For the past six months, I’ve been in new baby heaven. Blissful, love at first sight, sweet smelling, all night cuddles heaven.

While I’ve been operating in a bit of a sleep-deprived fog, I’ve had the chance to relish my new guy and relive the babyhoods of each of my littles.

This time has reminded me of five lessons that can be applied to all my children.

1. Cuddle time is a need.

I’m a type-A, list making, get-er-done type of girl, so sometimes stopping to snuggle seems like time I don’t have. That’s pretty backwards, isn’t it?

Having a baby who regularly cuddles in for a nursing session, has reminded me that slowing down for snuggles is so good.

My theory is that just like my baby, my big littles (heck, my husband too!) have a built-in minimum daily requirement for snuggles — kind of like vitamin C!

That makes getting together on the couch under a blanket and reading a good book, even on the busiest of days, a very good idea for all of us, even me.

I’ve noticed with surprise that my less snuggly ones will also sit close if I make space in my schedule and invite them in.

2. Eye contact is a big deal.

I’ve found that relationships grow through simple, regular contact, starting with eye contact.

I’ve seen people try to entertain my baby with silly voices, bouncing, and more. But you know what gets the quickest smile from him? Looking him in the eyes and talking with him. That’s it and he’ll just light up!

That simple, I’m-giving-you-all-my-attention type of contact works for my baby and not surprisingly for my big kids too.

3. Sometimes all you need is a nap.

Can I get an amen?

This is true for my baby, for me, for all of us.

Not enough sleep can make a person at any age feel miserable and emotionally unpredictable. When any of us is having a ornery day like that, it calls for nap time.

Homeschooling allows us the freedom to make sleep a priority. When necessary, we’ll push the books aside and get in a good sleep.

4. Snacks are vitally important.

If my baby is hungry, he cries. If my other children are hungry, well, they don’t exactly cry, but it has a similar feeling to it.

They whine, they lay around, and are generally sluggish. Some of them are too young to recognize this as hunger.

If I’m quick on my feet that day, I usually identify it and call everyone into the kitchen for a snack to refuel.

And finally …

5. Each day matters.

Growth is easily seen in infants, but the growing big kids do is a bit more hidden.

If I’m not looking closely, I can miss the moment when my 9-year-old does his chores without reminder or my 7-year-old writes his name a little neater or my 5-year-old starts reading without sounding out the words.

I want to record these moments, much like the little hand written notes in a calendar I keep to track my baby’s growth.

Because even though it often makes me misty eyed to say goodbye to one stage, I am grateful to say hello to the next things too.

All of this adds up to me allowing more margin in our days to take care of my people.

Sometimes I need to remind myself that my homeschooling goal isn’t to merely check off the boxes in my kids’ education, but to love on and learn alongside these sweet little people I’m blessed to raise.

Have you had a new baby recently? What lessons have you learned that have helped you as a homeschooler?

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

The following is a guest post by Beth Watson of Classical Conversations at Home.

“All that I own, I carry with me.” ~ Cicero

This quote has stayed with me since I read a blog post a little while back by Ruth at GraceLaced. It made me ponder. What do I own? What do my children own?

What do I want them to carry with them long after this homeschooling journey we’re on has ended?

So much of what I do today is based on my dreams or hopes for their futures. While I would love for them to be great at baseball or whizzes in the kitchen, more importantly I want them to be kind, strong, thoughtful, adventurous, creative, and loving.

I want them to share light and hope to those around them.

 Rather than listing skills I hope they possess, I’d like to focus on truth, beauty, and character. What can I give them that they can own and carry with them for a lifetime?  After a little bit of thought, here’s my short list:

The ability to learn

While I lead them to learn as young ones, I want to equip them with the skills needed to bravely continue this task on their own as they grow. 

One of the traits about my husband that has always impressed me is his ability to read about something and do it. For example, laying tile floor on a diagonal throughout our kitchen. I’m always good for making the challenge more exciting, like not only requesting tile flooring, but also laying it on the diagonal. He loves me for it!

The joy of reading

So far two of my guys have learned to read and one is itching to start. With my oldest, I’ve recently seen him take off quite a bit in independent reading. He is required to do it daily, but has on his own committed more time to reading lately.

It’s exciting to teach them to read and to watch them fall in love with it! One recently said, “I can read anything now!” to which the other replied, “Except Spanish.” Ha!

But, really, we expose them to good books through read-alouds, stocked shelves and library time. In the same way we study art, we intentionally pick the best of the best books, so that their eyes and minds are trained toward beauty.

Curiosity to explore

Have you heard someone say children need to be bored sometimes to allow for creativity and ingenuity? I think the same can be said for exploration.

We need to provide time and opportunities for exploration. As a type-A doer, I frequently need to remind myself to give my guys space and time where no hurry or deadline exists.

Care for others

In humility and strength, I hope for them to see the value in others, to kneel to comfort and to lead in what’s right.  Thankfully sibling relationships afford plenty of opportunities to practice putting others first.

Truth that secures and faith that believes

We believe all of these good guy qualities will be useless if they aren’t rooted in the truth.

What good is good without truth? In all that we do, my husband and I are striving to point them to the truth through the reading, study, and memorization of the Bible.

What good is truth unless you believe? This is ultimately a choice each of my littles will make for themselves.

Their faith will only be theirs when they believe on their own. And once they own it, it will carry them wherever they go – with or without me.

Your list may differ from mine.  Some things on my list are more important than others and really I think my list could go on and on.

But, isn’t it great to think that what our children claim as their own from what we give them, they will always have with them.  The biggest question is – what are we giving them?

Do share what would make your list!

Amelia Bedelia. Pippi Longstocking. Anne of Green Gables.

These are just a few of my favorite book characters from growing up.

I love reading. I always have. My husband likes “reading” by listening to books. We’ve both found a place in teaching our children to read classically.

Our children are ages 7, 5, 4, and 2. I’d like to think we are teaching all of them to read right now and I believe the classical model supports this.

How so?

We spend lots of time enjoying words from a wide range of books in a variety of modes. Classical education first prescribes phonics teaching to develop pathways and a sturdy foundation for a child.

Symbols (letters) make sounds and those sounds put together make words. Start by teaching the alphabet and the sounds each letter makes. The brain is wired to make these connections, which will later help when reading, writing or spelling more difficult words.

Next, read lots of quality material. Before you start thinking I mean Plato, Shakespeare, etc., let me give you a few things we look for when selecting books to read.

• Has the story stood the test of time? Although the times may have changed, is the story still appealing and enjoyable? Think an original Winnie the Pooh or Curious George storybook.

• Does it teach something good? Think Aesop’s Fables or Pilgrim’s Progress.

• What books do I love? There are so many books that I remember with fondness from my childhood and would be sad if my littles missed out on them. For me, that’s Fuzzy Rabbit or The Secret Garden (& so many more! including the titles listed above.)

If you’re wondering where to start, check out the lists found at 1000 Good Books .

What does this look like in our daily life?

In the morning, my children often turn on the iPod while we’re eating breakfast to listen to The Boxcar Children or A Bear Called Paddington.

After breakfast, they each memorize a Bible verse from their Awana books and draw about what the verse means.

Mid-morning, I work on a phonics program with my 5 year old. Throughout the day, my 7 year old and I read toddler type books to my 4 and 2 year old.

A current favorite of my daughter is We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. It gets read a lot. : ) Before nap, we snuggle on the couch to read Anne of Green Gables together.

While everyone is enjoying rest and quiet in the afternoon, my 7 year old reads something fun to himself. Right now, he’s reading The Jungle Book, followed by any number of animal books.

Anytime we jump in the car, they all beg my husband to put on the next chapter of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. He happily obliges, because he enjoys the story too.

And finally, at bedtime, my husband reads to them from the Bible, while allowing each of them to take a turn at reading the next three chapter titles.

My 7 year old is the only independent reader right now among our bunch. Two years ago we completed Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I was looking for a strong phonics emphasis and chose this one for its ease of use. Since then, we’ve simply been reading.

I, myself, have actually been doing a great deal of reading recently too. My reading has been on classical education. I was happy to discover my natural inclination to simply allow him to read fit the classical model.

As Leigh Bortins says in The Core, reading should occur in 3 ways:

1. your child should read at his reading level
2. your child should read below his reading level
3. you should read to your child above his reading level

Why is this?

Reading at their level gently challenges them, reading below their level is enjoyable for them and allows for mastery of common words, and reading to them above their level exposes them to an immense vocabulary.

An audio book above their level can do the same thing. All of this exposure will give them a recognizable comfort around words, which has the intent of making reading far less intimidating.

Through all this reading, both by them and to them, we’re reveling in the beauty and diversity of the English language and teaching them that reading is fun, especially when a really good story is involved!

For my 7 year old, this has worked like a charm. For my 5 year old, I see it working a little more slowly, but working nonetheless.

So, for us, we’ll keep with this simple approach to reading. Because reading well is fundamental to becoming a lifelong learner of any and all subjects, which is, after all, one of our greatest goals in homeschooling our children.

How about you? How do you approach reading in your home?