Degrees in Idealism

exploring how we would live if we truly believed life was meaningful

  • Culture
  • Marriage
  • Family
  • Wellness
  • Beauty
  • Soul

Why We Don’t (Always) Do Family Dinners

08.01.2018 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // Leave a Comment

We don’t usually eat dinner together as a family. This is not a decision we formally came to, but more of a gradual shift that we first resisted and then finally accepted. The dining room is still the center of our house, surrounded by our prettiest artwork and covered with candles. We have one of […]

Categories // Culture, Family Tags // #children, #familydinner, #feasting, #food, #foodie, #parenting

My Favorite Children’s Picture Books

03.24.2018 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // 4 Comments

“Read to your kids,” parents are told over and over again. Choosing books in favor of T.V. or other sorts of entertainment is surely a no-brainer. But does it matter what you read to them? With all the reading campaigning that goes on, it would seem like any combination of words and pictures bound together […]

Categories // Beauty, Family Tags // #beauty, #books, #charlottemason, #children, #homeschooling, #parenting

Homeschooling Preschool

02.26.2018 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // 2 Comments

Our oldest child is only 4.5 so we certainly don’t have a lot of homeschooling experience. But since I’m about to have a “homeschooled preschool” graduate, I thought I would share our general plan for these early years: When in doubt, do less (in terms of academics.) Every year since my oldest was a baby I’ve had […]

Categories // Beauty, Family Tags // #charlottemason, #children, #family, #homeschool, #koselig, #liturgicalliving, #parenting, #preschool

The Third Child

01.16.2018 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // Leave a Comment

I’ve only been a mother to a third child for six weeks (well, technically about eleven months,) but I’ve long known about the stereotype of the third child. Really, it’s the stereotype of any subsequent child— that parents kind of care about each one less and less. Or at least, that each one receives less […]

Categories // Family Tags // #birthorder, #children, #family, #parenthood, #siblings

When You Can’t Do Date Night

01.13.2018 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // 4 Comments

Scheduled date nights are often prescribed for couples to keep their relationships strong. I don’t think this is a bad thing— I think it’s most often a very good thing! Creating uninterrupted, quality time and space to spend with those we love is essential. Nobody wants their marriage to become a mere roommate-situation. Scheduled date […]

Categories // Family, Marriage Tags // #datenight, #koselig, #marriage, #parenthood, #romance

Christmas Baby

12.27.2017 by Elizabeth Hanna Pham // Leave a Comment

Christmas Day and an infant sleeps on my chest And I figure that he’s closer to me now than he’ll ever be. So I bury my nose into this sweet-smelling baby head And I breathe in deep what doesn’t seem to last. Christmas music plays and the lights twinkle beside our heavenly peace. Little boys are […]

Categories // Family, Soul

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About Me

I'm Elizabeth. I'm a wife, a mother to three little boys, a writer, and a lover and seeker of the beautiful, the true, and the good. I am a believer in idealism-- that even amidst the chaos and the confusion, the exhaustion and the sadness of life there is always joy to be found, hope to be clung to, and a better path to be taken. I write my thoughts on this blog. A link to my fiction book is at the bottom of the page.

About The Name

“There are degrees in idealism. We learn first to play with it academically, as the magnet was once a toy. Then we see in the heyday of youth and poetry that it may be true, that it is true in gleams and fragments. Then, its countenance waxes stern and grand, and we see that it must be true.”

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

I found this quote well described my own experience– consistently reworking my idealism, being surprised by it, sometimes even losing it only to discover it all the more fully. I know we will never find all the answers, but how thrilling it is to find ourselves getting a little closer to the source and summit of things, a little closer, as we work our way through the “degrees.”

sons of God

sons of God

A short novella in which Lucifer talks about his dad.

View Book

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