Raising Your Spirited Child

I always wanted to be a mom, but when I had 3 boys in less than 4 years my life became crazy. Then I decided to homeschool them and it became more crazy than ever. Many years later I discovered one was borderline autistic/dyslexic and another was ADHD, but I'm jumping ahead. When the boys were 2, 4 and 6 I thought I was about to lose my mind and then I discovered Mary Sheedy Kurchinka's book, "Raising Your Spirited Child." The book saved my sanity as I discovered some children were just "more" than others. She defines this as spirited and I discovered all three of my boys came under the diagnosis of "Spirited" and so did I. No wonder my life was tough. With understanding came the ability to cope, and so I did.

The problem with choosing to homeschool is that if you ever have a bad day (and believe me, you will have many) you have to choose who you complain to. For most people the answer is obvious, put your children in school. But for the committed homeschool parent the answer is not to let someone else look after your children during the day, but to work through whatever the problem is. It is in facing the problem we can solve it and that is what homeschooling is all about.

This blog is about my journey and the journey of fellow homeschool moms, many with spirited children.  This blog is about real life homeschooling with kids who are not quietly compliant and immediately obedient. This blog is about real life, real moms, real kids and real situations, not the ones you read about in homeschool magazines.

Many stories will be written in the first person, and not always by me. There are multiple moms contributing to this blog.