Encouraging Moms Who Homeschool

Great book. I could actually complete this review with just those two words. I like this book that much. I am not a self-help proponent, primarily because it simply does not work. So know that this book is definitely not one of those books and if one of those books is what you are looking for, you should probably keep looking. Lance Hahn's book "The Master's Mind" is a God-help kind of book. A book that points you to the Word of God and to Jesus and urges you to live daily in reliance upon the Holy Spirit. The author covers so many topics in this written work, I would leave several out if I tried to list them all. He is thorough about the warfare happening for our minds, for our every thought. He wants the reader to realize what is really transpiring spiritually and how it directly impacts daily life - because there is a kernel of truth to the saying, "I think, therefore I am." What we think ~ about ourselves, about others, and most import

Socialization. The one word homeschoolers dread hearing the most! Why is it that people so readily assume that, if you homeschool, you and your children must have so much trouble making friends? interacting in social settings? holding a normal conversation? living life as a human being on this planet? As women who home educate our children, we deal with this whole "socialization" thing on a multitude of levels. When we first decide to homeschool, we may lose some old friends who just don't get why we are doing this. As we continue to homeschool, we may lose some friends because our time is allocated more toward our kiddos education and less toward normal "friendship-y" sorts of things. If we ~ GASP! ~ dare to continue to homeschool into the high school years, we again face the prospect of losing some friends who homeschooled in the younger years but feel high school is a bridge too far, for whatever reason (some of those reasons are legitimate - this

So, I received the book "When Did Everybody Else Get So Old?" by Jennifer Grant from Handlebar Press. I get a fair number of books to review & as a conservative Christian, I receive books written from that perspective...*mostly. This book certainly had some poignant segments - things about life as a middle-aged woman that really hit home. Many, many things Jennifer described are things I have experienced. And many of those things came as a surprise to me, much in the way they seemed to surprise her. How can these events come as surprises when they happen to so many of us? Shouldn't we know exactly what to expect if it is the exact same thing so many tens of thousands have experienced? Somehow, the answer is no. Even those events that are the same are not the same at all. It's a bizarre truth, indeed, that not everything that is the same is the same at all. As a Christian woman who considers her personal relationship with Jesus the most important part of

As the homeschool mama, I am the one doing the assigning and not usually the one receiving the assigning. I am sure you feel the exact same way. But today I am giving you, the mother who is (most likely) primarily in charge of her children's education, a homework assignment. And I really hope you will take the time to complete it! The first part of your homework assignment is simple:           Grab your Bible, turn to Matthew 25:14-30, and read it. Re-read, highlight, underline or take notes on any portion(s) of this passage that stand out to you. Be an active reader. Read this while thinking about your own life. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you about this passage. Then, read it one more time. Finally, the "hard" part of the assignment.... Sit quietly before the Lord, pen and paper in hand, and write what He speaks to your heart about this passage. Ask Him to show you where you are rightly using what He has given you for His glory and His purposes. And, on

Okay, here goes nothing. I have a serious heart condition. Or, more accurately, I have a couple of serious heart conditions that are somewhat conflicting and have made my treatment, shall we say, a bit tricky. Add to that some dissension between my cardiologist and my electrophysiologist regarding my treatment, and it becomes dicier still. And the cherry on top is that medication, even at it's lowest dose, is deadly for me (the mildest meds at half the lowest dose lower my resting heart rate to 30 beats per minute - a full dose would likely stop my heart, according to my doctors). So, meds are out. And the beginning of my journey from Wichita, Kansas to Cleveland, Ohio, to pursue treatment at the Cleveland Heart Clinic is my next step. It's going to be " 'spensive" to quote Lucille Ball. So some of my family members (two of my aunts and my hubby, to be exact) have teamed up & started a YouCaring page to help raise the necessary funds. I seriously dislike

An old saying goes something like this:           “For the foolish, old age is like winter; for the wise, it is a harvest.” Read that one more time and ponder it for a moment. What truth does that speak to your mind, to your heart, homeschooling mother? What do you hear the Lord saying to you? How can you live today so that you will have a harvest in your old age? It will always be far easier to be in a bit of a foul mood on any given day ~ this day! Far easier to gripe a little here and moan a little there. The hard, right choice to make is to live learning from today so that you reap that harvest when you are gray and wrinkly. But you cannot make hard, right choices if you do not decide in advance to make those hard, right choices. Being joyful in your day to day life as a busy mom requires that you yield to the Holy Spirit and let Him produce fruit that is worth harvesting. This cannot be manufactured in your own strength. Nothing worth anything can. It’s