I totally agree about the similarity of writing styles between Carolyn Weber and Madeleine L'Engle. I read Holy is the Day and then right after it read The Rock That is Higher by L'Engle and it was like I never really finished the first book. There was a flowing between the two. I tried to read Surprised by Oxford last year but was not enamored with it so I put it aside but after reading and loving Holy is the Day, I am going to try SbO again.

I wanted to read The Woman in White first but I couldn't find it. It is in this house somewhere but it's exact location eludes me at the moment so I started Moonstone. If I can't find Woman in White soon I will have to buy it again. This is how I end up with so many doubles..

:grouphug: Amy :grouphug: Welcome, Nan! How wonderful to see you here. I am reading at a snail's pace these days. I am still reading Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. I have also started Booked by Karen Swallow Prior--a book about books, beautifully written.

I didn't know there was a movie either. My dd has to read this this year so I will look for the movie. Thanks for the head up! I tried to read All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner. I got to page 30 and decided to pack it in. I have had my fill of contemporary novels, at least for awhile. I have picked up The Moonstone again and my soul is sighing with relief. I will stay here for awhile.

I was just going to suggest this. This is the first year that I have had to deal with a child that didn't want to be included in all of Morning Time. My 15 yr old asked if she could be involved in half of MT and then leave to on do her own work. This has worked out well. She stays for Bible, poetry, Shakespeare and discussion then leaves.

Oh, VC, how scary for both you and our husband! :grouphug: to both of you. I am having difficulty, again, in keeping steady with a book. I have The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith sitting by my reading chair but that is all that is doing for the moment. I'm not sure if I am going to continue on with it. I am also reading Dante's The Inferno. I am only on Canto III so the jury is still out on whether I will actually finish it.

Blacklist Castle Homeland Orphan Black

I agree that preparation leads to teaching from rest but I think, for me, it requires more than that. I have two children who have LDs. I spend most of my time in preparing how to teach them, as well as research the best ways to teach them but I am still not teaching from rest. Fear and lack of faith is the reason for my inability to teach from rest. Fear that even though I am doing my best in teaching them, it will not be enough. For me, then, rest comes from a myriad of things, not just one thing.

This was our first week and with all first weeks there was some good and some bad. The good: Morning Time went very well. It fit like an old but comfortable glove. MT is always the best part of my day. We were talking about virtues this week so we all made virtue trees. Everyone had a choice of the medium they would use but everyone chose to draw them with marker and oil pastels. I am making a conscious effort this year to be more hands on--this is hard for me. But in seeing everyone's delight in making the tree (even the boy and the 15 yr. old,) this will be a regular part of our week. The not-so-good: teaching a 13 year old boy. The first two days went very well and then the last three were just plain long. I need to re-think some things in regards to him - latin being the main subject to re-think. Also, my oldest has been sick since Tues. so she didn't get much school done. I am now hoping that the rest of it doesn't get sick.

Michele, I would try the audio book.

Ooooh! This is the first that I am reading of this. It looks quite tempting. Hmmm. I need to give this some thought. Thanks for letting me know.

Lucky you! I am envious.

we aren't starting until the first week of Sept. I wasn't too sure if we would even be ready by then but I am feeling positive that we will make it. I hadn't even bought all of our curriculum but I now just have one more thing and then we will be good. I am also starting to feel mentally ready for the beginning of school. I wasn't too sure that was going to happen either.

We are going into our 11th year of homeschooling. Every year has been different due to number of kids I teach, the ages of the kids and other factors. One important thing to remember when homeschooling is that flexibility is important. We have our formal learning five days a week.Other than what we do during Morning Time, our subjects are done daily. We do not have a timed schedule but, rather, a rhythm to each day. We haven't started school yet for this year but I am thinking that our rhythm is going to look like this: Morning Time (for 2 hrs, we do Bible reading, poetry, Shakespeare, art study, geography, history, literature--most of this is on a weekly rotation,) I work with ds for math, writing, latin, have lunch then work with dd for reading, math, writing, Spanish while ds does his independent work. My oldest works totally on her own but I am hoping to get together with her at the end our learning time (hopefully at 3:00 ? Hopefully?) to discuss things with her and answer any questions she might have. We do have a school room but we don't use it as a family. My dd uses it to do her school work but the rest of us use the kitchen, living room and family room. It feels more comfortable to us to spread out.

:grouphug: :grouphug: Eaglei :grouphug: :grouphug:

:grouphug: You have my prayers and my hugs. :grouphug:

That is just plain nasty. I'm so sorry. :grouphug: :grouphug:

I finished Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey and Attributes of God by Arthur Pink last week. I am now reading The Rock That is Higher by Madeleine L'Engle (I am so enjoying this one) and, she says sheepishly, The One and Only by Emily Giffin.

You are not alone. I have been having quite a few of those days lately. :grouphug: to you.

Robin, :grouphug: You are in my thoughts today.

I am so happy for you that your dad is doing better and that you have a plan once he is out of rehab. I'm glad that the stress level has decreased. My dad is doing better, too. He has an official diagnosis of COPD (I think the initials stand for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or Disorder, not sure.) He has nurses and respiratory therapists coming to the house, helping him with his medication and sorting things out for him. So we are happy with how things are turning out. It is looking like a nursing home will be far in the future. Yay! I finished Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. I think I am going to buy that book. It was so helpful to me and was beautifully written. I have now started The Rock that is Higher by Madline L'Engle. I think this is gong to be a keeper as well.

I am late but: Happy Birthday, Jen! Happy Birthday, James! Hoping your days were filled with good books, good people, and good food.

We usually start on the first Monday of August but this year was all messed up and I needed a longer break. So we will be starting back full time the first week of Sept. but we may be doing a day here and a day there to see how our schedules will all play out.

Yes, to both of these. I had always thought of myself as a good writer. When I started teaching writing to my kids and going over their writing programs, I began to have doubts. Maybe I wasn't such a good writer after all, but I always got 90's on college papers. Maybe they didn't know how to write either. And so it went until I figured out that maybe I am an intuitive writer. I do all of those things but I don't give them much thought, I just do it. This makes it difficult to teach writing. Okay, books. I ditched 'Under a Wide and Starry Sky' by Nancy Horan. I have become an impatient reader in my old age. if a book doesn't have me by page 30 then It's over and I move on. So I have moved on to 'The Snow Child' by Eowyn Ivey. This book has my attention so I am fairly certain I will finish it. I am also hoping to finish 'Gift from the Sea' by Anne Morrow Lindbergh this week. I am thoroughly loving this book. I have filled two pages of my commonplace book with quotes from this book. A sure sign of a fulfilling book.

Ellie, :grouphug: I am praying for quick healing.