http://www.braveheartedgospel.com/Thots/Entries/2009/5/26_Battle_Cry_-_William_Booth.html 

I'm ashamed to admit that I have to look up and see who William Booth is.  I know I should know that.

Blessings,

Barb

Dear Friends,

I have started a blog over at Blogger.com.  While I am re-posting some of my previous articles from here to there, I am posting new items.

Please visit me there:

http://takeflightministries.blogspot.com/

Blessings,

Barb

Hi friends,  Please check out my post at our new ministry blog for info about winning a free DVD from Vision Forum.

http://takeflightministries.blogspot.com/2009/05/free-dvd-from-vision-forum.html

Blessings,

Barb

Hi friends,

Our support group just activated its new web site.  We're quite pleased with it, though still have a few little bugs to work out.  We have links to curriculum, articles, and resources, as well as a blog.  If you or someone you know lives in the Chicagoland area and is looking for a support group that focuses on home-based discipleship, please refer them.

Christian Home Educators of Southwest Chicagoland

Blessings,

Barb

We recently experienced the death of a homeschool dad in our support group.  I have had a burden for this mom and her girls.  We are coming together to try to help as best we can, but the grief is still fresh and she still is having trouble making decisions.  Moms in this situation will find it hard to homeschool, so I am posting these links primarily for us to share with these moms, but also for the general benefit, as in these economic times, who couldn't use free materials, right?

I have a few sites that I regularly get freebies from. I try not to subscribe to too many newsletters, etc., as I end up not having the time to read them. But I access these regularly.  Some of you are probably already familiar with these.

• Homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com (if you sign up for their weekly newsletter, you get a heads up on what is offered that week and also an extra freebie not offered to those who don't get the newsletter)


• HomeschoolRadioShows.com (my kids love these audio files -- a new one every week; they also offer, for members, a study guide to accompany each audio selection)


• CurrClick.com (weekly free item to download -- lots of unit studies, lap books, etc.)
  Behemoth.com (free audio file changes, I think, daily, so check in often)
  

I was doing a search for free resources online and came across these that you might be able to utilize in your homeschool or family time. Perhaps, if you know a single mom who wants to homeschool or a widow who is looking for assistance in low-cost curriculum, you could forward these links. Let's make a conscious effort to help those women withouth husbands and those children without fathers!

• ACE Youth Fitness (7-lesson plan)


• U.S. Geological Survey -- has lesson plans, online resources, etc.) (watch for evolutionary bias)


• A&E's Biography.com


• NASA


• The Smithsonian


• The Charles Edison Fund


• National Postal Museum's Postal Pack


• Miami Museum of Science "Hurricanes" site


• The US Evironmental Protection Agency


• Ambleside Online (Charlotte Mason lesson plans)


• A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust


• The Anne Frank Center


• The National Park Service


• Cornell's bird study educator's guide

Blessings,

Barb

I heard Tim Challies on the radio a few days ago and was very challenged by what he said.  His thoughts are summarized on his blog entry:

http://www.challies.com/archives/christian-living/christians-and-accountability.php

This should cause us all to prayerfully consider our hearts as we examine our motivation in all things, not just accoutability.  Are we doing what we're doing ... or not doing what we're not doing... to please man, or to please God?

Just some food for thought.

Blessings,

Barb

Well, yesterday was our church's big annual dinner.  My chef husband has been planning and managing this event for, oh, I don't know, perhaps more than 10 years.  The teens work it, along with some adult volunteers.  It's set up like a restaurant, and people are required to make reservations so that we don't have everyone show up at the same time.  We begin prep and setup at 8AM, serve our first guests at 2:30, and our last "seating" is at 7:30.  If you want to take hospitality to a completely new level, try one of these!  (Just kidding.  It's definitely not for the faint of heart!)

Anyway, thought I'd share this year's menu.  Breathe.  It's rather amazing.  (I'm bragging on my DH!)

Blessings,

Barb

I guess nothing in society should surprise us anymore, but wow.  And I loved John Piper's response:

Over My Dead Body, Son

Blessings,

Barb

While in the car yesterday -- which is where I seem to be spending the majority of this week, and perhaps this month -- and listening to Moody's Prime Time America, I heard an interesting, thought-provoking interview with Tim Challies of The Discerning Reader.

After a quick glance at the web site, I instantly became a fan.  I can't say devoted fan, yet.

I am a book-lover.  And, probably as an outgrowth of that, an information junkie.  The internet supplies an endless source of information, and I find myself signing up for e-newsletters and e-mail updates (as I did for The Discerning Reader, because I'm still not sure how RSS works!), and I download massive amounts of free e-books, free curriculum and free audio, much to the chagrin of my rather limited-in-size hard drive.  I really must get an external drive.  When my poor hard drive is suffering from information overload, I burn things to CD.  I have this vision of my children valuing this inheritance that I have diligently collected for them.  But it's probably not likely.  [sigh]

So, I was thrilled on my first visit to The Discerning Read to find the current top entry about the book Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (RBMW), which I, of course, had downloaded for free quite some time ago.  I started to read it and felt it, for the most part, supported my beliefs, but the busy life of a homeschooling mom of four quickly pushed my reading to the bottom of the proverbial pile.  (Let's face it, I could print the whole thing out and carry it with me, which I've done with e-books in the past, but who wants to waste that paper.  Oh, for a laptop.  Oh, for my own MP3 player.  [I often borrow my sons.]  And when to actually read.  I used to use our time in the car, but since my husband's eyesight is deteriorating and since we now live in a part of the city where it seems no one feels they need to obey the traffic laws, I do most of the driving.  And one of those laws -- I'm sure it's written somewhere - is to not read while you drive, so that's out of the question.)  Sorry.  I digress.

Anyway, I have signed up for the email updates and am hoping to keep up with this "discussion."  (Unlike the one I signed up for at The Homeschool Lounge on "The Excellent Wife."  Oops.  Life just gets so hectic.)

I really need to get back to caring for a teaching my children, and get off this computer!  So, have a blessed day.

Blessings,

Barb

It is not in the still calm of life, or in the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues.

-- Abigail Adams in a letter to John Quincy Adams

"Christian parents and children -- Christian families -- have a unique opportunity of witnessing to the world at this present time by just being different.  We can be true evangelists by showing this discipline, this law and order, this true relationship between parents and children.  We may be the means under God's hands of bringing many to a knowledge of the truth."

-- David Martin Lloyd Jones

I was listening recently to an MP3 by Doug Phillips entitled: Defending the Fatherless.  I was struck by the following verses in Deuteronomy 24:

19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless and the widow.

In my mind, I made a parallel to my previous post on Hospitality and leftovers or making extra.  Now, my family often thrives on leftovers.  My kids are not really "sandwich people," so they often reheat the previous night's dinner for lunch.  And at least once a week it's "icebox clean out."

But...

What if we made a parallel to not going a second time over your fields, your branches or your vines?

Hmm....

Blessings

,Barb

This one is really easy:  When you attend a meeting or a Sunday School class or rehearsal or really any gathering, bring a snack -- some cookies, a loaf a quick bread, some snack mix, whatever.

Here are my hands-down current favorite quick recipes:

Buttermilk Cinnamon Bread

Pudding Cookies (we make these with lemon pudding instead, and they are a real hit!)

Blessings,

Barb

I was thinking about using this course for my son.  Has anyone used it?  Do you have any thoughts on it?

Blessings,

Barb