Can you believe it’ll be July 1st tomorrow? I certainly can’t. Seems like the summer is already flying by, but that’s just way the life is, huh? During all of our busy plans for the summer it’s easy to get carried away and that’s when you need to stop and re-prioritize… or at least check and make sure you’re accomplishing what’s important: your kids, spouse, and faith. I want to bring to your attention to special people who both need your prayers…

PRAYERS:

>>> Please Pray There is a little 12 year-old girl who needs our prayers. Please pray for Rachael Kligmann. Rachael was riding her bike and was hit by a car. She is not doing well. Please pray for her and her family. She is one of twelve children….

>>> Pray for Baby Joe… I do not like these prayer requests. I will just say it up front. I don’t like to hear about sick and dying children. Here is a request for a new little baby boy. It is also urgent.

I hope you will take a few moments to stop over to their sites and leave some words of comfort and encouragement to the families who are going through these hard times.

Here are the rest of the announcements and happenings around blogworld.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

>>> The 56th Carnival of Homesteading at The Daily Planet!

>>> The 129th COH will be held this week at About Homeschool! Please make sure to stop by and check it out for great homeschooling ideas and experiences from other homeschoolers.

>>> 10 Items our Homeschool Cannot Live Without… 2008-06-29 via Lesser Road Academy

>>> Homeschool Co-ops: How to Start Them, Run Them, and Not Burn Out 2008-06-28 via Homeschoolbuzz.com Reviews

>>> Statehood: Alaska is 50 Years Old 2008-06-28 via Homeschool 2.0

>>> Yeah Right 2008-06-28 via Consent Of The Governed

>>> HSC Legal Co-Chair Interview about California Re-hearing 2008-06-28 via Corn and Oil

>>> Homeschooling Methods- What’s Your Flavor? 2008-06-26 via Higher Up and Further In

CONTESTS:

HOST: MommyMatter.com

CONTEST LINK: A Tealicious Giveaway!

PRIZE: a custom gift basket from Tealiciousteas.com

HOW TO ENTER: Entries are made via comments, links, and feed subscriptions

DEADLINE TO ENTER: .Thursday, July 10th

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HOST: An Island Life

CONTEST LINK: Summer Giveaway Event #7: Little One’s Baby Gifts

PRIZE: a $50 gift certificate  to Little One’s Baby Gifts

HOW TO ENTER: visit the sponsor then comment

DEADLINE TO ENTER: .midnight, July 6th

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HOST: mod*momCONTEST LINK: mod*mom summer giveaway :: education

PRIZE: a set of summer educational toys

HOW TO ENTER: visit the sponsor then tell what your favorite features + articles?

DEADLINE TO ENTER: .before midnight, monday july 21

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HOST: Life is Colourful

CONTEST LINK: Colourful Blog Anniversary Contest - Win Over $3000 in Cash and Prizes

PRIZE: Participants can win prizes worth $3000 and 6000 EC credits PLUS cash prizes, books, and more

HOW TO ENTER: see link

DEADLINE TO ENTER: .14th July

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HOST: Mom Most Traveled…

CONTEST LINK: Keeper of the Home in an Apron by Carolyn West

PRIZE: Cupcake Apron and Gloves Set from Carolyn’s Kitchen ($70 value!).

HOW TO ENTER: visit the sponsor then comment with your favorite style of apron not mentioned in this review.

DEADLINE TO ENTER: .July 6, 9pm CST

BE PROFOUND:

“You don’t raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they’ll turn out to be heroes, even if it’s just in your own eyes.”

“No one would be foolish enough to choose war over peace–in peace sons bury their fathers, but in war fathers bury their sons.”

NOAH WEBSTER”S DICTIONARY:

REPROOF’, n. [from reprove.

Blessings!

School has ended for almost everyone and summer has begun! It may seem that since you don’t have school anymore, you will have plenty of free time… yeah right! I don’t know that there is plenty of free time for homeschool moms. During the summer months you don’t want your children to stop learning because they are out of school. Our homeschool schools through the summer. Although we don’t get our workbooks out, we still use everyday lessons to learn and gain understanding or a new concept. One thing that we absolutely love to do is reading!

So let’s talk about summer reading. Summer is a great time to get a list of books you want to read. I have 7 younger siblings of all ages, so I get quite a few different books from the library for them.
Some of the ones that the 11yo and 8yo are going to read are:

The Little House on the Prairie Series
The Kingdom Series

We also have a 14yo and she is going to read:

Anne of Green Gables

Our 17yo is not a big reader, but she has just finished:

The Bridge to Terabithia

I am the avid reader here, and my list is pretty long, but the specific ones I am looking forward to reading are:

Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (almost finished with)
Rosa of Linden Castle by Christoph von Schmid
The Cross and The Switchblade by Dave Wilkerson
Run Baby Run by Nicky Cruz
The Infinite Day by Chris Walley
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss (for the fourth time)

There are a few reading programs online that I have found that you can join for the summer.
TOS’s Summer Reading Splash . TOS wants to help make reading fun this summer! Splish the Frog will be around too. The site says:

“Each week, here on our blog, we will be posting a new topic question.  We’d like you to think about these and then e-mail your answers to us by clicking here.  E-mailing your answers is much safer than leaving a comment.  If you have your own e-mail address, that’s fine;  if not, have your mom or dad e-mail your answer to us.  Each Friday we will have a drawing and we’ll be giving away some fantastic books (and series of books)!  Also, we may pick YOUR answer to post here on our blog- just for fun! You’ll want to check out our Summer Reading Splash webpage also- here you’ll have access to downloading our log sheets.  We will have one for younger children and one for older children available.  Please, please, please keep track of ALL the books you read.  At the end of the program, we’ll have a special prize for those of you who turn in your reading logs (more details to come!)”

HSB Literary Club is also continuing reading through the summer. Currently we have just started reading Rosa of Linden Castle by Christoph von Schmid and are very behind on our schedule because the moderators went on vacation! Now they are back and ready to get started again.

Don’t let summer put learning on hold! That’s why we homeschool. To have freedom to learn the way we want. Reading is an excellent way to learn about everything.
Another thing you can do after you read the book is blog about. Write a review and blog about it. Blogging is a great way not only to share books with other homeschoolers, but also to never let the learning stop!

What are some of the books you are reading? What about your children? Have they made up lists of books they want to read?

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I just love taking my camera with me and snapping shots of our children. I have a collection of photos that I feel are notalgic, as they do not show their faces, but rather the backside of them during their activities. The reason I like to take shots like this is because it makes me wonder what they are thinking. For example here is my son standing in front of a lake with his bug catcher in hand.

To a mom we would just see this tiny lake, almost small enough to be called a pond, yet in his mind it’s a vast sea of adventure. He was on the hunt for insects and what do you think he was thinking as he paused to look around?

Here is another photo that I love. This one is of Timmy and my nephew Aaron. Aaron had gotten a new Hummer and he wanted to take Timmy for a little ride. We didn’t have an extra helmet, but they were driving on a level patch of grass in my mom’s yard and we had four adults with them. But the shot just brings my mind back to that adventurous afternoon as the tow ‘guys’ got to go for a ride.

In some of these black and white photos you can’t see the border, but in my Paint Shop Pro I added a 4pt white border around these photos and it makes them look like the old time snap shots of yesteryear. I added a drop shadow to this one so you can see what I’m talking about. This shot was of my son as he was walking across a bridge. He was letting his fingers hit each bar as he slowly strolled along. None of us taught him to do this, but I recall doing the same thing when I was a little girl.

I received an Editor’s Pick award on that shot of Timmy on the bridge, at BetterPhoto.com

This next shot was of Timmy and Aaron again at the baseball field. My husband was playing ball and the boys stood at the fence watching the action. As you can see from these images, that there’s something unique about this kind of shot.

Here is the last one I wanted to share with you. This was last year at Upper Bidwell Park in Northern California. Bidwell Park is a historical and famous park. The film, ‘Robinhood‘ with Errol Flynn was filmed there, as well as many other films. It’s park is gorgeous! I know the view from where he stands. He is looking upstream and as far as you can see is water and lush green brush and trees. The birds fly through without noticing that humans are there. Many times you come to a park and the birds and animals flee, but in Bidwell Park it’s as if you’re apart of their world. Knowing this experience myself makes this picture so nostalgic to me. Again, I see the picture and it’s up to my imagination to wonder what he’s thinking and experiencing that moment,

Do you have photos that ‘take you back’ and make your imagination soar? Dawn has one on a path at her PhotoBlog. Dawn also shares how she used her program to create a vintage look to her photos.

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What do you do if you’re hungry? Do you just wait for some food to come to you? Do you hope that maybe something tasty will drop into your lap? If you’re like most people, probably not. You’d likely get up and seek out something. But it’s doubtful that you’ll walk into the kitchen and find a complete meal on the counter, ready to eat. You may have to forage around, looking in the cupboards, the refrigerator, or the freezer, as you locate the ingredients for a decent lunch.

What if you’re missing a crucial component of your meal? I can’t imagine that you’d just expect that food to show up at your front door. You might even make a quick trip to the store to pick up whatever you need.

So now what do you do, once everything is together? Wave a magic wand over the items? Stare at them, waiting for them to spontaneously transform into a delicious dish? Hardly. You’d probably start pulling out the appropriate tools – pans, bowls, utensils, and maybe a recipe – and prepare your meal.

What about your spiritual hunger? Do you just wait for God to drop something good into your life? Do you pull out a devotional and read a couple of paragraphs, expecting to be fulfilled? Do you have a regular schedule for feeding your spirit? Or do you just pop in for a few moments with the Lord, akin to grabbing a cereal bar, as you head out on your way?

If we are going to feed our souls in a way that satisfies, equips, and matures us, we have to put forth effort. We have to pull out the tool (His word) He’s given us.  We have to give of our time. There is no substitute when it comes to our relationship with God. We can’t know His direction in our lives if we don’t know Him. We can’t know Him unless we spend time with Him and in His word – both quantity and quality matter.

Regardless of how busy your life is, you need the nourishment of time spent before the Lord – in His word and in prayer. If you’re not spending regular time with Him, block out some time each day. Whether it’s the same time every day, or it varies based upon your schedule, make your time with Him a priority. Only then will you be filled and satisfied spiritually.

I love the summer. It is a great time to “tie up loose ends”. I have a bit more time for personal Bible study. There is a bit more time for play. We spend a bit of time honing up on subjects that in which we are lagging behind. It’s a fantastic season to spend some extra time, prayer and effort on summer projects.

In our home, “Projects” are not solely building a bird house, compiling a scrapbook, FINALLY working on that Greek temple made from toilet paper rolls, or finishing a math text.

“Projects” in our home are a mentoring/discipling/parenting tool. We’ve discovered the shotgun approach doesn’t work well for us. We can’t change all areas in all of our children’s lives at once. We can, however, be intentional in our focus. Projects are specific areas of focus for each of our children’s lives. These are prayed over and I believe Holy Spirit impressed. I write these down in my Tryst Journal. At any given point, if confidentiality were not an issue, I could tell you each current project for each of our children. Our projects are a tool that allows us to actively partner with what we believe God is working in each individual family member. This has been very effective.

We make “Projects” a matter of prayer and observation. We notice which character traits or personality issues or discipleship/doctrinal issues God would have us work on - and we focus on those. The key words are: intentional and focus. We may suggest books or Bible passages to our older children, complete a topical study with our child, we bathe each project in prayer and we look for Holy Spirit moments when we can speak to the issue. We evaluate and pray about each project quarterly. Many projects run for several quarters.

Here is one example from YEARS ago to illustrate our family home projects. With one of our darlings we attacked “deception – lying/cheating”. First, the issue became a focus during my family fasts and prayer times. Second, we did a topical study on deception during family circle. Third, I was aware of the opportunities the Holy Spirit opened for me to speak to that area. Fourth, as Mike and I are in agreement he also looks for those God-ordained teachable moments. God was faithful. Conviction, repentance and growth followed. This is currently not a project for any of our children.

Projects are a wonderful tool for individually mentoring each of our children. They take a bit of time and energy, but we’ve seen time and again lasting maturity and heart change when we, as parents, put our efforts where God is working in our child. For our older three, all adults now, this is matter of prayer and the occasional comment, rather than daily training. For the very young ones there are never-ending topics for new projects. ::snort::

We try hard not to ONLY look at behavior but on the heart issue behind the behavior…..this is one tool we use in our endeavor to be a pastor’s family that doesn’t raise children who are inoculated to the gospel or practicing Pharisees.

We just returned from a long vacation that seemed like it literally lasted a month. We are Back Home now, but it was sure fun meeting several bloggers (like Sprittibee!) I think part of the reason it seemed so long is that we planned the trip for at least a month before we left. Planning for a long trip or a vacation can be a daunting task, but I can testify that it makes life a whole lot easier if you take the time to do so.

We had several things to look ahead to when we decided to take our trip, so our planning and arranging had to start early. We had animals that needed to be cared for and articles to have written for a couple of magazines. Because we knew we would be getting back late in the month, I made sure the girls had their monthly columns written before we ever left. I searched Mapquest repeatedly for weeks, planning our route. Be sure to check

• Mapquest,
• Google Maps

and any other online service to get the best route.

One thing we bought on the trip is a Trucker’s Route Atlas. It is a huge, laminated atlas with all the info you could want on it. It retailed at $75, but we found it in Texas for $15. It saved us time and money on the way home.

Gas prices. You cannot do one thing about it. Well, you could stay home, I guess, but that is about it. I must have taken 100 pictures of gas station signs all over the country so we could chronicle the prices everywhere. For the most part, it was around $3.85-$3.98. There was one place in the far west side of Texas, along I-10 where it was $4.39/gallon. The main objective is to calculate how many miles you plan to travel, count gas on the high side and the mpg your vehicle will get on the low side, so you will be sure to overplan finances for the trip. We have a 15-passenger van, which gets about 15-18mpg highway on a good click. I figured it at 15mpg, at 5,000 miles, with the gas prices at $5.00/gallon. We were not planning to go 5,000mi, and I certainly hoped the gas would not get up to $5.00. UGH. I was actually surprised to hear that gas here at home, which was at $3.85 when we left, reached $4.20/gal while we were gone. It is “down” to $4.09 now. Sheesh.
Also remember to check gas prices along your route online before you leave. Then, when you are on vacation, you can check again before you leave to come home.

The main gas stations we found in the South/Southwest are

• Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores,
• Petro Truck Stops Locations by Map - AllStays Guide,
• TravelCenters of America, and
• Valero/Diamond Shamrock.
• Flying J has a Fuel Prices page that gives you prices in select US cities.

Many of these travel plazas also have Wi-Fi, so be sure to make notes of those places on your route, if that is a concern for you. We found out that Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas are very limited on catching a wireless connection very easily on the Interstates we traveled.

Of course, there are things you will come home to, like grass that looks like a jungle, if you live where grass actually grows, so you will want to have someone mow for you if that is a concern. It is not a concern for me, because, now I know we can use the weedeater on it and our goats will have fresh, green grass to eat.

If you are only going to be gone for a few days, then putting a hold on your mail is probably not a big deal, but we left for two weeks, so we did stop it. It came on Saturday as a great big bundle, and I was happy to see it wasn’t *all* junk mail!

We found some friends who took mercy upon us and took care of our goats, chickens and dogs for the past two weeks, and if you are blessed with such friends, be sure to leave them a detailed list. We wrote out all feeding procedures and made enough feed for the two weeks we were gone. We tried to cover all the bases. It is hard for someone, even if they have the animal experience, to care for oyur own quirky animals. We have three younger does who will hog down the older does’ food if we don’t feed them separately. Goats get sick easily if their food is messed with, so we have a particular way of feeding our goats. Be sure to stress the importance of how you feed your animals to the caretakers and get someone you trust to do it exactly as you ask or you may have problems.

Another thing to consider is schooltime. Are you going to include workbook time or field trips or nothing? We homeschool everything. I call them Living Learning Moments. From gas prices to crossing 14 state lines to learning about Uncle Leo and his homemade walking sticks to helping Great-Grandpa when the mower breaks. If your children journal - or even if they don’t - a vacation is a great time for them to record daily things that happen. It will hone their writing skills, give them details to remember, and give you a timeline of the things you did on the trip.

A really easy lesson is to print off a map of the US and using them as coloring pages and noting each time you go through or enter a state. You can let your children track your trip and note special places each time you see a historical marker or stop and take photos. If your children are older, they might enjoy a personal smaller atlas of the States to follow as you travel along.

For heaven’s sake, don’t forget your camera! If you do not own a digital, consider it a vacation expense and buy one. Or borrow one. If you do not own a laptop, buy more memory. We are blessed with two laptops, so we downloaded the pictures as our memory card filled up. I promise you a digital camera will save you in the end. I know. We must have taken over 3000 pictures, but I deleted about 500. I cannot imagine buying all of those rolls of film and printing off all those photos, only to throw away 500 bad shots. Sure, we would have taken less photos, but this is a worthy investment.

I hope you have a wonderful, blessed, safe adventure of your own this summer, on the road or in your own back yard! If you would like to see a list of other items to plan for vacation, like clothing and food, please take a look at my planning post: Planning A Long Vacation Field Trip for A Large Family

CARNIVALS OF INTEREST

From Why Homeschool:Carnival of Homeschooling: The next Carnival of Homeschooling will be hosted at Dewey’s Treehouse. As always, entries are due Monday evening at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time, WHICH MEANS tonight!

Carnival of Homeschooling

current issue:
Jun 17, 2008
Apollos Academy

next issue:
Jun 24, 2008
Dewey’s Treehouse

current issue:
Jun 10, 2008
Learn Me Good

next issue:
Jun 11, 2008
Learn Me Good

Learning in the Great Outdoors

current issue:
Jun 01, 2008
The Miss Rumphius Effect

next issue:
Jul 01, 2008
Alone on a Limb

Music Education Blog Carnival

next issue:
Jul 01, 2008
So You Want To Teach?

The Charlotte Mason Carnival

current issue:
Jun 10, 2008
Adventures On Beck’s Bounty

next issue:
Jun 24, 2008
Twinkling Stars Family School

CONTESTS AND GIVEAWAYS

Growing in Grace Magazine has something special for designers. They are are looking for a digi-scrap design for the month of September. Their theme that month will be Fall related.

*HOW DO I ENTER? Click on the icon to get all the information. Your kit must be sent to ggmeditor@gmail.com

ENTRIES are due AUGUST 1ST!

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Dawn is having a Twisted Silver Giveaway

Go on over to her blog and check out the pictures of the Twisted Silver Jewelry she has.

Twisted Silver is premiering three new products this week: Motif earrings, Chichi bracelet, and Pod bracelet. A lucky winner, selected randomly from comments, will receive a pair of the Motif earrings!

Motif Earrings: An intricate curving paisley motif bracketed by brass hand forged angles. Wear your art! $50

She also has 2 coupon codes for you if you don’t want to wait to win and want to dive right in and buy a set!

This contest is open to non-bloggers, just use a valid email address when posting your comment.

Contest is from June 24-28th, so get on over there and leave your comment!!!

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HSB Front Porch: Salem Ridge Press Good Summer Reading Contest!
Our hope is that once families have the opportunity to see and read one of our books, they will come back for more. In our current contest, twenty-five families will each receive the softcover book of their choice from the eighteen titles we have republished so far.* Then, we would like to bless one special family with a grand prize of a full set of all eighteen of our titles - that is approximately a $250 retail value! We are excited to be sponsoring this contest and thrilled to share our books with you. We hope you enjoy them as much as we have!

There will 26 winners for this contest!

Winners are chosen randomly.

Contest ends July 6th!

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Freebie From Robin Sampson:

I want to share with you a special book by Wayne Jacobson titled ” He Loves Me”. Its available free on my blog in ebook format. Go to my post, Daisy Petal Christianity. I hope it touches you as much as it has me.

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Enter here IntelligentFirstAid “talking” kit valued at $129.99. To enter visit sponsor and tell why you’d like to win. The giveaway will end on June 30th 2008.

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Enter here to win a (as grand prize winner) an entire Olive Kids room valued at $750 from OliveKids. To enter just fill out their form. There are also five runner up winners who receive $50 worth of product. The giveaway will end at 11:59 PST on June 30th 2008.

If you would like to keep up on other events, be sure to check out Jocelyn’s The Weekly.

One of the toughest things can be deciding the purpose, or focus of your blog.  For some bloggers it’s an easy choice - their passion is homeschooling, cooking, photography, crafts - and that subject dominates their blog.  There is also what’s called a “mom blog”: a mom’s perspective on life with children.

I started my blog a couple of years after my mom passed away; I really don’t think it’s a coincidence that my first post was the same weekend as her birthday.  She was very wise and witty, and her daily input and advice in my life was more important to me than I’d ever realized.  I thought of how wonderful it would be if my mom had blogged; how special to read her words and relive precious memories through her eyes.  That’s what prompted me: I wanted my children to have access to their mother’s words and images, the details of our lives recorded.

Do you blog with a purpose?  Do your readers (even if they are don’t extend beyond your friends and family) go to your blog to find recipes? homeschooling tips? photography? parenting stories?  Do you blog about a hodgepodge of topics?  What fuels your blog, and where do you find inspiration?

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Today’s interviewee, Karen Woodward, is our 2005 winner of the “Best International Homeschool Blog” award.  Karen and her family served as missionaries for 10 years in Romania. She currently blogs at For Such a Time as Now and resides in Virginia. Below, Karen shares advice for those considering missions, encourages those who are homeschooling in “less than ideal” situations, and proves it is possible to blog AND maintain a clean desk at the same time. If you’ve never visited Karen’s blog, do so today. You’re in for a treat.  I enjoyed reading her anwers to my questions and I bet you will too.

Tell us a little bit about your family.
My husband John and I have been married for 21 years. He was in law enforcement when we met. Six years after we were married, he resigned from the Virginia State Police and began studying for the ministry. We have 3 children. Gabriel is 17. He enjoys art, drama and history. He is the family comedian and keeps us laughing. Hannah is 15. She has a sweet spirit and gentle nature. Her passion is photography and shopping! She also has a blog.  Holly is 10. She is a girly girl and loves anything pink and sparkly. Her goal in life right now is to be a teenager.

Karen, you and your family were missionaries for 10 years to Romania. What is your favorite memory from that time?
It’s really hard to choose one favorite memory out of 10 years. One of my favorite moments was during our last year. We had gone to a conference with national Romanian pastors. It was similar to a missions conference. They found out that it was my birthday and they sang to me, gave me a beautiful wreath and the children gave me a bouquet of flowers.

What a wonderful tribute to the love and respect these pastors had for you Karen. I’m a MK and remember vividly graduating from high school and moving to the states for college. I stood in the grocery store in awe…..out and out shock. Did you and/or your family have any similar culture shock when you moved back to the states?
One of the things that was a surprise to my family was the friendliness of the cashiers in the stores here in the states. It was such a shock to be greeted with a “Hello” and a smile.

Can you share a bit about what your family is currently doing?
When we returned to the States in March of 2007, we had no idea of what we would be doing. I am not yet ready to share online about the direction that we are heading but I will say that we never imagined that we would be walking down this road. I will also add that John will be taking some tests on July 8th concerning this path and I am begging for fervent prayers.

You have my prayers, and I’m sure many of our readers will pray for you and your husband’s test as well.

Do you have any advice you care to share for a young person or family interested in pursuing missions? (This is a personal question as our 21 yo is planning on going overseas in the next year or two).
First of all, take a first aid/CPR course. Medical conditions in most other countries cannot compare to what we are used to in the United States. Second, have a good grasp on English grammar. Knowing your own language well will help in learning a foreign language. Third and probably most important, be prepared to find the enemy in unexpected places.

Great advice. Do you have a favorite must-read-before-you-graduate book on missions that you’d recommend?
I’ve read several biographies of missionaries but the one that really made an impact on my life was William Carey. His first wife became such a burden to him and his ministry. It became my prayer that I would not be a hindrance to my husband and ultimately to God’s work.

What does a typical homeschool day look like in your home?
This past year has been a difficult homeschool year. We not only moved back to the States but then we moved from Alabama to Virginia. The expense was tremendous and we found it necessary for me to go back to work part time. I was a teacher in the public schools before we had children of our own and it made sense to become a substitute teacher. That meant that I had to do a lot of planning on the weekends and have assignments written down for the children to do independently. On a day that I am working, I leave before anyone else is awake. Gabriel is usually the first one to get up and he will start on his schoolwork immediately after he eats. Hannah and Holly get up a bit later and they do their work. When I come home in the afternoon, I go over their work with them and see if they have any questions. It’s not the best scenario but it works. Thankfully, John works in the evenings and can be home with them during the day. The best situation in any homeschool would be for the mom to be at home, but life is not always ideal. I will be working full time for 12 weeks beginning in August. I am hoping that we will have our debts paid off soon after that and I can be a full time stay at home mom again. Meanwhile, I would love to be able to encourage others that homeschooling is still possible when life is less than ideal.

Karen thanks so much for sharing honestly. Your gracious words are an encouragement. What a joy to hear how God faithfully enabled your family to fulfill the call to homeschool even in the midst of less than ideal circumstances.

Would you care to share a piece of advice for new homeschoolers?
Don’t try to do 5 or 6 subjects with the early grades. Concentrate on reading and math.

What is your favorite book on homeschooling?
Amazingly, I don’t really have a favorite book.

Karen you’ve been blogging for quite a few years. When DID you begin?
I began blogging on June 18, 2005.

What motivated you to begin blogging?
I was researching online about notebooking and came across Cindy Rushton’s webpage. I joined her Mom to Mom group and one day she had a message saying that everyone should get a blog. I didn’t really know what a blog was but I decided to check it out. It quickly became a passion.

What are some of the good and the bad things that blogging has brought into your life?
Good things have been meeting blogging friends in real life like Julie , Patricia  and Cindy Rushton. The bad things would be spending too much time on the computer and neglecting my lifelong passion for books.

Overall would you say blogging has been a positive experience? What advice do you have for others just starting to blog?
Overall, blogging has definitely been a positive experience. I have found encouragement both in reading other blogs and from comments made on mine. My advice to new bloggers would be to monitor your time spent on blogging. Also, don’t be afraid to comment on other people’s blogs. It’s great to know that someone has actually read your blog and you just might be the encouragement they needed for that day.

What are your favorite topics to blog about?
My family and how God is working in our lives.

Can we see a photo of your desk where you blog?

Do you have any passions besides blogging and missions that you’d like to share with us?
Reading! I love reading Christian fiction and biographies.

Thanks for taking the time to let us get to know you a bit better, Karen. I’ve enjoyed visiting your blog in the past few weeks. I’ll be checking in for my dose of encouragement For Such a Time as Now.

Hello everybody! Summer’s hit, and just about every homeschooler I know has stopped or at least slowed down for the year.

So what are we going to fill our time with this summer? We’re headed camping a bunch of different times, and I plan to bring no technology except my computer (a girl can only take so much!) so that I can get some writing done.

But in the meantime, we’ll all be knitting and reading up a storm! So here are some links to keep you busy this summer:

First, the Make it From Scratch Blog Carnival is up over at Our Red House. Head on over for great recipes and craft ideas!

Want tons of suggestions for summer fun, from car bingo games to learning by osmosis? Try Three Rivers Library for great links for homeschoolers!

At our homeschool I’m assigning ten books for each child to read this summer. They’ll probably read more than that, but 10 have to be really good, worthwhile books that I have chosen for them. Actually, I’m giving them each a list of 25 books, and they can choose ten from there!

If you want to do the same thing at your home, here are a few sites that can get you started:

I Think Therefore I Blog has a great roundup of all the incentives for kids to read. Get in to movies free, get $10 in a bank account, free pizza, etc. etc. So check it out!

ChristianBooks.com has summer reading lists up by grade level, and they include classics, not only Christian books. Good selection!

Houston Independent Schools Network has lists by grade level, too, but they’re a lot longer!

If you want to join About.com’s Summer Reading incentive program, you can find more here.

Here’s HomeschoolBuzz’s summer reading program.

If you’re interested in branching out into new books yourself, check out the Spring Reading Thing at Callapidder Days. It’s almost over, but stop in to see what other people have read. You just may find a great nugget to add to your list!

Here’s my post on what I’m reading this summer over at my To Love, Honor and Vacuum blog!

That’s all I have time for today, but I hope that keeps you busy! Get reading, and have fun!