The Fun Way to School: Thinking Tree's Fun-Schooling Journals

The Holidays have came and gone and it's now time to find a new rhythm and inspiration for the cold and sometimes dreary Winter months ahead. A couple motivating factors are lingering from the Christmas celebrating- A new electric pressure cooker (Christmas gift from the husband!) to inspire flavorful, yet much quicker dishes in the kitchen and a much deal of a boost, the news that our sweet baby #4 is on the way in early August! What a precious gift this revelation was to receive this Christmas; all of my boys are very excited for a new member of the family and the countdown to baby will definitely help pass the Winter months with anticipation. Though it also means that Mama's energy levels have plummeted pretty impressively during the tricky first trimester and things around our house have had to be slightly adjusted for the time being. The chores mostly get done, though not quite so efficiently. Meals are getting on the table one way or another, a big thanks to my generous husband who has been known to be bringing home a lot more take out after work. School is an important and fun part of our day that I really don't want to completely drop the ball on this front. I wanted lie to you, our full line up of school doesn't happen every day- I will add though that my "ideal" school schedule I set up in the fall is pretty ambitious so it takes a really good day to get to all of it! I am very ok with currently cutting back to the necessities and a few fun extras to keep school a joy and not a burden. We still fit in Morning time on the days that I'm feeling energetic and on the not quite days we aim for reading, handwriting, math and some supplemental fun activity. One of our favorite Fun Schooling resources has been the Thinking Tree Fun-Schooling Journals. There is such an impressive range of options offered- for all different ages, boys or girls, season specific and more. We own the Ages 3 to 7 Fun-Schooling Journal - Do-It-Yourself Homeschooling for Beginners: Homeschool Prep-Book For New Readers and Non-Readers!  and the Ages 6-9 Fun-Schooling Journal - Do-It-Yourself Homeschooling 1st - 3rd Grade: Learning Activities For New & Struggling Readers. 

My boys love having their own special books and I really like how open ended they are. Unlike usual school work books that are looking for specific answers, these books really are more like a personal learning journal that kids can really make their own. There are prompts and activities on each page such as a page for nature study documenting, plenty of coloring opportunities, pages for recording books read and copy work, and much more!

 Since my little boy using the Ages 3-7 book is on the younger side of the age range there is a decent amount of writing space that he will dictate for me or he'll grow into later, but there is still plenty of coloring and drawing activities to keep him busy!

We have slowly been working our way thru the Beautiful Feet books Early American History Primary Study and came up to an activity where we were to write out The Principle of Individuality and stamp the boys finger prints around the copy work. I felt this would be the perfect type of activity to archive in our school journals. My littler boy went crazy with finger print art all over the poem I wrote out for him. The artwork on the page we chose includes numerous cats hidden through out and he just loves cats, so I had him search for and circle all the cats he could find. 

My oldest kept things a bit tidier with a neat circle of finger prints surrounding the poem and then he played "look and find" with the music notes in the surrounding picture. 

He also had fun filling out one of the Thinking Time pages that asked him to complete lines of patterns- a great exercise in logic skills.

These books have been a life saver for this currently low energy Mama, providing me with a pretty much self directed learning resource that I can easily get away offering to my boys as "pure fun". I think it will also be a neat way to store,"notebooking" style, different school activities that don't naturally fit into another school book. I am excited for the many other options of Fun Schooling journals we will have to look forward to in the years to come!

Thank you to Thinking Tree Publishing LLC for providing these books for me review and share with my readers.

  

What do you cling to when it all goes wrong? Why She Reads Truth

I am SO glad we were able to make the Advent season rich and full of soul preparation and a reminder of the full gospel story- beginning of the world to Nativity scene and all the hard waiting in between-because we definitely needed the hope of what Christmas was really and truly about come Christmas morning. I have some precious memories of this Advent season with my boys that I will be so thankful to look back on for years to come: Making candles with friends, lighting our special candles for devotional times at night and our extra special night of the Shepherd's Meal and journey to follow "the Star." We baked cookies, and cuddled up on the couch with piles of Christmas picture books and followed God's Big Story from creation to Jesus with our Jesse Tree readings. We thoroughly relished the countdown to Christmas and it really felt like one for the books-until those last few days leading right up to the Big Day and suddenly Mama is covered in a mutant looking case of Poison Oak and the Biggest Boy is coughing up a storm and all the sudden has his last set of molars popping through his gums and where did all the peaceful Magic go?! We soldiered thru, sure that all would be made well by Christmas, only to have Christmas Eve roll around and we're all about to pack in the car and head to the traditional Christmas Eve service, but wait, the baby is burning up and not ready to go anywhere. So Mama stays home and rocks a sick toddler to sleep and everybody else comes home from festivities with family only to have the Middle Boy sobbing from sickness and hot to the touch. It was a not so silent or calm night with little boys tossing and turning and no sleep to go around until well past 4 am. At this point, Christmas morning church service is out the window as well and maybe we can get thru some gifts before collapsing back into bed for a bit? Let's just say it was so not my picture perfect, ideal Christmas morning and not too long ago that would have left me so depressed, marring the whole Christmas season in my mind. After putting so much intentional time and effort into making the season the best it could be- focused on what was true and gleaning all we could from this joyous time of the year, to have that one special day out of the year go so horribly out of plan would have definitely got to me. But this year, because I did focus in on what was true about Christmas, it was ok, I knew I was ok. All the circumstances could go crazily wrong and Christmas was still Christ's birthday and that was worth celebrating and making the most of in whatever fashion we could and we did! It was a good day- a messy, tired, no-photo-proof-it-even-happened kinda day- but we were surrounded by family and blessed to give gifts and eat amazing food and most of all, remember we had Emmanuel-God with us.

As much as I should have known all this truth all along, I can't say I have been the best about actually living it out as reality in my life- really truly living like I believe and know God has it all in control, no matter what happens around me. I have tried over the last few years to really soak my life in scriptures so it does become so much more of my natural response and I have to say one resource I have found amazing helpful in bible study is She Reads Truth. This company and community has been such a blessing to me and several of my close friends; they offer beautifully designed bible study books filled with rich truths that always lead you straight back to scripture. I have done several of their studies, including their Advent study last year with a group of friends, and always feel enriched because of them. I was so excited to hear that they had a book coming out, named after the company and the real life stories of the two cofounders, Rachael Meyers and Amanda Bible Williams. She Reads Truth: Holding Tight to Permanent in a World That's Passing Away is truly a breath of fresh air in women's christian living books; I have read so many books in this category they really start to feel like repeats but not this book. 

Rachael and Amanda alternately write the chapters, weaving together a narrative of their own personal journeys with the Lord and how She Reads Truth came to be. But rather than take us through their actual business success story they focus on the more relevant topic of how their lives brought them to truly be a She who Reads Truth. Amanda shares her painful walk through losing her father to cancer and how she learned that "The promises themselves were true, and we held on tight. But there immutability was inseparable from the Promise Maker."  She read truth to find Jesus, the Perfect and the Permanent. Rachael vulnerably tells of having to say goodbye much, much to early to her precious baby.  How she asks her Father to take this cup from her, but that isn't his answer. "The cup didn't pass from us. The only way out was onward, drinking deeply. Honoring our daughter and her Maker with our grief for a life lost. Not my will, but Yours be done.They were the safest, most dangerous words we had ever spoken."  Rachael found comfort in reading scripture to know that Christ himself had asked the Father for relief from suffering but chose to trust God's ultimate plan.

I may not be able to relate to every situation and feeling that Amanda and Rachael share, but they bare their hearts in such a way that I can glean much wisdom from their experiences. I could find ties to my own struggles with anxiety and striving after being a "good girl" out of my own strength. This book was so beneficial to me- edifying and challenging, encouraging and always pointing back to Christ. There is so much I loved enough to highlight and too many quotes I could share.  These women said just what I (and I think it's safe to say every She) needs to hear- The Permanent is there for you. Whatever this temporary life has looked like, and whatever signs are waiting on the road on the road ahead, God and His Truth will always be true. You cannot change the Truth. You cannot earn it or lose it or escape it. But you can hold on to it, knowing that it holds you."

"She is Me.

She is You. 

She wants faith, hope and love. 

She wants help and healing.

She wants to hear and be heard, to see and be seen.

She wants things set right."

So, She Reads Truth.

In light of how much I love and want to recommend this book, I wanted to let you all know that shereadstruth.com is offering a free one week bible study (starting today) made of selections from this amazing book. Go check it out!

Thanks to B&H Publishing for providing a copy of this book to review. 

Our Current Christmas Read Aloud- The Snow Queen

With the countdown to Christmas well on it's way, our pile of "to read" Christmas books is growing quite high! I wrapped up 25 of our most classic picture books to open one a day until Christmas- this is really one of the boys most favorite traditions. I also have a collection of longer books we are going to work our way thru for read aloud time each day. Currently, we are reading The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen and Finnish illustrator, Sanna Annukka. 

I was so excited to find this beautiful edition of this classic fairy tale. For one thing, I have a goal to own all titles by Andersen and for another, The now Disney classic-Frozen- is based upon The Snow Queen. My boys (and I'll admit, myself as well) are big fans of Frozen and I've been anxious to read the original tale. The book is actually broken up into seven short stories that all tie together and are based around the account of two childhood friends-Gerda and Kay- and their sad separation and then reunion. My boys have been enthralled hearing how Kay's little heart is turned icy and how the Snow Queen whisks him away and how sweet Gerda goes on a daring adventure to find and rescue her dearest friend. This book may be about a queen but there is plenty of action to keep little boys engaged!

Annukka, who also illustrated Andersen's The Fir Tree, did a splendid job bringing the magic of this story to life with whimsical, modern illustrations. The decadent cloth bound cover is embossed with beautiful, metallic images.

The story's illustrations are done in rich, vibrant color befitting a fairy tale. 

I am having so much fun reading this book with my children as one of our special holiday read alouds and am sure it will be treasured for years to come.

I received this book from the Blogging for Books program.

We have a Savior who is Closer than Close

I've pretty much "grown up" as a Christian-in that I grew up in a Christian home and knew about God and what His Son did for me from the start. This is not something I am complaining about: what a great blessing and one I am trying to endow to my children now. I have also pretty much always been a "Good Girl" and have never really had a desire to be anything else. But even mild mannered, tame people who aren't even necessarily tempted to be "bad" realize in a real hurry that it's hard work doing good works and you can always be better. Call it perfectionism, Type A personality or whatever, but I don't think I'm alone in "hustling" in the Christian life. In serving more, being a part of more ministries and on top of that doing these things with the right intentions and attitudes. And then there's the whole list of sins and downfalls I can't seem to shake or move past, even though I really really want to. Being a "good" Christian is hard work and I'm frankly sort of exhausted. 

I know of grace and God's rest for me and I know I can receive those things by being close to Him. Then the question is, how do I get close to Him? I know the right steps to achieve closer proximity (or at least the way we are usually to do so)- get up early, read your bible, pray, serve others. I want to do those things, I know they have merit and are key parts of the Christian walk; but I also am kind of horrible at being inconsistent in those things and getting bogged down in the rest of life. And so I start to feel a little hopeless, like if I can't hold up my part of this deal than why should God want to be close to me and how well I ever "get it right" enough to feel close to Him? 

During a time of a lot of internal wrestling over this conundrum came a book that tackles just these questions and more. In Closer than Close: Awakening to the freedom of your union in Christ  Dave Hickman does a wonderful job of verbalizing all the doubts and fears I've secretly felt and bringing to light the true meaning of how close God wants to be to me and how it is possible. Jesus died on the cross to cleanse my sins so the gap could be crossed and I could be truly united with Him- really, Closer than Close. 

Dave starts by "introducing" himself and I instantly knew he was a voice I could trust on this journey because I could so relate with his early christian experience growing up and how tough it was to fully commit and live a mature christian life as a kid and young adult. He talks of seasons of being fully on fire for God and then being slowly pulled away by "teenage life". Of wanting so badly to give up sins and grow and yet finding yourself doing that very thing, over and over. Dave writes, "Although I was learning more about Jesus and wanted desperately to please and obey him, I became trapped in an endless cycle of sin- confession- sin- confession- sin- confession.'' And pretty soon all you feel is guilt and despair. I could very much empathize with all of this, but also when he writes, "I continued to fight for my relationship with Jesus. How could I not? How could I give up on the one relationship that is suppose to save me?"  Yes, how could I ever give up on that?

Dave goes on to share how after his first son is born and he is completely overcome with love for this child, his child, he just wants to be as close to him as possible. It's then he realizes, God reveals to him that this is who God feels about him, about his children. He wants to be closer than close, He wants to be One. He continues to look at the "Us" of God revealed thru scripture- how there is one God with distinct and different personalities or divinities within. Dave explains how the Trinity is "eternally present with one another, for another, and in one another." And how God created man as another picture of that relationship and form. Of course we know sin came in and tore that idea apart but then Christ came along to redeem and restore that beautiful concept. 

The rest of the book focuses on how to actually life like we have Christ living in and through us. How to grasp our personal identity as the Most Loved. I loved the example Dave uses of how when Jesus first steps onto the sign of public ministry with his baptism God could have understandably encouraged him with affirmation of his divinity or divine calling but instead God says, "This is my Son who I love and in whom I am pleased." This was first and foremost who Jesus was- God's most loved Son and we are at our core his most loved children. In the next chapter, Dave explores the spiritual disciplines of living closer than close to Jesus and shares how it is in some ways like living married life. As you become one with your spouse and daily draw closer to them, so with Christ, you are a new thing and daily dig deeper into what the reality of this union really is. Lastly, Dave dives into what identity and reality in Christ looks like when applied to how we approach the church and the great commission. This book is a very insightful and yet encouraging book on Christian growth, in the truest sense.

 I received this book in exchange for my honest review from Tyndale Publishers.

Sweeter off the Vine- delicious desserts featuring the fruits of the season

Spring seems to finally be breaking thru the wet, dreary hold Winter has had on these parts for what feels like a very long time. With Spring comes the hopeful, white blossoms on all the fruit trees around the farm, making me start dreaming of cobblers and pies and other homegrown desserts of choice. Just this last week, we planted four fragile, wee fruit trees- a nectarine, an early apple and two different varieties of cherry-to replace the heirloom fruit trees that have provided for several generations of family on this farm.  It will be a few years before we get to enjoy the harvest of those tiny, little trees but thankfully we have the well established, mixed bunch of fruits to pick from come this fall. 

  Growing up on a farm, I am well accustomed to seasonal desserts to look forward to and savor. As a child, my siblings and I would be sent out in the summer with big, plastic bowls to fill to heaping with plump, juicy blackberries. My dad would make a simple, but delicious blackberry cobbler for many a summer after dinner treat. And come Thanksgiving, there was always one of Dad's famous apple pies on the table spread. I love a good fruit pie or cobbler better than other baked goods and made with fresh, homegrown fruit makes it even better. So I was excited to add the beautiful, new cookbook- Sweeter off the Vine to my kitchen shelves in preparation of long summer days and sweet summer cooking. 

The book's description tag line- A cozy collection of heirloom-quality recipes for pies, cakes, tarts, ice cream, preserves, and other sweet treats that cherishes the fruit of every season- seems to be the perfect summary of what these gorgeous book consists of. I love that the book is sectioned off by season and shares several recipes for each fruit ripe during that time. I'm excited to get my herb garden blooming again this spring so I can bake up the lemon verbena olive oil cake. When the short Oregon strawberry season  comes on in a couple of months I will definitely be making a few of the simplest strawberry tarts. Summer will bring many mixed berries for the multiple berry rich recipes in the book. Of course, Fall will mean apples, pears and grapes that will be put to good use in the books' pie and fritter recipes. The concord grape and plum butter recipe looks really intriguing! I appreciate the all purpose, essential recipes for pie crusts, sauces, etc. at the end of the book. 

Yossy Arefi did a wonderful job compiling some homey, delicious and accessible desserts that I'll be adding to my baking arsenal. After reading her author bio, I realized she was very well probably the author of many of my favorite Bon Appetit magazine dessert recipes, so I am excited to have some of her best recipes all together in one beautiful book!

 

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."