I am often looking for practical ways to share wisdom with my sons without making the message overly preachy or creating a dislike for what the Bible has to offer. I was really pleased to get to preview Luke and Trisha Gilkerson’s new book, Parenting with Proverbs. They do a great job of encouraging parents to apply lots of grace while also sharing the wise advice found in Proverbs when discipling their children.
The suggested way to use the book is to specifically focus on a topic of concern (laziness, truthfulness, pride, and so on) and share the coordinating verses, possibly with the help of discussion starters. However, I have been using it as a daily reading with my boys. My at-home guys are 12-17, and I do not think this resource is too “young” for them. Really, families with kids from kindergarten on up could benefit from this. We have enjoyed the quick lessons and have had some good conversations about how to apply the concepts to our everyday lives.
One thing I am excited about that’s included in this ebook are memory cards for each verse that’s used in the book. I printed mine out on card stock and we use them for copywork/handwriting practice! So easy and practical.
Do you ever find yourself feeling chronically unsure and insecure about your homeschool path? Do you feel like a square peg trying to fit in a round hole when it comes to your program, philosophy, or curriculum? Do you compare yourself to other homeschool moms that seem to have it all together, and feel like you and yours are the “biggest losers”? If any of these apply to you, you’ve gotta watch this scope!
Here is a quick outline of the points I discussed in this scope.
How to recognize disempowerment in yourself:
The message doesn’t resonate you, but you feel like it should.
The message did resonate with you, but after giving it a good try you just can’t seem to make it work, but feel like you have to keep trying.
When you feel stuck or like this HAS TO BE the right thing, even though it’s not working for you.
When you often feel like you don’t know how to “do it right” and you keep asking others for validation and direction.
When “everybody else” is so great at it, but you can’t seem to manage it.
When you’re being pressured to violate your own conscience or good sense.
Winter is typically the hardest time of our homeschool year. The weather, lack of sunlight, and the hibernation mode that go with it can create a drag that can translate into a real bummer for you and your kids. Over my 21+ years of homeschooling, I’ve learned a few tricks, and basically it all boils down to having some things that are: Fresh New Exciting Different Fun Inspiring Comforting Special!
So in this video I shared a bunch of ideas for ways to help shake off the winter blues and keep them away, while embracing the seasonal realities. I thought I would list a bunch of them here along with links to specific resources that I recommended.
watch winter sports: college basketball is pretty fun, and March Madness is really exciting, especially if you are rooting for an awesome team like the UK Wildcats! Woot! Go Big Blue!
Can you beat the winter blahs by going on a vacation or planning one? (and if a vacation isn’t in the budget, what could you do for a staycation?)
Kindle/ipad games that they kids can play alone or cooperatively with one another
Have you gotten into the adult coloring craze? 🙂 So many people are discovering how relaxing and fun it is to spend some time on a simple creative pursuit like coloring. I love it for older kids AND grown-ups. I think it’s especially great for something to do together while listening to classical music selections. Don’t you agree?
Today I’ve got some great coloring goodies for you to help you get started or keep you going.
First, I’ve got a FREE coloring book for you to download today! It’s called Lollipop Trees and it has some great, relaxing designs included. Simply click the image to download.
Click to download
Next, did you know that you can get FREE coloring pages each month from Color Monthly? It’s true!
Color Monthly will send you 5 free printable coloring pages each month, PLUS you can take advantage of additional offers if you choose to. Sign up is FREE!
Finally, I’ve put together a huge assortment of 100 coloring books for you to check out. These are perfect for a gift for yourself or for your loved ones! You are sure to find something that is a perfect fit for your interests.
I love this article! It explains how we benefit from art, music, and nature being a regular part of our lives! Get printing your Fine Art Pages today so your entire family can benefit in body, spirit, and soul.
“That awe, wonder and beauty promote healthier levels of cytokines suggests the things we do to experience these emotions – a walk in nature, losing oneself in music, beholding art – has a direct influence upon health and life expectancy.”
I know I’m not the only mom that has taken advantage of the bargain prices on school supplies in late summer, but then manages to not know where on earth any of the stuff is by January. (Or October)
After thoroughly cleaning, purging, and taking stock of the school area, I found various caches of school supplies, and some half-broken pencil boxes with motley collections of broken crayons and buried child-sized scissors. Sick of the situation where people never know where to find OR return commonly-needed items, I turned to Pinterest for inspiration and that got the ball rolling.
This door leads to our coat closet, and this side of it faces the right side of where all of our work stations/desks are for the boys. In other words, all they have to do is turn their little heads to the right and their gaze shall fall upon this beautiful scene:
All you need is one of those inexpensive over-the-door shoe organizers. I got a clear plastic one. You can even order them from amazon*. Boom!
As I started filling each section and figuring out what would make sense for where to place items (for instance Sharpies: Up top.) I decided on some modifications.
I didn’t want crayons to mark up the surface of the organizer and make it look junky.
I didn’t want scissors and sharpened pencils to poke holes in the bottom of the pouches.
I didn’t want to have kids up-to-their-armpits trying to dig out crayons from the pouches.
I had a stash of clear containers from the bulk section of Whole Foods. They fit perfectly into the pouches, and solved the problem of potential pokes as well as made items like crayons, markers, and colored pencils portable. Now a child can help themselves to the container, take it to their seat to use it, and then return the whole thing. Perfect!
I also save parmesan cheese containers (they are perfect for childen’s banks, bug catchers, and a zillion other things) and those also fit nicely and worked well for certain items.
If I hadn’t had these plastic containers handy, I could have used clear plastic cups that could have been obtained inexpensively from a discount store or yard sale, or even canning jars. If you look around at what you’ve got available, you may find that you have a free solution to your needs without having to buy anything.
My children are all old enough to not go berzerk with overuse of school supplies, so I’m comfortable with leaving everything out where they can help themselves. I love it that now that the supply sales are here, I can easily see that I already have more than enough crayons, but could definitely use more pencil-top erasers. I won’t be buying stuff we don’t need.
As you can see there is plenty of extra space. I can see that these pouches could also be useful for additional art supplies, craft supplies, math manipulatives, flash cards, and other small items that need to be kept track of and made available to the children regularly.
I’m a visual person that really likes to see my stuff. With all the bright colors and the ease of keeping it organized, I feel like this will be handy, practical, and easy to keep up on.
We have used this system for a few years now and it continues to work so well for us. Clean up is so easy since it is obvious where everything goes, and it is never a mystery as to whether or not we have binder clips/colored pencils/tape/paintbrushes. Our shoe organizer has held up really well and still looks great!
*Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Welcome to the Enrichment Lifestyle Blog! I'm so glad you're here. :) I'm Erica Johns, and I love to encourage homeschool moms and help them enjoy more of the beauty of the arts in everyday life.
About me: I started my homeschooling journey in 1997 and graduated the last of my six children in 2021. Amidst all the hard work, crazy days, uncertainty, and lost pencils, what I think we really gained was the gift of a lifetime: TIME TOGETHER. So awesome! Click my pic to learn more.
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