From Sinking to Soaring is an online course by stay-at-home mom and blogger Alison Wood at Pint-Sized Treasures, designed to “help…stay-at-home moms across the globe find their joy, passion, and flee the trapped-at-home feeling.” In the introduction to the course, the author recounts a story of visiting a fellow stay-at-home mom and being saddened by the struggle this mom was experiencing in her home. This course is a product of the author’s desire to help other stay-at-home moms be successful in their role at home. The course includes a PDF download with links to YouTube lectures as well as printables. It is available for purchase for $29.99 on her website.

When I see a course entitled, From Sinking to Soaring, my impression is that this is for those moms who would describe themselves as truly sinking, treading deep water without a life jacket, waves getting high, perhaps feeling a cramp coming on. This course is the equivalent of someone tossing you a pool noodle. Perhaps that pool noodle will be enough buoyancy to get you to shore, but probably not. I did glean some helpful tips here and there throughout the course, but it was not the warm-hand-reaching-down-from-a-sturdy-lifeboat for which I was hoping, given the course’s title.

The lessons are short, 2-3 page readable lectures and include a link to a 2-5 minute YouTube video of the author re-iterating what was written; some of the lessons also include a printable. For example, one printable is a list of reasons to be a stay-at-home mom, with some blank lines for you to fill in your own “whys.” Another printable is a blank schedule that you can fill out and try to follow.

At the end of every lesson there is an “actionable task” that will help you to apply the information you just learned. Some of these are simple and easy, while others may be much more involved, requiring time, effort, and possibly expense to implement. For example, after Lesson Six (Entitled: “Don’t Let Yourself Go”), the actionable task is, “Start a simple beauty and exercise routine that fits your life, budget, and schedule.” This is great advice, but certainly not ground-breaking in any way. What mom out there has not already heard from her doctor, best friend, mom-blogger, and TV news anchor that exercise is good for her? Changing a habit is extremely difficult and for a struggling stay-at-home mom, a mom who would describe herself as “sinking,” those actionable tasks that require large changes of habit will be more likely to lead to increased discouragement rather than success.

The course is chock-full of tips and tricks to help you get through your day, and may give moms some ideas that had not previously occurred to them. However most moms I know do not struggle with what to do, but rather being consistent with what they already know they should be doing. For example, there is a lesson on meal planning which may be a novel idea for some people, but I suspect will not be new information to stay-at-home moms. “Use your Crockpot” and “buy pre-prepped vegetables” are two of the tips you will find in this lesson. 

She uses phrases such as “ministering” to your family, “blessing” your husband, and others that imply a Biblical worldview, but the course lacks the theological depth that would give struggling moms something rock solid on which to hold. The author gives many idealistic examples of life as a stay-at-home mom, which may be inspiring to some moms, while others will find it unpalatably saccharine. As Christians, God’s word is our firm foundation, and I would have liked to see more teaching on how our salvation and faith in Christ is intimately intertwined with the work we do in our homes every day, and how that foundation is what gives us access to the grace needed to be successful in our roles as wives and mothers.

This is a splash in the shallow end, but if you are an already moderately-successful stay-at-home mom and looking for some tips and tricks that will help you step-up your game at home then you may enjoy this course and find it helpful. However, if you are adrift in an open ocean and scared because a shark just touched your leg (or maybe that was a hungry toddler?), look elsewhere.

-Product review by Sierra Heitzman, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, November, 2018