What is a Faun? and Web Wanderings...

 

Our read-aloud times have taken a lovely turn.  We've been reading Randy Alcorn's Heaven for Kids and he keeps referencing The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  So we are taking a break from that book and delving into the magical land of Narnia.  It is one of those 'pinch-me' moments as a mother as I have such fond childhood memories getting lost in this book.  Today, a good deal of time was spent talking about fauns.  The boys are equally enthralled and confused by Mr. Tumnus.

In the midst of motherhood during that afternoon hour to myself or after the kids have been tucked into beds, I find myself wandering the web and being encouraged, inspired and equipped.

Here is a snippet of what I've been reading:

I'm inspired by these Bible Themed Quiet bags that Erin posted about over at When You Rise, especially since we are focusing on Creation this week!

Ticia from Adventures in Mommydom is doing a fun series right now on the ABC's of Hands-on History.  Tons of helpful links.

I loved Leigh Ann's thoughts on When Your Quiet Time's Aren't Quiet.  Wonderful ideas to meet with God no matter what your micro-season in life. And motherhood is full of lots of micro-seasons, isn't it?

Kris from Always Alleluia shared beautiful thoughts on holding onto God-sized dreams.  It was beautiful to read about her journey this last year and I found myself encouraged to place my God-sized dreams in His hands and follow along where He leads...

Love DayebyDaye's thoughts on training our children and ourselves to view our reaction and attitudes as opportunities.

What have you been reading lately - online, books, with the kids?

Nursing Some Good Reads

I nurse, therefore I read...

Am I the only one who does a whole lot of reading in those first few months with a baby?  While I don't have nearly the time that I did with my first baby, I still find myself reading a lot when I am nursing my babies.  I have tendencies to get easily distracted and am usually in the middle of a couple of books.  The sleep deprivation or fluctuating hormones must be accenting that because I'm dabbling in more than usual.

I'm always curious to see what others are reading, so I figured I would share my current reads.  Since I think I've nursed her in almost every room in the house, I thought I would share the books I have located in each spot!

The Front Room

I love the lighting in this room.  We just have sheers up on all of the windows so this room is awash with indirect sunlight!  The kids spend a lot of time in this room, so naturally, I do too!

My Backpack Bible ~ This tiny Bible with a snap closure received its nickname when I bought it in college.  It travelled back and forth to school with me daily and has been a staple in my diaper bag.  I've been keeping it handy downstairs because I can hold it with one hand making reading it while nursing possible.  It is the Bible we grabbed when we did the first day of our advent devotional and pictured here.

The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains
I knew I was starting my climb out of the post-partum fog when I started reading this book.  What can I say, brain research excites me as long as I'm not too sleep deprived.   This fascinating read delves into how surfing the Internet is actually changing the way we think and re-wiring our brains...  I'm sure some people are more effected than others.  A friend posted a recent CNN article about 'popcorn brain' on facebook this summer and it really challenged me.  So when I saw this book, I knew I wanted to read it.

A Family of Value
My dad found this when it was offered as a free Kindle book.  He liked it so much he bought a paper copy for each of his daughters.  I wish I had read something like this several years earlier.  It is just common-sense, old fashioned parenting.  The author is a psychologist who bought into the 'nouveau' ideology advanced by mainstream psychology until their firstborn reached the age of three.  They realized that instead of creating their dream of a the loving democracy that a dictatorship had arisen and the 3 year old was in charge.  That's when they realized that they needed to return to time-tested parenting models.  His book hinges on the concept of raising children who "were endowed with traits of character that constituted good citizenship: specifically respect for persons in positions of legitimate authority; a willingness to accept responsibility for one's own social behavior as well as assignment from authority figures; and resourcefulness, a hang-in-there, tough-it-out, try-and-try again attitude toward the many challenges of life."  So far it has been eye-opening, convicting and intensely practical.  While he is a believer this is not a specifically Christian book.

The Living Room

A Natural Guide to Postpartum Health
I'm a science junkie who is fascinated with the health aspects surrounding fertility, pregnancy and babies. I've also had a growing interest in the area of post-partum care of women and nutrition. 
This book explains how the most common postpartum complaints are actually a result of nutrient and hormonal depletion and imbalance.  I found this book fascinating. It is changing the way I want to help women. I have been having conversations with my sister and a few friends over the years about how we can best care for each other post-partum and this book was very helpful. I checked it out through inter-library loan, so unfortunately had to skim through the last several chapters because I didn't have enough time to read all of it. But with the science emphasis, I didn't always have the brainpower for this kind of reading... I'm cutting myself slack though and reminding myself that I'm going through those very hormonal changes talked about and suffering from a bit of sleep deprivation. I would love to buy this book sometime so that I can use it as a resource when my friends and sisters have children!

Cure Tooth Decay Naturally: Heal and Prevent Cavities with Nutrition
I've been researching nutrition a lot over the last year and making more adjustments with how we eat.  When I came across this book during a library search for something else, it piqued my curiosity.  It is a fascinating book and while I don't think his recommendations are very reasonable for those on a tight budget, I've found changes we can make and it has challenged how I've viewed oral health...

The Kitchen Table

The Black Stallion
We've been working our way through the Black Stallion.  One of my favorite times to read chapter books to them is at the kitchen table.  Sometimes I read while they are wrapping up lunch or during afternoon smoothies.  Other times, I give them paper and turn them loose drawing while I read.  Busy hands make for more focused minds.  Even the three year old can pay attention sometimes...  

The Nursery

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
She isn't sleeping in the nursery at night yet, but when I'm in this room, sleep is on my mind.  Hence I reach for this book that I've read with each of my children.  This book really taught me how to read my children's sleep cues and find a routine that worked for each of them.  It is always such a relief when I start to figure my kids out and when they reach the age of slipping into a routine.  That time is just around the corner for us!

The Master Bedroom

My regular Bible is on my nightstand.  I find I can read it at night for a bit while I nurse Greta one last time.

In the days after Greta was born and I was attempting to stay in bed, I also enjoyed rereading C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet.  His vocabulary is amazing and I felt stretched in a good kind of way.  I couldn't help but reflect on how reading really helps boost and build one's vocabulary.  This is what probably inspired me to try and increase my time spent reading books over the last 2 months.


While I've promised myself to not start anything else until I finish these, I'm always looking for new book recommendations!  I'm thinking a novel would be a nice break for my next book.  So I'd love to hear what books are being read at your home.

Confident and Grateful Graduates...

I loved my homeschool experience while I was in the midst of it, but my appreciation has only grown as I’ve moved in and out of the subsequent seasons in my life. I had the opportunity to share a bit about that this summer at the Arizona Homeschool Convention. It was fun to reflect on those benefits. Most of my friends who were homeschooled have shared similar stories and they are always inspiring to me, especially now that I'm in the trenches of teaching my boys.

So I was intrigued when a publisher contacted me and asked if I would be willing to review Tim Tebow's new autobiography. I must admit, I was a bit confused at first. Never in a million years did I ever imagine that someone would ask me to review a football book… It took me a minute to realize the homeschool connection.

Since I live in a football crazed house, I was intrigued to read his story. With three little boys, I’m always on the lookout for parents who have raised men who love the Lord and love their families. I’m blessed to know many such wonderful families and let me tell you, I’m watching closely and peppering them with questions…

The first half of Tebow’s book, Through My Eyes, did not disappoint. It was a delight to get a peek into some of the ways that his parents influenced him.  He was homeschooled from the get-go and it was interesting to see the values and priorities that his parents brought into raising him and his 4 siblings.  The book made me excited to see how God will use my boys competitive and energetic natures for His purposes.

I sure hope he is able to make a go at it in the NFL because I would love for my boys to be interested enough to read his book when they are older. He has a strong moral compass and a desire to lead. He is certainly the kind of guy I wouldn’t mind my boys emulating.

One of my favorite ‘homeschool’ related aspects of the book is when he approached his parents about a weird protein drink regime that he wanted to embark on and how his mom turned it into a research project. She challenged him to ‘prove’ to her the safety and nutritional benefits of this regime beyond its faddish appeal before she would let him proceed. He went on to do that very thing and won 1st place at a local science fair for his efforts. That is totally something my mom would have done.

To be honest, I didn’t find the last half of the book as interesting -due to my lack of football obsession most likely.  The details of how many of his college games played out simply didn't interest me.  But as a mother of 3 boys, I still found the book, overal,l well worth the read.

Homeschooling and parenting in general requires a level of dedication and diligence that can be enormous. And yet not only can we see fruit throughout our homeschool years as we prayerfully and faithfully raise our children the way God is leading each of us to, there is going to be long-term fruit that will keep coming in the years to come. I know this from experience, but it is always refreshing to hear someone else’s story too and remember that at some point in the future, our kids might just come back and thank us!

Books that Inspire Nature Explorations

We came, we hiked, we conquered...

Well, not quite, but the boys sure felt like they had with a few small battle bumps and bruises to show for it!

After a morning of hiking, the kids had no trouble falling asleep tonight!  It was a beautiful day for a hike - hovering in the 70's the entire morning!!!  Of course, I wasn't liberal enough with the sunscreen for myself and I'm nursing my first sunburn of the year.

I love how quiet it is when you get out...  Treyton (the three-year old) was on the verge of petering out about 45 minutes into our hike, so I stayed behind with him, while the others forged ahead.  What an opportunity to sit and listen.  We heard bees, some interesting bird calls and simply the sound of the wind whipping around the rock outcroppings! 

The kids loved playing afterwards and experimenting with touching this barrel cactus.  We've been out enough that they know which kinds of cactus they can do this with and what kinds they can't. 

(Oops, forgot to take my camera off of blk&wh mode.)

Before I haul this poor sun-drenched pregnant body off to bed, I wanted to share a few of our favorite books that inspire nature explorations.  If you have any favorites, I'd love to hear about those as well!!!

Picture Books

The Listening Walk ~ I found this book last year when we were learning about the 5 senses.  It is a beautiful example of using our sense of hearing when out for a walk.  While not completely 'nature' focused, it was still a compelling story about honing observation skills and noticing sounds around us!

I Took a Walk  ~ The boys are just in love with this book which invites the reader to observe and discover wildlife hidden on each page.  They love to see how many animals they can spot.  I just noticed that the author has several related books and we are eager to check out On the Way to the Beach and On Meadowview Street.

A Walk in the Woods ~ I just love this book.  We don't have 'woods' here, but we get to experience that when we head up to northern Arizona each summer to escape the desert heat and on trips back to the Midwest to visit family.  It is a magical book about the beauties of exploring the variety that the great outdoors has to offer!

Birdwatchers ~ My kids loved this magical book when we were learning about birds last spring.  It inspired them to spontaneously go out and try creative birdwatching for themselves and encouraged me to just take the boys out and explore.  I'm intrigued to try Wild Woods by the same author.  I'm hoping we can find it in our library before we make a trip up to any 'wild woods' this summer!

Leaves! Leaves! Leaves! ~ This is such a practical book, especially if you are new to nature walking.  It is a story about a mother bear and her cub who go out during the various seasons and explore leaves and the changes they go through.  It is just brimming with all kinds of ideas that will surely spark a few nature walks of your own!

Leaf Man~ I pretty much love everything that Lois Ehlert does.  She always has a way of inspiring creativity and ingenuity both in myself and my children.  This book is no exception.  It would be a perfect companion for fall explorations.

Look What I Did with a Leaf! (Naturecraft) ~ This book is similar to the above one and inspires kids to utilize leaves to create works of art!  It seemed a little complicated last year for my rough and tumble boys, but we plan on picking it up from the library again this fall!

The Tale of Peter Rabbit or The World of Peter Rabbit (The Original Peter Rabbit, Books 1-23, Presentation Box) ~ There is nothing quite like Beatrix Potter's nature infused stories.  It makes me want to go out and see if we can find many of the animal friends that she so beautifully draws and tells us about!

Who Pooped in the Sonoran Desert? - Scat and Tracks for Kids  ~ I can't decide whether to include this book here or as a 'field guide', so I'm going back and adding it to the last post as well.  My kids just love this book.  It is about a family who stops on a drive through our desert and look for signs of various animals that live here.  After reading this book last year, we set out to see what we could find.  We had a blast!  There is a whole series out covering various regions and national parks around the country.  I just love that this website has a map of the U.S.  We will definitely be picking up more of these as we travel more!
Chapter Books

The Complete Tales of Winnie-The-Pooh ~ Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends seem to always be off on some kind of an adventure, from expeditions to playing pooh sticks.  We've read these classics through several times already.  Great read-alouds from the youngest on up to mom and dad!

My Side of the Mountain ~ This was a childhood favorite of mine that always inspired me to enjoy the outdoors and learn how to be quiet and observant!

Parent Resource Books

Pocketful of Pinecones: Nature Study With the Gentle Art of Learning : A Story for Mother Culture ® ~ I actually haven't read this yet, but it is on my wish list of books to eventually read...  I've loved Karen's Andreola's

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder~ This book is full of lots of research and an appeal to preserve time for your children to play in and explore the great outdoors - specifically 'wild' or 'mostly-wild' places.

I Love Dirt!: 52 Activities to Help You and Your Kids Discover the Wonders of Nature ~ Wonderful, wonderful book!

Related Posts in this Nature Walking Series:
Part 1: Why Nature Walks?
Part 2: Some Potential How To's
Part 3: Nature Walking: Resources

For the Children's Sake and other reads...

For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

After a friend had mentioned reading this book, I scanned my mom's bookshelf and found her well-worn copy that she bought back in the mid 1980's. The cover art is obviously different from the new edition, pictured here, but I didn't want to scare anyone away from this amazing book with the 80's artwork.  (Although aren't the 80's back in vogue?!?!?)

As I read, I was inspired in the way I view my parenting and my children. While not specifically a 'homeschool' book (in fact her children were in all kinds of school both formal and at home), I really feel like she gets to the heart of what it means to parent and lays out a beautiful philosophy for raising children. It confirmed many of the thoughts I'd been having and confirmed the calling I felt to educate my children at home.

She really challenges modern notions of 'school' and 'education'. Education is so much more than simply sitting at a desk and learning skills. Learning is a beautiful, creative and fulfilling way of life. It has been incredible to see our home transform into a place where we are all seeking to learn and respecting the different capacities and levels that each one is at - both child and adult alike. There is joy in the discovery and it has been a delight to watch my children discover more about the incredible world around us.

I also appreciate Macaulay and Charlotte Mason's respect for young children and their need to 'play to learn'. Both advocate a very developmentally appropriate approach to early education!

I can't say enough about it. If you have kids, read it!


Other books I have LOVED include: )

Miseducation: Preschoolers at Risk by David Elkind. Again, not a homeschool book, but an awesome book on what is healthy and appropriate learning in the preschool years. We live in a culture where there is a lot of pressure to build our toddler/preschoolers brain and 'do' formal academics with them. Elkind, a renowned developmental psychologist, dispels the myth that this is good and in fact shows how dangerous it can be to push academics at an early age. From the description on Amazon: "Development in toddlers, he cautions, can be seriously damaged by parents' well-meaning rush to give them a head-start on education or in sports. Preschoolers ought to be encouraged in their spontaneous learning rather than given formal instruction that teaches them "the wrong things at the wrong time." Incredible book, especially if you are feeling pressure from well-meaning friends/family or struggling with not wanting your toddler/preschooler to be left behind.

Einstein Never Used Flashcards: How Our Children Really Learn and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less. This super helpful book is chock full of information on scientific studies of how young children learn and cautions against the rush to cram academics. Like Dr. Elkind does, they point out that there is no evidence that early academic training has any long term benefits and in fact can cause harm. One of my favorite parts when I read it several years ago were the sections that layed out developmental milestones and 'experiments' (i.e. games) you could play with your children to see if they had reached certain ones yet. I found it a facinating, freeing and inspiring read perfect for those with 1-4 year olds!

Endangered Minds: Why Children Don't Think and What We Can Do About It by Jane Healy This is the book that got me started on my fascination with the science of how children learn. I even explored the option of going back to grad school to pursue this further... (Back in my post homeschool student, post biology undergraduate and pre-kid stage of life!)  The review from amazon sums it up quite succinctly saying that this book is "a fascinating exploration of today's much-deplored decline in school achievement....[Healy] clearly conveys the relationship between language, learning, and brain development, then explains why television viewing and present-day lifestyles sabotage language acquisition, thinking, and personal success. "

So those are some of my top picks... What parenting/education books have you found helpful?

Current Reads

So many books and so little time.  I'm finding that I need to be a little more intentional to actually sit down and read some of the many books that have recently peaked my curiosity.

As you can see, the list is long and ecclectic...

The Beautiful Fight: Surrendering to the Transforming Presence of  God Every Day of Your Life
It has now been re-released under the new title: Holy Available: What If Holiness Is about More Than What We Don't Do?.  I'm embarassed to say that I've been working my way through this book for a while.  It is absolutely incredible.  I find myself pausing to reflect with each page I read which is part of the reason it's taken me so long to read it...

He talks about what he has termed, "incarnational spirituality" and defines it as:

"the living, reigning, and ascended Jesus living through us and transforming us into different people ~ [this] does not exist to uphold a few rules but rather speaks of a process that creates an entirely new person who sees with new eyes, feels with a new heart, hears with renewed ears, and lives with a new passion."

Good stuff.

Parenting in the Pew: Guiding your Children Into the Joy of Worship.
The title intrigued me.  She urges us as parents to have our "hearts fixed on being with our children before the Lord."  I'm interested to read what she has to say...

The Art of Mingling
This book just makes me laugh.  Of course, I'm reading it because I am in a season where I am having to move outside of my comfort zone and meet new people.  I like to think that I used to be good at this once upon a time...  But one thing is sure, I'm not so great at 'mingling' right now.  It takes great effort to get my mind off of kids, diapers, etc and actually be able to have a coherent, interesting conversation with someone I don't know very well.

Don't Drink Your Milk
I recently went to a talk on pregnancy nutrition (no, I'm not pregnant) presented by my sister's chiropractor.  He mentioned problems with milk consumption and recommends staying away from it.  This was news to me.  Our family drinks A LOT of milk, but I've had some suspicians that younger two boys might be having some issues from milk consumption.  I'm reading this book as a starting point, before I do more internet research.  (Just a small way that I'm trying to cut down on my accursed screen-time.)  I've reduced the boys milk consumption and after what I've read, my craving for milk has gone away...

Thankfully, not all of my reading is of the non-fiction variety...

Cheaper by the Dozen
With Xander's roll in the play last fall, came a fascination with the story, so a friend of mine lent me the book.  It is hilarious and I find it interesting to compare how it stacks up to the play, the old movie and the new movie... 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

This is our new family read-aloud.  The illustrations by Helen Oxenbury are beautiful and boys are excited that there are so many.  I don't remember reading this when I was a girl, but I probably did.  Either way, I'm intrigued to read it now! 


And last, but certainly not least, especially since I'm the most faithful with this, is my Bible study.

My Bible study group is doing a Precept study on the book of Daniel this semester and next.   I love the inductive Bible study method that Precept Ministries uses.  I enjoy discovering God's truth for myself rather than relying more heavily on simply how other people interpret the Bible.  It is so nice to have accountability.  It keeps me in the Word daily and just blown away as the Holy Spirit makes it come alive!  The diverse group of women in my study have become so precious to me.

I'd love to hear what you are reading right now!  I'm always looking for new titles to go in the queue!