Review: Flourish- Balance for Homeschool Moms

I have another wonderful book to recommend today called Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms from Apologia Educational Ministries. When I was reading it, people kept asking if I was reading it for a review. I said I was, but that I would have read it regardless. Flourish is now a staple homeschool book on my shelf. I will refer back to it often and encourage all my homeschooling friends to read it. It’s that good!

Mary Jo Tate suddenly found herself single, with four boys to raise. She had already been homeschooling and didn’t want to stop in order to get a job to support her family. Flourish is where she shares what she has done all these years to make it work! I really learned a lot and have already put some of her suggestions into practice.

If you look at the Flourish website, you’ll find a sample chapter and the table of contents. But let me share what you’ll find in each chapter here:

Life Management

Her story, “Life Management”–not time management, FREEDOM (where each letter gives you something for your “toolbox”), how to schedule your time (using a time log), setting goals, planning tools (goals, plans, to-do lists), being OK with interruptions, adjusting your attitude, how to take care of your health, training your children, making family memories, home management, homeschooling, how to flourish if you’re a single mom, running a home business effectively, and how to figure out what to do if it’s not working.

Resources and Forms

There are 2 appendices in the back of the book: Recommended Resources (wonderful books about life management, family life, homemaking, home education, reading, single parents, and home business) and Planning Forms (Pre-Book Self-Evaluation, Time Log, Big Dream, Yearly Review, Yearly Goals, Monthly Calendar, Weekly Plan, and Post-Book Progress Check).

I really found the Planning Forms to very helpful. I filled out the evaluations, answered the questions about my dreams, and filled out goals and plans! Somehow this was different from how I had done similar exercises before. Mary Jo teaches in a way that really related to me. She understands how hard it is, but she knows using these tools can make life work better.

Do it all?

These are some of the things she shared that made the most impact on me: People ask her “How do you do it all?” She says she doesn’t. And she redefines “it all.” “True balance doesn’t mean spending an equal amount of time and attention on each area of your life. It means spending an appropriate amount of time and attention on each area.” She doesn’t allow whining–not from her kids and not from herself! If don’t have time for something, ask yourself, “How can I make time for it?” Make a list of 5-minute jobs that you can quickly do if you have a few minutes. (I did this one this week and cleaned out part of my car.) The goal-setting was fun. For my Big Dream list, I said that I’d like to plan for my husband and me to go to Israel for our 20th Anniversary! And the most important thing I learned was to make a “Stop-Doing” list. I already have several things on it that I will stop doing when we start back up to school next month.

Here is a final quote I’ll leave you with. You’ll just have to pick up the book to see how it’s done!

“Just half an hour of weekly planning will multiply your productivity and relieve stress and frustration.”

Flourish: Balance for Homeschool Moms is a paperback book, 288 pages and is intended for homeschool moms. It’s only $15!