Yes, I have read the trilogy. Yes, I have watched the movie. Yes, Falcon has also read the trilogy. And yes, as soon as he gets home from camp we will go together and watch the movie. I am using this as a tool- to teach many valuable lessons whilst shielding my son from the harsh realities that exist in the world around us. This is part of our goals, for our children, for our homeschool… Good! Now that’s out of the way. 🙂

** Falcon is a fairly mature 14yo, which is the recommended minimum age for this series.

When looking for articles and reviews on The Hunger Games from a Christian perspective there are a multitude that will say it is not productive, beneficial or the right type of material for Christians to watch. (I have to wonder how many of the nay-sayers have actually read the trilogy though) I guess that all depends upon one’s worldview. We aren’t training our children to be ignorant of the world around them although we desire for them to be innocent of the same practices. (Click here to read a previous post on Training Children in Innocence or Ignorance) Literature is an excellent medium for teaching all kinds of themes and concepts that are simply icky and difficult for young adults to comprehend in the real world.

The following links are not biased with a negative bent toward the books. Just FYI.

I’m not going to write a full review and offer details. The links I provide do a great job of that. If you want to know more, grab yourself a copy of the books and read them for yourself. It’s probably quicker and more beneficial that you do so anyway. For you. They’re not a difficult read. I’d rate them about a Grade 7 level in literary quality.

Good Links for Reading About The Hunger Games

• Hungry for the Hunger Games: Why We Need Dystopian Tales over at her.meneutics, Christianity Today’s blog for women
• Tim Challies writes on What Makes The Hunger Games So Popular?
• Hunger Games book review at Focus on the Family
• My Life in the ‘Kingdom’ Capitol: What I Learned from The Hunger Games over at Kingdom Civics
• Some thoughts on the Hunger Games by our very own AussieHomeschooler, Ganeida at GaneidasKnots
• Posts tagged with The Hunger Games – A few posts by Julie at OneHandClapping
• The Hunger Games at The Point with John Stonestreet
• Teen Lit Review: Real Reviews for the Christian Parent
• Why the Hunger Games Matter at Easter at the FOTF Online Community
• Christians and the Hunger Games at Credenda Agenda
• And of course, Jesus in the Hunger Games from Christianity Today
• The Hunger Games at ChristianAnswers.net
• Amusing Ourselves At Their Deaths by Mark Meynell
• The Hunger Games Discussion Guide from CultureWatch
• I knew it was only a matter of time… but yes, there is now a Hunger Games Bible Study. Oh man, say it ain’t so. Read more about it at the Christian Post.
• Cinemagogue on The Hunger Games (video)

Disclaimer

I, in no way, endorse or encourage you to flippantly read the books without careful consideration. I do not agree with the information contained in all these links. These links are for your information.

Here’s a few good links that I posted to the kerugma facebook page this past week. I hope you enjoy them. Incidentally, our facebook page has a new look!

Living Better at 50
In a world that’s highly focused on twenty and thirty something’s, it’s not always easy to find information that honors our age group. LivingBetterAt50+ is changing that! Our intention is for this site to become a trusted resource for women over 50, a place where you can find up-to-date information on topics that touch your life daily.

Encouraging young people to read the Bible – Creating a culture of Bible reading
You might want to give them a crash course on the Bible: what it is, who wrote it, what’s in it, how to find different books, the big picture etc. You could do a short Bible overview spanning a few weeks. And when you mention Bible passages or verses, get them to turn to them (and read them out loud), so they get used to handling the Bible and reading it for themselves. If we take the alien-ness out of the Bible, it becomes a normal practice to turn to God’s Word, not a last resort.

Teach Children the Bible Is Not About Them (I love this article!)
Ask your children these two questions today. Do you sometimes think you have to be good for God to love you? And second, Have you ever thought that if you aren’t good, God will stop loving you?
When we drill a Bible story down into a moral lesson, we make it all about us. But the Bible isn’t mainly about us, and what we are supposed to be doing—it’s about God, and what he has done! When we tie up the story in a nice neat little package, and answer all the questions, we leave no room for mystery. Or discovery. We leave no room for the child. No room for God.

10 Ways to Lose a Teen’s Attention
Quick post—the top ten ways to completely bore and disconnect with those you teach. What do you think? Have you been turned off from hearing someone because of these things?

Children’s Activity Pyramid
A printable physical activity pyramid – an excellent idea. Families that play together stay healthier together!

Living Ideas in Living Books: Choosing Worthy Books for Home and School Libraries by Jeannette Tulis
What happens to a child when inspired by a living book? What are the qualities one should look for in a living book? Why is the choosing of a child’s books so important?

It is crucial that when your children look into your eyes, regardless of the circumstances bearing down on them, what they see is someone that believes in them.
~Danny Lee Silk

I’m posting about Lesson Swaps and Homeschool Bartering over at AussieHomeschool today. Come and join me?

I haven’t played a game on facebok for weeks… haven’t blogged much, haven’t been on AussieHomeschool but… I have been on Pinterest!

So what is this Pinterest thing all about? Basically it is your own creative, visual pin board. When you find images of anything that you like, you can ‘pin it’ to your pinterest. You can peruse other people’s boards and like their pins or add it to your own collection. Sure, I can see that some people would wonder why on earth this pinning trend is catching on but it’s really all quite natural – not much different to keeping a scrapbook. When we were first married I kept a scrapbook. No, not a fancy thing like Creative Memories book, rather just a paper scrapbook that I would post lovely images, quotes, scriptures or notes into. Come to think of it, it’s much like blogging! Well Pinterest is a little different but rather than read all about it, pop over to my (rather small) Pinterest page and see the things I like.

I am collecting images of things that inspire me or that I like.

• Images of home decorations that I could never afford not manage in a rental
• Clothes that I would never buy or wear
• Colour schemes that I love but will never be able to use
• Coffee because I love the colours and artwork
• Scrumptious food that I simply couldn’t be bothered to make but it all looks good
• Plants & gardens that I will never plant or grow
• Word art and saying that I couldn’t think of myself but always nod along in agreement
• Crafts that I’m too lazy to make

If you’d like to join Pinterest, let me know and I’ll send you an invite.

If you are already pinning, let me know your email address/username so that we can pin together.

Christian links
Legalism ~ at Monergism: Legalism could be defined as any attempt to rely on self-effort to either attain or maintain our just standing before God.

The book that changed the world– KJV exhibition coming to a city near you.

Will studying theology kill my faith?

Passover articles at Heart of Wisdom ~ 12 Passover Articles, history, meaning, prophecy, crafts, recipes, hagaddah, unleavened bread, & more.

Kingdom Series- the movie. We really enjoyed these books... can’t wait for the movie!

Womanhood
“Dora the Doormat” and other Scary Straw Women of Complementarity ~ thoroughly enjoyed this summary of how some people try to stereotype the complementarian woman, by Mary Kassian

Life Skills
Fifty ways to say ‘No‘.

Health
Nutrient Chart: nutrition chart with pictures provides an easy cross-reference for vitamin and mineral content in fruits and vegetables.

Dr. Mercola’s Total Health Cookbook Having trouble losing weight? Health not as good as it should be? Dr. Mercola says it’s grains that are the culprits! Not just another low-carb book, this gives some real information and help.

Parenting
Free Gospel-Centered Parenting eBook for Download

Four Opportunity Phases of Family Discipleship ~ Depending upon the ages of our children, we have four times when we can impact their lives in the manner that Jesus made disciples. Think about the first twenty years of your child’s life and some broad things we can say about certain age-related categories or phases and what you can generally expect in terms of discipleship opportunities.

Education
50 Common Latin Phrases Every College Student Should Know

A modern day look at The Passover
http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=KLKG6LNX

In my life this week…

I don’t have a car. A car that works. So I don’t go out. At all. This makes for a slightly frustrated mumma come the weekend. not saying that I need to get out for ‘me time’ rather just to go to the grocery store and pick up fresh ingredients so that I can get an early start with tea. As it happens, I haven’t been getting to the store until after 4.30pm, then home again to star tea… not eating until late which means I leave the kitchen cleanup for the morning!! Shock! Horror! But who likes jumping out of bed in the morning to be greeted by a messy kitchen?

In our homeschool this week…

For the first time in thirteen years we have applied to the Ed. Dept for an Exemption of Attendance from School. Yes, remember my I-will-never post? This was one of the lessons I’ve learned. Anyway, it took some sorting out to get all the paperwork assembled and written (remember we’ve been Delight-Directed, Relaxed, Semi-Unschoolers for years) and then to go to the local school and enroll the boys whilst also asking for a Principal’s exemption just in case this whole process took longer than four weeks.

Anyway, the visit happened and that is a whole ‘nother story in itself. The *guy* wasn’t real interested in hearing about Master J as he is enrolled with Open Access College (herein referred to as OAC)  and doing all his lessons through there. He was more interested in Master C. Funny thing is that Master C has been doing a lot more bookwork and learning with his homeschool program that Master J. Oh well, I guess it’s that enrollment and proper education that matters, eh? [sarcasm over]

My favorite thing this week was…

Aside from being with family (duh!) I enjoyed the most delicious, richest, chocolatiest, Italian Hot Chocolate that I’ve ever had when we went shopping.

Watching the DVD presentation, Indescribable by Louie Giglio. Not only does this video fit in with our Astronomy theme and 2011 being the Year of the Solar system but it is simply a powerful message. I loved it because he wasn’t preaching at me. He didn’t feed me a bunch of rules or a list of things I must do as a Christian. Rather he showed the works of God… he showed us how big God is. How can I not be totally in awe of God after catching a tiny glimpse of His awesome majesty?

What’s working/not working for us…

x Having the house we live in up for sale! All these house inspections are doing my head in. We have another one on Monday. I want to get into planting autumn veggies and ripping out the front garden to make way for some floribunda roses but the open house days means I can’t.
x Health. My health, my body is not working as it should, hence my need for a detoxification of caffeine and some healthy green smoothies. John has also been unwell with a fatty liver (an ongoing syndrome that we usually manage through diet and exercise).
✓ Thursday was THE most amazing night for star gazing and using the telescope. Okay so *I* don’t exactly do any star gazing but John and the boys do. This however excites me.
✓Master C devised his own ‘lesson’ schedule and he sticks to it! I’ll share this is another post.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as if they were great and noble.” ~ Helen Keller

Life skills

OAC lessons

God’s desire is not to make us happy, but rather to make us holy ~ Israel Wayne

Calvary Chapel has updated their site and are also in the slow process of updating their free, Bible curriculum. Do zip over and check them out.

MODSQUAD is an encouraging blog for Mothers of Daughters.

It’s a few months old now but I was interested to read this article, which is an interview with Bono about Grace over Karma.

Why Brad Pitt can’t come to grips with God. And I mention this not because I follow Brad Pitt but because there are many friends of mine who grapple with the same thing.

Sally Clarkson wrote a lovely, short post over at I Take Joy.

Saying No. Does it mean you are lazy?

Dominant home cleaning products– I used to use these superb products many years ago but after 9 house moves in 10 years I gave up trying to keep my contacts up to date. But my dear sister-in-law is a supplier and so I have gone back to using them. I almost forgot how fantastic (as in excellent and economical) they are. I love the All Purpose Cleaner.

Ending homeschool stereotypes – American girl wins Miss America pageant.

Bored? Got some time to do some blog reading? (I haven’t but maybe you have) Check out the Top 50 homeschool blogs.

How to address the issue of modesty… in the Church.

Math-Aids is a free resource for teachers, parents, students, and homeschoolers. You can make an unlimited number of printable math worksheets for children.

Scott Foresman Free Grammar and Writing handbooks. I’ve linked to these before but they’re too good to miss.

Just Reading to Them? A, encouraging, informative post from A Thomas Jefferson Education.

I frequently link to Sheila’s blog and this week is no exception. She writes on ‘Do our Kids mature too slowly?‘. Love the quotes excerpt from a book she is reading.

“We place kids in schools together with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of other kids typically from similar economic and cultural backgrounds. We group them all within a year or so of one another in age. We equip them with similar gadgets, expose them to the same TV shows, lessons, and sports. We ask them all to take almost the exact same courses and do the exact same work and be graded relative to one another. We give them only a handful of ways in which they can meaningfully demonstrate their competencies. And then we’re surprised they have some difficulty establishing a sense of their own individuality.” And we wonder why it’s taking so long for them to mature.
~ Joe Allen – Escaping the Endless Adolescence

Over Population? Is it a myth? Check out the website.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUY4ztwIVfA

Where have you been around the web lately? Any interesting sites or articles to share?

• Robin shares a guest post, written by Wayne Jacobsen, about being caught in ‘keeping the should do’s’.

• Rachel Starr Thomson writes this post in which she encourages us to develop a Vocabulary of Grace. She also wrote this article called The Other Christian Faith.

• Dr. Albert Mohler wrote The Marks of Manhood, (When does a boy become a man?) which I think is great.

• Beautiful and inspiring article written by Benjamin Carson called There Is No Job More Important Than Parenting.

• Last year we bawled through, er watched the made-for-tv movie, Gifted Hands, the story of Ben Carson. I might be the only adult believer who hasn’t read the book yet… and I am asking myself why this is so. I cannot believe I haven’t read this inspiring biography. If you haven’t watched this movie with your children then please, run out to the video store and hire it. You will not be disappointed. And if you are, well I won’t say anymore.   This movie has affected me so profoundly… but time will tell, won’t it. (Maybe I’ll write how this movie and book has affected our parenting and homeschooling style)

• And lastly, I’m sure you all know about this movie review site but just in case you don’t I’ll mention it again. Plugged In Online is a fantastic review site. It is a sister site of Focus on the Family and it is my go-to site for reviews of movies. Why? because it doesn’t tell me what I should and shouldn’t watch. Rather it gives me the details of the movie without revealing the spoilers. It details the positive elements, the sexual, violent, drug/alcohol and language content, and lets me decide from there.

Benefits of reading the Bible: Consistently ’grazing on the Bible’ helps give us our sense of identity as Christians. It is an irreplaceable source of nourishment, correction and transformation for every Christian.

How to Study the Bible from Logos.com
All Christians who open God’s Word and read it bring with them the forestructures of their lives formed by their history, their language, and their culture in which they live, therefore it is imperative upon every reader to capture the original intent of the author. Since no one can approach the text without presuppositions, then one must exercise every safeguard to interpret the Word of God correctly.

Going bananas for granola from DeliciousByNature; yummy granola that I’m going to try one day.

Secret Detox Drink from Dr.Axe: [Apparently] Dr. Axe’s secret detox drink recipe not only tastes great, it will help you burn fat, lose weight, balance blood sugar levels, and get your body healthy! (I haven’t tried this yet. Any feedback readers?)

Photography Tips from National Geographic

Fantastic site- An ABC 3D documentary presentation about WW1 ANZAC landing at Gallipoli

What happens when you fall out of love with homeschooling? From Special Needs Homeschooling

Dominating the Homeschool Circuit at the HomeSpun Life
There are Christians, and then there are ‘Christians’. The ‘Christians’ do more harm to one another than anyone else I have ever known. And yet there ARE Christians who are very loving, grace filled people. I like these kind of Christians.

Grammar Mudge: Operated by a retired editor/English professor, the ad-free site focuses on discussions of English grammar, language, and writing but also contains essays on a variety of subjects.

FreeListens: publishes weekly reviews of free human-read audiobooks available on the web. In my reviews, I try to avoid any spoilers beyond what you’d read on the cover of a paperback. Realizing that these books are being given away for free, I try to be not too harsh on the reader but still point out any aspects that may turn off some listeners.

E-learninglinks.com has links to free resources, crossword puzzles, worksheets, and lists of names, dates, and books to read for teaching history!

How to Create a Culture of Accountability in Your Home from Empowering Parents

Gentlemen in a Digital Age from SoloFemininity
The fine folks of Jane Austen’s world might strike us today as being a bit rigid in their manners. But they demanded character and accountability even among the limited relationships of a small town. How much wiser would we be to honor the same practices in a world without boundaries.

That’s where I’ve ended up this week around the ‘net. How about you? Found anything interesting to share?

There are a few reasons that I stopped blogging.

1) Felt the need to protect my children’s privacy and not write about their lives so much
and
2) I’m ashamed to say that I used Facebook instead. It’s just so easy to share links and things on FB.

Now I’m not going to give up on FB but I am going to try and share links and anecdotes again here on the blog. So along those lines, here are some links to things I’ve been reading online lately.

LINKS:

Free Maths – A collection of Math lessons: 76 pages Offering inspiring, practical, classroom-tested ideas for helping students learn mathematics through problem solving.

Slow Down and Really Live on the Down to Earth blog.

Ruby wrote and interesting and honest piece over at Mumma’s Place in Learning About Me.

Jeanne’s peaceful home was water logged and many of their possessions destroyed in the recent Victorian floods. Her daugher is away at the moment, during the crisis, yet she still manages to share a little humour in The (water) Closet Reader.

What’s a Young Woman’s Responsibility in the Dating or Courtship Process? by Voddie Baucham is providing some food for thought.

I love the way Sheila writes about things so close to my heart. Here she shares why their family chooses to watch some movies but not others. She thinks just like we do… only she writes it all better in Profanity vs. Biblical World View in Movies.

How Sin Kept Me From Sinning – the liability of a Christian upbringing: This is an area that I have tried to teach my children… it can be an issue for those who have been raised in a Christian home.

The Beast File: Woolies and Coles a $100 billion a year duopoly with a retail market share unmatched in the developed world. And they have their fingers in a lot of other pies too.

Gardenate is a site that tells you what to plant when in the garden- for Australians!

Photos: In case you haven’t see our photo album, you can grab a quick look here at our life in Jan as seen through my eyes.

I spent an hour at the online chat room of Rainbow Diva’s and the National Homeschool Network in An Afternoon with Beverley. Beverley Paine is a long term, South Australian homeschooler and homeschool consultant. We had a lovely afternoon and I’d encourage other Aussie homeschoolers to check it out. Hope to see you there next month!

A South Australian local tv channel aired an interview/article on homeschooling. You can see it here on youtube. I enjoyed the article… considering the length and scope of it. With something like that, there is usually limited time to go into detail about the finer points of home education. I see these as more like a quick advert for home education rather than an informative article. The article was a good, positive piece which will hopefully do the rounds of the Internet, and contribute towards the education of the broader community.

Personally, I had heard about home education very briefly but a few times before I started to ponder the idea more carefully. Many people are like that- they simply need to hear it more regularly and more often and if they want to, they will investigate it as an option. If that was the aim of the article then I think they hit the target 🙂

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NuvYow3PXU

“God must begin the work of grace in a person’s heart, or else a person will never be saved. Christ must first choose us and call us by His Spirit, or else we shall never choose Christ. Election to eternal life, is a truth of Scripture which we must receive humbly, and believe implicitly.”
~ J.C. Ryle

Two weeks down… four weeks left! Till what? Till my man comes back home. He’s been away on a work exercise… and we all miss him terribly.

My internet reading for the week has led me only to a few places, but these sites were too good to not mention. I haven’t been doing much blog reading at all so these are just ones that I’ve stumbled across. In case you haven’t noticed I’ve done a little house/blog redecorating. Yes, some readers could be forgiven for thinking that I change my design as often as I clean the kitchen but it’s not true. I redecorate my blog more often! 😀 But I like this. I’m happy with it and will stay with it awhile.

If Solomon were alive today and we were to ask him how we are to relate to one another in this digital world, if we were to ask him how we can honor God in our use of all these social media available to us today, here is how he might respond.

When God addresses children directly in Ephesians 6, He gives them an amazing incentive for obedience. Here’s the deal: If you honor and obey your parents, you’ll enjoy a long, fruitful life.

Here are my links of my meanderings around the Internet this past week. I’m a bit late with this post today as I’ve been out all over the weekend and today. Yes, it’s softball season! Yahoo! and I am so glad.

96 Essential Sites & Blogs for Gifted Homeschoolers

100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart (Free memory verse cards)

Weston A Price Guide to Superfoods

Cyber Hussies from Christian Women Online

Ruth Beechick writes for Homeschool Today.com on all those “How To Start Homeschooling” books.

Author Lenore Skenazy on the 7.30 Report
Do you ever…let your kid ride a bike to the library? Walk to school? Make dinner? Or are you thinking about it? If so, you are raising a Free-Range Kid! Free-Rangers believe in helmets, car seats, seat belts — safety!

Helping Your Teen to Connect podcast with Mark Gregston.
Making an effort to talk with your kids is a good start. But unless the conversation eventually comes around to your teenager’s thoughts, passions and goals in life, they’re left feeling disconnected.

11 Rules Your Kids Did Not and Will Not Learn in School at the HomeScholar.

I hope you enjoy some of the links. Do you agree or disagree with any of the opinions expressed in the links?

I’d like to share some links of my meanderings around the Internet this past week.

• The Nourishing Cook is giving away a nutrition course for teenagers. Get in quick!
• 2:21 The Mag is an online magazine for teen girls. This magazine is about so much more than fashion or tips on how to catch the eye of that guy you like. They write fun stuff and love to laugh it up but their heart is about getting to know God through the redemptive freedom we have in His Son, Jesus, digging into His Word and embracing the joy of the Spirit.
• Home made scouring powder and other uses for baking powder over at Tammy Recipes.
• Lee Binz, the HomeScholar talks about knowing what is acceptable as real life learning to award as a credit.
• Mark Gregston shares that the teen years are not the time to back off!
• Raising Homemakers has a post titled Etiquette for Little Ones including a pdf print out.
• CCW Online has an article titled Childhood Conversion that is good for all parents to read- print it out though. It might be something you’ll want to refer to.
• An oldie but a goodie is for homeschooling parents- The Moore Formula

Some ask why more families don’t follow this Formula. Most parents are uncomfortable with the unconventional ideas. They teach as they were taught, unaware that such methods are responsible for many of today’s school problems. So they pay heavily for books which tie them, and their children down and burn them out.

• Homeschooling Highschoolers over at Fimby
• Dr. Albert Mohler gives his thoughts on instilling a love of reading in boys

There are several enemies of reading in the lives of boys. The educational system is largely feminized, and boys are often not challenged. We must remember that boys have always been boys, as the saying goes. There is nothing in the constitutional makeup of boys that is opposed to reading. Generations of boys grew to love books and lost themselves in stories, adventures, historical biographies, and the like.

What do you read when reading it quickly: GODISNOWHERE ?

Now read it again. Slowly. What do you read now? 🙂 Hmmm, the placement of a space really makes all the difference eh?

Well, I don’t have an awful lot to say at the moment. 😯  Actually, that’s not true at all. 😮 I always have plenty to say but I have neither the time to spend composing a message or it isn’t right for me to say at this time or in this place. However, I’d like to point you to a few links of interesting sites that I’m reading at the moment.

An article called Higher Education by John Taylor Gatto
12 Things You Might Not Have Learned in a Classroom
I’ve linked to this before but I’m re- reading it. I always find something new to give me some direction or focus with my young adults.

Part One of When Home Becomes A Dirty Word
I’ve known Maria in the cyber world for about 10 years or so. She is a lovely, smart lady who is very real and down-to-earth.

Also love this quote that is on Maria’s blog.

Live your life from your heart. Share from your heart. And your story will touch and heal people’s souls.
~ Melody Beattie

Amy over at Marigold Cottage asks about schoolwork and sick children.
I plan to offer her my response… one day. :idk:

Mom2Three is a darling gal who I’ve known online for a few years. I’ve been able to watch her process life’s circumstances and come to discern the Lord’s will for their family. (Sorry about the poor grammar but I have never met her husband but I know he’s involved in their decision. Hence why I fluctuate between ‘her’ and ‘their’). Her recent blog post, Seasons of Life and Change really leapt out at me especially where she talks about the positive changes around the dinner table.

After school and evening time with family takes on an entirely different importance. Dinner conversations are more lively and exciting as we all fill each other in about our days, sharing the high points, and the low points. (Before, dinner conversations were mainly filling in dad, as he was the only one who didn’t know what had been happening.) Now, I look forward to what my kids share that goes on in “their world”.

Even though my children aren’t at school the two girls work outside the home so I can relate to this too.

Just in case you can’t find it with google here is 100 Excellent Online Resources For Christian Homeschoolers contains some great links.

That’s all for now until I share about the program I’m using for my Bible reading.

Grace from Beyond the Black Stump noted me in her Favourite Blog post. That is very sweet. I don’t like to keep  or record any awards given but that’s doesn’t mean that they’re not nice to receive. Thank you Grace & Jillian. Even better though – I get to note some of my favourite blogs!

Grab a cup of decaf and spend some time at these blogs:

• Two Kid SchoolHouse: Musings of a homeschool mom, very part-time student, and parasitic housewife to a seminary student, all rolled into one.

• The Mother Lode: Humorous Straight Talk on Learning Differences, Family Life and the Horrors of Department Store Dressing Rooms

• Belinda’s Notes: A place to share the things that happen in my family. The longer I homeschool the quicker I realise that these are not just everyday family happenings – they are the experiences that are educating my children.

• Enduring Prize is the blog of Michelle, from Down Under Literature. Always very helpful and informative posts.

• Five Peas in a Pod: Learning to grow for eternity

• Little Men in my Library always posts such interesting thoughts.

• A Modern Day Essene: Posts reflections on life, home schooling, healthy living and family times.

• The Life and Times of Jess

• Kendra from the Pumpkin Patch is just amazing!

• Quo Vadis: Where Are You Going?

• Beyond Bluestockings just astounds me with her wit, intelligence and inner beauty.

Just like I prefer to use Fair Trade products I can’t help but write about one of my favourite products. I love and use Coconut Oil but only particular brands. The brand I use if Banaban Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. But why that brand?

The Banabans are the ‘Forgotten People of the Pacific’ who have suffered from one of the greatest ecological and environmental disasters over the past century.

The Banabans are an indigenous people from a small Pacific island called Banaban or Ocean Island. In 1900 Banaban was discovered to be made of pure phosphate. This fateful discovery would see the beginning of 80 years of phosphate mining and the virtual destruction of the Banaban’s homeland.

In 1945 the Banaban people were relocated to Rabi Island over 10,000 miles away in the Fiji Island group. The Banabans and their island have now been left, forgotten, still suffering from of of the world’s greatest environment and human rights injustices. The phosphate rich deposits of banaban are now scattered across the farms of Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain.

By purchasing from Nature Pacific and using the Banaban products, proceeds are used to regenerate and rebuild a better future for the Banaban people. If you would like more information you can visit the , Banaban website and/or download a pdf information sheet here.

I purchased my first bottle of oil from the ebay store…and ever since then I have purchased straight from the distributor in QLD. Not only is it a great quality oil and a good cause the service is second to none! I ordered my purchase online at 2pm on a Tuesday and I could not believe it when my oil arrived in my South Australian home on Wednesday afternoon. I mean, have you ever experienced such fantastic service? Once you order and use their products I’m sure you’ll never buy another brand of coconut product.

Nature Pacific Coconut products

Want another tech talk tip? If you have not yet figured out that InternetExplorer is yuck and Firefox is a superior browser then you don’t know what you’re missing. First, zip over to Mozilla and download and install the free FF browser. Play with it, download themes and add-ons to enhance and speed your webinet (my new word for web stuff and Internet) browsing. But today’s tip is about your pdf viewer. (PDF stands for Portable Document Format) and many computers come pre programmed with Adobe Acrobat.

I used to use it but after a few years I felt it started getting bloated- taking a long time to even start the program and running very sluggish. Add to that the constant updates needed because of security issues. Argh, what a hassle. No more! Mozilla FF to the rescue…again. We have been using Foxit PDF Reader for quite some time now and it has many advantages:

• It is lightweight in size and doesn’t use up all your PC’s memory just to run.
• Is as secure, or more so, than Adobe.
• Is user friendly and super easy to use.
• Runs very quick.

There is more but I’ll let you read more about it when you pop over to download/install it from HERE.

It’s available for Windows and Linux users. Oh what? No Mac? For some odd reason, the Adobe reader works much better on Mac than on Windows. Go figure! However, I still use my ‘preview’ viewer on the Mac, which works very good.

To go along with the new AussieHomeschool blog meme (Tell Me Tuesdays)  I thought I should at least try and post! So here goes.

Tell of your own blogging habits- frequent, infrequent, irregular, frequently irregular, etc

I blog when I can. When I want to. I never feel pressure to blog. Sometimes I’ve been known to blog twice a day but then I can go more than a week without posting.
How long have you been blogging?
I first started blogging over at HomeschoolBlogger.com about 4 years ago. I was hooked! I loved the community spirit that blogging provides as well as the opportunity to express my opinion and design my own site colours.

Why do you blog?

Hmm, there are actually quite a few reasons. Initially I simply used my blog as a method of storing forum thread responses. I found that I was repeating myself a bit or copying and pasting from previous threads. So I started a blog and referred to that. However, it soon grew to be more than that. I use blog writing as way to process my thoughts. Writing has taught me a lot about critical thinking- sequential thinking. Actually, not so much the art of writing taught me this but the questioning from readers if my writing was unclear. I was forced to look back over a post and edit or clarify things.

I also like to try and encourage others and inform others. If I learn of a good resource, I want to share it. I want to share how we pursue a Bible based education in our home. I want to encourage people to not treat the Bible as purely another subject…but to see The Living Word as foundational to everything we do – even homeschooling and academics.

Lastly, I love to design sites, change colours and play with apps!

What do you blog about?

I post my thoughts, opinions and things that I may be struggling with or learning. I post about our days, our learning opportunities and activities. I post about anything that comes to my mind. Here I asked readers, ‘what should I blog about‘?

What’s your favourite aspect of blogging?

The community! Meeting other bloggers and getting to know them via their blogs…reading their thoughts, opinions and events. The relationships that are developed.

What is your least favourite aspect of blogging?

• That I can be 68% addicted to blogging!
• The temptation to get caught up in time wasting with tags and all that kind of thing. If I do a tag, it has to be worth my time to do so.
• The temptation to get so caught up with blogging that I neglect the online forums that I am a part of…that I am committed to serving.

… my friend, Beyond Bluestockings.

Mrs. BB, as she is sometimes affectionately known, has been blogging for about one and a half years. I know Mrs. BB in real life. She may be petite, dainty and delicate in size but she has a huge heart, joyous nature, quick wit, a wicked (in the modern sens of the word) sense of humour and sharp intelligence. She is a delight to be around and a blessing to all those that she comes in contact with.

She homeschools her four darling children, loves good books, has an insatiable appetite for learning but possibly the best things about her is the fact that she, like me, loves her chocolate and coffee. 🙂

When you visit her blog, you’ll find a mixture of topics to stimulate your mind for she is a literal six-day Creationist with conservative political leanings combined with a mild red-necked opinion that she isn’t too afraid to share (politely and respectfully of course). Although raised as a feminist, she has a deep desire for God and His word and this will be obvious if you spend just one minute on her site. 😉

She writes on many topics, from education, parenting, science, politics, and books to religion and recipes. You are bound to leave her site just a little wiser yet without even realising it due to her clever writing style and amazing intellect and wit.

A few posts that I particular like and think are very useful are:

Blogging to Learn
Education, a victim of fashion?
Teach your young children to love reading
Truly Delightful Truffles (which I hope to taste next time we see each other IRL)
Are you a Christian?
Food as an idol and
a book review of Tortured for Christ.

Do pop over to BeyondBluestockings…You’ll see me over there as well. Read some of her posts and leave her a comment.

Time for some Linky Love…some interesting posts I’ve found throughout my web wanderings.

Homeschooling

You just have to check out Spunky’s post, Over the Hill Homeschooling. You’ll know you’ve become an over-the-hill homeschooling mom when….

• You no longer read child training books, but gobble up everything on menopause.
• You realize that the vendor who told you that his program was the ONLY spelling curriculum you’ll ever need, lied.
• You talk about college choices more than curriculum choices.
• You understand that you can have a very bad year and your children will never notice.

It’s funny and I found myself nodding along in agreement to almost every line!

Why Homeschool posted an entry titled Homeschool Fantasy vs. Reality.

Huber Hof Academy posted Whose Homeschool Life are you leading?

Amy Bayliss from In Pursuit of Proverbs has written a good 3 part series on Instilling a  love of reading. Part One, Part Two and Part Three.

Robin Sampson from Heart of Wisdom is wanting to give more stuff away in this post with a contest and some free downloads! Included is a must-read resource, which is a full chapter from her book. The chapter is Choosing and Using Homeschool Resources (31p PDF)Includes list of classics by grade level.

Robin has also posted an amazing entry about using digital scrapbooking for Nature Study. If you’re into nature study or CM’s methods, you will want to check this out!

Jeanne has a beautiful and excellent blog for those Aussies using good living books, CM’s methods or trying to Australianise Ambleside Online. Do check her blog out.

Need some writing prompts to help you teach writing to your children? Check out the WriteShop blog.

Parenting

I found a great site called Intentional Parenting. They have a chart where, when I was truly honest with myself, I could see what type of parent I am and what type of parent I desire to be. The blurb for the site is: “Welcome to Intentional Parents, a Christian ministry that encourages parents to teach and train their children thoughtfully and deliberately to the glory of God.” This is a sister site of Simply Charlotte Mason.

Books

Ever read Hinds Feet on High Places?  Here is a free study guide to go along with it. Not everyone agrees with the theology contained within this book, but it very well will help to lead you into a deper relationship with the Lord.

Beautiful

Dana, from Living Stones Ministry, doesn’t post all that often but when she does, her posts are usually full of wisdom. Here she has a guest post that writes about the method that Jesus used when dealing with stress.  😉

The Super Simple Spiritual Sunday Meme is simple for me this week. This is a few of the blog posts I’ve enjoyed. My RSS feed reader is chock-a-block with new posts but I simply haven’t had time to read them yet. maybe one day soon…

• Cindy’s Desktop Cindy interviews Wendy Shaw from MyMorningSickness.com. You will LOVE this show! Wendy and Cindy discuss a topic that is for EVERYONE–even if you are now mothering grown children. Yep! They discuss what to do when mum is not feeling well! Great MP3 download!
• Robin answers the question of “Just how do you do it all?“
• Dana writes on praying “Take me away with you“
• This post is a beautiful reminder about creating a lovely atmosphere in our master bedroom. I know too well that it isn’t easy with little children, but we can still try. It’s certainly worth the effort. As my children have gotten older I have used my bedroom more and more as a sanctuary. I really appreciate it. This post also has some good links to follow.
• Different blog, same author writes about creating and caring for our homes

It’s been a long time since I’ve participated in a Super Spiritual Sunday Meme but I have a few links to share you with today. Technically it isn’t really SSSS for me as I’m blogging on Monday morning. However it is Sunday for many other who live on the other side of the world…so post I will!

😛

• Pruning the homeschool tree by Taschek Tales. Those who have homeschooled for long will recognise a lot and newer homeschoolers will find nuggets to glean for future reference.
• High School Scheduling- Some Non-Traditional Options by Janice Campbell. While you’re there have a look around Janice’s blog. You’ll find a ton of good and helpful information especially for high schoolers.
• Homeschooling from Overflow is a timely reminder to recharge our batteries, by Jeannie Fulbright.
• Selecting a Bible: How to Choose the Best Bible for Your Needs by Eclectic Homeschool.
• While not a Christian site or program, this link is to a podcast featuring Australian homeschoolers. We Homeschool at the ABC.
• Marvelous Mud Washing Machine has a good article on Training Our Children

Do Your Feelings Have Veto-Power Over Scripture?
http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.636

Church Growth Movie
http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.239
What Value Does The Bible Have, To You?
http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.443

Teaching Teens How to Read Academically
http://mothercroneshomeschool.blogspot.com/2007/10/teaching-teens-how-to-read-academically.html

Raising Children
http://kitchencomfortlearning.blogspot.com/2007/10/raising-children.html

Job Assignments
http://femina.reformedblogs.com/2007/10/24/job-assignments/

Submission requires Courage
http://femina.reformedblogs.com/2007/10/26/submission-requires-courage/

Doctrine Discerns
http://voiceofvision.blogspot.com/2007/10/doctrine-discerns.html

Get started by selecting ingredients found in your kitchen. Based on the ingredients you choose, Pantry Chef will return a list of recipes. And, presto! Your dinnertime dilemma is solved with a delicious meal.
http://www.southernprogress.com/pantrychef/

Seven Wonders Of The Present World
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/842482/seven_wonders_of_the_present_worl
Learn more about Spiritual Sunday here.
View More Spiritual Sunday Participants

The only thing that matters at Terry’s Soapbox

Scientific Literate Teens over at AllInfoAboutHomeschooling
Deanne has written some great thoughts on Pride in One’s Lifestyle. A very good read…and thoughts for pondering.
Robin has shared more of her journey in Spiritual Mountain Climbing

That’s it from me for this Sunday. I haven’t been online much which means I haven’t been reading blogs either.

Oh, it’s SSSS time and I don’t have much to share. I haven’t been on the Internet much so that will be reflected in my SSSS…nevertheless, here goes!

As I recently posted about my own Internet habits, I was encouraged and given cause to reflect further when I read Jacqui’s post on Internet Dependancy
What My Parents Did Right-Heart-to-Heart with a Homeschooled Graduate, now Homeschool Mom! Audio available at Cindy Rushton’s site
A Christian’s Cruise at Following Judah’s Lion
Today’s Trendy Sermons Often Lack Repentance over at Old Truth

Yes, it’s Super Simple Spiritual Sunday again. I love this meme as I get to share the blogs that have spiritually blessed, informed or edified me this past week.

1. Cindy Rushton writes on Battling the Big D: Depression.
2. Not My List, But Yours Be Done
3. A Proverbs 31 Woman is what Robin shares on HOW.
4. Nancy Wilson shares some wisdom on Idle Chatter
5. Voice of Vision writes on how the gospel affects all of our life in “Let’s Do Lunch”
6. A timely article worth reading right to the end, including the comments is Experience/Relationship or Academic? at Catch the Fire ministries. Timely, as Australians are bombarded with propaganda as we are propelled toward an election. (not saying I agree with everything it presents but it is good food for thought)
7. Perspective: The Invisible Woman – As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we’re doing it right. Go read this- it’s good.

I have not been one to get overly involved with many online meme’s but I’m really enjoying Robin’s Super Simple Spiritual Sunday meme. Tehee, it’s a chance for me to rave on about all the truth-filled, beautiful, inspiring and informing posts I’ve read during the week. 😀

Last week I included two links that posted about blogging addiction and blogging motivation that I thought were good. If you read them, you’ll also want to read Robin’s post which I’ll link below.

(By the way, all outside links will open in a new tab. Links within my own site will open in this tab. Of course, this only applies with FireFox, SeaMonkey or Opera. Who knows what will happen in IE. 😉 )
1. Robin from Heart of Wisdom posted her thoughts on Blogging Addictions? Blogging Balance?
2. Sally Clarkson wrote on Cultivating Civility
3. Sherri writes on getting back into the home.
4. Fish and Cans writes a thoughtful post on ‘Purge the evil person from among you‘
5. Robin at HOW writes about a Classical Education.
6. Marianne Miles writes a truthful post that we can all learn from with When Christians Abandon Their Own
7. Dana writes on Beautiful without makeup!

And a few more because I didn’t blog last Sunday:

• Voice of Vision writes an excellent post, which I include here as I feel it goes in line with my series of posts on Grace. His post is called Trying to Believe?
• Nancy Wilson writes on The Grace to Say NO and an encouragement to mothers in Give Yourself a Good Job Description

Super Simple Spiritual Sunday Meme is simply a list of encouraging links I have enjoyed this week.
1) If you read my post about Teenage Rebellion, then you will want to read Sally Clarkson‘s post, ‘Suggestions for preventing and helping prodigals‘.
2) Those Sneaky Idols over at As The Lord Works
3) Blogging: What’s your motivation
4) Leonie on ‘Being a Parent of Older Kids‘
5) An slpime alipcatoin of a wrod tcrik to rdeanig bliabcl nratveirs
Reading the Scriptures with a view toward the whole story is a post written by Says Simpleton: the sojourn of a simpleton searching for ways to bridge the gap between understanding and articulation.
6) Phyllis Sather recommends Adobe? Digital Editions as an engaging new way to read and manage eBooks and other digital publications in this post.
7) Are you, or your teen, suffering from Teenage Affluenza? This is a great satirical video that reminds us we lead such lucky lives.

G’day,
Yep that’s right. I’ve been away for quite some time and I come back to blog about a new search engine.

Well, it’s called Mooter and it is different from other search engines in that it is more visual. It arranges the ‘hits’ into clusters. You can then select the cluster that best describes what you are looking for.

As an example, I typed in ‘homeschool’ which we all know is very broad and generalised. In a visual way (much like a mind-map) it sorted the hits into these categories:

and then comes up with another cluster of even more information.

Now while I’m not about to leave google, I think this could be a very good resource and prove to be a valuable tool.

Check it out at http://www.mooter.com/moot