November 06, 2018

A Simple Biblical Solution to Distracted Living

November 06, 2018/ Erin Cox

I want to add to this title that I also deeply believe that this simple solution is an incredible remedy for anxiety and worry. Once I say what it is, you may shoot me an eye roll and want to click away. I promise I'm not crazy.

So what's the solution? Knitting.

I said you may roll your eyes or leave. But give me 45 seconds and hear me out. The first thing to keep in mind is that knitting is not the "only" solution. Rather, I would posit that all "handicrafts" are a potential solution that IS Biblical. And I have proof!

Before I get into the scripture, let's run through a common Mom/Child scenario that I believe results in a massive amount of our everyday stress, conflict, and impatience.

November 01, 2018

Beautiful Feet Books Geography Through Literature Review

November 01, 2018/ Erin Cox

As my blog has grown, I’ve had the opportunity to do a few reviews. I’ve learned that it’s important to me that I really LOVE anything that I review. I don’t want to hand out a negative review, but I’m also going to be 100% honest. I’m thankful my caution has paid off, and I’ve received a product for my honest review that I can say I HONESTLY love.

Beautiful Feet Books is known for it’s simple, easy-to-implement, open-and-go curriculum guides combined with exceptional literature. When the books are this perfect, you don’t have to add much to it, especially in the grammar stage.

I chose to use Beautiful Feet Books Geography Through Literature program with both my 6th and 9th grader girls. My oldest daughter already has much geography included in her Tapestry of Grace core curriculum, but I thought it would be wonderful to have an additional “fun” thing to do with her as well. So, aside from our “Lunch Basket” (what we call morning basket), this is the only thing we do all together.

November 01, 2018

How I'm Breaking FREE From Anxiety + Fear

November 01, 2018/ Erin Cox

You don't have to see to the unforeseen when you serves a God that sees it all.

I am not a "paralyzed worrier", I am a "prepared worrier."

I've spent a lot of time planning.

Fire plans
Husband dying plans
Child dying plans
Burglar plans
Job loss plans
Anyone I care about dying plans

Really, for almost every conceivable scenario, even those that are so incredibly remote and unlikely that they are rated at less than 0.01% chance of occurring, I have developed a plan.

October 23, 2018

Elementary + Middle School Science Resource Pack

October 23, 2018/ Erin Cox

Sometimes you just need a few visuals to help your students get the full picture. This year, we are using a living books science curriculum from Beautiful Feet (read a review here) for my 6th grader, while my older daughter is utilizing Sabbath Mood for her 9th grade Biology 1. Both programs are beautiful, thorough and engaging. But around here, we love a great display for visual reference as well as notebooking pages.

Notebooking pages are so simple. Honestly, it’s kind of silly. Why do those engage better? I have no clue. But they DO. When my girls have a topic-specific notebook page, they just get more “into” it. Maybe it feels more official than plain old notebook paper?

October 15, 2018

I love Jesus, but I cuss a little...

October 15, 2018/ Erin Cox

... you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.... (Romans 6:16-17; partial)

I have become obedient, from the heart, to the calling before me- the righteous standard of a perfect and holy God. Or have I? I was listening to In His Image by Jen Wilkin last night, and she gave a metaphor that crushed my toes. She said, "When we are faithful to God in smaller temptations, we build strength to face the bigger ones. No one indulges an explosive fit of anger, who has not first indulged a thousand smaller aggressions. If we habitually flee from the temptation to commit minor sins of anger and selfishness, we are less likely to fall for temptation in greater sins of anger and selfishness."

Essentially, she likens our propensity to go all in with our sins to weightlifting. We are incapable of lifting those huge sins if we haven't been training with the smaller ones all along.

Ouch.

This immediately convicted me in the areas of anger and profanity in my own life.

October 10, 2018

All About Reading: How it Works for Our Family {a detailed review}

October 10, 2018/ Hayley Croft

When I first began homeschooling, the responsibility that intimidated me more than any other was teaching my own children to read. I have always been an avid reader, and I desperately wanted to instill a love of reading in my kids. I realized very quickly, however, that my love of reading did not automatically qualify me to teach someone else HOW to read. Because I had no background in teaching reading, I knew I needed to find a program that could walk ME through the process as well as my child. We tried several different programs in the beginning, but they either bored my child to tears or proceeding so quickly that she felt overwhelmed, and I felt lost without a map.

September 24, 2018

The Beauty of Tapestry of Grace in the Rhetoric Years (a very detailed review)

September 24, 2018/ Hayley Croft

Homeschooling high school was always something that I looked ahead to with both excitement and fear. When my children were in elementary grades, I felt confident teaching according to a classical model, but as they grew into the middle and high school years, I felt intimidated by the challenging literature and history and by my own lack of knowledge in these areas.

I was excited to learn alongside my kids, but also afraid that I would not be qualified to teach upper level courses. I knew I would need a curriculum that could guide me as I redeemed my own education.

A dear friend had been telling me for a few years how much her family loved Tapestry of Grace, and I could see the results in her son. He was able to carry on deep discussions about topics in history, literature, philosophy, and government with such thoughtfulness and a depth of understanding that I wanted for my children and myself. I had looked at so many other classical courses for high school, but I kept feeling called back to Tapestry of Grace.

September 03, 2018

My Favorite Things: "Keeping Toddlers Busy" Edition

September 03, 2018/ Erin Cox

My sweet little boys keep life very interesting, especially as I try to homeschool a high school freshman and 6th grader with dyslexia. It's basically my mission in life to keep my boys engaged in fruitful activity throughout the day in order that I might have small chunks of silence to engage with my girls in as much of their schoolwork as possible.

I want to share a few ideas and several "go-to" items that I keep handy at all times, as well as my process for both planning and engaging my boys each day. It's not perfect, but it works well enough that we march through our homeschool day with some learning accomplished and with (arguably) half my sanity left!

Here are my current FAVORITE things for keeping my boys (currently 3 and 20 months) busy while I work in our home and teach their older sisters:

August 31, 2018

The Purpose in Your Broken _____ (marriage, finances, heart)

August 31, 2018/ Erin Cox

We all have it. We have all been broken- in so many different ways.

Sometimes our bodies are broken by disease, deficiencies, accidents, or abuse. Sometimes our hearts are broken by loss, betrayal, loneliness, or shame. Sometimes our minds are broken by anxiety, depression, or obsessive thoughts.

Whether your marriage is broken, your relationship with your child is broken, or your finances are broken- that brokenness can have a purpose. It HAS a purpose.

August 19, 2018

How to Use a Preschool Morning Binder (PLUS all you need to get started!)

August 19, 2018/ Erin Cox

I have a tenacious 3 year old who wants to do a LOT of school. He loves to learn and do things just like the big kids. I love to encourage his desire to learn, so I created a "morning binder" for him after being inspired by Yoga Pants and Pearls when I ran across her on Pinterest. You can check out her take on morning binder here.

I initially downloaded her cute little printable but my OCD jumped in and reminded me that it didn't match the rest of the materials that I had created to complement The Gentle + Classical Preschool (<--- Click that for a FREE Preschool Curriculum)... So I had to make my own, while also using a few resources I'd already created to assemble a full Morning Binder for my little one. So here's what's in our Preschool Morning Binder (also, it's not a binder but I'll chat about that too).

5 Steps to an excellent, beautiful Preschool Morning Binder: