Mere Motherhood: Morning times, nursery rhymes, and my journey toward sanctification by
Cindy Rollins
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
I have been homeschooling for 10 years now. When a friend recommended that I read this book, I kind of rolled my eyes and said no. I didn't want another book to remind me of all the things I have done wrong, missed, forgotten, or expose even more of my failures than I already know about. My children aren't musical, we don't live on a farm (even though we considered it at one point), we don't make our own food, and..we 'only' have three children. Despite my shortcoming, I feel fairly confident in the path we have taken and the choices we have made along our journey. I've come to understand that I don't have to look or act like the typical homeschool family.
However, I decided to crack this book open, written by a mother of 9, and push past the guilt I already felt at having stopped at three. That guilt was my own doing though, not Cindy's. In fact, I never felt one ounce of guilt while reading her story chronicling her journey as a homeschooling mother. She shared her joys and victories, but also her low points too. I laughed my way through her chapter about the old farm house, envisioning myself in that same situation, in which I would have had quite similar reactions. Is it bad that I was even a little happy that it wasn't picture perfect for her? I don't think so, it simply made her relatable to me, even though I only had 1/3 the amount of children.
I enjoyed the fun stories with her boys, the sweetness of a daughter entering their lives, and appreciated the struggles that she shared in her marriage. Nothing specific is shared, but just enough to know that "I am not alone". Cindy and I still lead very different lives, but we could spend hours chatting because of our common bond of being a homeschooling mother.
I truly enjoyed reading this book. It's not a how to book, but more of a 'how I was". I closed the book inspired to try some ideas during the read aloud time I do with my own children. I may quit my failing rotating chore chart and just stick with assigned tasks. I'm going to read Shakespeare to my children, and try out Plutarch too. We will read more poetry, and I want to look into the skill of narration. Like Cindy, I will never own chickens, and I am quite certain that a 200 year old farm house is the wrong home for me, even though it's what I dream and romanticize about. Also, like Cindy, we are a baseball family. It's in our blood, even if we did the fight the schedule at first.
Mere Motherhood is a sweet story that any homeschooling mother would enjoy. It's an "easy read" that I enjoyed while my children were at baseball and softball practice, something Cindy could relate to :)
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