| Seasons at Home is a conservative family magazine for moms, dads, sons, and daughters; it is published three times a year. This magazine is not about fashion and being gorgeous or finding things to do with friends or involving yourself with things that keep you away from the home. Everything about the magazine speaks of home and honoring God in your home. Giving at Home, The School Room, Homespun Treasures, sewing and quilting, cooking and baking, and Gathering Around the Hearth are some of the columns and topics you will find in Seasons at Home. In this fast-paced world where so many other things are often the focus, it is a delight to find a magazine that takes you back home and sets your focus on God and family.
My daughters and I loved this magazine. When it arrived in the mail, I had to fight with my girls to look at it first. Seasons at Home--just the name of it is appealing to me. It has a warm and cozy feel to it from the first page. It is almost as if you have been welcomed into the publisher's home to spend time with her family.
I am quite particular about the magazines we keep in our home and the reading material that occupies our time. But I was very pleased with the focus of this magazine. Several articles are written by well-known writers in the homeschool community, and the focus is definitely on the family and keeping the home. Publisher Teresa Powers opens the first issue with a bold article about the highest calling a mother can have: being a giver at home. The value she places on motherhood and home-keeping sets the tone of the magazine. She closes her article by reminding mothers, "There will be some women who don't feel home is a calling worthy of much. . . . Remember that those who occupy your home are treasures that you will take to heaven. All else is temporary in this life."
There are several other articles written as devotionals, like "Little Ladies to Beautiful Girls," written by Miss Jessica Munday. which encourages younger girls to learn to use their hands to make things beautiful. She speaks of the value of knowing how to sew and make beautiful things out of simple scraps. There is a special focus on girlhood and its true beauty.
I was pleased with the abundance of crafty projects for the home, for home learning and just for fun. They range from the simple to the extravagant, the easy to the complex. Whether you have girls who are interested in the vintage cottage boxes and pin curls for their hair or boys who want to craft their own wooden gun to hunt with, you will be pleased with the many different ideas presented.
The Thanksgiving focus in this issue was almost like a unit study, with recipes, decorations to make, craft projects for the children, and historical information about the holiday. The instruction for crafts and recipes are clear and well written, each with accompanying pictures.
A favorite section I have thoroughly enjoyed is "The School Room." I was encouraged by the candor of the articles and the included Scripture verses. I was particularly intrigued by the article about using index cards in homeschooling. There are also different teaching ideas and projects to occupy the children as they learn. This issue includes a list of good library books, games for preschoolers, and a recipe for Homemade Fingerpaint! We really liked the article about writing with old-fashioned dipping pens. (This is of special interest to my girls and even my son, because they have quill pens and dipping pens and ink that they use to write letters with.) And there is also a page for children to submit and showcase their stories, poems and drawings.
After poring over the magazine, I also perused the Joyous Home website and was pleasantly surprised to find many old-fashioned family and crafty items on their site. Their "shoppes" include a Smocking Shoppe, a Little Ladies Shoppe, and even a Tea Shoppe, which had pretty little teapots and teacups. Tea time has become a special time in our home, and I enjoyed looking at these images.
The website, in conjunction with the conservative, family-oriented magazine, convinced me that Seasons at Home is one publication that I want to keep in our home. It is wholesome, God-honoring, family-centered material for all ages. Each of the readers in our home found something interesting in its pages. This magazine is packed with ideas, projects, encouragement, and beautiful things for a mom who desires to be at home. Seasons at Home is the perfect name for this magazine, and I look forward to reading many more issues.
Product review by Jacque Dixon, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC, March 2008
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