I got a great question recently, and it’s one I’ve given a lot of thought to since Christopher was born last June. The question was about baby and toddler books. Last summer I went through our picture books and board books to set up the bookshelves in our nursery, and what I found is that… Continue Reading
Being familiar with some of Rod Dreher’s other works like The Little Way of Ruthie Leming and How Dante Can Save Your Life, I was excited to read his newest book, just out on Tuesday, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation. While the whole book is both accessible and informative (see Scott’s review… Continue Reading
Through the years as our children have grown, we have given attention to catechizing them. We’ve used several different catechisms, and have found this traditional question/answer format to be of great value in teaching our children the core doctrines of our faith. However, for a number of reasons, some practical and some doctrinal, I have… Continue Reading
I haven’t done a reading post in awhile. It’s not that I haven’t been reading, but it always seems that the last few months of the year I have a harder time keeping track of my reading. At the end of 2016 in particular, I just blew through a bunch of modern mystery novels. I… Continue Reading
Several years ago when my oldest was beginning his homeschooling in earnest and my wife and I were choosing our curricula for different school subjects, I set out to find just the right Bible curriculum. Our family does regularly read the Bible together as a family, but it is my firm belief that it also… Continue Reading
Download a free 5 day Bible Narratives Reading Plan for 2018 here. This week our family is finishing successfully reading through the whole Bible. Each of us has independently read through the Bible using the same Bible reading plan. We used this 5 day chronological reading plan. We liked it because it was only five… Continue Reading
52. What is meant by consecration? Consecration is dedicating something to the holy glory of God. 53. What are we to consecrate to God? Whatever cannot be loved for God’s sake should not be loved at all; whatever can be loved for God’s sake should be consecrated to Him (Phil 4:8). 54. How are we… Continue Reading
A few years ago we published a new daily devotional for the Christmas season by Pastor Taigen Joos that has been very well-received. This devotional is perfect for both families and individuals to use as they prepare to worship Christ during the Christmas season. Each daily reading is a rich, yet brief meditation on an event or characteristic… Continue Reading
June was baby month around here (Christopher arrived on June 20th). In addition to getting everything ready for his arrival and resting up for the big day, I managed to get in a decent amount of summer reading as well. I love the extra time I generally have in the summer for reading. Here’s what… Continue Reading
So, I started this series awhile ago, and it’s not that I’m not enthusiastic about the topic, but life got in the way…namely in the form of pregnancy morning sickness and sleeping when I would’ve otherwise been blogging. I’m also slowly in the process of turning this series into a book, which is sucking away my blogging… Continue Reading
For the first several years that I homeschooled, I would spend the spring and summer searching for curriculum sales on the things I wanted for the upcoming year. As time has moved on, I have drastically simplified to the point that I don’t really buy that much prepared “curricula,” and, therefore, don’t have to work… Continue Reading
We finished school this month, so that has, thankfully, left me with some more time to read. As a summer goal, I’m going to try each month to read some fiction, have a biography or history going, and also have a more purely didactic book going (on education, theology, Christian life, parenting, etc.). We’ll see… Continue Reading
So, I feel like I’ve been in a huge reading (and blogging) slump. I’m blaming it on the pregnancy. When I would normally be reading or writing I’ve been…sleeping (or working on projects for the baby). But I did read a few things over the last several months, and I’m determined to do better once… Continue Reading
My goal in this essay is to convince you that it is important that music be a part of your homeschool. My goal is to persuade you that music is essential to your children’s educational development. For you this may not be necessary — you recognize the benefits of music in the lives of your children. But perhaps you view music… Continue Reading
Every semester it seems I’m able to simplify even more as I read and learn and find new resources. This makes me happy. Our homeschool averages about 3 hours each morning, 4 days per week, and this semester consists of Morning Time (read about specifically what we do here; this includes Worship elements, Literature, Shakespeare,… Continue Reading
First of all, if you follow this series, you know I didn’t post the books I read in October through December. The truth is, I can’t remember all of them! I’m usually very good at keeping track on Goodreads, but we did a lot of traveling, which meant a lot of library downloads to my… Continue Reading
Today I’m reviewing the Just Like Jesus Bible Storybook by Stephen Elkins, published by Wonder Kids, a division of Tyndale. This retails for $14.99 (currently $10.95 on Amazon). A few notes about the format: Comes in a padded hardback with 173 colorfully illustrated paper pages Scripture verses taken from the NLT (and a few from… Continue Reading
I recently posted a Children’s Books Shopping List for my trips to Half Price Books and the library book sales. As the Advent and Christmas seasons are swiftly approaching in a few short weeks, I’d like to be on the lookout for some quality Christmas books to add to our family collection, so I… Continue Reading
We’ve started a brand new Facebook community, Religious Affections Family Resources, for Christian families to share and discuss the best in books, music, and educational resources for cultivating beauty and imagination in our children! In this group, we plan to share carefully selected resources from around the web (and print media), link to resource sales… Continue Reading
Our library book sale is coming up this month, plus I’ve been frequenting our local Half Price Books, so I recently made myself a book list to take along anytime I’m doing book shopping. I’ve gleaned these books from Sarah Clarkson’s Read for the Heart (I explain why I like this better than Honey for… Continue Reading