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books I am reading and January book reading update…

By Joy on February 14, 2013 in 2013, family

I started this post back at the beginning of February and now the month is half way over. I wanted to update you on the books that I am reading. I had made a goal for myself, at the beginning of the year to read 52 books. My book list for January, I am almost finished with them. I am still working on Desperate – Hope For The Mom Who Needs to Breathe. I will also begin The Mom Walk when I finish Desperate.

Most of the books I have chosen next to read, are study guides and books that I can read to help me mentor, help and encourage other women. God has laid on my heart Titus 2:3-5. I feel like He is leading me in the direction to help and train younger women/moms. Lord willing and with much prayer, I gain a little more knowledge, along with courage and strength to do as God is leading me. I am also hoping I can figure out how to do this as well. What books have I chosen to read to learn more from, besides the Bible?

A couple of the books are by Susan Hunt, The True Woman and Spiritual Mothering. Women’s Ministry in the Local Church is also authored by Susan Hunt along with Duncan Ligon.

I am also doing a bible study by Elizabeth George called by Loving God with All Your Mind.

books I am reading

All of my books just isn’t for studying though. I added in a few books for fun and enjoyment. I love books that are based in the 1800′s time period. I love just reading and slipping away to a time period long gone. When, in some ways life was a little simpler, yet they still had issues just like we do today. While the stories are made up, I can still imagine life back in time.

I have the second book in the Homeward on the Oregon Trail by Melody Carlson, A Dream for Tomorrow. I loved the first book, so I am excited to read this second one.

I also came across another book about the Oregon Trail. It is Where the Trail Ends by Melanie Dobson. It is set in 1841, so I am sure it will be a nice read.

The last book in this list is A Patchwork Christmas Collection. This book has 3 stories in it along with recipes and handcraft patterns. I am hoping to learn to crochet and knit, so this book looked interesting to me. I have already read the first story in the book and it was pretty good. Looking forward to finishing the other two books in this collection.

As you can tell, I do love to read. It isn’t unusual for me to be reading several books at one time. I love to mix the serious and fun books up. This is the way I like to wind down and relax after a long day or, if I just want to take some time off.

What are you reading now? What type of books do you like to read?

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books I am reading…

By Joy on December 30, 2012 in 2012, family

Reading is a passion of mine. You can find all sorts of my books lying around the home and in our vehicle. Lately though, I haven’t made time for myself to read. One of my goals for the new year is to read at least one book a week. I thought I would share with you the books I am reading as I head into 2013.

books I am reading

Love to read all types of books; fiction, non-fiction, study guides, devotionals. Anything to help me take my mind off things and relax. The books I am reading in this list just shows a couple of different genres that I love.

Sally Clarkson is a favorite author of mine. Her love of God, her husband and children shine through when she writes. I have enjoyed all of her books I have read so far and have added two more of her books to my list. I love how she encourages others. While I have never met Sally Clarkson, I do consider her a mentor. The books that I will be reading from Sally Clarkson is The Mom Walk and Desperate – Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe, which was also co-authored by Sarah Mae (Desperate is supposed to go on sale Jan. 8th, however, I was able to buy it from Amazon early).

The Bartered Bride is a collection of nine stories written by 8 different authors. This is a collection of inspirational historical fiction and I think my most favorite genre of books, ever.

Rugged and Relentless is the first book in the series Husbands for Hire and one that I am excited to read about. It is written by Kelly Hake, another one of my favorite authors.

Westwards Hearts is written by Melody Carlson and is the first book in the series Homeward on the Oregon Trail.

Are you seeing a pattern here? Yes, I love inspirational historical romance novels, especially if they are part of a series!

I am still waiting on one more book to come in the mail. It is a book series that I just found out about today. The book is The Memory Jar, the first book in the Seven Brides for Seven Bachelors series written by Tricia Goyer.

The Memory Jar by Tricia Goyer

So these are my first several books that I have chosen to read and I am truly looking forward to getting back in the habit of reading something for myself. Perhaps I will take time to write a short review on them. We will see!

What do you have on your night stand? I would love for you to share your books with me. I am always looking for new books to read!

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homeschooling plans changing just bit..

By Joy on July 31, 2012 in 2012, homeschooling

I am sure you are all just about tired of hearing about us moving to Colorado. I know I am! I am so ready to be there! So I thought I would talk a little about how our homeschooling will look for us when we first get to Golden, CO. You see, we will be living in a vacation rental for a month, or until we can find us a more permanent place to live. That means that the majority of our school books are boxed up and in a storage unit until then. So what will we be doing for school until then? Well, I am so glad you asked! {grin}

Thanks to an awesome homeschooling blogging buddy of mine, we will be approaching the first 4-6 weeks slightly different. To begin with, we will be covering the state history of Colorado and the town history of Golden, CO. It will be good to learn all about the place that we will be calling home. We will be taking field trips to local historical places in town, as well as finding the library, police and fire stations and any science or history museums in the area. We will also be covering geography and science by learning all we can about the Rocky Mountains.

I have packed a couple of small boxes with our math, spelling and bible study books. For math, my oldest daughter will finish up her Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra, while the younger two kids will finish up their Bob Jones math books.

We will be using a new spelling book this year for the younger two kids. The Natural Speller is recommended with the Illuminations program that I will be using by Bright Ideas Press.

As for the bible study, we will finish up the Esther book we started last year. We got side-tracked and I never finished it with the kids. They loved doing this study, so I am excited to begin it once again.

I also packed up the See The Light art curriculum DVD’s. My youngest son just asked me the other day when we could begin this again. I am so happy that we have found an art curriculum they love!

So as you can tell, we do have some great ideas to get us started. While it isn’t everything that we will eventually be using, I am happy that we will be able to do something not long after we arrive. My kids thrive on a routine and we have been out of one for far too long.

I was so excited when Honey mentioned those ideas to me about studying the state and local history with the kids once we arrived. It will help us get acquainted with the area, as well as get one some sort of routine with our schooling. A win-win for all of us!

We will also be meeting up with a new homeschool group that I have been in contact with. They will have their first park day on August 9th. We will also be checking into the extra-curricular activities that the kids want to be involved with. This includes finding a new dance studio, musical theater company and a recreation league for sports. I don’t know why I was so worried about jumping right into school, we will have plenty to keep us busy the first couple of weeks!

Once we get settled next week in our temporary rental, I plan on sharing with you all the rest of the curriculum we will be using. I am truly excited about it this year as I am stepping away from a lot of the traditional textbooks and workbooks. This is truly going to be an interesting year with all the new adventures that we will have!

Do you have any special studies planned to begin your new school year with?

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tips for shopping used curriculum sales…

By Joy on June 12, 2012 in 2012, homeschooling

The homeschool group I am leader of, has been hosting a used curriculum sale for the last several years. I always enjoy helping out during this sale. I love talking with new and veteran homeschoolers. Most of all though, I love SHOPPING at the used curriculum sale. I love books of all kinds and to have so many to browse through, I truly get giddy! I do try to be careful with what I purchase. I always try to purchase what we will use for the upcoming year. However, I have gotten carried away and have bought books that we didn’t use. Not only did we not use them, but it was a loss of money.

With saying that, I thought I would give you a few tips to help you out when you attend a used curriculum sale.

First thing you need to do is make a list of the books that you will be needing for the upcoming year. Look over what you have been using to see if you can still use any of the books from the previous school year. There have been occasions that I have been able to use readers and textbooks for a couple of years. Also, check your bookshelves. You could have possibly purchased a book the year or two before not even knowing that you would be needing it in the future. It could have been one of those impulse buys! {grin}

When you have checked your bookshelves, and still do not see what you need, ask around! We have a wonderful homeschool support group that will let others borrow books if they are not using them. Ask your homeschooling friends on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or any other social media. This past year, I made a comment that I was looking for books for Tapestry of Grace, Year 1 and had a friend send me all she had for that year! She saved me a lot of money just by me making a passing comment!

Now that you have checked your bookshelves and with your friends, double check your list and then make a budget. Yes, I said a budget. Even though you are going to a used book sale, you can still spend more money than what you need to. I often will go online and check out prices on used curriculum websites, just to get an idea how much money the books will cost that I am looking for. On my list, I will write the price of the book next to the name.

Once I have my budget, I take that amount of cash with me on the day of the used curriculum sale, along with my list. I also try to get to the sale when it first starts. Early bird gets the book, I mean worm. {smile} You are more than likely to get what you need if you do show up when the sale begins. I will walk around the sale doing a quick glance just to see if I can spot any book on my list and a price. There have been a couple of times I was looking for a certain curriculum and noticed that two different moms had it. One was cheaper than the other! Never hesitate to ask if the mom will be willing to drop the price if you feel like it is too high. More times than not, the mom will be willing to help you out.

Since I have been homeschooling for 10 years now, I buy a lot of my books used. By using these few tips I have been able to save us some money over the years.

Have you bought used curriculum and books for your homeschooling? Do you have any tips that you could add to the ones above? I would love for you to share them with us!