Tyndale Review: Busy Mom’s Guide to Family Nutrition

 

Tyndale and Focus on the Family have teamed up to bring us another “Busy Mom’s Guide” this time it’s all about Food and Family (two things I personally LOVE).

This is a 192 page paperback book with only 6 chapters, making it a quick and easy read or a nice little handy dandy resource guide.

• Chapter 1 Nutritional Basics (Read the 1st Chapter HERE)

• Chapter 2 How to Make Healthy Food Choices

• Chapter 3 Vitamins and Minerals

• Chapter 4 A Weighty Problem

• Chapter 5 What about Diets, Medications, or Surgery?

• Chapter 6 Help for the Overweight Child or Teenager

This book was most helpful to me because it was put in simple to understand terms and, instead of offering an excerpt from every study available, the information was presented quickly and to the point. I learned the importance of reading labels and also what makes foods healthy/unhealthy.  I’ve always struggled in the area of nutrition (and I’m sure I will continue to struggle  to a point because this just isn’t top priority in our lives right now) but this book has made it a little easier to make the right choices.

The cost of this book is $12.99 and can be purchased HERE

**I received this book free of charge from Tyndale, in exchange for my honest opinion.

Time to Sale

ALL PRICES ARE NEGOTIABLE (I really want to get rid of all this)

-Phonic's Pathway $10 + shipping

-Sylvan Learning Reading Skills Builder 1st & 2nd Grade (1st grade has 21 lessons and we used 11 of them 2nd grade has not bee used) $6 for both + shipping


-This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall $20 + shipping(I believe this is a suggested spine for Truth Quest)

-Exploring American History by McHugh and Montgomery $8 + shipping (I believe this is a suggested spine for Truth Quest)

-Little Pilgrims Progress (by Moody Bible Institute) $5 + shipping

-The World at Her Fingertips the story of Helen Keller $5 + shipping

-Abeka’s Pilgrim’s Progress, simplified $3 + shipping



-Christian Liberty Press Nature Readers (Books 2 & 3) includes answer key for book 3 $5 + shipping


-Cocoa and Company: A Civil War Classic $5 + shipping



Christian Light Grade 3 Reading $10 + shippingTeacher's Guidebook
Doors to Discovery (hardback)
Light Unit 310

Christian Light Grade 3 Language Arts $5 + shipping
Teacher's Guidebook
Light Unit 310



-Preschool or Kindergarten Kit  $99 + $8 Shipping

Included in this sale: Explode the Code items:Teachers book for books A,B, & C, Phonics letters with pic, letter, and pic/letter combo, and ETC Wall Hanger with activity book. Wiki Stix activity set, Phonogram cards that help you teach the letters as well as phonograms, Phonics activity kit, molding clay, dry erase sentence strips, Alphabet match game, numerous letter and number cards, Winnie the Pooh numbers with words and objects offers a puzzle to help learn numbers and counting, Mother Goose activity book, Alphabet Art, Weather chart, days of the week and month, mini incentive charts, books include: God Made Everything Weird & Wacky, Sometimes I share, Choice Stories for Children, Did you Know devotions, Andi's Scary School Days, One Day in the Alpine Tundra, I can Read Golden Book, Eyewitness Explorers Weather Book, The Night Sky, Read Aloud Treasury, What is a Bird, Things that Go Trains & Planes, Sunflower Life Cycle, What is an Insect, Liz Looks for a Home, Treasury of Literature "Hold on Tight" and "Blue Waters" I have also included some wall charts to go along with this.

You can contact me by leaving a comment or email me directly at mom244now@gmail.com
I accept PayPal

TOS Crew: Amazing Animals by Design

Amazing Animals by Design was written by one of our fellow homeschool moms when she discovered there were very few intelligent design books written for younger children. Not only is Debra Haagen a fellow homeschooler she is also a crewmate with TOS! I was so delighted to hear about and receive her PDF e-book. (You can choose PDF 7.99 or paperback for 8.99)
I downloaded the book three times on my nook color but each time it disappeared, I’m sure it was probably something I’m doing wrong. She has tried to convert it to e-Pub and MOBI for nook and Kindle but she didn’t like the format after the conversion.
The book takes you to the zoo with John, Sarah and their parents. As they visit each animal the zookeeper informs them of the animals ‘special features’ that must have been created just for them.


This book was written for Pre-K through 3rd grade, but in my home this book was way over simplified for my 4 (almost 5 ) and 6 yr olds. They already knew what a Caracal was, they understood why elephants had trunks, and ostriches hide their heads in the sand, none of this was new to them. There was only one animal, the Barbary that they’d never heard of and thus was able to learn how the creator designed him special.
But if you have a child that hasn’t spent much time learning about the hand of God in the animal world, this will be a very good place to start. A very good place! And, Debra plans to write more in this series, so stay tuned!

links to help you

Purchase Amazing Animals by Design at: http://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=978-1-61862-233-4

Website:  http://debrahaagen.tateauthor.com/
Blog:  http://www.amazingbydesign.blogspot.com
Facebook Page:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amazing-Animals-by-Design/212074542163386
  If you would like to read more Amazing Animals by Design reviews, visit our TOS Blog Post.
**Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I received this product free of charge, in exchange for my honest opinion/review. All opinions are mine. For more honest reviews from real homeschoolers, visit the TOS Crew website.  

So What’s New?

My nook that’s what!! I had a regular nook but after 6 months of issues one of the customer service rep’s offered to send me a new one or I could upgrade to the color. Obviously I paid the difference and took the upgrade. Oh.My.Word am I glad I did.

This is a whole new experience for me. I’ve never had a touch anything so this little baby has really impressed the socks off me. Not only is reading fun (it was before the nook color came into my life so yeah, it still is) but it’s also easier.

The other day I finished a book and was looking for another to read (without having to buy one) and found one of my friends on Facebook, who lent me a nook book, and within minutes (maybe even seconds) there it was on my nook, ready for me to read. UH, really? So awesome!

I can sit down and in just a few minutes be up to date on the blogs I want to be up to date on (I have hundreds on Google reader and it’s so hard to sort through them, so lately I haven’t even bothered), I can catch the latest national, world, AND local headlines, and even check my weather for snow. All of this with just ONE of my new apps (PULSE). I also have a new calendar app for all my review info. I’m just trying this out for the first time today, so the verdict is still out on this one. I may or may not stick with it. These are freebies too, I can’t even imagine how nice the ones you have to pay for would be. There are tons of these things and remind me, how did I ever get by before apps?

So lately I’ve been wondering, are we living in the technical revolution? What will the future call this point in history? It’s definitely more than just the computer age now, wouldn’t you say?

So, what’s new with you?

H.E.A.R.T. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 E.-Enrich your Marriage

Okay this week was a bit convicting at times. Especially when she talked about serving our husbands, and trying to ease the enormous load they must shoulder. I know many husbands who are far less busy than mine so I should jump at the chance to help him when he asks. Instead I grumble (usually it’s to myself but I’m sure he knows I’m not overjoyed by having him add something else to my ‘to do’ list).

In this chapter she points out the fact that children are more secure when they see their parents living out a ‘healthy’ example of marriage. They need to feel there is something in their lives that is for sure, stable, consistent, etc.  But they don’t need fake. They need to know it’s okay to disagree---it doesn’t mean you don’t still love each other. Something's they will learn by watching their parents (as listed on pages 66-67) are:

• Trust
• Sacrifice
• Loyalty
• Teamwork
• Forgiveness
• Cooperation
• Communication
• Responsibility
• Perseverance
• Joy
• Diligence
• Kindness
• Gentleness
• Grace

They need that ‘healthy’ example of what a marriage should look like. What we are living in front of them is going to impact how they view marriage in general.

“We need to point our kids toward the values of sacrifice and selflessness as seen on the cross of Calvary. This is the standard of ultimate love defined by dying to oneself and living for the lord. Now that is something worth living for.” (page 68)

One final thought, I love that she doesn’t follow the belief that we need to make our kids happiness a priority. Not that we need to make them miserable but there are so many kids in the world today that never (or rarely) have to deal with disappointment or struggle all because their parents want them to be ‘happy.’ Well, the sad part is they are going to be some very unhappy adults when they leave mom and dad and enter the real world of disappointments and struggles. A very wise friend once told me that God is more concerned with my holiness than with my happiness. I belief there is so much truth in those words!

I’m not the only one talking about this book…check out The Pelsers to see what others had to say.

Get yourself a copy of H.E.A.R.T.

H.E.A.R.T. Chapter 1

 

H.E.A.R.T. by Rachel Carman 

H: Have a Heart for the Things of God                                                     

Last week I shared my thoughts on the intro to this book and this week I’ll be sharing on Chapter 1.  As you’ll soon see each chapter will be a part of the acronym H.E.A.R.T. So this week is H: Have a Heart for the Things of God.

A few things she stresses are the importance of intentional parenting. We shouldn’t react, but instead we need to respond. This means instead of panicking over big or little things, try praying. Instead of giving a sermon when you catch your child exhibiting un-Christ like characteristics/behaviors, share scripture and let the Lord penetrate that heart with His Word (it’s stronger than a two edged sword and will do more than any words you could put together on your own).

Another point she makes is to show our children what it looks like (in everyday life) to put God first. Let them see what a strong faith is. Be a living testimony in your home. Learn to truly worship Him because that’s where His glory is revealed.

As we walk with Him and grow in our knowledge of Him we begin to desire to worship Him. This is described on pages 54-56. She points out that God gave us our emotions but we are to rule over them—keeping them under control (this would include ALL of them). In the book she didn’t focus on this point but it spoke clearly to me. I’ve become more emotional as I’ve gotten older and I need to remember to “stay in control.” I am responsible for my actions and my emotions are not a scapegoat for me to use when I lose control.

She ends this chapter with the following piece of advice:

“Memorize His word all you want, but without the heart change, without true worship, it’s empty.”

Head on over to The Pelsers for the Chapter 1 links.

“How to Have a H.E.A.R.T. For Your Kids” INTRO

I have joined a book study with other moms and we will be reading and discussing “How to Have a H.E.A.R.T. For Your Kids” by Rachael Carman. I’ve read this book before and loved it. In fact you can read my review here. I felt it would be nice to run through it again since this time of year I usually need to refocus and remember what my REAL purpose for homeschooling is.
So this week I’m on the Introduction to the book. Once again, this book came at the perfect time. Sunday we sang one of my favorite hymns, “Come Thou Fount of Many Blessings.” I love this song so much that I had it played in my wedding as the bridesmaids walked up the isle. At church, as I sang the last verse “Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love” I remember thinking, ‘Well that no longer applies, I have finally made it—I am sold out!---I will never leave my precious Jesus.’  I didn’t even realize I had wandered off course, again.
My morning quiet time had become a rush simply because I wasn’t getting up early enough (i.e.: before Lucas and the sun come up). Amazing what that does to me. The night before reading this I felt God telling me I needed to make changes --- I was spending too much time on myself (reading online). I felt so empty and unfulfilled. This is what ALWAYS happens when we put too much other ‘stuff’ in and not enough Jesus in. I knew what was missing---I had wandered.
So I got up early the next morning dove into the intro and the tears began to burn my eyes as she described the new heart God had given her (check it out on pages 28 &29) . That’s how I felt at that moment. God is so patient with me. My desire is to show that same grace and patience to others in my life.
I’m not the only one reading this book…head on over to The Pelsers to see what others are saying. You can also click here to read the authors thoughts.  Yes! she’s joining the book study.
Want your own copy of this book…here you go.

Review: Cooper and Me, Winter Adventure

And the Winner is: Naomi @ Pixie Dusted Homeschool

We were blessed with an adorable copy of this colorful book from Cooper and Me. I love it because it’s cute, eye catching, and enjoyable for the kid but at the same time it teaches an important lesson about what to do if you get lost. Cooper and Bella go sledding, it starts snowing and they end up lost before they realize it.
Cooper and Me books are especially nice for younger children ages 6 and under because they are written with rhymes, which my children love.  All young children can benefit from rhymes at this age. Rhyming is one of the first steps in learning to read because it  increases phonemic awareness.
Winter Adventure retails for $12.99 and from now until December 15 you can get free shipping on any $25 or more purchase by using the code COOPERBLOG. Cooper and Me have many other great books that your little one will love. They all have the same cute characters and teach great lessons.  Visit Cooper and Me on the web for fun kid activities including printable pages.
Okay, I saved the best for last! Do you want a chance to win Cooper and Me’s Winter Adventure? It will make a great Christmas gift! Here’s what you need to do:
Mandatory: Leave me a comment letting me know who you will share your Cooper and Me book with, should you win.
Optional: Follow me on GFC, leave a comment to let me know you did this
Optional: Follow Our Best Daze on Facebook, leave a comment to let me know you did this
Optional: Follow me on Twitter, leave a comment to let me know you did this
Optional: Come back everyday until December 10 and leave a comment for additional chances to win.
**Disclaimer:  I received this product free of charge, in exchange for my honest opinion/review.

TOS Review: How to Have a H.E.A.R.T. For Your Kids

My first review product for the year is from APOLOGIA  I was very excited about this because I love the products those folks publish.  
  The book I received was written by Rachael Carman who, along with her husband, are owners of Apologia. Her new book is called How to Have a H.E.A.R.T. For Your Kids. This book was part of a presentation Rachael shared during previous homeschool conferences and was so well received and relevant for all homeschooling moms, she decided to turn it into a book.
You can purchase a copy of the book on their website, for $13 and be sure to read a sample chapter while you’re there. This is a small, hardbound book, with approximately 200 pages.
Mrs.Carman uses the word HEART to give the reader step by step ideas on what we can do to help our children have a heart for the Lord. After all, isn’t that every Christian mom’s ultimate goal?
Here’s a short overview to help you understand the content:
H= Have a Heart for the Things of God (how can we expect our kids to if we don’t?)
E= Enrich your Marriage (loving one another helps your children see what a healthy marriage relationship is supposed to look like )
A= Accept your Kids (God used this one to convict me. He also used two other (random) sources to show me THE SAME THING. You know it’s from God when you get it from different sources…He never stops pursuing us!)
R= Release Them to God (I had a very difficult week and the last thing I felt like doing was reading this book but I knew I had fallen behind and needed to finish it. Boy, God must have had His hand in it because as I read I felt Him telling me “everything’s going to be okay, trust ME!” I really, really needed to hear from Him, and I did! His timing was prefect! Isn’t it always?)
T= Teach Them Truth (My husband happened to read this chapter and loved the illustration she used to show how God’s truth is ALWAYS TRUTH! In fact, he loved it so much he decided to use it during his Saturday night chapel at the youth center where he works. He’s also planning to use it during his Sunday morning children's sermon. Good stuff!)
Would I recommend this book? Oh yeah! God blessed me in and through it! I have some pages dog eared and I will be revisiting them. If you would like to see what others thought of this book, visit the crew website.

**Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I received this product free of charge, in exchange for my honest opinion/review. For more honest reviews from real homeschoolers, visit the TOS Crew website.

New Book by Dr. Kevin Leman and Contest

 

 

Dr. Kevin Leman has a new book, It’s Your Kid, Not A Gerbil. The name gave away the content to me, especially after I saw the picture on the cover.

I have felt guilt at times over not joining the rat race and signing my kids up for every activity available. I’m looking forward to being encouraged by this book.

Tyndale House Publishers is offering a give away on their blog. Prizes include, an iPod touch and book packages.  Good Luck!!

Review: TJ and the Time Stumblers

 

We recently received Bill Myers’ book entitled New Kid Catastrophes: TJ and the Time Stumblers. This is a 182 page paperback book that my 11 year old son read. It’s the first in the Time Stumblers series and is classified as Juvenile/Christian/Fiction.  The cost of this book is $6.99 and can be purchased from Tyndale.

The main character is TJ Finkelstein and she just moved to a new town and school. She has trouble fitting in and encounters some other “misfits” who help her as she navigates though 7th grade at a new school. The odd thing about these new friends is, they are from the future and they’re studying her. The funny part about it is only TJ can see them. This causes lots of funny catastrophes for the new kid (hence the name).

My son’s overall opinion was it’s a good book and would like to read more in this series.

**Disclaimer: This book was provided in exchange for my honest opinion. No further compensation was given.

Review: The Secret of Indigo Moon

 

Well we received this book on Monday and by Tuesday my son had completed it, so I’d say it’s a pretty engrossing book. My son is 10 (almost 11) and according to him it didn’t have a strong Christian theme, but at the same time, it’s not a bad book.

The book involves two separate mysteries that take place at an all girl school and involves a young boy who’s been abandoned by his dad. The storyline really comes together at the conclusion of the book, up until then it’s hard to know what’s going to happen. That’s the purpose of a mystery, right?

This is the second book in the Dopple Ganger Chronicles and although my son didn’t read the first one he had no problem picking up and reading the second one. The Dopple Ganger Chronicles are written by G.P. Taylor. Book 2 of the Dopple Ganger Chronicles is called The Secret of Indigo Moon and it’s a 291 page hardback book with amazing graphics. The cost of the book is $19.99. The pages are mostly black with white lettering which in my opinion was a nice twist.

This book would be great for guys and gals who aren’t really big on reading and prefer a lot of pictures. It’s not a comic book but it does have a lot of comic type pages so it’s extremely easy for them to follow along and get a good visual picture of what’s happening.

If you would like to get your copy of this book, visit Tyndale House Publishers.

**Disclaimer: In exchange for my honest review Tyndale House Publishers has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book.

Read Aloud Challenge Week 2

I’m a day late putting this up this week but better late than never, right? So this week we’ve done well with our reading, except Monday. The older boys were running fevers Monday and Tuesday this week and I let them do absolutely nothing on Monday. Poor fellas felt so bad. They were a little better Tuesday so we read but no formal school.

So here’s our reading for last week:

• We finished Andi’s Scary School Days (cute book)
• Children’s Bible story book
• AWANA reading
• Farmer Boy (didn’t get as far in this as I’d have liked)
• Helen Keller (finished, what an inspiration she was to us)
• Did You Know? Devotion book for kids
• Reading through Matthew in the New Testament
• Apologia Science (Jordan)
• Coral Island (Josiah’s audio book)
• Tentacles : Tales of the Giant Squids
• An ample plenty picture books for the little kiddies

We actually skipped Who is God? this week. Not intentionally…it just happened!

Head on over to Footprints in the Butter to see what everyone else is reading.

Reading Aloud Challenge

Debra at Footprints in the Butter recently started a personal challenge to increase her families read aloud time. Several other homeschoolers felt the same need in their lives, myself included. As a result of that we’re joining up to report weekly on how we’re doing. My desire is to spend a little time daily reading and to not start a book and then take FOREVER to finish it. I don’t care if we only spend 15 min some days and 1.5 hrs others, I want to be continuously reading and not allow myself to drag any of the books out so long that they loose interest.
So this is what we’re doing right now:
*Andi’s Scary School Days (almost done with this)
*Reading through the children’s Bible story book
*AWANA reading
*Farmer Boy (just started that one this week, got a couple chapters done)
*Helen Keller (should finish this one next week if we don’t lag!)
*Did You Know? Devotions for kids
*Apologia Who is God?
*Coral Island (Josiah’s audio book, Chapter 7)
*Jordan is also reading an Apologia Science book and some Red Rock Mysteries
By next week Helen Keller and Andi’s Scary School Day’s should be off of this list
You can find out what other homeschoolers are reading, here.

TOS Review: Apologia’s Who is God?

Apologia sent me Volume I of their new Biblical Worldview of God and Truth, What We Believe series. There are going to be four books in this series but the last two have not been completed. Here are the links to all four books: Who Is God?, Who Am I?, Who Is My Brother? (available 2011) and What On Earth Can I Do? (available 2012).

The book I received, Who Is God?, was a beautiful, large, hardback book with 254 full color pages. It is recommended to be used with ages 6-14 and the cost is $39. There are some other resources that you could purchase to go with this such as the audio MP3 Cd ($15), coloring book ($8) and a notebooking journal ($24), however none of these products are necessary. We only had the book and some free pages we printed out from the link given to you when you purchase the book.  I also wrote out the memory verse for each lesson and the definitions that we were to learn for that particular lesson and we reviewed those each day.

The book is separated into 10 lessons and according to the schedule located in the front of the book you should be able complete a lesson in 2 weeks. We did not use this schedule. It just didn’t work for us. Instead we easily adapted the lessons to fit our time allowance. If we were short on time, we read one section and did the activity that followed. If we were able, we read more.

The lessons are separated into many different components such as The Big Idea (overview of the lesson) Hide It In Your Heart (memory verse), Integrated Learning (uses different topics such as art, science, math, or history to relate to the main topic being taught), What Should I Do (focuses on a godly characteristic and how to apply the lesson to your life), Worldview Study (helps students see the world around them from a Biblical worldview, as  well as exploring other worldviews), Short Story (stories that use characters with differing world views and examples of how to deal with these differences and explain what you believe) and more.

The activities vary from simple notebooking, narration, to more hands on activities, like baking brownies!

Baking brownies was one of our favorite activities and we’ve already looked ahead to see when we will bake again (soon!). What does baking have to do with Biblical Worldview you say? Well a lot when you know the entire story.

One of the fictional stories in the book depicted a young boy explaining to his friend that, just as the plate of brownies they found on the table couldn’t have baked themselves, neither could the earth have created itself, without the hand of a Creator. 

We were instructed to gather the ingredients for Phenomenal Brownies and wait… So we did:

 

We watched…and we waited…But those brownies never did make themselves (and neither did the earth create itself, by the way )

 

I’m kind of glad they didn’t because we would have missed out on the fun of making them…

and eating them…

 

 

 

 

 

I would highly recommend requesting a catalog from Apologia. There catalog is like a mini magazine filled with articles from the different contributors at Apologia.

If you want to know what other TOS members thought of this book, click here.

**Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I received this product free of charge, in exchange for my honest opinion/review. For more honest reviews from real homeschoolers, visit the TOS Crew website.

The Simple Woman's Day Book

Outside my window...
Is very warm. The temperature was nearly 70 degrees today. We even let our fire burn out. When Mark got home it was rapidly cooling off so he started a new fire for us. The kids played outside a lot today. It was kind of windy so Shiloh didn’t stay out long.

I am thinking...
How good my bed is going to feel in just a little while. Ahh sleep is coming~~

I am thankful for...
A super sweet Valentine's Day. We had a nice candle light meal as a family. The food was yummy, the kids were beyond badorable (not a typo…a Shiloh term for “adorable”)

From the learning rooms...
Today we finished “The Stolen White Elephant” by Mark Twain. I was caught off guard at the violent nature towards the end of the story. I had to skip and translate a few of the sections. We really enjoyed the beginning of the story and laughed thru most of it. The end was a bit of a shocker though. Oh well, I guess Mark Twain isn’t for kids. We’ll consider American Literature covered for this year and move on to the next section in our Truth Quest guide.

From the kitchen...
Took a break from my endless search for the perfect Oatmeal Cream Filled cookie and let my 8 year old make some brownies from scratch. The recipe was in our Apologia Who Is God? book. He learned that, just as sitting and watching the ingredients create brownies on their own didn’t work (yes we really did sit and watch the ingredients for a few seconds) neither did ANY of creation just ‘become created on its own.’ It had to involve The Creator! We already knew this, but we wanted some brownies so it was a good review, hee hee.

I am wearing...
My cozy Victoria Secret jammies that my little sister gave me. Her boyfriends mama gave them to her and I guess they were not her style so she passed them to me. Lucky me I love them!!

I am creating...
An on going list of curriculum choices to consider next year. I add or delete something nearly every day. Today I came close to taking off all other math options and just sticking to Math U See. I think that’s what I’m going to do in the end, simply because I trust them to carry us through high school. My oldest son has enjoyed the online math we reviewed this year, but he just can’t have everything his way…this ain’t Burger King!

I am going...
To the homeschool group that my husband teaches each Wednesday. We don’t usually attend that homeschool group (we’re members of a different group) but our schedule has been altered this week so we’ll have the opportunity to be there. I’m looking forward to it.

I am reading...
My Side of the Mountain to the kids. I just started Sense and Sensibility for me and plan to smart soon, Jump off the Hormone Swing by Lorraine Pintus. I feel like I need some Biblical guidance on my diet and feminine health in general.

 I am hoping...
Shiloh’s mouth heals nicely. I pray she will be able to eat more variety tomorrow and that her teeth will straighten up so none need to be pulled. 

I am hearing...
Nothing and thankful for it! I love the still of the night when all is sleeping—except me! I stay up late for it and get up early for it! I love me some peace and quiet!!

 Around the house...
So much needs to be done. Each and every room is in need of a top to bottom cleaning. We clean every week but it feels like we’ve just been ‘cleaning at it’ as my brother used to say. In other words, we just haven’t done a good job lately.

 
One of my favorite things...
Is my morning quiet time. I’ve been doing the True Woman Makeover challenge from Revive our Hearts and I’ve really enjoyed it. I’m almost done so I need to decide what I’ll be doing next. I really want an in-depth Bible study on either a person or book of the Bible.

A few plans for the rest of the week…
Getting a little more settled on some of the products we’re viewing. We’ve got a couple that we’ll have due in the next two weeks and one of them I’m still not really ‘getting.’
I also want to plan on getting Josiah half way through the last lesson in his level 3 Barton book. I’m so ready to be in level 4, but I fear he’s not going to be ready. The contractions are really seeming hard for him to spell. I’m not sure he’ll pass the final test without some extra practice. We’ll do what we have to do to get him where he needs to be!

Here is picture for thought I am sharing…

OUR VALENTINE’S DAY DINNER

Check out more Day Book posts at The Simple Woman’s Day Book.

Jane Austen Challenge

There are a lot of bloggers out there doing different reading challenges this year.  From reading the Bible in 90 days to reading 52 books in a year. These challenges are just too challenging for me. I love to read and I usually try to read two books at a time.Typically I read a fiction and a non-fiction together. The fiction book is for evenings and the non-fiction I read in the mornings after reading my Bible, if I have time before the kids get up. But to finish a book a week, no way! But then Debra, over at Footprints in the Butter offered a new challenge. Read SEVEN books in a year! But not just any seven but Jane Austen's seven! Oh yeah, now we're talking! I've wanted to read these for quite awhile but just kept getting sucked into other books before I could get to these. I don't know that I'll get to all of them, but hopefully this year I'll mark at least some of her books off my list of books to read.
I placed Sense and Sensibility on hold with my Bookmobile, but then it snowed and the Bookmobile only rides thru once a month so I started another book. Then I stumbled on this Jane Austen website! I can actually read her books online for FREE! I'm in the middle of a book right now and trying to finish up the movie EMMA by Masterpiece Classics, but as soon as I'm done, this will be where I spend my evenings. My only question is what kind of tea should I have? :)