Blog – Page 3 – Carrie Lee Ferguson

/

February 26, 2020

What not to pack (the night before a family trip)

This is the story about a man who had an impulsive idea the night before he and his family took off on an extended overseas trip. First of all, you must understand this is a smart man. He’s an entrepreneur who started his own business from a home-office that paired as a guest room, and which was sandwiched between his young daughter’s bedroom and the master. The cacophony of shouts, singing, crying, stomping, et cetera, could have thwarted his enterprise, but he prevailed. Soon his business grew, and his home-office moved to a new part of the home, s[...]

Homemaking

/

February 18, 2020

in the home, in the world

I chose to be a stay-at-home mom. Back in 2006 when I was pregnant, I resigned from my teaching job, lucky that I had the choice. I didn’t know, really, what I was choosing. I didn’t know that my baby wouldn’t sleep anywhere other than in my arms or attached to my side. I knew that I’d be breastfeeding, but I didn’t know that it’d feel like that was all I’d be doing. I had never discerned the extremities of love and loneliness—not like this. Not until I sat, trapped, on my couch, holding the whole world in my arms. I loved[...]

Home Education, Homemaking

/

February 4, 2020

What to do when your a tired mom

Last week was a bit bumpy in our household and homeschool. Between sickness and lack of sleep, tempers were lost. I should mention that I was the first to lose it. I get triggered when I don’t feel valued. Wouldn’t it be great if my twelve year old could read my mind, and then go, “Thanks for doing all those dishes, Mom! Now that you’ve created a clean workspace, I’m going to get started on my work right away!” It’s probably more accurate to say that I get triggered when I don’t value my own worth and my own needs. Instead o[...]

Homemaking

/

January 27, 2020

Patience: It’s about Milestones

“All the way across! You did it!” I laugh. “Elle, you did it!” She was not quite five. She wore a t-shirt with a picture of kittens on it, a white skirt with gray capri’s underneath; socks, no shoes. We were at the park. It was before the play-equipment was replaced, and so the monkey bars were still there—eight, thick yellow bars from one perch to the other. I watched her little body swing and sway, eyes focused on the next rung, feet hovering high above the sandy bottom. She went from one end to the other, one motion of her arms at a time. [...]

Family Travel

/

January 20, 2020

Our european family trip: a 5 week itinerary

We get this question a lot: How did we choose where to go? It’s kind of like asking, where do you start? That’s why I created travel products to support other families who might be wondering, how do I even begin to plan a meaningful family trip? Here’s how it went for us: A few years prior, I was dreaming up a world/homeschool experience where our family would explore, learn and discover together. I knew Ancient Rome and the Renaissance would be topics of study with our seventh grader. From the physical power of the[...]

Home Education

/

January 14, 2020

Unschooling myself

I remember this moment clearly: I’m in the third grade. I sit in my desk in the second to last row when the teacher announces, “We are ready to begin learning our times tables.” I think—This is it! The moment I’ve waited for! I begin drumming my desk and pounding my feet in excitement. Finally, I would learn something supremely fundamental about life and how it works. “Carrie, I know you’re excited, but please sit still,” Ms. Cantrall says. I always sat still. I was the most proper student any elementary teacher could hope for. This w[...]

Family Travel

/

January 4, 2020

Rome: Twenty years later—with family

In 1999, while the media spoke the word Y2K approximately 2K times a day, I was all, carpe diem—I’d just resigned from my first full-time job and was headed to Europe for two months. I was based in the Czech Republic and took trains to nearby countries, including Italy, where Rome was a highlight of my travels. When I walked the Roman Forum, I couldn’t believe that my feet were walking a path more than two-thousand years old. The magnitude of time revealed itself in a way that was completely new to me. Then I discovered gelato. Even ice-cream revealed itsel[...]

Home Education

/

December 24, 2019

‘Tis the season for slowing

Outside, the natural world is slowing, but our culture is just getting going. Is it the season for slowing down or for getting the cookies made, the holiday cards sent, the errands run—maybe just one more trip to Target? Does the Elf on the Shelf have to do something funny every night? The choice is yours. What rhythm do you want to plug in to? Maybe you want to ban the busy, but how? There is too much to do! The wise traveler knows that checking off all the “top ten things to do” when visiting a city can leave one weary, and someti[...]

Home Education, Homemaking

/

July 31, 2019

She Graduates

She graduates . . . and you want to post a picture, say something about how time flies but you know that this will never encompass what you feel and maybe this is why you find it difficult to post on social media but you try anyway. You sit in tender recognition of this thing called time and growth, of transitions and of new era’s, of looking back and moving toward the new. You recall the different shapes of her, the chubby, the slim, the dimpled, those bitty feet; and the old angles of you both around the house, holding on to coffee tables for balance, bending[...]