Parents often ask me, as a former piano teacher, when they should begin their child in piano lessons. When I recommend no earlier than second grade, they are amazed. Part of my answer comes from my experience teaching young children and finding that second grade is...
To the woman who gave life to my son, It was 17 years ago today, in an obscure town in Russia, you brought a new life into this world. You named him Nicolai, which in Russia, is commonly nicknamed Kolya. We will probably never know all of the reasons you had for...
I stumbled down the stairs in my early Monday morning stupor. Mornings aren’t my strong suit and it takes quite a bit of time for me to feel lucid. I closed the bathroom door for my first trip of the morning only to hear my teenage daughter yell up the stairs, “Mom,...
The Hearts at Home theme for 2011 is Mom Revolution. It focuses on change…transformation…and ultimately growth. Here at the Savage home we’ve been revolutionizing our eating. In January, I picked up Lysa TerKeurst’s new book, Made to Crave....
Today I’m guest posting over at www.michaelhyatt.com. The post is titled “Five Strategies That Make It Easier To Say No.” This is something we all need to be better at in order to keep our hearts at home! You can read the post and join the...
As Mark and I state in the first few sentences of our “College: Higher Education at Lower Cost” chapter in Living With Less So Your Family Has More book…”If you want to know one Savage parenting regret, just ask us about our experience leading...
It’s a snow day here in the Midwest and for a big part of the country. I just love bonus days like this! If you need some inspiration for how to use a bonus day try one or more of these ideas: 1. Bake cookies. (If you have school age kids, it’s a great...
I’m glad so many of you enjoyed Karen Ehman’s post yesterday on organization! I loved reading everyone’s posts. I’m definitely a Take Charge Tina with a little bit of Perfectionist Polly thrown in for good measure. I already made an adjustment...
Every child is a unique human being with their own personality, their own temperament, and their own learning style. As parents, Mark and I initially approached educating our five children with a one-size fits all mentality. Soon however, we began to consider...
Bundle up the family and go for a winter walk today. Make edible peanut butter play-doh – you can find the recipe here! If you have teens, have them plan a meal, go to the grocery store to purchase the ingredients, and make it completely by themselves later this...
For the past two summers I’ve ran a post on being a “Yes Mom.” It’s proven to be a very popular post that I thought would also be appropriate during Christmas break. Last summer my boys ran inside and said, “Mom, mom…it’s...
Mark and I have been working with our teenage sons this year on the concept of “freedoms.” We recently sat down with the boys and had a discussion about how we use our time. We discussed three categories that our activities fall into:Things we...
So after school today one of my son’s friends told him that I was the coolest mom ever. Why? Because I didn’t get mad when Austin somewhat inconvenienced me.Now I can tell you that there have been many times that I didn’t handle that kind...
I shared these thoughts in the Hearts at Home eNews last week and I don’t usually repeat myself from the eNews to the blog. However, I thought this message is important enough to repeat for the handful of you who receive both publications and to share them with...
Did you know there are six words no parent should ever say? These six words—when put together—can almost always make a liar out of you. Want to know what these words are?My-child-would-never-do-that.These words will always come back to haunt any parent who ignorantly...
