Benefits of Outside Time for Children (and Moms)

Are your kids feeling restless?

Trouble with attitudes?

Feeling a little gloomy?

Want to encourage a love of nature and science?

Need to add in some healthy movement for you or your children?

Trouble focusing?

Benefits of Time Outdoors

Time outside can be the remedy for all of those concerns and more. Spending time outside in the fresh air and sunshine can make a tremendous difference in the atmosphere of your home and homeschool. This is true for both parents and children.

(Please note that I am not a doctor, and I am not trying to treat health problems. If you are having serious depression, etc, please seek medical care.)

I have noticed that when we are super busy, or the weather has been less than ideal, and we have not spent much time outside, my children struggle to focus on schoolwork, their attitude and behavior suffer, and they tend to be more sedentary.

While I do not start “bouncing off the walls” or appear like I’m vibrating because I’m restless like my children, I also notice that my attitude and focus are better when I spend some time each day outside. The sunshine brightens my mood, and the fresh air helps clear my mind. I try to go for a walk each day, and that 45 minutes of time outside gives me more focus and clarity for the rest of the day.

Educational Benefits

In addition to the physical and mental benefits of time outside, there are also educational benefits. Time spent outside in nature helps students learn by observing the vast world around them. As they begin to look and learn, they tend to become more appreciative of God’s beautiful creation.

While we sometimes take nature walks specifically to observe and study, I find that once you show children how to look for things around them, they begin to do it naturally during their free time outside. We might go for a walk and look for birds one day, but months later, they are still pointing out different types of birds as they spend time outside.

I will not discuss all the research on spending time outside, though I will include a list of good resources at the end of this post. Instead, I want to focus on simple ways to add more outside time to your schedule.

Strategies for Spending More Time Outdoors

1. Dress for the season

While there are some days when the weather is too bad to get outside, most days the key is just being well-dressed. When it is cold, it is easy to decide to stay inside, but I often pay for those days with challenging attitudes and bouncing children. It really is worth the effort to layer up and spend some time outside. In the summer, we use lots of sunscreen, light clothes, and water activities to battle the heat.

2. Take the books outside

Sometimes, going outside would be wonderful, but there is no time. You need to get reading, math, etc. done, as well as whatever else life throws at you. Taking school outside to a picnic table or blanket on the ground is a great option. The novelty and fresh air can make school a little more fun, and it is time you would already be spending with the added benefit of sunshine and fresh air.

Specific nature study is another great way to spend time outside while checking off the educational boxes. It can be as simple as observing what is around them and choosing something to learn more about. If you like to have ideas and more resources for nature study, check out the Homeschool Nature Study Membership.

3. Keep it Simple

We love to do fun things, try new parks, gather with friends, and explore different nature projects. However, spending time outside can be as simple as allowing children to play in the backyard, ride bikes, or walk in your neighborhood. Do not feel like every day or every time outside has to have a plan or special activities.

4. Think Outside the Box

Finally, field trips are a great way to add some time outside. We enjoy going to our state and national park sites to learn more about science and history while exploring the outdoors. There are also local parks, conservation programs, and more that offer outdoor experiences. Sometimes, these fit into our curriculum; other times, they are just fun educational opportunities. If you are in North Carolina, our state parks offer an amazing assortment of outdoor events that you can learn about on their website.

Resources and Research

1000 Hours Outdoors Outside

Until the Streetlights Come On

Last Child in the Woods

North Carolina State Parks

National Park Sites

Kids in Parks

Homeschool Nature Study Membership

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

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This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Tuesday Tips: Creating Buy-In With Choice

How do you get your children to buy into your homeschool curriculum? First, what do I mean by “buy-in”? I am not talking about purchasing or spending money but instead having students engaged and motivated to work through the curriculum.

Deciding What Choices To Offer

Some things in our school are not optional. For example, you are going to learn math, and you are going to learn how to read. However, we often have flexibility in how we accomplish those goals, and allowing students choice whenever we have flexibility helps them buy into their education and be more motivated.

For example, if I want them to compare and contrast a novel and a movie, I can let them choose which novel to read. When doing art history, I can let them choose the time period to study. When it is time for art lessons, they choose the lesson they want to complete.

While there are certain topics I want to cover in science, I often let them choose each year which topic we are going to study from the list.

For history, I might give them options among a variety of activities that accompany the lesson for the week.

Choice on Timing

Another way that I can provide choice is by allowing them to choose the order in which they complete their subjects on a given day. While I do have to control that to some extent based on the subjects we do together and the ones they need direct instruction in (and balancing that with my schedule), they have a list of what needs to get done each day and can do their independent work in any order they so choose.

Benefits of Offering Choice

I have found that these choices reduce the number of battles we have over completing schoolwork. Please note that I did not say it completely eliminated them; we still have those days when they do not want to do any schoolwork. Overall, it has proven to be a simple way for me to give them a voice in their learning while still accomplishing the goals that we have set forth for them.

How do you encourage buy-in in your homeschool? What choices do you give to your students?

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

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Deals and Freebies

If you have not tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you don’t want to miss this sale!

Journey Homeschool Academy is offering sale if you need a new science program! We love their high school programs and plan to try their elementary astronomy next year.

This is a great resource for lots of amazing printable materials from pre-k to 12th grade and they are offering 40% of lifetime access.

Focus Word 2025: Intentional

Last year, my focus word was Savor, and it was perfect for the stage I was in. We had highs and lows last year, but overall, it was a year of many beautiful changes.

We had baby number five on January 11th, 2024, we took an epic seven-week road trip in March and April, my oldest graduated from our homeschool in May and began college in August, my daughter got her driver’s license in January, began dual enrollment in August, and so much more.

Through it all, I tried to savor and enjoy the experiences and make memories with my family. It was a good year, but I want to focus more on being intentional this year. With the baby and so many things going on last year, I feel like I let some things slide (out of necessity). However, as we begin a new year, I feel like I am in a place to begin to be more intentional.

What Does Intentional Look Like For Me?

I am making conscious decisions about different areas of my life where I want to grow and spend time, and instead of just hoping to get to those things, I am making intentional plans but still holding those plans with an open hand.

Bible:

While we continued with our family Bible reading last year, I feel I was not intentional about spending personal time in the word. So, this year, I started a very simple Bible plan to read through the New Testament in a year. It should take me about ten minutes daily, which is doable even with the baby.

Family:

Making realistic but intentional plans to spend time with my husband and children. I know I can’t plan weekly date nights out at this stage of life, but we can plan to walk 4 or 5 days a week and do something special together once a month or so. I can’t take each of my kids out one-on-one each week.

Still, I can make sure to spend a few minutes checking in with them each week and be diligent about finding opportunities to spend one-on-one time, even if it’s just taking one of them with me to run errands or grabbing a quick treat together.

Hiking with My People..Savoring the Moment and Intentionally Focusing on my Health.

Health:

Complications from my pregnancy caused me to really focus on my health in 2023, and I was doing a great job eating well and getting in movement. However, the busyness of life with an infant and teenagers caught up with me last year, and I noticed I was not as intentional about making good choices.

So this year, I want to get back on track by being intentional about drinking more water, staying active each day, and getting plenty of protein. When I do those things, I feel better and have more energy for the other things on my list.

Social Media:

I believe that social media is a double-edged sword. I love being able to keep up with friends who aren’t physically close to me anymore; I enjoy learning from other homeschool moms and seeing encouraging posts and scriptures. However, it so easily becomes lost time.

When the baby was born, and I was up with him at night, I felt too tired to read, but I hated just sitting there, so I often would watch silly videos on Facebook. However, I really want to focus on intentionally using social media to keep up with the people in my life and to share and learn from other homeschoolers.

So, I will limit my time on social media (using an app on my phone) and be intentional about what content I view while using social media.

Blog:

Finally, I want to be more intentional about sharing ideas and resources on the blog. I was very quiet on the blog for the first half of 2024 because I needed to focus on the baby, my other children, and our travels. However, this year, I am intentionally putting work time back on my weekly calendar to be more consistent about sharing in this space.

My seventeen-year-old daughter will be babysitting a few hours each week in exchange for car insurance and gas, and I will be able to return to sharing new content with you each week.

I am looking forward to 2025 and continuing to savor the time with friends and family while also being more intentional about how I spend my time and making sure that my priorities are getting the attention they deserve.
I would love to hear your word of the year or your resolutions or tips on how you are intentional with your time.

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

Resource Library

Deals and Freebies

If you have not tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you don’t want to miss this sale!

Journey Homeschool Academy is offering sale if you need a new science program! We love their high school programs and plan to try their elementary astronomy next year.

This is a great resource for lots of amazing printable materials from pre-k to 12th grade and they are offering 40% of lifetime access.

Who What Why Moses, The Exodus, and The Tabernacle

I am excited to share the latest three books in Danika Cooley’s Who, What, Why series with you! I always look forward to these books because they are engaging and full of great Biblical information to help us as I teach and disciple my children.

The three newest books in the series were released this month. They cover Moses, the Exodus, and the Tabernacle.

*Some links are affiliate links, see disclosure below*

Who What Why Series

If you are unfamiliar with the series, it consists of brief chapter books geared toward students aged eight to eleven. The books are nonfiction but engaging and sometimes humorous. In addition to the target age group, younger students could enjoy them and learn from them through read-aloud. In addition, older students would find them to be very simple but still educational.

Each book contains illustrations that help the reader understand the book (and are often quite humorous), a timeline of events, and a works cited section so that you know where she derived the historical information.

Who Was Moses?

This exciting and easy-to-read chapter book details Moses’s life and contributions. It also explains how the events that happened with Moses point to Jesus. An excellent timeline in the back helps you understand how Moses’s life fits with other Biblical and historical events.

Did you know that while it should only have taken 11 days to walk from Mount Sinai to Kadesh, it took the Israelites over forty years? Did you know that Moses was 120 when God showed him the promised land?

While the facts are all included in scripture, this book helps to really break things apart and allows the reader to really understand Moses and his life.

Why Did the Exodus Happen?

All scripture is useful for teaching, but some of its contents can be a little challenging for children to understand. This book helps students better understand the Exodus, why it happened, and the historical timeline.

Many interesting facts help students (and parents) better understand the Exodus. For example, did you know that “The people of Israel left Egypt in the middle of the night with bowls of flatbread dough tied to their backs…There were six hundred thousand Israelite men walking out of Egypt. With their wives and children, the caravan probably numbered more than two million people.” While I have read about the Exodus multiple times, I had never really thought about just how many people were included.

Throughout this book, while learning about the Exodus, the reader is also introduced to the various characteristics of God. For example, God is Faithful, God is Known to Us, God is Sovereign, and God is our Savior.

It is a great resource to assist children in their study and understanding of the Bible.

What was the Tabernacle?

The Old Testament spends a great deal of time discussing the Tabernacle, both its physical characteristics and spiritual importance. This book helps students understand what the Tabernacle was and how that physical Tabernacle pointed to Jesus.

This book describes the Tabernacle’s physical description, information on how long it took to make, the materials used, the craftsmanship involved, etc. However, it also takes time to discuss the different feasts and procedures involved in worshiping God through the Tabernacle.

Then, it takes it a step further and discusses how things are different now because of Jesus and the New Covenant.

Conclusions

The Who, What, Why series is a great addition to any home library. They are useful as read-alouds or independent reading. You can supplement your Bible study or a study of Ancient History with these books. They could also work as independent reading.

These books are available to purchase at Thinking Kids Press (individually or save money and buy them as a bundle) or on Amazon.

Which title most interests you? What other titles would you like to see added to the series?

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library, you will get a link and password to the library. We add new items to the library each month. You will also receive a monthly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library

This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always, I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in, and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Play Smart Preschool Workbooks: A Timberdoodle Review

Children, especially young children, learn through play and many hands-on activities. Often, this involves being very active, but sometimes, you need your child to be able to work more quietly or contained. Timberdoodle recently sent me a set of Play Smart workbooks for preschool-age students to review.

The Play Smart workbooks are a great combination of both hands-on learning and quiet play. The books are colorful and engaging, containing lots of stickers and activities.

Play Smart Brain Boosters (3+)

This book contains over 60 pages of picture puzzles, drawing projects, and number games for children ages three and up. In addition, it includes over 100 stickers and a wipe-clean activity mat that allows children to draw different ears on two animal pictures, wipe it clean, and start again.
The activities range in type and style. There are activities with correct answers and others that are more creative. For example, in some activities, the child matches shapes to pictures. In another activity, the child begins with the basic shape drawn and creates a picture of whatever they wish to draw.

Play Smart Skill Builders Challenging (Ages 2-3)

The activities in this book are a bit simpler than those in the brain booster book. There are lots of mazes and different tracing activities. This book also contains over 90 stickers and a wipe-clean activity board maze. Each page is colorful and engaging, with pictures of various animals, flowers, and scenery. The child simply needs a crayon or pencil to complete each activity page.

These would work well as a quiet activity for a parent and child to work on together. The activities promote fine motor skills, pattern recognition, and knowledge of colors and animals.

Play Smart Animal Picture Puzzlers (2+)

In this full-color workbook, children will work on tracing, drawing, sorting, and matching. They will trace lines in different pictures, including straight lines, curved lines, spirals, and loops. They will also work on counting and recognizing the numbers 1, 2, and 3.
In addition to the over 60 pages of single-use activities, there is a wipe-clean page at the end of the book that assists the student in learning how to write the numbers 1, 2, and 3.

Overall, these Play Smart Workbooks are a great quiet-time activity for preschool students. They promote fine motor skills, matching, patterns, and number recognition. They are bright and engaging and would work well for younger children to do with an adult. Older preschool students could work on activities independently for a few minutes. These are also perfect for those preschoolers who want to ‘do school’ like their older brothers and sisters.
You can learn more about it or purchase your set from Timberdoodle. They are also included in the Timberdoodle Preschool kit.

Sticker Hero: A Timberdoodle Review

Stickers are so much fun for children of all ages, whether just using random pretty stickers to decorate a paper or activities that use stickers. Timberdoodle recently gave me the opportunity to review Sticker Hero, a fun sticker activity book.

What is Sticker Hero?

Designed for ages three and up, this activity book includes 506 stickers and 48 pages of sticker activities. The pages are bright, colorful, and made from thick paper to be more durable for little hands.

The activities include matching, counting, decorating, mazes, and more. The stickers for each activity are located in the back of the book and conveniently separated by activity. This allows you to either show the child the correct stickers or even take the correct ones from the back of the book to simplify the activity for younger children.

Working with stickers naturally enhances fine motor skills, but these activities also work on counting, sorting, matching, and observation skills. There are even activities to work on the alphabet.

For example, the first activity has a bunch of colorful socks hanging on a clothesline, and the child has to find the matching sock stickers to put beside the one already on the page. Another activity has them filling in the numbers on a clock, telephone, and remote. There is even a page with word problems, where a child has to work with the concepts of less than and more than to put on ice cream scoops.

Who Should Use Sticker Hero?

Children, especially preschoolers, need lots and lots of physical activity and movement. However, sometimes, you need them to sit quietly for a short time. This might be during learning time at home, sitting through a meeting, or waiting for an appointment. This book is small and convenient for taking on the go, but it is also great for your time at home.

The activities include a variety of levels, and depending on the child, they could be used from around age three to six (or older if a child has a delay or is still working on those skills).

The book could be just a fun quiet activity or it would be easy to incorporate into a homeschool day.

Where Can I Find Sticker Hero?

My son loved it and kept asking to do more pages. While some of them were very basic for him, he enjoyed each activity that he did.
You can see more and purchase your copy over at Timberdoodle. It is available independently or as a part of their Pre-K kit.

Tips for Using Free Homeschool Summits and Conferences

Each fall and spring, there is a small window of time when my email and social media become inundated with various free homeschooling conferences and summits. They all sound wonderful, with great topics, engaging speakers, and exciting ideas. However, I wondered how I would find time to actually teach my children if I did all of those workshops.

If you feel the same way, you might be tempted to click delete on those emails, scroll past the social media posts, and ignore all the conferences. While I totally understand that temptation, I think there is a third option. Instead of spending all your time in conferences or ignoring all the summits, you can choose the parts of the summits that will be most beneficial for you, but not try to do it all.

Choose One or Two Applicable Sessions Each Day

Generally, my favorite way to enjoy one of these events is to pick one (or maybe two) session from each day that I think would be most beneficial to me. Then, I work out a time each day to watch those sessions. This lets me benefit from the workshops without having it take all day.

For my schedule, that time is often just after lunch. The baby is napping, we have completed school for the day, and I can send the big kids outside to play while I listen and learn.

That time of day is often when I would be getting other household tasks or computer work done, but the encouragement and inspiration that I gain from the sessions make it time well spent. Other good options are taking a walk and listening, listening while cooking dinner or folding laundry has also worked for me in the past.

When I remember that homeschooling my children is a calling and an important job, it is easy to see that it is not wasted time but time used to gain valuable knowledge and inspiration.

Have a Teacher Workday

Sometimes, the best way to take advantage of a homeschool summit is to pick the day that the sessions you are most interested in and call it a teacher workday. Give your students the day off, make yourself a cup of hot tea or coffee and your favorite chocolate, grab a notebook, and settle in.

You can watch the sessions, take notes, and spend some time planning and implementing the things you learn in the sessions. In addition to some great ideas, a day like this can provide refreshment and help you be ready to jump back into the work of homeschooling.

Buy Yourself Some Extra Time

If you are going through the conference and really enjoying your sessions but feel like you want to watch them all, most of these summits and conferences offer you the opportunity to purchase the sessions for a small fee. Once you buy the conference or summit, you will have access for a year or a lifetime (depending on the conference). Then, if you need encouragement or help or have a little extra time, you can watch a session.

Upcoming Conferences and Summits

These are some of the conferences and summits that are coming up. Take a look at some of the wonderful speakers and see how you can use these to encourage you in your homeschooling journey.

Such a great opportunity for encouragement and resources.

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library, you will get a link and password to the library; we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

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Gnome Sweet Gnome a Timberdoodle Review

Children learn so much through play, and I love it when I find tools that can help guide that learning while still being fun and enjoyable for the child. I recently had the opportunity to review the game Gnome Sweet Gnome from Timberdoodle.

Gnome Sweet Gnome is a game that children can play independently. It has several different skill levels, making it great for developing skills. It works on fine motor skills, critical thinking, comparing sizes, and color recognition and is great for preschool through kindergarten or first grade.

What is Gnome Sweet Gnome?

The game includes three different gnomes, each gnome is a different size and color. The Gnomes each come with a matching flower pot, each with a different depth. The different sizes and depths mean that when stacked in different combinations, you can see different amounts of the gnome. For example, if you put the smallest gnome in the deepest flower pot, you can only see the top of his hat.

There are forty-eight challenges included with the game (each challenge is a different picture that the child needs to recreate). The challenges vary from easy to expert levels. I loved that the challenges were all enclosed in a spiral-bound book. That means no loose cards that are easy to misplace.

How Do We Play Gnome Sweet Gnome?

The beginning challenges use only a few pieces, and the challenge card shows the color for all of the pieces used. Then, they get a little more challenging by using more pieces but still showing all of the colors. On the final levels of difficulty, some or all of the colors are grayed. Other than the easiest level, all the challenges have a solution picture on the back of the page so the child can check their work.

This game can be completed independently, or a parent could work with the child to check their work and help them problem-solve. Depending on their attention span and ability level, children can work through anywhere from one challenge to the whole book. Younger children can start with the easier levels, and as they get more practice and confidence, they can move up to the more challenging options.

Overall, we really enjoyed this game. My six-year-old wanted to check it out and went through all the levels in one sitting. Even though he had completed them all, he still wanted to play again on other occasions, so it was not a one-and-done activity.

This is also a great game to prepare students for the more challenging IQ Gears that we reviewed a few weeks ago for Timberdoodle. They work on similar skills at different levels.

Where Do I Find Gnome Sweet Gnome?

I highly recommend this game if you have a young child and want to work on fine motor skills (stacking), colors, or problem-solving. You can find out more and purchase Gnome Sweet Gnome at Timberdoodle. It is also included in their preschool kit.

IQ Gears a Timberdoodle Review

I love getting my hands on fun and educational games, little ways my children can keep their minds growing while they play. Thus, I was excited to get the opportunity to review Smart Games’ IQ Gears from Timberdoodle. We had reviewed another game, IQ 6 Pro, from them last year, so I had high expectations.

The IQ Gears was similar to the IQ 6 Pro but with added fun and challenge. It is a puzzle game that can be played independently or together, with players challenging each other to different levels.

What is IQ Gears?

The game consists of a playing board and seven puzzle pieces. Seven pieces may not seem like a lot, but there are so many different combinations and challenge levels that it is great for a variety of ages. The included manual has over one hundred challenges at five different levels, ranging from starter to wizard.

Each of the seven pieces is a different color and shape. They also each have small gears on different parts of the shape. On the outside of the playing board are two larger gears. The goal is to get the puzzle pieces to fit back on the playing board in a way that connects the two outside gears. So you should be able to turn one outside gear and cause the other outside gear to turn.

There are many possible combinations to make this happen, but each challenge has specifics that have to be in place. For example, it might show you the position of several of the pieces, and you have to figure out where the other pieces will fit. Some of the challenges show positions but with the pieces whited out so that you have to figure out which pieces they are using and get them all in the right places.

The easiest starter puzzles show the shapes of all the pieces on the board but only have a few of them colored in. All of these levels make it easy for people of different ages to enjoy the puzzle together.

How To Use This Game

As a homeschool mom, I loved that this game was working on critical thinking skills and was QUIET. It was very small and self-contained, so it worked well as a game for car rides. A child who needs to keep their hands occupied during read-aloud time could also use it.

It doesn’t have to be for school; it also makes a delightful family game to play in the evenings. It challenges teenagers and can be a great way to engage them in family time. My daughter was surprised at how challenging it was at first. She assumed that with only sevel pieces it would be too easy.

We enjoyed the game and were glad to add it to our collection. I encourage you to find out more about IQ Gears at Timberdoodle, where it can be purchased independently or as part of the 10th-grade kit.

Book Recommendations: Summer 2024

Reading is something that I enjoy year-round, but our summer schedule often allows more time for reading than other times of the year. While summer is never quite the slow, easy time I have in my dreams, I do take homeschooling off my plate for a few months.

*Some links are affiliate links, see disclosure below*

My children go to camp, do 4-H activities, spend time at the river, and engage in many other activities that keep us on the go, but many of them do not require much of my time. This leaves me with a little more flexibility to read.

This summer, I read several great books, both fiction and nonfiction. For years, I was staunchly on team “real paper books,” and while in many ways that is still my preference, I have found it easier to hold a baby and read on my phone. Going digital also opened up lots of more cost-effective options, like Kindle Unlimited and borrowing ebooks through Hoopla from our library.

Book I Read This Summer

Habits of a Sacred Home by Jennifer Pepito

Habits of a Sacred Home was a wonderful book to start my summer reading. I found it inspiring, challenging, and yet not so heavy as to be hard to read. It covers “9 practices from history to anchor and restore modern families.” By reading one chapter a day, I could take the time to focus on and reflect on each habit. I was most inspired and challenged by the chapters on the habits of prayer and simplicity.

Until the Streetlights Come On by Ginny Yurich

This book has been on my bedside table since shortly after it was published, but life kept getting in the way of me reading it. However, I am so glad that I could take the time to read it this summer. It reaffirmed my desire to give my children more time outside, more time engaged in authentic play, and more time adventuring together as a family. It also brought up some great points about different types of light and some other science behind all of this that I had not known before. I am excited about growing further in these areas this year.

Once a Queen by Sarah Arthur

On my own, I would never have picked up Once a Queen, but I am so glad that I did. It is a middle-grade fiction novel with excellent fantasy elements reminiscent of Narnia. Read Aloud Revival was doing it as a book for mama book club, and I decided it would be fun to read it with them and have my teenage daughter read it. It was the perfect summer reading, light, and fun, with a little mystery and some fun references to Narnia for those who know the series. My only complaint is that the sequel will not be out until next year!

Your Teenager Isn’t Crazy by Jeramy and Jershua Clark

Your Teenager Isn’t Crazy: Understanding Your Teen’s Brain Can Make You a Better Parent is an engaging book that offers lots of scientific information and practical application. I have not quite finished reading it, but I have loved what I have read so far. It really helped me better understand my teenagers and gave me ideas for how to respond to them and help them through the emotions and reactions of the teenage brain. (As a bonus, this is available on Kindle Unlimited!)

Chasing Slow by Erin Loechner

Chasing Slow: Courage to Journey Off the Beaten Path is the story of how Erin Loechner, a TV show star and viral blogger, took control of her life and slowed down. It is less practical self-help strategies and more autobiographical, but inspirational ideas are intertwined into the story. It was a good, easy read, but I wish there were more practical tips. I felt like it did a great job showing the benefits of Chasing Slow, but I would have liked a little more help with the application side of the equation. (This title was also a Kindle Unlimited read.)

My Current and Upcoming Books

Michael’s Gentle Wife by Karen Andreola

I had a gift card for Amazon last month, and I knew just what I would buy. Michael’s Gentle Wife by Karen Andreola was at the top of my wish list. I had already read the two books before this one, Pocketful of Pinecones and Lessons at Blackberry Inn. So, I knew that I wanted to get my hands on this latest book. I am only a few chapters into it, but I love it so far. It is an easy-to-read story full of ideals and slower living. Set in the 1930s, things are different than today, and while it is written a bit more idyllic than real life, I also find it to be encouraging as we seek to slow down and enjoy our homeschool day.

The Opt-Out Family by Erin Loechner

Within about a month, I saw several references to The Opt Out Family by Erin Loechner in books I read. I also had several friends mention it. I want to take a second look when something keeps appearing like that. I found this one as a digital loan in our library app and have just started it as well.

I am looking forward to reading it and hopefully gaining encouragement and practical strategies for further reducing our family’s dependence on screens while balancing our desire to stay connected.

Well Lived by Sally Clarkson

Finally, Sally Clarkson is one of my favorite authors who has encouraged and inspired me along my homeschool journey. She writes about the ideals that we try to impart to our children and share in our home. She has encouraged me to continue living out those ideals over the years, even when things are imperfect, which has paid off in many ways. I have had the privilege of reading the first chapter of her new book, Well Lived: Shaping a Legacy of Gratitude and Grace, and I look forward to reading the rest of it when it comes out next month.

In addition to all of these wonderful books, I have been indulging in some fun Christian fiction through my Kindle Unlimited subscription. A chapter or two at night before bed is a great way for my mind to unwind and relax. My son has been reading some books on his Kindle, and my daughter has as well, so we find it to be a great deal, and we save money each month over what we would have spent to buy the individual books.

I am always adding books to my pile, and I would love to hear your recommendations as well.

Deals and Freebies

If you have not tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you don’t want to miss this sale!

Tuttle Twins is having a Back to School Sale! Great deals on books and their new Academy.

New subscribers can get 3 months of World Watch for FREE! This is a great deal.