalantly tucked into our stack of daily reading books, he revolted. The book jacket, with the story’s namesake cartwheeling across a meadow high in the Alps, violated his 9-year-old principles — specifically, his tightly held adage, “thou shalt not read books featuring protagonists in pigtails.” “No way,” […]
Discovering and Sharing
I remember a decade or more ago while helping my friend Beth reorganize her homeschooling room, seeing her table spread with children’s picture books and chapter books, and saying, “You are allowed to get rid of books you don’t like.” Responding to her quizzical look, I said, “If reading a book out loud to one […]
The Hard Stories of Katherine Paterson
When I wake up each morning, the first thing I see as my eyes start to clear is a giant calendar. It represents the first 18 years of my son’s life, and more days are crossed off than not. I rub my eyes and try to focus and remember that the calendar is not really […]
Going Ghibli
Every Friday night, our family snuggles up on the couch with pizza, popcorn, and ice cream to watch a movie. It’s our way of sliding into home plate after the typical chaotic week of all of the activities in all of the places at all of the times. The only problem is, after years of […]
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