Art and Me...And Maybe You?
I am currently reading a book entitled Art and Fear and in it one of
the authors shares a conversation he once had with his daughter. She asked what
he did and, when he explained that he worked at the university, teaching people
how to draw,.. |
Creative Gift Giving
In most cases, homeschooling households are single income households.
This generally makes creativity a necessity, especially when Christmas
rolls around. The first money saving step anyone can take is to
pare down the gift list,.. |
Ebook Revolution
“There is no way electronic books will ever replace real books.”
Even those who are perfect, which I am not, eventually face a
situation where they have to eat their words. I am eating mine now, and
actually not minding it all that much.
Back when electronic books (AKA ebooks,.. |
FrontPorch History: Telling the Tale
I close my eyes and drift on
clouds of memory. Do I know where I am going? Perhaps. I may return to an
oft-visited time, or I may stumble upon a memory long forgotten.
This is one way of pulling your own stories out of a
sometimes elusive past... |
FrontPorch History
He sat rocking idly, the soft lamplight accentuating lines
worn deeply into his face by years of laughter and tears. His eyes glistened as
the clock struck another late hour and his grandchildren begged once again,
“Just one more, Grandaddy... |
Getting the Most from Reading Aloud to Your Children
In my previous article, I shared about the importance of reading aloud to your children, both as "parent" and as "teacher." The rewards are great even when you simply read your child's favorite picture books to him regularly. Invest a little more effort,.. |
Lasting Memories
Can you see yourself in this picture? Your
family just completed the unit study of your dreams. You’re at the end,
and you’re thinking there must be more. What can you do with all of the
fabulous projects, the stack of photos, and your memories of the fun?
You could simply set it aside and walk.. |
Live in the Moment
I watched a reality TV program a
few months back and, contrary to what I might have expected, God used
it to cement a valuable lesson in the very first episode. In this show,
The Monastery, a group of men with issues had agreed to spend a certain
amount of time living in a monastery with Benedic.. |
Lower your Voice
I heard a man say, recently, that if you were a
prince or princess, one of the things you would be taught from a young
age is never to raise your voice. The idea being that, as royalty, you
are the one in charge, so people must listen to you. Consequently,.. |
Release the Creativity
For a little extra fun, take a minute before you read this article, pull out pen and paper, and do an exercise.
Take exactly sixty seconds.
Write down three attributes of God.
Done?
Okay, if this were a workshop, I would have everyone
read their lists of attributes aloud and we would t.. |
Scrapbooking
I’m a compulsive hobbyist. Through the years I have crocheted,
tooled leather, decoupaged, cross stitched, scherenschnitted (is
that a verb?), stenciled, and more. When I once mentioned an interest
in ceramics,.. |
Setting Examples
You know, you really never do stop learning.
Just this morning I was marveling over how much I learned from a friend
I stayed with last week. She never had any idea she was teaching me by
her example. Truly, I had been in her home two or three days before I
consciously recognized what I was seei.. |
Surviving or Celebrating?
By November 1 st we are already deep into plans for Christmas.
In fact, with our church’s choir beginning rehearsals by early September
at the latest, we have already been thinking about Christmas for
quite some time... |
Take It Slow(ly)
(The compulsive in me
just had to add the 'ly' to the title even if the expression really is
"Take it slow." Sad, huh?)
It is no secret that most of us live lives that require us
to move quickly in all we do. The potential dangers of speed range from the
obvious - car wrecks,.. |
The Gift of Receiving
"Of course
I tell her when I don't like what she gives me. If I don't, I'll keep getting
stupid gifts." Yes, folks, I really did hear a man say this in reference
to his mother.
Now, admittedly, there are only
so many things one can do with a chrome-plated,.. |
The Most Important Thing to Do to Help Your Child Become a Good Reader and Why It Works
I was a voracious reader pretty much from the day that all those black dots (printed letters) started making sense. When I had children, it was only natural to read aloud to them from picture books, poetry books, and more. Then, when our youngest was able to read to himself,.. |
Theft by Any Other Name
Visit any of the used curriculum boards and what
will you find? You will find, for sale, consumable workbooks that have
supposedly never been used. Yes, some of them truly haven’t
been used –
perhaps the curriculum, when it arrived,.. |
Walking in Harmony
"Wherever we go, whatever we do, we're gonna do it together."
I wonder if I could talk my oldest son into doing that duet with
me in a talent show sometime?
Thomas is fifteen. Almost three years ago our church's sanctuary
choir was opened up to thirteen yea.. |
Watch Your Words
From the beginning of time, God has demonstrated
the power of the spoken word. He has also given us the ability to tap
into that power – and the responsibility to use it correctly. When God
said, “Let there be light,” light was. When Jesus said, “Lazarus,.. |
Welfare Mentality
Amy spends the morning having her teachers sign time sheets
to prove that she has been attending all of her classes. It doesn’t matter that
she hasn’t actually been to any of the classes, because she fills the sheets
out herself and is always careful to produce them when the teacher is too busy
.. |
