Recent Posts

a snail crawling over a rock

Switching the Blog Schedule to Biweekly

With all the other projects I'm working on, this blog will be taking a backseat. I'll still be writing here, just a little less often!
tags: blog writing work
three kids sitting on three sides of a square table leaning in, doing crafts: the table is covered in brightly colored paper, foam, scissors, goggly eyes, and so forth.

"School-Age" At Last: My Homeschooling Plan for School Year 2023-2024

My oldest will be seven years old soon and people keep asking me what curriculum I'm using. Our plan is more eclectic: lots of outsidetime, fun co-ops, farms, play, life, and more!
the cover of the book The Expectation Effect by David Robson

Book Review: The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Change Your World by David Robson

What you think and how you approach a situation can significantly affect what happens. This book explains how your beliefs influence real-world outcomes—health, sleep, stress, memory, concentration, fatigue, creativity, and more.
colorful foam numbers all scattered about

Five Board Games We Play With Our 6-year-old to Learn Math

Who wants to do math worksheets? Not my 6-year-old. But hell happily play games for hours - so we do! Here are a few we've been playing lately.How is a book edited and produced? Here what's happening with my book on the slow road to publication.
the little blue engine that could pulling the train of toys over the mountain

Book Update #4: Chugging Through Copyediting

How is a book edited and produced? Here what's happening with my book on the slow road to publication.
close up of embroidered flowers on black fabric

Modern Quality: Where Do We Get Beautiful Things?

If you go to any major store, most of the stuff you can buy is cheaply made and ugly. Why? Quality and beauty make us happier and healthier. Where can we find them?
pint size mason jars filled with honey in a line on a wooden surface

How We Managed Our First Honey Harvest

Our bees have been productive this summer, so we decided to harvest some honey! Here's what we've learned about the honey extraction process.
an academic building in classical style with a bunch of columns and a rounded down on top with roman lettering saying massachusetts institute of technology

Self-Direction in Graduate Education and Improving the Academic System

Some parts of the academic system are based on conventional schooling practices, not on how people actually learn—when they're curious and motivated, when material is meaningful. How can we better support learners in grad school?
Randy standing in a lawn holding a large banner that says Randy Westlund for Post Falls City Council

Why I'm Running For City Council

I’m running for Post Falls City Council because I want my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to grow up as part of a thriving, resilient, local community here in North Idaho.
the cover of Changing our Minds by Naomi Fisher

Book Review: Changing Our Minds: How Children Can Take Control of Their Own Learning by Naomi Fisher

Different kids need different learning environments; they're interested in different topics; they thrive on different tasks. So why force them to learn the same things in the same ways at the same times in schools?
a man in a white beekeeping suit holding up a frame from a hive covered in comb and bees

Why We Started Beekeeping—And How It's Going!

No secrets: We wanted the honey. Here's why we started with four hives, how we setup the bees, what happened when one hive swarmed, and other faced challenges so far.
the cover of the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, featuring little people running around a stylized red hamster wheel on a constrasting yellow background

Book Review: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business by Charles Duhigg

Habits are the backbone of daily life. How do you form new habits and create better habits? In this book, Duhigg explains how habits work—for individuals, organizations, and societies.
tags: books habits work
Jacqueline wearing a red dress smiling and holding a robot the size of a large pumpkin; the robot is fuzzy and red with blue stripes and blue plastic around its black and blue face

How I Built A Career From Strengths and Interests—And How Your Kids Can, Too

What will your kids do when they grow up? Who will they be? And how can you help them? The key: People build lives and careers out of what they love, not what they hate.
a young girl three and a half years old sits on a rock in the mountains in Glacier National Park, looking down at a flower in her hand

How Do I Raise My Kids to Revere Life, Love What Is Good, and Reject the Bad?

I don't want to raise the next generation of materialist, short-term focused consumers. But how do I help my kids counter modern culture, resist temptations, and internalize the right ideas?
a boy in a button-up shirt sits cross-legged on a wooden bench outdoors,leaning over a tray of watercolors and a blank piece of paper, holding a paintbrush

Reflections on Our Homeschool Year (2022-2023)

Cataloging learning in an always-learning household is a challenge! Here's what we've been up to this year—such as learning math from board games, joining a new co-op, and of course, plenty of time outside!
a book with its pages fanned out in the air reting atop three other thick volumes that are also open

Book Update #3: Revisions Complete, Entering Production!

I'm inching my book from idea to final product! Here's what the review and revision process was like, and my next steps as the book moves into production.
three wooden bookshelves filled with books

How to Start a Reading Habit

What if you don't like reading? What if you don't have time to read? What if you want to read, but just can't make yourself do it? Here's how to make reading a hobby—it's simple, and you can start today.
a tiny green tomato growing on a tomato plant

Backyard Gardening, Year 5: Expanded Beds and New Seed Starting Setup

This year, I've more than doubled my garden space! I added new plant varieties—and now, we have bees! See how my 250+ bulbs did and learn how I'm keeping track of everything in the yard.
the cover of the book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Book Review: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

This book is a fascinating examination of belonging, attachment to place, heritage, culture, connection to ancestors, and, our relationship with the world around us.
orange and black butterfly with wings open resting on the surface of water with ripples going out around it

A DIY Future: How to Discover Options and Effect Change

How bad do things have to get before you try to change them? How do you figure out that change is even possible, and build up the inertia to act?
cover of the book Retrosuburbia by David Holmgren featuring a smiling man on a bike with three kids on the back, and a basketfull of greens in the front bike basket; he's smiling at a woman holding a baby goat, and another goat is standing in front of the bike nibbling the greens. A house, water tank, a man, and a woman wearing a baby on her back are in the background.

Book Review: Retrosuburbia: The Downshifters Guide to a Resilient Future by David Holmgren

Not everyone has 40 acres and a mule. This book explains how to be more sustainable, off-grid, and productive on a regular neighborhood lot!
waist down view of a patchwork cotton skirt

Tutorial: How to Make an Easy Patchwork Peasant Skirt

Pick your favorite colorful scraps and start sewing—here's an easy, tiered skirt you can customize! Make it bright, or choose shades of one or two colors; change up the waistband; make it shorter or longer.
four young women leaping up in the air with their arms stretched out like stars, on a beach with glassy water in the background

How Autonomy Will Help You Flourish

Most people don't have enough autonomy. They feel controlled, like they don't have much choice in how their life goes. Here's why that matters and how you can get more autonomy—and a better life.
Cover of the book Smart Brevity by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz

Book Review: Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz

No one reads, but everyone skims. How do you write shorter and smarter to reach your audience? This book shares the secret.

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About

We're Jacqueline and Randy, a blogging duo with backgrounds in tech, robots, art, and writing, now raising our family in northern Idaho.

Our goal is to encourage deliberate choices, individual responsibility, and lifelong curiosity by sharing stories about our adventures in living, loving, and learning.

Learn more about us.


Connect:

whoo@deliberateowl.com

Start here

Curious about our life and journey? Here are some good places to start reading:

Jacqueline and Randy leaning their heads together smiling at the camera

A Blog About Education, Lifestyles, and Community

A brief history of how the Deliberate Owl came to be and why we're writing a blog about us, our lives, and how we're living out our values.
Priests in red and gold celebrate a traditional Latin Mass

Discovering the Traditional Catholic Mass

How I discovered the traditional Latin Mass a few years ago, why that discovery changed everything for me, and what was wrong with the Novus Ordo Masses I'd attended.