Tidbits and Snippets for September 9th

5 Ways to Fully Embrace Homeschooling - Yup, yup, yup, yup, and yup. (My Joy-Filled Life)

The Secret to Planning Menus - If you're not reading this blog, you're missing out. Just go and subscribe and save yourself from a life of painful missing out. This is another excellent post! (Like Mother, Like Daughter)

I am currently working through Auntie Leila's Menu-Making Round-Up. So much good stuff here!

My Big Take-Away From Motherhood - I can't say how much I loved this article. Read it. Love it. Revel in it. (Generation Cedar)

A Season to Gather Happiness - "As fall approaches, back-to-school busyness ramps up, activities and duties increase, and value is placed on what is urgent, rather than on what’s important. Getting distracted from what truly matters is an easy thing to do in this high-resolution, high-standard, high-pressured, picture-perfect world we live in." (Becoming Minimalist)

I'm also looking forward to reading the author's new book, "Hands Free Mama: A guide to putting down the phone, burning the to-do list, and letting go of perfection to grasp what really matters!" 

Television: The Devil's Tabernacle - Regardless of whether we watch TV or not, this is an excellent analysis of historical trends concerning the television. Check it out. (Crisis Magazine)

From the same issue, I also enjoyed the deeply thought-provoking article, The Rape Culture.

Your Home: Is It Prettier on the Inside Than the Outside? - Another that I have printed to re-read often. (Contentment Acres)

Mothering Like Moses - Oh, how I needed the encouragement of a post like this. (In the Nursery of the Nation)


Recipe Corner

This Apple Harvest Oatmeal Bread was splendid. (Raising Homemakers)

We used this chocolate whipped cream frosting on an angel food cake for the 6yo's birthday. Next time I'm planning to stabilize the frosting so that I can freeze it - the recipe made so much that I doubt the clan will be able to eat it before the frosting defrosts.

From the Bookshelf

Current read-alouds are:

• Traitor in the Tower - This is a great series of historical biographies, and I can't wait to find more. This is going on my list of to-find-at-book-sales titles!
• Anne of Green Gables - I thought it would be too girly for the 9yo, but he adores it and chuckles over Anne's loquaciousness. Tomorrow we will read the infamous scene with Mrs. Lynde and a certain red-headed snippet.
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - This is such a wonderful boy book, and the 9yo is lapping it up. We are reading an excellent abridged version by Eyewitness.
• The Sign of the Beaver - Always an excellent choice for all ages, and the 9yo loves it.
• E Is for Enchantment, A New Mexico Alphabet - This is one of the "Discover America State by State" series, which are beautifully done. I don't know that the 9yo is overly enthusiastic, but I think he's picking up bits and pieces of knowledge here and there.

I've been enjoying other classic children's literature - Thimble Summer and Trouble in a Fur Coat among others.

For pleasure, I'm also reading some Agatha Christie favorites - most recently Sad Cypress and Murder in Three Acts.

In my continuing on-the-job training, I'm also enjoying What the Bible Says About Child Training and Future Men. Oh, and Simplicity Parenting.


Dear readers, I'm sorry I'm not around more! I am busy with home and homeschool, it's turning into a crazy-busy field-trip and holiday season, and a certain 3yo is occupying every second of my time with hello-I'm-three-and-I'm-going-to-cause-problems behavior. Please pray for my sanity! (And my parenting skills!)

And in the meantime, dear readers, have a wonderful week!