"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience" (Romans 5:3).

Generally, the saying goes that God gives you opportunities to test your patience and boy does He do it with a toddler!  Many cite the verse I just read.  However, why don’t we instead reflect not on asking for patience itself, but rather, in how we ask for it.

Maybe if we are yelling at our kids a lot lately; acknowledging our yelling will help us direct our prayers more to how we can grow as Christians and mothers.  So, instead of being more patient when our kids frustrate us, maybe instead we acknowledge that they WILL frustrate us, but maybe we will focus on how we respond - by yelling less.

So, in my opinion, we can always ask for help or guidance or grace or even patience.  As seen here:

"If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?" 

If an earthly father will not answer his son cruelly when he asks for food, why should we expect our Father to be cruel when we honestly ask for help in some area? He will not upbraid of scold us when we ask for wisdom (James 1:5)

I am confident that He will not treat us meanly if we ask for patience.  This transitions directly into raising toddlers doesn't it?!

As our children grow into 2 and 3 year old kiddos, they are learning right and wrong, cause and effect, how to express feelings, and more.  It is amazing to see them grow, but it is also quite challenging at times.   

3 Ways to Survive the “Terrible Twos” and “Trying Threes”

1.  Give two choices that still result in what YOU want them to do, but you are giving them the freedom and independence to start make their own choices .

2.  Stay firm with choices, decisions, and consequences.

3.  Sit on the floor at their level when discussing or providing a consequence.  Reasoning with a toddler can be hard, but we can still explain why we made that decision, what would happen if we didn’t intervene, or “if this…the that” scenarios. 

And also…breathe…remember this isn’t forever…remember to enjoy even these challenging times…and always have WINE on hand!

"Spend some time being still before the Lord, waiting patiently to hear from Him. Pray that He would keep you from fretting over evil people who seem to prosper, over the ones who carry out evil devices. Ask that the Lord would help you to refrain from anger, and forsake

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Resources at The Whole Mama:

• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Homeschool Like a Pro PDF HERE
• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Whole Mama Survival Guide HERE
• Join our Whole Mamas Facebook Group of 500+ mamas HERE
• Follow me on Insta HERE
• Raise a "whole reader" through my online course HERE

Our goal this year at The Whole Mama is to help 100 mamas start homeschooling in 2024!

Will you join our movement of mamas ready to make powerful and positive changes for their children?

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Only 35% of public school students read at or above the Proficient level, in Texas the average drops to only 25% (U.S. Department of Education, 2017)

This data should make us all worry and want to take action.  Our kids need us.  

The Whole Readers Course is based on the belief that the reading experience should be comprehensive not piecemeal! This course will focus on:

• setting a positive mindset for both you and your child
• assessing where your child is in their reading
• providing you with a toolkit and game plan to get your child reading confidently as soon as possible

At the end of this course, mamas will have:

• a positive mindset
• materials and plan
• background knowledge
• confidence
• peace of mind

After working with their mamas, children will know...

• all 44 phoneme sounds and variations
• 179 sight words
• how to read with confidence

This episode will share more about this course and why our commitment to our children's reading is critical!

“There is massive evidence that self-selected reading, or reading what you want to read, is responsible for most of our literacy development. Readers have better reading ability, know more vocabulary, write better, spell better, and have better control of complex grammatical constructions. In fact, it is impossible to develop high levels of literacy without being a dedicated reader, and dedicated readers rarely have serious problems in reading and writing.”

-Stephen Krashen

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Resources at The Whole Mama:

• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Homeschool Like a Pro PDF HERE
• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Whole Mama Survival Guide HERE
• Join our Whole Mamas Facebook Group of 500+ mamas HERE
• Follow me on Insta HERE
• Raise a "whole reader" through my online course HERE

Our goal this year at The Whole Mama is to help 100 mamas start homeschooling in 2024!

Will you join our movement of mamas ready to make powerful and positive changes for their children?

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Been a year of growth, change, and putting myself out there.  What about for you?  It reminds me of when we decided to purchase our farm.  It was exciting and terrifying at the same time.  

But, we did it, and this farm life has opened so many doors for us.  If we hadn’t tried this, I would have always regretted it.

"We must all suffer from one of two pains:  the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.  The difference is discipline weights ounces while regret weighs tons."  -Jim Rohn

I know it is life, and we all experience regret, but I have made a promise to myself that if anything, I worked my hardest to achieve the impossible.  To never regret having never tried.  I hope you do the same.  

Is it scary?  Sure.

Will it be messy?  Yep.

I want to encourage every single mom out there to really look at their lives and reflect.  If you are in the right place doing the right things for your SOUL…keep going mama.  

But, if you are stuck, afraid, unhappy, unsure, or lost, I encourage you to listen to this episode!  

Lots of exciting things happening this month!!!

Lots of exciting things happening this month!!!

-Launch my “Whole Readers” online workshop for parents on April 29

-Lots of goodies coming via email – join my email list today
3 Ways to Get Kids Reading (iamthewholemama.com)

-Tons going on in the Whole Mamas group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2787115248231643

Support the show

Resources at The Whole Mama:

• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Homeschool Like a Pro PDF HERE
• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Whole Mama Survival Guide HERE
• Join our Whole Mamas Facebook Group of 500+ mamas HERE
• Follow me on Insta HERE
• Raise a "whole reader" through my online course HERE

Our goal this year at The Whole Mama is to help 100 mamas start homeschooling in 2024!

Will you join our movement of mamas ready to make powerful and positive changes for their children?

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One 2019 study estimated that "children who are regularly read to in the 5 years leading up to kindergarten are exposed to 1.4 million more words than children who aren’t read to during those years."

Wow!

 Let’s talk the benefits of babies, toddlers, and books!!!

Reading to our children at an early age helps to develop the roots of language as their brain develops.  It builds listening and communication skills, introduces important vocabulary, develops rhyming skills, fosters bonding between parents and their children, and contributes to cognitive and language development.   

Reading to children at this age helps with their attention span, creativity, and helps to teach life lessons and build character.

Book Lists for Babies and Toddlers:  
https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/book-lists-and-recommendations/book-lists---recommendations-for-ages-0-2.html

https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/book-lists-and-recommendations/favorites-classics/stories-to-share-family-read-alouds.html

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/g23644385/best-baby-books/

Resources:  

https://www.healthline.com/health/childrens-health/reading-to-children#benefits

https://littlefreelibrary.org/ourmap/

 
Lots of exciting things happening this month!!!

Launch my “Whole Readers” online workshop for parents on April 29

Lots of goodies coming via email – join my email list today
3 Ways to Get Kids Reading (iamthewholemama.com)

Tons going on in the Whole Mamas group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2787115248231643

Support the show

Resources at The Whole Mama:

• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Homeschool Like a Pro PDF HERE
• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Whole Mama Survival Guide HERE
• Join our Whole Mamas Facebook Group of 500+ mamas HERE
• Follow me on Insta HERE
• Raise a "whole reader" through my online course HERE

Our goal this year at The Whole Mama is to help 100 mamas start homeschooling in 2024!

Will you join our movement of mamas ready to make powerful and positive changes for their children?

Support the show

Are you struggling to find that minute to yourself?  Are your littles constantly tugging or crawling on you?  Or your high schooler has you up at night worrying?  Do you just need a minute to yourself?

This evening, it was crazy in the house with our boys.  I could feel myself getting really anxious.  I stepped outside on this incredible evening…it was cool…the sun was setting…and I walked over to water the newly planted herb, tomato, pepper, and berry plants.  

I’m not sure if it was the cool air, the mist of the water, or watching our pup peacefully stare at the sunset.  Or maybe it was the smell of fresh laid soil, greenery surrounding our home, or the peaceful swaying of our new little plants.  But, for a brief moment, I was completely relaxed.  

Just as with animals, gardens have a way of pulling us into a tranquil place, and as busy mamas these days, maybe a little garden is just what we need. 

I am here to give you some motivation and quick and easy tips to get started ASAP!

1.  Grow herbs or microgreens on the windowsill in your kitchen.

2.  Enjoy small succulent gardens in your kitchen/on your desk and air plants in your bathroom.

3.  If planting outside – start small and do this:  choose what you want to plant,  pick a spot with appropriate sunlight for your specific plants, test and prep your soil or purchase really good organic soil (for raised beds or pots), plant (and fertilize if needed), and water and tend to often.

4. Best advice I ever got that changed the way I approached gardening…nurture and care for your garden as you would do for your children.  Make sure it has the best nutrients, it is tended to and loved daily, and in return, your garden will thrive and provide.  

5. Try potted plants on your porch or deck.  They are easy, right near your door, and offer the same benefits as large gardens.

Benefits for Mama:   daily physical activity, daily exposure to sunlight and vitamin D, fresh air regularly, weight loss, organic and flavorful produce, stress relief and more!!!

For me, gardening/watering the garden/picking herbs and berries offers a moment just for me.  To walk peacefully among the plants…to take a few big deep breaths…to refocus…to settle in for the night.  Even if you start small…I encourage you to start a garden for your kids and for YOU!

“The glory of gardening:  hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature.  To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul.”  Alfred Austin

 
Lots of exciting things happening this month!!!

Launch my “Whole Readers” online workshop for parents on April 29

Lots of goodies coming via email

Support the show

Resources at The Whole Mama:

• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Homeschool Like a Pro PDF HERE
• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Whole Mama Survival Guide HERE
• Join our Whole Mamas Facebook Group of 500+ mamas HERE
• Follow me on Insta HERE
• Raise a "whole reader" through my online course HERE

Our goal this year at The Whole Mama is to help 100 mamas start homeschooling in 2024!

Will you join our movement of mamas ready to make powerful and positive changes for their children?

Support the show

Do animals really help us and our children?  How can animals help us teach our children basic learning skills, life skills, and even how to help build their character?  How do animals impact our children’s lives?

"Most notably, animal-assisted intervention research has provided evidence of positive outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), conduct disorder, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, as well as for children in medical settings [for reviews, see Nimer & Lundahl, 2007; O'Haire, 2013]. Meta-analyses of animal-assisted intervention research show a range of benefits, including increased social interaction and communication, as well as reduced stress (cortisol response), severity of ASD symptoms, and aggressive behavior" [Nimer & Lundahl, 2007; O'Haire, 2013].

When children interact with animals, they develop an understanding of responsibility, connection, and empathy.  

Animals teach us a lot about ourselves…our emotions…our worries…

Animals are excellent listeners, friends, and teachers.  They sure teach us a lot about life.

Animals can also help us when teaching our children skills in reading, writing, math, and science.

To me…raising children with animals helps children to:

-spend more time outside

-develop empathy and compassion

-learn about love and loss

-foster responsibility and leadership skills

-teach kids about sharing, patience, self-control, and unconditional love

You surely don’t have to have animals, chickens or other farm animals like we do…but you can incorporate animals into your home in a way that best suites your family…and I sure hope you do!

https://runwildmychild.com/benefits-of-animals/

https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/357792

Support the show

Resources at The Whole Mama:

• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Homeschool Like a Pro PDF HERE
• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Whole Mama Survival Guide HERE
• Join our Whole Mamas Facebook Group of 500+ mamas HERE
• Follow me on Insta HERE
• Raise a "whole reader" through my online course HERE

Our goal this year at The Whole Mama is to help 100 mamas start homeschooling in 2024!

Will you join our movement of mamas ready to make powerful and positive changes for their children?

Support the show

Are your kids down to just 20 minutes or so of recess at school each day?  Do they come home and immediately run to that video game or tablet?  How often are they actually outside per week?

Technology has drawn us more and more inside in front of a screen rather than outside in the fresh air.  I think we have forgotten all of the amazing benefits that the natural world can provide to our mental, physical, and intellectual well-being.  

As research continues to show the benefits of outdoor learning, educators and administrators must really look at what the data is saying about learning outside.

Outdoor learning offers a space of discovery, exploration, problem-solving, and more.  It specifically offers:

1. Health Benefits

2. Real-World Connections

3. Improvement in Mental Health

4. Concentration and Engagement 

What can you do?

1.   Plan and manage a small garden together

2.   Encourage kids to draw/write/reflect about experience outside

3.   Use outdoor time as a time to talk and teach

4.   Build vocabulary about what you see outside

5.   Attach experiences to texts

6.  Go on a hike together


RESOURCES:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-math-science/

https://www.parentingscience.com/outdoor-learning.html

https://www.schooloutfitters.com/article/6-unique-benefits-of-outdoor-learning

Support the show

Resources at The Whole Mama:

• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Homeschool Like a Pro PDF HERE
• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Whole Mama Survival Guide HERE
• Join our Whole Mamas Facebook Group of 500+ mamas HERE
• Follow me on Insta HERE
• Raise a "whole reader" through my online course HERE

Our goal this year at The Whole Mama is to help 100 mamas start homeschooling in 2024!

Will you join our movement of mamas ready to make powerful and positive changes for their children?

Support the show

Can we all agree that motherhood is tough?  Amazing?  Drives you crazy?  Makes you worry all the time?  Pulls you in 15 million directions?  Makes you have to remember everything so you don’t miss ANYTHING?  

Let me tell you…in this regard…motherhood reminds me a whole lot of owning a farm.  I will explain why today AND start this new month in the farm mode.

Let's chat about what drew us to live on a farm with our kids, why to me it’s a symbol of motherhood, AND how we can acknowledge that motherhood is tough.

As a mother and farm owner, I am raising the next generation and teaching them lessons about life through our experiences on the farm.  While reflecting on this amazing life, I also found many similarities between motherhood and farm living.  We are constantly feeding, worry about well-being, raising other beings from birth, providing a safe and comfortable space, and experiencing love and loss.

With children on the farm, I feel that they get a glimpse into what motherhood (fatherhood) or just parenting is really like - things like responsibility, obligation, duty, finances, safety, birth, loss…all of it.  We are pulled in a million directions with a never-ending list of things to do.  Sounds like motherhood doesn’t it?

Our job as mothers ISN’T easy.  From infertility to miscarriages to hard pregnancies…to breastfeeding…to working…to staying home…to the terrible twos and trying threes…to helping our kids read…to attitudes in middle school…to always worrying in high school…to letting go in college and when they get married…motherhood is tough.

"Motherhood has to be for the faint of heart. Motherhood is mission: Jesus calls and equips women to discipleship—following him as he brings about the spreading of the glory of God in every corner of the earth. In his Great Commission, Jesus called you and every disciple to go and send, even if the farthest you go is to the nursery and back. You are on mission, and your labors are unto the Lord."

https://www.crossway.org/articles/motherhood-is-for-the-faint-of-heart/

I recently read a blog post by https://herviewfromhome.com/when-god-made-a-mother/ and it was SO powerful…that I had to share. 

"And as God looked down at the babies, each one so fearfully and wonderfully made, He knew they needed a teacher. Someone to sit them on their laps, to read them His stories and teach them His truth. To sing them His songs and whisper His love for them. Yes, God-fearing women.

Women who would change the world by the shaping of tiny souls, while at the same time letting her calling shape her own soul. He knew there would be no one else like her. No one more p

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Resources at The Whole Mama:

• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Homeschool Like a Pro PDF HERE
• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Whole Mama Survival Guide HERE
• Join our Whole Mamas Facebook Group of 500+ mamas HERE
• Follow me on Insta HERE
• Raise a "whole reader" through my online course HERE

Our goal this year at The Whole Mama is to help 100 mamas start homeschooling in 2024!

Will you join our movement of mamas ready to make powerful and positive changes for their children?

Support the show

It's all about how Minecraft can be educational with balance, healthy choices, and parent discretion.  

Join me as a I chat with my 5 year old son, Rowan, about his love for this game and how it can help your kiddos!

Support the show

Resources at The Whole Mama:

• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Homeschool Like a Pro PDF HERE
• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Whole Mama Survival Guide HERE
• Join our Whole Mamas Facebook Group of 500+ mamas HERE
• Follow me on Insta HERE
• Raise a "whole reader" through my online course HERE

Our goal this year at The Whole Mama is to help 100 mamas start homeschooling in 2024!

Will you join our movement of mamas ready to make powerful and positive changes for their children?

Support the show

After this episode, you'll be heading to both the bookstore and wine store to grab your next read and wine!  

I'll share my recommendations of wines and a paired book for mama when she needs good read AND a book for the kiddos when you have story time but also need to sip on something!

Join me as we chat all about wine, stories, and more!

Support the show

Resources at The Whole Mama:

• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Homeschool Like a Pro PDF HERE
• Join the email list and grab your copy of my FREE Whole Mama Survival Guide HERE
• Join our Whole Mamas Facebook Group of 500+ mamas HERE
• Follow me on Insta HERE
• Raise a "whole reader" through my online course HERE

Our goal this year at The Whole Mama is to help 100 mamas start homeschooling in 2024!

Will you join our movement of mamas ready to make powerful and positive changes for their children?

Support the show