by Brooke Shields.After baby number five was born, I was really struggling with my emotions. (You can read a little bit about my story here.) This book was recommended to me from two different sources. So I finally broke down and picked it up. Then I let it sit in my bag for a few days. It wasn't until after I had been to the doctor that I felt brave enough to give it a read. What I read was a story of excrutiating pain as Brooke describes her journey to first become pregnant and then to enjoy her mother hood.
She writes in such a way, that I now feel as if we're friends :) It's an easy read- I read the whole thing in one long afternoon. It can be emotional at times, as she describes the pain and emotions that she was feeling. She also does a really good job of explaining what her husband and close friends and family were seeing. It would be a good book to read so you can recognize the signs of post-partum depression not only in yourself but in a woman you love.
However, if you are currently struggling with post-partum, I hesitate in offering this as a resource for you. I read this book after I had been to the doctor. My fears had been confirmed and I was diagnosed and treated (read about my treatment here). Two days later as I was reading this book I kept thinking, "well maybe I'm not so bad, maybe I don't really have this." Can you believe it? part of the struggle is in the depression itself, you don't really think it's that bad. And even Brooke describes a very scary time when she took herself off of her medication. Another factor is that her depression was very acute and dramatic while mine was the weight of impending doom always hanging over me with a few moments of anxiety and a panic attack mixed in.
Understanding post-partum depression is important for women everywhere. Some of the new things I've learned is that it can hit at any time. While you're still pregnant, several months after giving birth, when you stop nursing...pretty much any time there's a potential for a hormonal imbalance! Get the knowledge you need to keep yourself and your loved ones safe. Read this book about one woman's struggle and talk to your doctor if you have any concerns.
) that helped me to see that reading is not the all there is. It's more important to teach kids about the world around them (science) and allow them to build a thirst for knowledge. Once I stopped pushing on the reading, things really improved.
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. The units are based on character traits and are multi-level. All the kids study the same thing at the same time. Many times during the school year we don't do this part and just check out stacks of library books. It serves the same purpose- to introduce the kids to a variety of topics and to enjoy the learning process. Using Konos is my way of being intentional about choosing the topics and projects and the other method is the kids picking out what they're interested in. Both are valid methods of teaching and we utilize them both.
series offers a little bit of help when it comes to finding quick and easy meals for your crock pot. 
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I recently posted a review of the book 
. I love how the book is designed with each chapter giving you a glimpse into one family's life. It helped me see that there are as many ways to homeschool as there are reasons for doing so. I hadn't started, yet, but found these illustrations to be very liberating. We didn't need to say the Pledge of Allegience every day for school to be happening in my home. I think that we have a pretty laid back approach to schoolwork. Many days we don't pull out our books at all! But my kids are learning and growing in all areas of their lives. So, here's a brief look at how we get the morning started.
This was before it became all the rage to use cloth diapers. It took forever to find a store that sold diaper pins! Of course, now there are a lot more choices in both diapers and diaper covers available. We do use disposable diapers when we are out and about and for overnight, as well. I typically spend less than $5 per month per child on diapers. We recently had our fifth child. We have been primarily using cloth diapers for the past seven years on about two children at a time. Oh, the money we have saved!
Another place to use cloth is napkins. It's just as easy to set the table using cloth instead of paper. In times past, we have left one napkin per place on the table throughout the day. We keep a basket in our kitchen for dirty towels and rags, and we just toss these in there after dinner, ready to be washed with the next load.
. She takes this monumental tasks of keeping a clean home and breaks it down into pieces (called Baby Steps). She helps you build one habit at a time until the jobs that are required become natural.
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