Mondays frustrated me all last semester. I had to kick off my private school week with less than enthusiastic seniors and then homeschool my own children who seemed to forget our entire routine between Saturday and Monday. (Because my husband works on Saturdays, we have school six days a week.) Adding to the pressure, we…
For at least six years, I have used the Fighter Verse App to memorize Scripture. I've written about it before, but the app has been improved lately and I think it's worth mentioning it again. Fighter Verses are a set of verses for each week of the year that rotate through five year cycles. It's…
This year's Goodreads graphic clearly shows that I read less than previous years, but I'm proud of the goals I accomplished! Classics Challenge My wrap-up post for the 2018 Classics Challenge is here. I’m proud of finishing Moby Dick, but I most enjoyed reading Howard's End. I chalk that up in large part to reading along with…
I saw the Christian Greats Challenge too late to join last year but thought it was a great idea. I'm glad I caught it in time for 2019! My initial optimistic selections 1) A Book on Early Church History (up to about 500 A.D) or a book written by a key figure who lived during that…
While driving about Texas yesterday, Jason and I reflected on the past year. He's not future-oriented, so instead of asking him to come up with a word for 2019, I asked him what single word he would use to describe 2018. His word: Stable. I immediately thought of this verse art I have at home.…
When I read "The Most Difficult Time of the Year" early this December, the author connected the account of Herod's slaughter of the baby boys in Bethlehem with an invitation to acknowledge the grief of our friends and family that have lost children. The author offers three suggestions for supporting grieving parents: listen, be humble and compassionate,…
Ages upon ages ago back when we started Ambleside Year 3 and Year 1 last fall, I took some time to purposely evaluate how I was doing as a teacher by giving myself a report card. It's been over a year and we've been plugging away at the same AO years. I finally stopped trying…
This will be my fourth year doing the Back to the Classics Challenge with Books and Chocolate. I love having some structure to my reading goals and the added motivation to persevere with long, hard books. Where possible, my list is comprised of AO Forum selections and AO Year 4 prereading for my oldest child. I've…
Moby Dick by Herman Melville (1851) is my Classic that Scares You for the Classics Challenge. Two things intimidated me about this book. First, Moby Dick clocks in at 24 hours in the Audible version read by Anthony Heald and an estimated 15 hours on the Kindle, so right up until the end I wasn't sure I'd…
Taran Wanderer by Lloyd Alexander (1967) is my Classic Travel Narrative for the Classics Challenge. I read the entire Chronicles of Prydain this spring and listened to The Disney Story Origins three-part series comparing the book series to the movie The Black Caldron. I appreciated learning more about the Welsh mythology that undergirds the pentalogy. Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper…
