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A few of my favorite things this February
February 17, 2016 books that shape me•homeschool•motherhood•my favorite things

A few of my favorite things this February

If we sat down for coffee, these are the things that would probably trickle out in conversation, the things that make my heart happy, in no particular order and by no means exhaustive.


Homeschool and learning (or relearning)
Okay, I’ll admit it. For all my complaining, I actually love homeschool. I love being part of my kids’ learning and learning myself. We definitely have bad days and even bad weeks, but we have settled into a nice rythym together. We are loving our Sonlight curriculum, which is all reading-based.

Maybe it’s me who has adjusted the most–bringing my expectations down to a reasonable level, growing in patience and love, and asking for God’s grace for when all falls apart.

Sonlight readers are the best–we LOVED this one
journaling about our history lesson (first grade)
notetaking about Roman history
four-year-old math

This Caddie
We got ours from the Target dollar bins for $3 and it’s been the best thing for keeping all our supplies into one place. Michael’s has this fancier one.

The book of Galatians.
We are studying through this book with our community group, and it’s been such an encouragement. I’ve been reading it through over and over trying to understand what Paul was trying to drive home to the “foolish Galatians.” We can stand before God on the merits of His Son and nothing else.

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1

This book
I mentioned that I just finished Elyse Fitzpatrick’s “Good News For Weary Women: Escaping the Bondage of To-do Lists, Steps, and Bad Advice.”  I found myself saying “Amen” over and over again. These are the kinds of truth I want on a slow drip into my bloodstream.

Here are two snippets:

“Many women don’t understand the freedom that has been purchased for us, and we often get tangled up in legalism or moralism. We don’t know what it would look like for obedience to be motivated by gratitude.” Elyse Fitzpatrick

 “What is our highest calling as women? Our highest calling is to believe. It consists of believing, resting, and rejoicing in the work that has been done for us by the Savior.” Elyse Fitzpatrick

Can you imagine if we actually believed and lived these truths?

Elephant and Piggie in Spanish
We’ve been using these for homeschool Spanish class and they’re perfect for introducing simple vocabulary in conversation. The kids are able to follow the stories because of the expressive illustrations. We get them from our local library’s Spanish section.

*

This Song
“Out of Hiding” by Steffany Gretzinger and Amanda Cook. I found it while I was preparing to teach about the story of the Prodigal son.

I might even love this Spanish cover even better:

I’m compiling a Worship playlist on YouTube if you want to listen in and sing along.

These crayons
My mother-in-law finds us fun art supplies to try out. She just got the girls these Color Appeal Crayons. The paper unwraps when the crayon gets low.

Drawing with our new crayons from the Draw 50 Animals book by Lee Ames.
(This one is challenging for my little ones, but I enjoy it. I can walk them through the steps.)

These kids
I love seeing them grow and change. They bring out my need for Jesus EVERY DAY, and isn’t that a blessing?

My sister got us these Mama Beat and Man Cub raglan shirts.  You can find them HERE!
watching the snow

Calligraphy inspiration
I got out my sketchbook a few nights ago and sketched letters from a book about the history of calligraphy. I loved trying out the illuminated capitals and flowers and decorations from really old illuminated manuscripts. You’ll see some of this inspiration in new Scripture cards coming soon to my shop!

New artwork
I’m working on new printable Scripture card sets for the Etsy shop right now. Here’s a little peak:

This print & blog post
I don’t have a printable for you to this week, but I’m sending you over to Emily at Jones Design Company, who made this beautiful Gospel printable. I couldn’t have said it better myself! Sometimes I wonder if I ever really knew the Gospel before now. I know I did, but it feels new again.

Image Source: Jones Design Company

So, there you go–my current favorites. What are yours? Leave a comment below and I’d love to check them out!

If you like this, you can get these posts in your inbox by signing up HERE! You’ll also receive occasional news from my Etsy shop.
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