Welcome !
* Introduction * Training our Daughters * Motherhood * Recipes * Handicrafts * Dressmaking * Organisation & Housework * Frugal Living *
I am a new homemaker starting totally from scratch! I have no handed-down wisdom (what a shame that the teaching of cooking and crafts was left to school - which failed to see the value of the subjects - when I could have learnt so much from my parents and grandparents).
I feel as though I am part of a generation who have barely been taught how to look after our own lives and now we have to start teaching the new generation! I wish I knew what I was doing!
I recently went to our local library to look for books on home- making. There was indeed a "Home-making" section, but it was virtually empty. Books about some of the following homemaking crafts could be found: in sections on "hobbies"; and books about taking care of children were mostly about "childcare", that is to say daycare by non-parents outside the home as opposed to "parenting", and so on... what I really wanted though was advice on running a household, household finances, simple/ country living: I couldn't find a thing!
The norm in our culture has become for both parents to work, spending the majority of their waking hours away from the home and their children, and full-time parenting and homemaking is both uncommon and seriously undervalued. It is my contention that parenting is the most important job you will ever undertake, and those of us who will and are able to do it full-time should be encouraged to see how important their job is.
Join me in supporting wives and especially mothers at home full-time by recognising and acknowledging that their career, albeit a labour of love (i.e., unpaid) is a very worthy & important one, that should not be further demeaned by the Government labelling us as "socially excluded"; rather, the status of the career of homemaker and especially of stay-at-home mother should be celebrated, uplifted and encouraged.
This page is intended (eventually) to be a resource for homemakers, especially in England.
I was so pleased when I recently came accross a wonderful homeschooling curriculum called "Training our Daughers to be Keepers at Home". It is a comprehensive homemaking course covering all of the subjects on this page, and much, much more. It is aimed at high-school aged girls who hope to fulfill the Biblical role of home-maker rather than pursue careers outside the home. (Proverbs 31, Titus 2 etc.) Although I don't have any daughters of my own (yet), I do hope to purchase this curriculum, partly for myself, and partly because I feel that it is worth at least introducing these things to boys, (1) in order that they may be able to take care of themselves (competent home-making wives are hard to find, and anyway, they may remain single) and (2) in order that they may appreciate the job that their wives are doing.
If I do have any daughters in the future, I would hope to use this curriculum with them alongside studying for GCSEs. I'm not totally convinced that the Bible teaches that all women should be "keepers at home", as I'm not sure that it applies to single women or those who cannot have children and, since there is no way of knowing whether your daughter will fall into one of those categories, it makes sense to prepare daughters also for possible careers outside the home.
Motherhood.................Go to Page
When my little boy, Tommy was just 6 months old, I had to go back to work part-time (three days a week) in order to keep my job, but I felt it was what I wanted to do, because I wasn't actually very happy being at home: I really struggled because essentially, I didn't know what I was doing.
It's a shame, as I had been really enthusiastic while I was expecting, seeing myself as an "earth mother", being really for breastfeeding (which as it turns out, I didn't actually enjoy, but did for 8 months) and we had - and I have to confess still have - a "family bed".)
So, for two of the days I worked per week, Tommy stayed with his Grandma and for the other day, he went to a very long-term trusted family friend who was also a registered childminder.
I worked for around 3 months, but wasn't very happy at work either because I had lost status by going "down" to part-time, and since the company made it clear that I wasn't really wanted full-time, I decided that I would take up my place on a degree (which I had been putting off for several years).
I carried on with the same childcare arrangements for the first year, and since the second year was abroad, we found a place for Tommy in a pre-school nursery. He was actually very happy there, but it was really during that year that I started to realise that we were both missing out: I was missing out on the most precious time of my child's early life, and when Tommy fell in the playground and grazed his face, I wasn't there to comfort him (and for all I know, he went uncomforted).
By the time we came back home, I was convinced that I wanted to stay at home, and I was beginning to come round to the opinion that not only do young children need their mothers, but also that it is right for mothers to be at home.
As it happened, Mark's work took him to Milton Keynes which, although not too far away from London to commute, the time & expense to do so for a college course rather than a paying job just couldn't be justified (the train fare alone would most likely wipe out the grant). Fortunately, Mark's job was just about well-paid enough for us to afford for me not to go out to work & so we decided I would stay at home.
For a long time, however, I really struggled with the loss of personal income, status, free-time and so on. It is only recently that I have been able to see that I am actually in a very priviledged position and that, in fact, it's probably the best thing I could be doing for Tommy.
Check out my light-hearted look at what Motherhood involves:
I have since
found a similar page on the "art of mothering", from
Mothering Magazine, which actually puts a price tag on some of
our duties! Well worth a look! http://www.naturodoc.com/artchildcare.html
You may also be interested in Canada's Nurturing Magazine - full
of weird & wonderful things like natural birthing,
breastfeeding, family bed, homeschool & full-time parenting!
Great for 'earth mothers'! http://www.nurturing.ca/home.html
Another tribute to motherhood: http://www.tss.photo.com/mom/trib.html
Recipes:.....................go to page
I'm not a great cook myself, and I don't have any fabulous recipes of my own to share just yet (although I'm working on it), but I collect recipes like they were going out of fashion! I've translated a couple of tried & tested Swedish recipes, and am putting together some recipe & food links. Take a look at what I've got so far!
Handicrafts...................go to page
I took up cross-stitch when I was expecting Tommy, as I though it was a good easy way in to handicrafts, but I'm ashamed to say that I still have a birth sampler with only a couple of inches sewn on to it, because I get so frustrated with mis-counting the stitches... I'm sure I'll get there one day, but I seem to have had much more luck with simple quilting projects (I made a cot quilt & bumper set for Tommy which was my first big success!)
I am currently working on a handicrafts page, with links and useful information on a wide variety of different crafts.
Organisation & Housework..........go to page
If ever anyone needed help with the
housework, it's me! There's some great links at Charity's corner
on this and lots of other homemaking subjects, as well as some
weird and wonderful stuff! http://www.alaska.net/%7ecccandc/charity.htm
I'll keep on looking for good links.-
http://pages.prodigy.com/getolife/links2.html
Frugal Living ...............go to page
One of the big hurdles to overcome with being a stay-at-home Mother and even more so with Home educating is the loss of one income. We're still struggling, but here are some answers from the US http://members.aol.com/DSimple/index.html
I'm also looking for links on Home Management and Budgeting. http://www.dacomp.com/budget1.html
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This site is under construction
Please
be patient - Links to follow
Recommendations to good sites would be most welcome!
© Sharon Mortemore
Last up-dated: 10 August, 1999
