Whether this is your very first week of school this year or your third, I think almost every one of us has hit the same moment. The plan looked beautiful on paper, and then the real week showed up and looked nothing like it. Today I sit with that honestly, and I introduce the Holy Family's own flight into Egypt, a beginning that didn't go according to plan either, and turned out to be exactly where God meant for them to be.

In this episode:

• Why the gap between your plan and your real first week is normal, not a warning sign
• Why new-year energy tempts us to launch everything at once, and why that backfires
• The Holy Family's flight into Egypt as a model for an unplanned beginning
• A callback to the weekly Examen from episode forty nine, and how to ease in instead of overhauling everything

More episodes to check out:

• Episode 55: Terrified of High School? A Charlotte Mason Answer for Catholic Moms 
• Episode 53: Feel Like You're Barely Holding It Together? A Charlotte Mason Look at Faithfulness 
• Episode 49: Feel Like the Week Fell Apart? A Charlotte Mason Reset 

Come join us:

 Want the full Charlotte Mason overview? Grab my free guide:
 Charlotte Mason For Catholic Moms

Join the conversation: Head over to Charlotte Mason for Catholic Homeschool Moms and tell us: What do you want this year to actually feel like? Join HERE

Subscribe to Peaceful Catholic Homeschooling:
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Small steps. Faithful days. That is how your Catholic Homeschool Gets Built.

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There's a fear that hits almost every homeschool mom around the same time, usually right as her oldest turns ten or eleven. That quiet, creeping worry that this is all about to get real. Transcripts. Credits. College. Today I sit with that honestly, and I introduce St. John Bosco, who gave his entire life to working with teenage boys and built his whole approach around three things, reason, religion, and loving kindness.

In this episode:

• Why the fear feels so much bigger once high school comes into view
• Why the same principles you've already built don't get replaced, they deepen
• St. John Bosco's Preventive System, reason, religion, and loving kindness
• Permission to not have it all figured out yet

More episodes to check out:

• Episode 54: Does Your Husband Feel Left Out? A Charlotte Mason Homeschool Fix 
• Episode 53: Feel Like You're Barely Holding It Together? A Charlotte Mason Look at Faithfulness 
• Episode 50: Six Steps, One Climb: Meet the ASCENT Framework 

Come join us:

 Want the full Charlotte Mason overview? Grab my free guide:
 Charlotte Mason For Catholic Moms

Join the conversation: Head over to Charlotte Mason for Catholic Homeschool Moms and tell us: What do you want this year to actually feel like? Join HERE

Subscribe to Peaceful Catholic Homeschooling:
 Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Small steps. Faithful days. That is how your Catholic Homeschool Gets Built.

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I think we dance around way too much in Catholic homeschool circles, and it has nothing to do with a booklist or a timetable. It's your husband. Today I talk honestly about what happens when homeschooling quietly becomes mom's project instead of the whole family's vocation, and I introduce Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, canonized together as a couple, who built their home as genuine partners.

In this episode:

• Why it becomes "mom's project" by default, not by design
• Finding one small, visible role that's genuinely his
• Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin's real marriage, and what their letters actually reveal
• A simple conversation to start with your husband this week

More episodes to check out:

• Episode 53: Feel Like You're Barely Holding It Together? A Charlotte Mason Look at Faithfulness
• Episode 52: Am I Doing Enough? A Charlotte Mason Answer for Catholic Moms 
• Episode 50: Six Steps, One Climb: Meet the ASCENT Framework

Come join us:

 Want the full Charlotte Mason overview? Grab my free guide:
 Charlotte Mason For Catholic Moms

Join the conversation: Head over to Charlotte Mason for Catholic Homeschool Moms and tell us: What do you want this year to actually feel like? Join HERE

Subscribe to Peaceful Catholic Homeschooling:
 Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Small steps. Faithful days. That is how your Catholic homeschool gets built.

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This past Sunday, our priest preached on faithfulness, and it landed on me in a way I wasn't expecting. Today I sit with that honestly, drawing on Isaiah's beautiful image of a servant fastened like a peg in a trustworthy place, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a love that stays, wound and all, no matter what.

In this episode:

• Why faithfulness isn't willpower, it's something that holds you, not the other way around
• Isaiah's image of being fastened like a peg in a trustworthy place
• The Sacred Heart of Jesus as the source of real, sustaining faithfulness
• A simple, tangible way to carry this into your homeschool week

Scripture referenced: Isaiah 22:19-23

More episodes to check out:

• Episode 52: Am I Doing Enough? A Charlotte Mason Answer for Catholic Moms
• Episode 51: What Should Narration Look Like? A Charlotte Mason Age Breakdown 
• Episode 50: Six Steps, One Climb: Meet the ASCENT Framework 

Come join us:

 Want the full Charlotte Mason overview? Grab my free guide:
 Charlotte Mason For Catholic Moms

Join the conversation: Head over to Charlotte Mason for Catholic Homeschool Moms and tell us: What do you want this year to actually feel like? Join HERE

Subscribe to Peaceful Catholic Homeschooling:
 Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Small steps. Faithful days. That is how your Catholic homeschool gets built.
 The Catholic Grandma

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There's a question I hear more than almost any other in this whole community, and it's not about booklists or timetables. It's quieter than that. Am I doing enough. Today I sit with that question honestly, drawing on thirty-four years in the classroom and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux's own Little Way, the truth that small things, done with great love, are enough.

In this episode:

• Why it's almost always the moms doing the most who ask this question
• Why "enough" is usually an invisible, ever-moving target
• Saint Thérèse's Little Way and her "elevator" image of being carried by God
• Trading "did I do enough" for "did I love well today"

Scripture referenced: 2 Corinthians 12:9

More episodes to check out:

• Episode 45: Stretched Too Thin? What St. Zélie Martin Teaches You About Homeschool Capacity 
• Episode 44: Feeling Chaotic? Naming Your Charlotte Mason Homeschool Atmosphere 
• Episode 50: Six Steps, One Climb: Meet the ASCENT Framework 

Come join us:

 Want the full Charlotte Mason overview? Grab my free guide:
 Charlotte Mason For Catholic Moms

Join the conversation: Head over to Charlotte Mason for Catholic Homeschool Moms and tell us: What do you want this year to actually feel like? Join HERE

Subscribe to Peaceful Catholic Homeschooling:
 Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Small steps. Faithful days. That is how your Catholic homeschool gets built.
 The Catholic Grandma

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If your three-year-old hands you one sentence and your five-year-old hands you a few more, and you've been wondering whether that means one of them is behind, this episode is for you. I walk through the narration ladder, what to actually expect rung by rung, and introduce Saint John the Evangelist, whose own Gospel was the fullest, most mature narration in Scripture, decades in the making.

In this episode:

• Why narration isn't one skill, it's a ladder every child climbs at their own pace
• What to expect at each stage, ages 3-5, 6-9, and 10 and up
• Why pushing a child up the ladder too soon backfires
• Saint John the Evangelist as a model of narration maturing over a lifetime

More episodes to check out:

• Episode 47: Is That Really Narration? A Charlotte Mason Guide to Telling It Back 
• Episode 50: Six Steps, One Climb: Meet the ASCENT Framework 
• Episode 46: Drowning in Booklists? A Charlotte Mason Guide to Choosing Subjects 

Come join us:

 Want the full Charlotte Mason overview? Grab my free guide:
 Charlotte Mason For Catholic Moms

Join the conversation: Head over to Charlotte Mason for Catholic Homeschool Moms and tell us: What do you want this year to actually feel like? Join HERE

Subscribe to Peaceful Catholic Homeschooling:
 Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Small steps. Faithful days. That is how your Catholic homeschool gets built.
 The Catholic Grandma

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This is episode fifty, and it's the moment six weeks of work finally comes together. My daughter sat down with her finished one page plan this week and said something that stuck with me, it doesn't feel like six separate things anymore, it feels like one thing. Today I show her, and you, exactly what that one thing is, and why it's not an accident.

I walk through the Psalms of Ascent, the songs pilgrims of old sang while climbing toward Jerusalem, one step at a time, and show how your own homeschool plan has been the very same kind of climb.

This episode completes a six-part series. Catch up on the whole journey:

• Episode 44: Feeling Chaotic? Naming Your Charlotte Mason Homeschool Atmosphere
• Episode 45: Stretched Too Thin? What St. Zélie Martin Teaches You About Homeschool Capacity
• Episode 46: Drowning in Booklists? A Charlotte Mason Fix for Choosing Subjects 
• Episode 47: Is That Really Narration? A Charlotte Mason Approach to Telling It Back 
• Episode 48: Feeling Frazzled by 9am? A Charlotte Mason Way to Order Your Day
• Episode 49: Feel Like the Week Fell Apart? A Charlotte Mason Reset 

Come join us:

 Want the full Charlotte Mason overview? Grab my free guide:
 Charlotte Mason For Catholic Moms

Join the conversation: Head over to Charlotte Mason for Catholic Homeschool Moms and tell us: What do you want this year to actually feel like? Join HERE

Subscribe to Peaceful Catholic Homeschooling:
 Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Send us Fan Mail

If your homeschool week didn't go the way you planned, subjects kept getting pushed to the end of the day, and by the end of the week you felt like the plan you'd worked so hard to build had totally fallen apart, this episode is for you. I show my daughter, and you, the very last piece of the plan, a short weekly check-in modeled on Saint Ignatius of Loyola's own Examen, so adjusting never has to feel like failing.

In this episode:

• Why a plan without regular reflection eventually breaks
• Saint Ignatius and the Examen, gratitude first, honesty second, one small step forward third
• The three weekly questions that complete your one page plan
• Why adjusting the plan is just a normal part of homeschooling

More episodes to check out:

• Episode 48: Overwhelmed by Your Own Schedule? With the Help of St. Benedict
• Episode 47: Is That Really Narration? A Charlotte Mason Guide to Telling It Back
• Episode 46: Drowning in Booklists? A Charlotte Mason Guide to Choosing Subjects 

Come join us:

 Want the full Charlotte Mason overview? Grab my free guide:
 Charlotte Mason For Catholic Moms

Join the conversation: Head over to Charlotte Mason for Catholic Homeschool Moms and tell us: What do you want this year to actually feel like? Join HERE

Subscribe to Peaceful Catholic Homeschooling:
 Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Small steps. Faithful days. That is how your Catholic homeschool gets built.
 The Catholic Grandma

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If you've got all the pieces, your atmosphere, your capacity, your subjects, your narration rhythm, and still feel frazzled the moment the morning goes sideways, this episode is for you. I show my daughter how to order her day around sequence instead of the clock, so one hard moment doesn't take down the whole day.

I introduce St. Benedict, whose Rule ordered an entire monastery's day around prayer and work, ora et labora, a place and time for everything.

In this episode:

• Why a timetable is not a bell schedule
• Why order matters more than the exact time
• St. Benedict's Rule as a model for ordering your hours
• Building your five rhythm blocks, and where feast days naturally fit in

Scripture referenced: 1 Corinthians 14:40

More episodes to check out:

• Episode 47: Is That Really Narration? A Charlotte Mason Guide to Telling It Back 
• Episode 46: Drowning in Booklists? A Charlotte Mason Guide to Choosing Subjects 
• Episode 45: Stretched Too Thin? What St. Zélie Martin Teaches You About Homeschool Capacity 

Come join us:

 Want the full Charlotte Mason overview? Grab my free guide:
 Charlotte Mason For Catholic Moms

Join the conversation: Head over to Charlotte Mason for Catholic Homeschool Moms and tell us: What do you want this year to actually feel like? Join HERE

Subscribe to Peaceful Catholic Homeschooling:
 Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Small steps. Faithful days. That is how your Catholic homeschool gets built.
 The Catholic Grandma

Send us Fan Mail

If you've ever closed a book and wondered whether what naturally happens next in your home, the questions, the little bits of story your kids tell you, actually counts as narration, this episode is for you. My daughter's boys already love being read to and already narrate a little on their own, and she still wondered if she needed to be doing something more official. I show her, and you, why simple is exactly the point.

I introduce Our Lady's own pondering heart from Luke's Gospel as the real model for what we're asking of our children in narration, receiving, sitting with it, then letting it come back out in their own words.

In this episode:

• What narration actually is, and why it's simpler than you think
• Why a child listens differently when they know they'll be asked to tell it back
• Our Lady's pondering heart as the model for receiving before telling
• Four simple narration prompts for different kinds of learners

Scripture referenced: Luke 2:19

More episodes to check out:

• Episode 46: Drowning in Booklists? A Charlotte Mason Guide to Choosing Subjects 
• Episode 45: Stretched Too Thin? What St. Zélie Martin Teaches You About Homeschool Capacity
• Episode 44: Feeling Chaotic? Naming Your Charlotte Mason Homeschool Atmosphere 

Come join us:

 Want the full Charlotte Mason overview? Grab my free guide:
 Charlotte Mason For Catholic Moms

Join the conversation: Head over to Charlotte Mason for Catholic Homeschool Moms and tell us: What do you want this year to actually feel like? Join HERE

Subscribe to Peaceful Catholic Homeschooling:
 Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Small steps. Faithful days. That is how your Catholic homeschool gets built.
 The Catholic Grandma

Send us Fan Mail