Why am I blogging again?

Some of my new friends may not know that I've been a blogger before while some of my old friends may not have even missed the fact that I haven't been blogging! 

So, what is bringing me back?

1. I need more practice writing. I am working on a book. Yup, a book. Thanks to the TTD conference and a class with Tricia Goyer. In the class, I was convicted about honing my craft, blogging and hopefully more magazine articles here I come.

B. Because I'm writing a book that maybe God will publish some day, I need to rebuild my audience...assuming I had any. According to Tricia, publishers look at author's reach in social media to help them determine if the person is worth publishing. As a result, you will be seeing more of me on my Facebook Page and here. Hopefully, you will like what you see and want to share!

ChooChoo.  Lastly, if I can help my family out making a little cash, it's an added benefit. Some of my links will contain affiliate links which give me a little cash for clicking or purchasing. It's not a new thing, but I wanted to make you aware.
Therefore, because the book I'm working on is about the Proverbs 31 Lady (intimidating I know), I thought I would point out these items I have for sale at Currclick.com.

I have it available in ESV, KJV, and NIV.

It's regulary $3, but wait! Since you apparently have read this whole article, I will give you a copy of "I Can Illustrate Proverbs 31" for free if you leave you email address and Bible version as a blog comment before April 30, 2017. Comments on FB don't count. It's needs to be on the blog. 

BTW, my numbering system on this article came from The Skit Guys' "Adam and Eve" skit. 
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TPhxByH_xtw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Review--Callie's Contest of Courage

According to mija, if you want your tweenish girl to read something that "keeps her on the edge if her seat," then she suggest Callie's Contest of Courage by Jan May.

Unlike many books on the market for this age group, this book had a spiritual depth and a moral high. Jan May shared, "Our company, New Millennium Girl Books, was birthed from a desire to write fun and engaging books for girls that would encourage vibrant faith and build Christian character," and I think they succeed. 

I was very happy to mija read this book because it shows a girl struggling and maturing through real-life issues. I appreciated seeing an eleven year old girl is still a girl and yet shows hits of growing into a godly young woman instead if just turning into a teenager. This book also offers a strong patriotic theme which is refreshing.

Here is a little about the author, Jan May, from the site.
Jan May is homeschool publisher, author and. freelance writer and contributor to The Old Schoolhouse , Thriving Family and Clubhouse Jr. Magazines. She is also veteran homeschool mother of two. With over 20 years of teaching experience, her love for creative writing and her passion for well-educated children with godly character have formed the content of these books. 

Callie is the second book in the series. New Millennium Girls Books also offers a writing curriculum based on the first book. It is a twelve week writing curriculum that has a main instruction book and an accompanying paper doll and craft book, where the student creates the character they are writing about and designs her clothing.

Back to Callie's Contest of Courage, one last thing I really like about the book is the use of Scripture throughout. It was not just obligatory Bible verses because it is supposed to be a Christian but the characters actually apply the scriptures in real-life circumstances. The one thing I would add to the book is a list in the back of the book listing of all the Bible verses used in addition to all the other additional resources already provided.

Visit the New Millennium Girls Books website for more information. 

Using Your Write Brain---Guest Post

Have you heard of Grammarly? There is more to them than just great memes on Facebook! It is actually an automated proofreading program.

Well, today I have a guest post from Nikolas Baron of Grammarly. Enjoy!

Using your Write Brain

Let’s face it: the bane of your existence when you were in school really was the entire school bit. It was so difficult to comprehend why we couldn’t play outdoors for extended periods of time, especially since countless studies reached the same conclusion emphasizing the importance of play. Clearly, playing trumped the studying card. Yet perhaps the reason why children scorn learning with a hatred is simply because it isn’t fun, or rather, it is perceived as being dull and somewhat ‘important’ for the distant future if we didn’t want to be a road sweeper.

However, with today’s advancements, coupled with decades of experience and feedback from millions of bored-to-death students, not improving the method we use to educate will simply be laziness on our part.

Since I’ve started working at Grammarly, an instant online grammar checking proofreader, I’ve been researching on organic learning methods to facilitate the introduction of English for children. What I’ve discovered is far from what takes place within four white walls. Though there are tons of approaches to take, I found that interest and interaction are key in tapping into a child’s natural learning processes; it’s all about using their write brain.

Let’s start off with the greatest favour you can do for any child: don’t box them in, constantly encourage, and give them the benefit of the doubt when they insist that elephants can fly. Imagination and creativity are essential in injecting enjoyment in learning.

Involve all their senses when it comes to writing. This simple application will magically do loads to enhance learning. Writing about the weather, bring them outdoors; writing about culture, let them come to class in their traditional costumes and conduct a show and tell. Try this exercise. First, get them to imagine eating a mint candy with a molten chocolate centre. Tell them to write about what they taste, how it feels in their mouth, how it smells, their emotions while eating the candy, and anything that comes to their mind. Then re-do the exercise with them, giving each child a mint candy with a molten chocolate centre and get them to write down what they see, feel, and smell. Believe me, the vast improvement in their writing will take you aback; it’ll almost seem as though a different kid walked into your classroom.

Ever heard of ‘Secret Santa’? Give each child an envelope with their name on it, and assign a ‘Secret Santa’ to each of them. Instead of giving their friends more cavities, get them to write letters to each other daily. Not only will this break the ice in a classroom full of new faces, it’ll also give each child a reason to write daily. The best part is that there isn’t any topic to write about; the sky’s the limit. I’ve heard of teachers taking this a step further and getting global ‘penpals’ for their students, matching their age to other students of their age. I’m pretty sure many kids would be thrilled to have an exotic friend.

‌Now for the tricky bit – making grammar interactive. Rules that are black and white usually don’t sit well with kids or anyone for that matter. But you know what they say, “If you can’t beat them, join them”. Let the kids be in the position of authority to grade their friends’ work. Scouring the page to identify spelling and grammatical mistakes is a brilliant start for them to identify what other people are getting wrong. After manual grading, they can run the written text through a comprehensible software such as Grammarly to see which errors they missed out. The best part about this program is the detailed explanations given to clarify why certain sentences may be wrong. The software picks up on literally everything, from grammar to spelling, and even sentence structures.

The purpose of education shouldn’t be to teach children what to think, but rather how to think; not to dull, but to excite their senses; and ultimately, not to believe there’s a right way to think, but simply by using their write brain.


By Nikolas Baron

Nikolas discovered his love for the written word in Elementary School, where he started spending his afternoons sprawled across the living room floor devouring one Marc Brown children’s novel after the other and writing short stories about daring pirate adventures. After acquiring some experience in various marketing, business development, and hiring roles at internet startups in a few different countries, he decided to re-unite his professional life with his childhood passions by joining Grammarly’s marketing team in San Francisco. He has the pleasure of being tasked with talking to writers, bloggers, teachers, and others about how they use Grammarly’s online proofreading application to improve their writing. His free time is spent biking, travelling, and reading.

Need some help with my articles

I love the opportunity to sit around with a group of women I love and admire and spend time chatting about the things of faith, family, and fun. Iron sharpens iron. Well, I can't do that with you all, so I'm asking you to grab a cup of tea or coffee, sit down at your computer, and chat back to me on my blog or Facebook.

I have some articles due to Eternal Encouragement by January 1st. I have the basic concepts and ideas for these articles and other articles, but would love some additional ideas from you. Comment. Comment. Comment! 
I may use your idea or verse. I may not use it. I may use it as a springboard for the thought that I do use. Comment. Comment. Comment!



Thought #1

Lipstick on your teeth.

You know when you have lipstick on your teeth, people behave differently. Some just ignore it. Others obviously notice it, but don't tell you. Finally, there are those who just tell you.
Or what about when the tag is showing in the back of your blouse. Sometimes people tell you and sometimes they just tuck it in for you. 
What makes the difference? 

What does each response mean? Is there acceptance? Nonacceptance? Correction? Encouragement? Judgement? Service?
Trust me; I don't think there are any set motives or reasoning, but I do think there can be some general principles. What do you think?

Thought # 2
God's Kingdom in your Castle
My pastor was teaching about the kingdom of God in church the other day. One of the verses he mentioned was Romans 14:17.

 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

How does that play out in your home? What is it to live righteously, peacefully and joyfully? What verses would remind you or help you to put those elements of kingdom living in place?





Thought #3
Praying Scripture for your children
I think one of the coolest ways to pray for your children (or anyone for that matter) is to pray Scripture over them. You know the prayers are in the will of God if it's something Paul or somebody else prayed in the Scripture. Have you prayed that way before? If so, what passages have you used in praying.


Well, that a start. Please, please, please, give me some input and comments! My mind is spinning with all these ideas!

Writer's Contest from PBS Kids Go

Mija was so excited when she saw the advertisement on our local PBS station.  They are having a writing contest for children kindergarten through third grade. It's being sponsored by the local PBS stations; you can check HERE for your local station to see if they are participating. 


The child writes and illustrates their own stories.  You can read some of winners from last year HERE.   


We are definitely taking part in this.  What an opportunity to practice such skills as story telling, grammar, spelling, etc within an activity that she is initiating herself!  

Introducing the Young Authors' Publishing Program

This is from the latest currclick.com newsletter.


We all want our children to write. What’s more, we want them to write well and to enjoy writing. We spend hundreds of dollars on writing curricula and writing classes. We encourage our children to produce cute stories with hand-drawn pictures for Grandma’s birthday. We applaud our teens for writing a novel in a year or a short story in a semester. But, what do we do with their words? Fantasies languish beside mysteries on the hard drive. Fiction becomes historical on our laptops before we get around to reading it. What reason is there for the reluctant writer to craft an interesting story if no one is going to read it?

The best motivation for kids to write is to see their words turned into an actual book that can be purchased by grandparents and friends. The Young Authors’ Publishing Program, exclusively by Codex Publishing, is designed to take a teen’s or child’s written words and turn them into a physical book.

Turn the work of your heart into a work of art to be shared with your family and friends.

Our goal is for kids and teens (through age 18) to be encouraged to keep expressing themselves through the written word. We want to make the dream of publishing a book attainable for every teen/child author.

The very first step in the publishing process is to revise and edit the finished manuscript. It has been said that great literature is not written, it’s rewritten. A book is never done after the first draft.

The next step is to choose one of the Young Authors’ Publishing Program’s plans. We have two basic plans available, as well as additional components that may be added to enhance the book. The Tolkien Plan is FREE. It includes basic formatting, a glossy cover with a stock image or your own image, and a one-year contract. The book will be listed on the Codex Publishing Web site as well as on the CurrClick Web site. Oh, you will also receive twenty percent royalties on the net profits. You may add an ISBN number, a light edit, a one-page critique, or a custom-designed cover for additional fees.

The Shakespeare Plan is not free, but in addition to the basic formatting, one year contract, twenty percent royalties, and listings on the Codex Publishing and CurrClick Web sites, it includes an ISBN number, a full professional edit, a one-page critique, and a free soft-cover copy of the book. The book will also be listed on Amazon.

Need help deciding between plans? Is the manuscript error free? Does she want her book to be available on just a few Web sites? Then theTolkien Plan is her best choice. Additional items to complement the Tolkien Plan include an ISBN number, a light edit, and/or a one-page, in-depth critique. If you teen has her heart set on a custom-designed cover, you may purchase one with either plan. Could the manuscript benefit from a thorough copyedit (more in-depth than the light edit available for purchase with the Tolkien plan), including comments to improve it? Does your teen want his book to be featured in the Codex newsletter and posted on Amazon? Does he want an ISBN included? Then the Shakespeare Plan is his best choice. When you choose either plan, you can download our exclusive Publishing Guide right away that will answer all of your questions.

~ Bethany LeBedz, for the Codex team
The Young Authors Program by Codex

The Complete Writer--Susan Wise Bauer

Today was the first day of the online Schoolhouse Expo.  It has been a blessing already.  I didn't listen to all of them today, but my payment gives me MP3 copies off all the meetings.

The first meeting was The Complete Writer by Susan Wise Bauer.  If you'd like your own copy of the notes, she has them available on the website at Teaching K-12 Writing.

I'm just going to share a few of the things that made an impression on me. 

Writing is not a subject; it's a tool, but it needs a subject on which to use it.

There is actually two steps in the writing process: taking inarticulate ideas and putting them into words AND taking an idea in words and putting it on paper.

We assume that children can do this automatically because we've learned to this, but they are two separate things that need to be taught.

Three Elements two work on in elementary: Grammar, Spelling, Writing.

There are two aspects of writing at the elementary level:
1.  Copywork: Putting Words on Paper
Initially copy and eventually create a visual memory by dictation.
2.  Narration across the curriculum: Putting Ideas into Words
Initially narrate to parent, then narrate to parent and take dictation, teaches student to identify central elements, initially guided narration and then move away from guided narration.

Of course, elementary was my main focus, but I'll share a few things from middle and high.

Middle: additional goals in grammar is expertise in diagramming and outlining

A purpose of diagramming is to develop a way of checking sentences to see if they are good. 

A Work in Progress

It's interesting being a home school teacher because I can notice steps of growth more closely than I did even as a classroom teacher. In the classroom, the curriculum dictated to a great degree what I was to teach and when I was to teach it, so monitoring the individual students growth was often set aside as I evaluated if the class as a whole was prepared for the next step. I can honestly say I wasn't as aware of doing this then as now that I only have one student on which to focus.

Narration is a big part of the Classical Education concept, so starting even last year with FIAR there are many times that after reading something I ask Micki to tell me what it was about and then I write down what she dictates to me. I usually try to use her handwriting paper and her penmanship style so as a way to review penmanship skills with her. Another nice aspect is a little less hands on work for me! :-) Win-win!

The next step was for me to write down things and for her to copy them onto her paper. This started with simple things like labeling items & spelling words to more "extensive" things like notes. I usually write things on a small white board using her penmanship style. Sometimes I will even erase items as she completes it or only write one sentence or word at a time, so she doesn't feel quite so overwhelmed.

Just within the last few weeks, Micki has made a nice big jump. She has thank you notes to write for her birthday, so I thought I'd see how well she did writing them straight from brain to paper. I was right beside her assisting in sounding out words as need. I always knew I could pull out the white board if it was too much, but she was ready for the challenge.

It was really cool to see her put various tasks she had learned to use. She knew how to spell and write many words especially sight/Dolch words from memory. Some may think this is not that big of a deal, but it is. Being able to spell a word orally is a different skill than being able to write the same word. That's why writing spelling words over and over again may be helpful to remember them for a written spelling test but not as helpful for a spelling bee.

She also did a great job sounding out words that she didn't recall from memory such as "gifts" or "present." It was encouraging to hear my 5 year old say, "OK, end of sentence, so I need a peradid [Micki speak for period]."

So, this means that I will be turning more and more writing over to her. Not all at once by any means, especially since she's only 5 and doing 5th grade work, but definitely giving her more opportunities to grow in personal writing skills beyond just penmanship.