• Homeschooling

    Scheduling AmblesideOnline Year 2, Pt. 1

    Now that we are almost a month into our second “official” year of using AmblesideOnline, I feel like we are really getting into the groove. Not that I don’t still have a lot to learn about teaching and living in a more Charlotte Mason-esque way! We certainly have not arrived! I do feel, however, that I have a handle on the flow of the academic portion of our school day, and that is a welcome change from last year. Many days I felt scattered, and I often could not remember what I was supposed to be doing from one day…

  • Faith Talk

    Lessons from Fasting: Letting Go

    As I mentioned in my post on my personal goals for 2018, I am participating in a 40 Day Sugar Fast hosted by Wendy Speake. When I started this fast, I really did just want to get free of my sugar addiction. I know that sugar is not good for me, in more than just a physical sense. I can tell that it affects my mind and emotions as well. I have gone without sweeteners before when doing Whole30, but whenever the diet period is over, I always creep back into my old habits. This year I decided I had…

  • Books and Reading

    The Reading Report, Vol. 8: Reading in the New Year

    Welcome to the first 2018 edition of The Reading Report! I hope that you are off to a positive start to this new year. I can hardly believe that it is already the middle of January! Here in Middle Tennessee we are enjoying a beautiful snowy day, which is a bit of a rarity around here, I think. We have already chuckled just a bit (sorry Southerners!) at the speed at which everything gets cancelled when a little snow is falling. But, homebody that I am, I guess I don’t mind the added excuse to stay home and enjoy the…

  • Faith Talk - Life in General

    Simplify Your Focus: Five Minute Fridays

    This time of year there seems to be a plethora of self-improvement choices around the internet (and elsewhere). We are bombarded with choices for courses to take, books to read, or programs to join in order to better ourselves in some way or another. Some of that is good. It is helpful for us to have training and accountability in pursuing our goals. At the same time, though, sometimes all this amounts to is more noise, more comparison, more ways to feel like we aren’t good enough or aren’t doing enough. A few weeks ago, this was how I was…

  • Life in General - Uncategorized

    Professional Growth

    Here it is! My last post in my Goals for Growth series: Professional Growth! If you missed Part 1 on Relationships, or Part 2 on Personal Growth, feel free to click back and read those posts! Also, if you want to know why I picked “Growth” as my word for 2018, you can find out more here. This last post in the series is all about the growth goals I have for various aspects of my blogging and business in 2018. Let’s get started! Professional Goals for Growth: I think I need to preface all these goals by saying that…