This mother's "niches of time"

In my last post I made reference to those "niche times" I find for myself as a homeschooling mother and wife.

Karen Andreola in her wonderful book, Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning, actually names these times as Mother Culture. She states that following Charlotte Mason's advice to her own teachers it is important for mothers who are homeschooling to take time for themselves. We need to first simplify our lives and organize our time. We are then to use this time for "uninterrupted quiet time to focus on prayer, reading etc."

She tells the story of a wise woman that stresses the importance of reading for ourselves as part of this Mother Culture. This woman states, "Besides my Bible, I always keep three books going that are just for me - a stiff book, a moderately easy book, and a novel, and I always take up the one I feel fit for."

Right now my Mother Culture reading includes:

- re-reading Wuthering Heights and also All's Quiet on the Western Front
- reading Reimagining Christianity by Alan Jones (Episcopal priest and Dean of Grace Cathedral in San Fransisco)
- and I just finished a novel by Gail Godwin called Evensong

When I am sorely in need of my own niche I visit my favorite place, Mitford, and have wonderful times with Fr. Tim and Cynthia and so many others that live in that wonderful world created by Jan Karon.