Rural Simplicity

Week 23 - Shadow "You can only come to the morning through the shadows."  ~ J.R.R. Tolkien  Week 24 - Father The kids love to climb all over Daddy. A Fathers time with his children is never wasted. Week 25 - Summer Summer sun, swimming pools, vacation from school books, free time, you name it - summer is delicious!  Week 26 - Patriotic Our children are the future of the world. We must teach them every aspect of life. We must teach them how to respect and pray for those in leadership, and take part in being a voice in politics by voting, and understanding the basics of government.  Want to join me? Next months topics are: Color, Water, Swing/Twirl, Silhouette  Would you like to see more? Here are the previous weeks journal entries:  Weeks 1-5 Weeks 6-9 Weeks 10-13 Weeks 14-18 Weeks 19-22 Sarah 

I'm a huge podcast junky. When I find a podcast I love I start with episode #1 and work through it's entirety. I listen in the car, while washing dishes, hoeing the garden, or doing a puzzle. There are so many opportunities to multitask appropriately. Here is a list of my favorite home education podcasts. #1 Read-Aloud Revival I name this site often, because it is a wonderful place full of commraderie, good books, laughter, and things you won't find anywhere else. The podcast is amazing and I've listened to every single episode (over 100) and a few of them I've listened to more than once. Sarah Mackenzie is a bubbly and delightful person and her website and premium membership site are worth every bit of time you spend there. What is it about?  Sarah Mackenzie is a homeschool mom to six and a lover of books. This podcast gives amazing book recommendations for all ages and often has interviews with living authors. You get to see inside the writing process...

Sycamore Village Their ship was crashing on the open sea and the rain and waves were pouring over them! Peter and Davie  were yelling loudly to the crew.  “Lower the sails! “ “Hoist the rigging!” “Hold on matey’s!!” They were having a terrible time of it when all of a sudden the two boys crashed on the deck laughing and the storm seemingly gave way to sunshine and laughter.  Just across the yard two fine ladies dressed in pearls, high heels, and long flowing dresses called to the sailors. “Would you care for a cup of tea, sirs?” “We would greatly appreciate your company.” Chimed in the second. “Aye!” hollered Peter, “Is it Lemonade?” “Oh no!” Cried the first lady, “Only the finest tea.” “But it has a rather large hint of lemonade,” followed the second, trying not to discourage their company from coming.  “Well, yes… rather.” Replied the first. “Then we shall dock our ship, me ladies, and be there right away!” Peter called through cupp...

Have you ever been apart of a company or program that encouraged you to pick a word for the year? Usually you are encouraged to chose a motivational word like, Preserve, strive, dream, believe, etc... Have you ever heard of doing a word just for yourself? (and it doesn't have to be the cliche motivational word you always hear.) Well, you can and you really should and here is why. That is I'll let Mike Ashcraft tell you why. You can borrow the audio version of this short book from your library and get a quick understanding about why it's such a good idea.  You will go through the process of praying, looking up scriptures passages, and making a list of possibilities. In the end you will have one word to focus on for the year along with a verse to back it up. Here is my word - (what? you think I can't do this because it 's June and not January? - I can, trust me, and so can you. New beginnings are everywhere and very few of them are actually found near th...