Laura E. Wolfe

In which we finally begin to really talk about gender Welcome to The Diner! It’s season two and you won’t want to miss out. Come sit at the counter of our virtual diner and let us serve you a slice of mental pie! It’ll go good with a cup of coffee, then you get your … Read more

Patterns for Life audiobook Chapter 7 In Charlotte Mason’s model, love and justice balance each other the way mercy and fairness balance each other. Like two sides of the same coin, the tnesion between the two opens up a space for the practice of what the Orthodox Church calls economia: the spiritual discernment involved with … Read more

Musings on the purpose of Advent November has a way of sneaking up on me. Summer ends in a rush, fall passes by in a flash, and overnight the warm days are replaced by cold nights and the blaze of brilliant color has settled down into a muted grey landscape of bare branches and cloudy … Read more

Examining Motivations Recently author and speaker delivered the 2024 Erasmus Lecture at the annual First Things conference, which was aptly titled, Against Christian Civilization (listen here or here). In it he explored the error of the idea that all Christians have a sacred duty or obligation to better the world through the building up of … Read more

Introducing Hannah Vazquez We’re starting something new here at Patterns for Life: every month we will be highlighting an individual homeschool mom through a written interview in order to encourage and inspire our readers. We know it can be helpful to meet — whether virtually or in real life — other mothers who are in … Read more

A juggling post We took a walk today. It wasn’t part of the plan. I had to force back the automatic “No” that is my knee-jerk response to the unceasing (and often unreasonable) requests that bombard me from sunrise to sunset. More often than not I stick with my initial negative response because saying yes … Read more

Patterns for Life audiobook chapter 6 The biggest piece missing from Ourselves is the step which Orthodox Christians naturally take first. Whatever power of the soul is under discussion, the first thing we wonder is, “How do I heal it?” ~Patterns for Life, Chapter 6 The content below was originally paywalled. Chapters 6 and 7 … Read more

What happened when I tried a soft start This year we tried something new when we started back to school. Instead of diving into the deep end by piling on a full load of work from day one we did a soft start. Usually I’m an all-or-nothing kind of gal; when I make up my … Read more

the chiastic nature of hospitality We often hear advice about how to give well — how to show hospitality, how to care for those who are unable to care for themselves. There are books and seminars and retreats and videos; an endless list of resources for how to show hospitality and how to share out … Read more

In which we begin our discussion of gender Welcome to The Diner! It’s season two and you won’t want to miss out. Come sit at the counter of our virtual diner and let us serve you a slice of mental pie! It’ll go good with a cup of coffee, then you get your refreshed self … Read more