love to paint

When my kids were younger, I sat down to put together a curriculum plan.  When I came to Language Arts, I found that it was easier to break down the subject for me.  I didn't gravitate towards all in one curriculums like Sonlight or Abeka.  So, I identified the components I needed for my children:  Reading, Reading Comprehension, Spelling, Writing, and Vocabulary.  As my kids have grown, this breakdown has remained the same with a few minor tweaks.  For my fifth grader, reading instruction now focuses on reading strategies and fluency.  Vocabulary in younger grades came in the form of Explode the Code --connecting words with their spellings and meanings through sentences and pictures.  My kids finish Explode the Code at the end of 4th grade.  I have them complete both the whole numbered and half numbered books.  This year, I knew it was time for me to tweak Autumn's vocabulary component of her curriculum as she started 5th grade.  S...

A few years ago, I read a book I really enjoyed by Ann Gabhart.  It was titled Angel Sister .  It had some unexpected twists and it wasn't just another romance.  Recently, I read a new book by Gabhart titled Summer of Joy .  I liked it. Summer of Joy centers around the Brooke family--Jocie, her Aunt Love, her father David, and her sister, Tabitha, and Tabitha's 3 month old son.  The story is also about the people connected to them.  David's wife left him years ago and he is in a new relationship.  Jocie is a teen, growing up and trying cope with the challenges of being in high school.  Tabitha returned home pregnant after living with her mother.  Aunt Love is the glue that keeps the home front together while David runs a newspaper office and pastors a local church.  Real people.  Real struggles.  Living and learning to show grace to one another.   There are of course some twists and turns to the story.  But, it...

Over the past few weeks, I've been reading an interesting book.  It's titled The Long Awakening by Lindsey O'Connor.  I was curious about this book.  I love to read books that help me step into someone else's shoes and understand his or her life.  I want to know about how they've dealt with struggles and suffering, how it felt, and how other people in their lives responded (for better or for worse) and the impact of those responses.  I want to know because I want to love people better.  I don't want to say the wrong thing.  I find that I am able to be more sensitive in my words and actions when I am aware of what hurts and what doesn't. The Long Awakening is the the story of a woman who enters a coma for 47 days on the day she gives birth to her fifth child.  The story talks briefly about her life before her family, her pregnancy and birth of her fifth child, her time in a coma, and her recovery from that coma.  From the beginning, Ms. O'...

We're not moving.  We're staying put in our home where we are.  For the past five weeks, our house has been on the market.  We've looked and asked so many people questions about commutes and where they live.  It's always interesting to watch God help us put the pieces of a puzzle together.  It's hard to see the picture sometimes until the last piece is in place. My husband has a long commute.  We were considering moving closer to his work.  We looked all over, but found that we liked most where we are now.   He also learned how long his co-workers' commutes were over the course of many conversations. Often, I find perspective changes things.  Someone expressed concern that I might be afraid of change.  I understood this concern.  It's a valid concern and in the past I was afraid of moving.  But, this time I wasn't.  God had worked on my heart and taught me a lot of lessons.  In the past five weeks, he's impressed ...