Happy glorious, beautiful Friday! I don’t know about you, but I am having a wonderful Friday! It’s 60 degrees outside, the sun is shining, I have a date with my husband tonight and I’ve sold a bunch of used homeschool books this week, so I have some money with which to enjoy said date. It’s an incredible Friday!

It’s been a pretty great week on the school front, too. We started our second unit with Trail Guide to Learning. I am loving the six week units. It’s enough time to really delve into a topic, get a good week of review, then move on before it starts becoming tedious.

For those of you who’ve been wanting a full review, I’ve got that coming up next week, so if you have specific questions, leave them on this post and I’ll do my best to answer them. There may be a coupon code involved, too. I’m working on it.

So, this week we’ve started talking about the stuff leading up to the Revolutionary War. We’ve been reading the Sower Series biography, George Washington, The Adventures of Munford Revolutionary War book, and Guns for General Washington. We’re enjoying all the books, but I’m particularly fond of Guns for General Washington because it’s telling the story from several different people’s points of view, which gives the reader a great overview of what’s going on.

In science, we’re talking about atoms, molecules, the the Periodic Table. I was really impressed with how simply Trail Guide explained what can be a complex subject. The kids were enjoying figuring out how many protons, neutrons, and electrons different elements have and making models with Play-doh.

The part of the week that makes me think I’m crazy is that I let Megan audition for a play, too, knowing that she would, in all likelihood, get at least a small part since they seem to try to make sure all the kids get at least a little part.

She did. That means that she and Brianna are in two different plays. Starting next week, they’ll both have practice at the same time, at two different locations, most nights of the week. Yes, I’m crazy. I’m already looking forward to the end of March when both plays are over.

Today has been another fantastic Friday with Trail Guide for us. We stayed caught up this week, which meant a light day for Josh and Megan – especially since both of them did their math last night so they wouldn’t have to do it today.

I’ve gotten some laundry and light housework done and even had time for a small organization project – my school cabinet in our basement, since I’ve sold enough books this week to actually fit the stuff I want to keep inside the cabinet, rather than in crates scattered here and there.

Then, of course, there is date night with my husband to look forward to. I have no idea what we’re going to do; I’m just looking forward to investing some time in our marriage.

How was your week? Be sure to post about it and sign up with MckLinky. If this is your first time to join us, be sure to read the Weekly Wrap-Up guidelines. You can also follow the guidelines link to grab the banner code.

**Remember, be sure to link directly to your Weekly Wrap-Up post so that others can find it easily when they visit your blog and be sure to post a link back here so that your readers can find the Wrap-Up and join us.

**Was your link deleted? Click here.**

Let’s just make this short and sweet: I loved this book! You may recall that I reviewed author Rosslyn Elliott’s debut novel, Fairer Than Morning, and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I jumped at the chance to review the second in the series, Sweeter Than Birdsong.

Sweeter Than Birdsong tells the story of Ben Hanby (son of Will and Ann Hanby from Fairer Than Morning) and Kate Winters, who attend Otterbein College together in Ohio. I really love the research that Ms. Elliott obviously puts into her novels. It was so interesting to me to read about the girls attending this college and having their female chaperone with them because it would be unseemly for a group of unmarried young women to be in the company of unmarried young men.

It was also really cool to look up the song that Ben wrote in the story (sorry, no spoilers!) and read about the real Ben Hanby. I knew that the story was based on actual people and events, but it was still really incredible to read about the actual events yourself.

Kate is an intelligent young woman who is stifled by her fear of speaking – either to groups or young men her age. She longs to overcome her fears, stand up to her overbearing mother, and follow her own hopes and dreams for life.

Ben, a young musician with a future in the ministry, dreams of putting an end to the injustices of slavery, but who begins to dream of a future financially worthy of the beautiful and wealthy young Kate Winters.

From the back cover:

When I reviewed Fairer Than Morning, I said that Rosslyn Elliott had knocked the ball out of the park. Well, she’s two for two now. I devoured Sweeter Than Birdsong in a matter of days. I loved it so much that I immediately got on my Facebook page and recommended it there.

I loaned it to a friend and she confirmed my feelings – she, too, read it in a matter of days and loved it. We’re both anxiously awaiting the third in the series. So, I can say, with a great degree of confidence, that you don’t want to miss this book! 

You also won’t want to miss this sweet giveaway from Rosslyn Elliott and Thomas Nelson.

One will receive:

First things first, today I’m sharing my thoughts on guarding your marriage over at Simple Homeschool. I hope you’ll stop by. For this week’s midweek Bible study, I’m sharing my personal reflections from my reading of 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5.

photo credit

Scripture: “Live in peace with each other…warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure the nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to encourage everyone.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:13-15

Observation: This sounds like stuff I’m constantly telling my kids. Here, Paul is sharing it with his “spiritual children.” Apparently, it’s something that adults – including Christians – need to be reminded of on a regular basis, as well.

Application: In chapter 4, verse 1, Paul reminds the Thessalonians that he previously gave them instructions on how to live in order to please God. I thought to myself, as I read that verse, that I’d like to see those instructions. Then, as I continued reading chapter 5, verses 13-22, I realized that, throughout His word, God does just that – shows me His instruction book.

He is continually telling us how to live a life pleasing to Him, but we are stubborn and forgetful. The best way to combat that forgetfulness is to stay in God’s word continuously and to commit His word to memory.

(Note to self: That means that I should make sure I’m memorizing scripture along with the kids by letting them check me against our scripture cards, rather than me always being the one to check them.)

The best way to combat the stubbornness is to live out God’s word daily – to look for opportunities to be kind to others, to encourage someone else, to help someone who is struggling, to be patient with someone who is frustrating, or to forgive someone who has wronged us, rather than plotting our revenge.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that you will help me to be faithful to daily Bible study – to reading and memorizing your word. I pray that you will help me to recognize opportunities to live out your word and to be faithful and obedient when those opportunities arise.

Help me to look for and recognize opportunities to be kind to others, both in my home and outside of it. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

What’s God been showing you lately?

Read more about the SOAP method of Bible study at Mom’s Toolbox.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Does your family do anything special to celebrate February 14? We don’t really. Brian and the kids each get a card from me. Sometimes I get them candy and we have had a special breakfast in the past, but this year it’s pretty much business as usual.

photo credit

Yesterday, Megan asked me if we were taking off school today. Um, no, dear. In most places, Valentine’s Day is not considered a day off from work or school.

While it’s not a good enough excuse to take the day off of school, it probably is a great excuse to chose one of the fifty ways to let my kids know I love them and spend some time with them.

After that, I hope to schedule some time with my husband, too, even though we did have an in-house date this weekend. That was actually quite nice. The kids finally seem to be old enough to understand that, “Dad and I are going to have an at-home date tonight after dinner, so y’all need to go occupy yourselves and let us enjoy some time together” means that Brian and I are going to spend some time together and don’t want people knocking on our bedroom door every five minutes.

They actually let us enjoy a whole, entire movie together without interrupting us even one single time.

How will you enjoy Valentine’s Day with your loved ones?

Happy Friday! I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for the weekend. It’s been a good week, but somehow the laundry has reproduced and is threatening to overtake the house. I plan on – as much as I dislike it – spending some focused time this weekend on cleaning house and catching up the laundry.

Now, lest my “I’m ready for the weekend” statement make it sound like I’m actually looking forward to my weekend plans, let me assure you that I am not. I’m merely thankful to have an opportunity to slow down, catch my breath a bit, and have time to catch up.

Brianna has had play practice two nights this week. It seems like it’s gone pretty well and she’s enjoying it.

Josh, Megan and I wrapped up their first unit with Trail Guide to Learning. Each unit lasts six weeks and, let me tell you, I’m a fan of week six! Each sixth week is a wrap up of of the previous unit – it includes lots of review and recapping, a book review, character studies of the kids’ favorite characters, and a unit presentation to the family.

The kids haven’t done their presentations yet. I thought they could do them for the family after dinner. I enjoyed the fact that a lot of the stuff they did this week they could do independently. I hope that makes me sound more like a mom who enjoyed a bit of a break from the day-to-day and less of a lazy mom, but it was nice.

The only photo I took this week. {ahem} My new digital jump rope.

I stayed in the vicinity to answer any questions they might have, but I had some time to do little things while they were working – like unloading the dishwasher, washing some dishes, checking and responding to email…and maybe, possibly making one or two moves in Words with Friends.

The big excitement for the week occurred yesterday when I stepped out onto the small, uncovered deck off the master bedroom to call Josh and Megan inside. Gus (the cat) slipped out behind me and, before I could stop him, he jumped through the slats and onto the roof!

The poor new neighbor behind us, who was out raking his leaves, probably now thinks he’s living next door to an insane family as he watched the kids and I spend the next 30 minutes or so trying to figure out how to get the cat off the roof!

While Josh and I struggled to put our fold-up ladder together, Gus finally managed to make his own way down. Crazy cat. Oh, and our roof isn’t tin. It probably wasn’t hot either, since it was awfully cold outside.

Today was Megan’s first American Girls book club meeting of the year. She was excited to get back and see her friends.  Tonight she’s spending the night with her cousin, so it’s been a good day for her. I guess we’ll have to do something nice for the other two.

I love easy, simple meals on Friday nights (which is why we have them at Chick-Fil-A as often as we can!). Tonight I’m fixing these ham and cheese sliders. Yum! A lady at our life group fixed them last week and they were delicious! Maybe not so healthy, but very tasty.

So, are you having anything good for dinner tonight?

How was your week? Be sure to post about it and sign up with MckLinky. If this is your first time to join us, be sure to read the Weekly Wrap-Up guidelines. You can also follow the guidelines link to grab the banner code.

**Remember, be sure to link directly to your Weekly Wrap-Up post so that others can find it easily when they visit your blog and be sure to post a link back here so that your readers can find the Wrap-Up and join us.

**Was your link deleted? Click here.**