7 hours ago
These are all the things I’m saving…quotes I’ve highlighted, books on my reading list, websites and articles I’m saving, photos I’m taking, and things I don’t want to forget. If I had a notebook that held everything in one place, it would look something like this!
Commonplace Quotes
“Trust God in the dark. We are safer with Him in the dark that without Him in the sunshine.”
- Theodore Cuyler, God’s Light On Dark Clouds
“There is only one practical remedy for this deadly sin of anxiety, and that is to take short views. Faith is content to live ‘from hand to mouth’, enjoying each blessing from God as it comes.”
- Theodore Cuyler, God’s Light On Dark Clouds
“If he saw the responsibility as too great for his ability, it was because he had a realistic idea of how immense that responsibility would be. For such a trust, to lead an undisciplined, poorly armed volunteer force of farmers and tradesmen against the best-trained, best-equipped, most formidable military force on earth - and with so much riding on the outcome - was, in reality, more than any man was qualified for.”
- David McCullough, 1776
Recommendations
The Everyday Reading Summer Reading Guide - Summer reading is a different animal, and I love stretching my genres and trying new authors in the summer. This is my favorite summer reading guide! I exercise a little caution on the romance titles especially, since I like my books clean, but I have found so many great books from this guide over the years! If you used to enjoy the guide from Modern Mrs. Darcy back in the day, you need to try the one from Everyday Reading - I like it even better! Hint: She also has a really fun summer reading chart here.
Kyle Hates Hiking Youtube Channel - I have a weird interest in National Parks, mountaineering, and survival or true crime stories, and this channel brings those three things together! I’ll often play one of these videos while folding laundry.
Ask Dr. Jo Youtube Channel - My nearly middle-aged self often rolls out of bed with a crick in my neck or a sore shoulder, and I am so grateful to have found this physical therapy channel! Every time I have a knot in any of my muscles, I just search on this channel for stretches, and it fixes it within a couple days. I even used these videos when I had a pretty bad case of costochondritas, which is inflammation of the muscles between your ribs that make it feel like you are having a mini heart attack every time you breath. Her videos were the only thing that helped!
A Fun Way To Add More Classic Literature - This article about creating literary book boxes for kids has my wheels turning for the summer.
Books I’m Reading Right Now
The Music Of The Hemispheres by Michael Clay Thompson (Teacher’s Manual) - I am reading this book aloud to my middle schoolers as we finish up the school year this week - I think I am learning just as much as they are! I have always liked certain poems that have a clear rhythm and rhyme scheme, but had a harder time with other types of poems. This book explains the structure of poetry and some of the poetic elements to notice in even non-rhyming poems, and I feel like I understand poetry so much better now.
God’s Light On Dark Clouds by Theodore Cuyler - This book is a beautiful exploration of God’s purposes in suffering, written by a mom that just lost his daughter. I think the encouragement in here is so applicable to any kind of hardship or suffering, and I’ve been finding passages to highlight almost every day as I work through it after my Bible reading. I recommend reading it even if you are not currently going through any trials.
2084 And The AI Revolution by John Lennox - One of my personal study projects this year is to learn more about AI and technology. This book is a thorough treatment of the history and philosophies associated with AI, from a Christian perspective. I am learning so much! I know things with AI move so fast that some of the information in this book is probably already out of date, but I think the author’s analysis is timeless.
Bits Of Nature
We have been going from winter, to summer, then back to winter over the last week or so. My kids were literally playing at a splashed in 80-degree weather last week, and then woke up to fog and snow on Monday morning. That’s May in the mountains. These are photos I’ve snapped outside over the last few days.
Moments Of Happiness
-Wrapping up all of our school year read-alouds, including The Wind In The Willows, pictured above. It feels so satisfying to close the last page.
-Going through boxes of old notes from family and friends, and piles of artwork from my kids’ little years. So many memories were revived, and everything is filed away nicely now.
- Starting The Wingfeather Saga as a read-aloud with my kids - the first book is more light, and the silly footnotes are making us all laugh! I’m already anticipating the tears that will spill when we get to the ending of the series, but they will be good tears.
-Watching my girls in their ballet class. We haven’t done any ballet since the crazy covid times, and we are at a stage where they all three can be in the same class. I love seeing how graceful they are becoming.
-Having friends reach out to me for a get-together, not just vice versa.
-Noticing that the pools are opening a little early this year, with Memorial Day and our especially warm weather. I’m keeping an eye on the weather to determine our first pool day of the summer.
-Making summer plans, especially for the 4th of July!
Twenty-two books is alot.
Maybe not by some people’s standards, but it’s a good amount of reading for me four months into the year. It also is alot when someone tries to write about twenty-two books all in one post, as I’m doing today.
I intended to write monthly book roundups in 2026, but I should have known better during the school year. Instead of subjecting you to multiple posts of book reviews, I tried to write mini book reviews here. Three or four sentences max. I tried anyway.
Mini Reviews
The Pilgrim’s Regress: Guarding Against Backsliding and Apostasy In The Christian Life by Mark Jones - 5 stars - Jones gently and humbly presents reasons why people may backslide, with very practical advice about how to keep advancing forward in our Christian walk to draw closer to Jesus. I found myself so encouraged to read my Bible more faithfully, work on my prayer life, and turn to the Lord with every failing knowing no one can snatch me out of His hand. Highly recommend if you have been in a spiritually “dry” season and need some encouragement to get back on track.
Broken Bread by Tilly Dillehay - 5 stars - There are so many ways that Christians can fall into sinful “ditches” surrounding food, and Dillehay breaks them down into four categories: Asceticism, Gluttony, Snobbery, and Apathy. I so appreciated her biblical and common-sense encouragement to avoid these attitudes surrounding the table. I didn’t fully agree with her chapter on wine, but it would take some more thinking for me to express what exactly pushed my buttons there. Aside from that, this book was “chef’s kiss”.
How To Read A Book: Advice For Christian Readers by Andrew Naselli - 5 stars - This book gives encouragement for Christians to develop as readers. I most appreciated his breakdown of different ways of reading books - from surveying, macro reading, and micro reading. It was very interesting as a lifelong reader who mostly macro and micro reads to consider that surveying a book can be just as legitimate a way to read.
Leadership and Emotional Sabotage by Joe Rigney - 4 stars - Rigney gives advice to leaders and the pitfalls they may fall into when they try to please everyone or avoid offense at any cost. Valuable advice here, especially for men and pastors since this book is geared more toward them.
Prey by Michael Crichton - 4 stars - When our main character has a chance to visit one of the factories for a product his wife is developing, he jumps on it - only to find that a nano-robot swarm has escaped the factory and is wreaking havoc in the Nevada desert. This story kept me interested from beginning to end. The ending left me feeling conflicted, but I’d still recommend it. Content Notes: Some cussing, some violent or gruesome descriptions, evolutionary explanations throughout.
Timeline by Michael Crichton - 4 stars - A very unique time travel story where the characters go back to the Middle Ages - slower for a Crichton novel, but once I was into it I couldn’t put it down! Content Notes: Some cursing, one character survives by seducing men, violence.
Matched by Allie Condi - 3 stars - This book reminded me of everything I don’t like about the YA genre; too much angst. Content Notes: This book was pretty clean! I can’t recall anything objectionable.
Pretty In Punxsutawney by Laurie Boyle Crompton - 4 stars - A funny YA in which the main character finds herself reliving the same first day of high school over and over (as in the movie Groundhog Day). Really creative and fun, and made me want to re-watch all the 80s teen movies (which I typically don’t even like). Content Notes: At one point a boy surprises the main character with an unwanted kiss, and grabs her behind.
Live Your Truth And Other Lies by Alisha Childers - 4 stars - I agreed with everything in this book, and think alot of the messages are much needed for Christian women; I found it more of an entry-level book for developing a Christian worldview, so not as helpful for me personally at this point in my life.
Authorized: The Use and Misuse of The King James Bible by Mark Ward - 5 stars - Great book addressing the King-James-only perspective of Bible translations! Very informative, high view of the Bible, and I found it inspiring.
Bad Therapy: Why The Kids Aren’t Growing Up by Abigail Shirer - 4.5 stars - This was a re-listen for me. Shirer explores iatrogenic harm that can come from unnecessary therapy, and how that may be hurting our kids. Just as good as the first time.
Good And Angry by David Powlison - 5 stars - This is the best book I’ve ever read on overcoming unrighteousness anger from a Christian perspective! Highly recommend it for anyone who has ever lost their temper or stuffed angry feelings down.
Vacation Friends by Christy Barritt - 4 stars - A suspense/mystery book in which the main character is traveling with her fiancé, who she plans to breakup with, but then someone is murdered. The main action is interspersed with an alternate storyline with a seemingly unrelated character. It was fun to see how the two tied together in the end! Content Notes:Violence, infidelity and fornication are part of the plot.
After That, The Dark by Andrew Klavan - 3.5 stars - The fifth book in the Cameron Winter series, and one of the best ones so far. Winter unravels an “unsolvable” mystery with a dark tech company at the center. I am enjoying seeing the main character finally overcome some of his demons! Content Notes: This series is not clean, which make them hard to recommend, but I keep reading because I am invested in the characters at this point. Curse words, violence and gruesome deaths, the main character sleeps with his girlfriend in this book (closed door), some descriptions of what goes on in a seedy strip club.
Julius Ceasar by William Shakespeare - 4.5 stars - How does one review Shakespeare? Read it with my kids, interesting, sad. Half star only taken off because it’s my second-favorite Shakespeare that I’ve read (I’ve only read two so far). Content notes: Violence, omens, everyone dies in the end.
Anne Of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery - 5 stars - A re-read with my kids. We all love Anne! I think there are some great lessons about life and finding a spouse in this book, so it was timely for my teens, especially.
Squanto, Friend Of The Pilgrims by Clyde Bulla - 4 stars - Read this to my little girls. Great summary of Squanto’s life, and they seemed pretty invested in the story!
The Future Of Everything by William Boekestein - 4 stars - A great summary of different aspects of eschatology that all Christians agree on - the author tipped his hand as more of an amillenial, but I thought he remained pretty neutral while pointing us to the things all Christians can look forward to when Christ returns!
The Chaos Grid by Lyndsey Lewellen - 4.5 stars - A very unique setup for a dystopian fantasy novel. I did think some of the world building was a little fantastical for what is supposed to be set in a future version of our world - if you can suspend your unbelief though, it is quite an interesting story! It only took me until 4/5 of the way through the book to recognize the Jonah analogy. Content Notes: Drug use by villains in the story, one villain threatens to do unlawful things to the main character.
Hearts Overboard by Becky Dean - 4.5 stars - Funny and sweet romance - I think this is classified as YA because the characters are seniors in high school, but a more manageable level of angst made it enjoyable. Content Notes: The female characters note the male character’s “tight end” - hardy-har-har. I feel this would be in poor taste if comments went the other way, so I don’t love when female authors do this.
How To Plot A Payback by Melissa Ferguson - 4.5 stars - A cute romantic comedy on the set of a sitcom. The pacing was just right, and the characters were interesting, with not-too-serious stakes.
The Cinderella Plot by Pepper Basham - 4.5 stars - This was a really sweet YA about a girl who decides she needs a transformation the last year of high school - but then everything starts to go wrong with the people she cares about the most. The messaging was a little redundant through the book, but the plot was good and kept me interested to the end!
Favorite Fiction So Far This Year: Pretty In Punxsutawney, The Chaos Grid, Timeline
Favorite Nonfiction So Far This Year: The Pilgrim’s Regress, Broken Bread, Authorized
What are your favorite books so far this year?
The sun is shining bright on my face as I walk on a Saturday morning. Birds are chirping in the trees, and the ground is a bit soft after the foot of snow we got three days ago, but aside from that clue you would never guess at the swing from winter back to spring.
Birds are chirping and the breeze sways new buds on the aspen trees as I sit on a bench outside our library and eat a banana. The library opens in a few minutes, and I intend to claim the best table and set up with my laptop and homemade iced coffee.
My husband left the house with the kids this morning. He was out of town all week, and when he arrived home and I burst into tears, he recognized I was falling apart and needed some recovery time. I cried this morning when they left for a hike, feeling left out, but it only took me thirty minutes to remember that this is just what I needed. A day to recover, not just from this week, but from the whole school year. According to my husband, I get like this a little bit at the end of every homeschool year. I pour myself out all year long until there is nothing left. Time is needed to find my footing again.
Writing for my blog is my whole intention for this library visit, but I look at my drafts folder and realize I need to just write, not struggle through editing a rough draft or try to piece together a half-written post into something worthwhile. There will be time for that later, but today, we’re just going to see where this post takes us.
Spring Intention #1: Take time for recovery. Summer is coming, and I want it to be full of fun and memories, and for that I need to build my energy back up. And the only way to do that is to rest. My rules for this unexpected day to myself are:
Do not clean anything.
Spend time in the sun.
No listening to podcasts.
Enjoy the quiet.
Try to move my body a little bit.
Consume (books) and produce (a blog post, maybe a watercolor)
We had our last day of homeschool co-op yesterday, which was a field day. I was in charge of organizing the races, and I think they went quite well! We had potato (grain) sack races, three-legged races, egg-and-spoon races, water balloon toss, back-to-back races, and a blindfold race. The three groups were K-4th, 5th-8th, and high school. I think 5th-8th grade are ideal ages for this kind of thing, at least in this group of sweet, un-self-conscious homeschool kids; the younger group struggled with some of the races but had a grand time anyway, and the high schoolers were a mix of competitive and silly, and hard to organize because they were having too good a time together. But the middle schoolers took the races seriously, organized themselves promptly, and laughed whether they won or lost. I was exhausted by the end of the day, but it was still fun.
This year I was invited to join the board of our co-op, so this spring has been a flurry of interviews and planning meetings. I have become a pretty organized person over the last several years as my kids have gotten older with homeschooling, but trying to figure out what needs to happen with the co-op, and especially what we need to organize before the fall, has been a challenge. I’m already seeing glimmers of a lesson brewing: being organized is good, but I can’t control everything. Sometimes it’s good to just sit back and see how things shake out.
Spring Intention #2: Let some things go. Do what is required of you, but trust other people to do what needs to be done too. It’s best not to put everything on my own plate, which I am sometimes apt to do. This can lead to a crash-and-burn, and I know that from experience, but it’s easy to forget sometimes. For me this will look like:
Remembering that it’s okay for the house to be messy.
Saying no to some things.
Dropping some of our last lingering homeschool subjects. We’re on the home stretch.
Finishing a little homeschool planning (including a conference in June) - but then putting all thoughts of homeschooling and co-op on hold for a couple months. It’ll keep.
This spring has been rather bizarre when it comes to weather. In March we had multiple weeks of 70+ degree days, which is unheard of in the mountains. April was also quite warm, but then in the last two weeks we have had rain and snow multiple times. I am not sorry at all, because I will take some snow days over a bad wildfire season!
In April we walked around a lake in summer-like weather and got nearly eaten by mosquitos. But it was so nice to be outside and get some sunshine.
Snow in May will be just fine, because it will green up all our grass (which is already looking quite long for this early in the year). But I am so looking forward to more warm days.
Spring Intention #3: Get outside. I have been struggling with some health things this spring, and my energy levels have been non-existent, but whether I’m walking or just sitting, fresh air is invigorating. In the next few weeks before spring blooms into summer, I’d like to:
Take a walk every day.
Read on my porch.
Take the kids to a park.
Throw out some fresh grass and wildflower seeds.
Go on a picnic lunch.
Start some sort of nature journaling.
Buy some bird seed and a new feeder.
Spring is usually a high-energy time of cleaning things out and planning for the summer. I’m shushing that voice that is whispering that I’m getting behind, because it’s okay for spring to not be filled with tasks. This year spring needs to be restful, and quiet, and restorative. So that’s what I’m going to try to make it - before the pools open!
What are your plans for the rest of this spring?
Currently I am…
Watching… my kids swing at the park. The weather has been unseasonably warm, and they convinced me we needed a park day. I would be enjoying the weather if it weren’t for the increased threat of wildfires. Everyone in my state is pretty anxious about the summer months because of a general lack of snow this winter. Usually I hate having a cooler, rainier spring, but I would gladly take one this year. (Also, as I sit finishing this post later at the library, I hear the librarian discussing her hope that it will be like that one year when it started out dry and then closer to summer it started raining every other day. So I’m not the only one worried about it.)
Drinking… a Tazo iced chai latte.
Reading… still, a year later, Anna Karenina. The thing is, I’m actually loving it, but it’s so long. I’ve realized I’m in a season with only snatches of reading time, and when I do read I often want something light and quick-paced. It might not be the time in my life for doorstops. I am enjoying two other fiction books. The first is called Hearts Overboard by Becky Dean, and it’s a YA about a teenage girl that is stuck in her routine and her arch nemesis and sort-of friend convinces her to try something new every day. It’s cute. The other book is Wander Lost by Laura Martin, and it’s about twin boys whose mother will not allow them to play board games - ever. Then suddenly she disappears, and I think we might be able to guess where she went. It’s intriguing so far!
Planning for… the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence! We will take the last month of the school year to do a crash course in early American history (for my little girls especially), and we will probably continue the patriotic education over the summer with books, music, movies, and some instruction in flag etiquette. I may put together a post with resources I plan on using soon, but I’d love recommendations if you are similarly planning much ado about America’s birthday!
Working on… several Substack articles. Despite my lack of posting lately, I am brimming with ideas. I decided for the next few weeks I am going to take a couple hours each afternoon to head to the library and just work until I get all my half-written posts finished. In the queue are:
How To Grocery Shop Once A Month
Should I Join A Homeschool Co-op?
Reading Goals For 2026 (is it too late in the year for this one?)
Books For Kids Who Love Horses
A Defense Of The Checklist
Wishing… people I love wouldn’t move away. I’m pretty good at long-distance friendships, but every friend that goes leaves a hole that no other friend is going to fill in exactly the same way. I’m thankful when my dear friends put the effort in to be good at long-distance friendship back.
Considering… digging the kids’ summer clothes out of storage, and if I do it will be the earliest I have ever switched the clothes. It has to be considered when the weather has been so warm! It’s forecasted to be 68 degrees tomorrow up in the mountains, and up to 91 degrees this weekend in town. Those kinds of temperatures are unheard of in March! The trees are even starting to bud and flower. I’m torn between wanting to lean into the sun while praying for precipitation. I read somewhere that early Christians would pray that God would not listen to the prayers of a traveler regarding the weather, because the local people know what is really needed. I think about that whenever I pray for rain.
Excited… that the end of the school year is in sight, distant though it sometimes feels! We are at the point in the homeschool year where I start considering powering through the last 20% of the book so we can drop a few subjects off our plates. We will see.
Enjoying… chocolate turtle cookies from King Soopers (or Kroger, if you are out east). If you see them, don’t think, just buy them.
Buying… new spring clothes. The trickiest season for dressing is spring, with its finicky weather and winter nipping at our heels with summer right around the corner. I was griping to my husband about my wardrobe - how everything felt wrong for the season and ill-fitting - and he told me to just take a set amount of money and go shopping! So I did, and it did indeed make me feel better about the weirdness of spring fashion. I got this dress, another dress, this jacket, that shirt, and this cardigan, and I don’t regret any of it.
Researching… reading lists for my kids. I have a range of book problems to solve - kids that read faster than I can screen books, picky readers, readers who need to stretch their skills slowly. I am drowning in book lists and reviews, and it’s a book lover’s dream, honestly! I have so much fun trying to find good books for all my kids’ reading wishes. I typically use Honey For A Child’s Heart, Honey For A Teen’s Heart, Living Heritage independent reading recommendations, Redeemed Reader lists, Reshelving Alexandria booklists, Read Aloud Revival booklists, and a smattering of bookish Instagram accounts for ideas.
Loving… a little quiet time for myself, but not too much. Right now our routine is for my husband to take the kids to Awana each week, and I take the evening to read the history text that I’m teaching for our co-op. It’s not a curriculum I picked, but I think it’s worked pretty well in a co-op setting. I love when the house is quiet, and I can put things back in order, then sit down with my dinner and this massive textbook to prepare for my class. I usually finish in about an hour, and then I read my own book or watch some silly show until everyone comes bursting back through the door. I enjoy the quiet, but nothing is right again until everyone is back home.
On St. Patrick’s Day, the car was running as I sat and painted my nails a pink-red. I honked the horn once, and the last kid came running out the front door and hopped over a bag of books as the minivan door slid shut.
We took part of the morning off from homeschooling to do something that I used to do all the time when my kids were little - go to the library, grab a coffee, and stop at the park on the way home. I remember when these simple little outings were a lifeline in my day, when my kids needed so much help to get anything done, and before I really figured out what I was doing with homeschooling.
We didn’t go because I was at the end of my homeschool rope. Not at all. We went today because it was sunny, and my oldest is in high school, and I owed my kids a sugar-filled slush from Sonic as a reward for finishing their checklists last week. And also because sometimes I get the urge to recreate a good memory.
Even though those little days were so hard at the time, I find myself looking back at them with fondness and trying to relive them every now and then. I was barely scraping by, but it was precious, and magical, and I miss it.
On the way home, as my oldest worked on his algebra, and my kids worked on various subjects in the back seat, I played an old episode of a favorite podcast. That got my mind spinning on all the podcasts I had loved and that had helped me keep perspective back when I had five kids all under eight years old. So I thought I would share some old favorites here.
Sometimes I think the early days of podcasts are better than more recent episodes, as if all the best tips and advice were shared up front. It’s not that the recent episodes are no good, but the older episodes have a depth and level of effort that comes from the hosts being new at something. Older episodes are sometimes a bit better.
So if you take my recommendations here, I hope you’ll click that little “more episodes” button and scroll back to the beginning. Pick an episode and see what you think.
The Read Aloud Revival Podcast
The hopping, happy music at the beginning of this podcast conjures up all sorts of sunny afternoons driving down the winding road to our library. We used to all listen to this podcast together, and my kids were delighted by the clips at the end of every episode of kids sharing their favorite books. I got so many great book suggestions from the early episodes of this podcast, and it helped me understand the importance of reading aloud in developing vocabulary and language in kids.
Helpful episodes that I’ve listened to multiple times:
and a whole bunch of others!
Your Morning Basket Podcast
If you’ve ever heard of a morning basket in the context of homeschooling, it probably originally started with this podcast, now re-named “Homeschool Better Together”. I first started implementing enrichment subjects because of this podcast. The idea of having a basket of resources that we could loop through made things like music appreciation and memory work so much less intimidating.
Episodes that stand out in my memory:
The Smiling Homeschooler Podcast
I started listening to this podcast after hearing Todd speak at a homeschool conference when my oldest was only in first grade. It became my go-to for when I felt overwhelmed or like I was doing homeschooling all wrong. Todd has a way of reminding you what really matters - academics are important, but so is having a good homeschool experience for myself and my kids. This podcast helps me keep things in perspective.
P.S. I just have to note here that Todd Wilson is also an excellent story-teller. Our family loves his Christmas story collection, and you might enjoy this free short story about a homeschooling mom!
Episodes that helped me keep things in perspective:
In writing this post I went back and listened to a few of these episodes, and my premise holds up - there are good things in the archives of your favorite homeschool podcast. I hope this post gives you something new to listen to, or reminds you of old favorites that you may need to hear again! And if you are new to homeschooling, check out all the episodes I linked above for some evergreen encouragement.
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