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I have a few homeschool curricula posts almost ready to share, but in the meantime, I thought I would share the curriculum posts I wrote a couple years ago! Many of my feelings about the curriculum we've used have stayed the same, so alot of the resources and experiences I shared then are still relevant now. Keep in mind that a couple years ago I had a 4th, 2nd, and 1st grader, so I'm writing from that perspective!
Homeschool History: 4th, 2nd, and 1st - A few of my thoughts about history in homeschooling and a summary of all the curricula we had tried up to that point!
Homeschool Chat: Language Arts - Summary of what we've used for different aspects of language arts - reading, writing, spelling, etc. This has definitely changed some, so there will be updates to this post coming!
Homeschool Chat: Righstart Math - A thorough look at how we use Rightstart Math, which is the only math we've used in our homeschooling up to this point!
Homeschool Chat: Science - A look at the Apologia Young Explorers series, which is our main science curriculum, with a bunch of other resources we've used and liked for science.
Homeschool Bible Recommendations - Lots of Bible resources for kids in this post that I would still recommend!
I'm looking forward to sharing some updated thoughts and changes we're making as I get my thoughts in order!
Knock, knock, knock.
I crack open one eye and see the sunlight streaming in through the windows. Woodpeckers. Usually our woodpeckers are a problem in May, but all the birds seem to be arriving late this year. I bang my hand against the wall a few times to scare it off, and then pull the blankets back over my head.
Knock, knock, knock.
I'm starting to get a little exasperated now and I knock back on the wall a few more times. Finally, the woodpecker seems to have left.
I think about the sound that kept me awake last night, like the whining of a lost dog moving around our house. After worrying about it for 15 minutes, I sort-of woke Derek up to tell him I thought there was a dog wandering around outside. He told me it was the local elk mewing in the field down the hill. "Are you sure?" I had asked. "Positive," he replied as he closed his eyes again. I feel a little silly now for praying that whoever owned the "lost dog" would find it.
I push my thoughts away and roll over, squeezing my eyes shut against the sunlight, attempting go back to sleep.
Chirp, chatter, chirp.
A squirrel has decided to scold some other creature right outside my open window, and he's loud. Perhaps he's actually scolding me for daring to try to sleep past sunrise.
Basically all the wildlife is conspiring against my sleep cycle.
I give up and roll out of bed.
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Even though I wish I could have a day to catch up on my sleep, I'm glad the squirrel scolded me out of bed this morning, because I actually have some time to write a chatty post. I'm sitting on the porch now, coffee cup on the table, listening to the birds singing in the trees, and feeling the warm sun on my back. Watching out of the corner of my eye as Wyatt practices aiming his unloaded .22 at a distant tree. We signed up the two big kids for 4H this year - actually, I should say Derek signed them up. I made it very clear that I didn't have the mental space this spring to manage 4H commitments, so it was up to him to make sure they stayed on top of their projects, and he has held up his end of the bargain admirably. Wyatt is shooting in the county fair competition this weekend. It's been really great to see how seriously he is taking gun safety, and to see him get more comfortable with shooting, because, as he reminds us frequently, he'll be old enough to hunt big game next year.
Gwen signed up for sewing in 4H, and she and Derek have been figuring out how to work a sewing machine - with a little help from me. I am still the only person in the house who knows how to thread a bobbin, so I'm not totally unnecessary. They made a cute little shirt together, and I'm so proud of Gwen for her hard work in learning how to follow a pattern - I don't even quite know how to follow a pattern! My sewing expertise is limited to blankets.
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At the beginning of June, I was sure I'd have buckets of time to read a bunch of books, organize the school room, take up a new hobby, and write on the blog. It was summer break, after all! No schoolwork on the to-do list for a few months. Unfortunately, that is not quite how it's worked out - I don't even know where June went, I just know I was out of the house almost every day for pre-planned trips, errands, appointments, the homeschool conference, and VBS. You don't even want to know how much I spent on gas. But the last appointments were checked off the list this week, and I am looking forward to catching up on house projects, cooking more, and yes, more reading and hobby time for the next month.
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Speaking of trips, for 4th of July weekend we all went to visit my grandparents at their cabin in a cute mountain town a few hours away. I love getting a chance to visit them each summer, because it's one of those trips that is just refreshing. We don't have a packed-full schedule, we just enjoy one or two activities and spend the rest of the time playing card games with my grandparents. Derek and I love card and board games, and we rope our friends into playing with us whenever we have them over for dinner, so it's a treat spending a whole weekend chatting and playing cards at the cabin. The kids usually run around outside, play a few games themselves, and watch movies during our downtime.
This visit my grandparents took us to an outdoor wildlife park that mainly featured animals that we have in the mountains, and a few from further north. Red foxes, coyotes, black bears, mountain lions, porcupines, elk, and even a wolf and a grizzly bear. We've seen many of these creatures many times in the wild, but it was really cool to see them up close. We got there in time for the afternoon feeding, and the keeper told us about each animal as they came to the near side of their enclosures to eat. It was really cool! Afterwards we went out for pizza, then home for sparklers in their driveway since the fireworks display was cancelled for inclement bad weather.
It was a great weekend all the way around!
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On our way home from visiting the cabin, we decided to stop at a trail to a waterfall that we usually don't have time to visit. We piled out of the car and spied the waterfall in the distance, then read the sign directing us to either the main trail or the "primitive" trail. Well, let's do the primitive trail! We set off and followed the kids up an overgrown, rocky path, over a log here, under a fallen tree here.
After crossing a small but steep gully, we couldn't figure out where the "primitive" trail was anymore. Derek decided to climb up the hill and see if there was a good way through for the kids. As he came back down the hill, announcing it was too dicey to take the kids that way, I spotted the main trail down the hill through some trees. We all scrambled over a fallen tree and a marshy area, and reached the path.
As I led the kids along, I noticed that the main trail reconnected with the primitive trail on an easier path, and the big kids and I scrambled up and got an amazing view of the waterfall! The water was cascading 100 feet over a cliff into a little pool, then continued in a bubbling stream down the hillside. We could practically feel the mist on our faces, even though it was a couple hundred feet away, and a perpetual rainbow decorated the bottom of the fall. It was gorgeous!
It was indeed too steep for the kids to go any closer, so I sent them back down the path to rejoin Derek, but curiosity got the better of me - I picked my way across the hillside to get a little closer to the waterfall. At twenty feet from the falls, the water was roaring very loudly, and the mist occasionally whipped into my face, making my clothes damp. Then I noticed that Derek and the kids had gone on the main trail across the creek and were waiting on the platform on the other side - it seemed silly to go all the way back on the steep, somewhat slippery path to get up with the main trail, so I decided to cross the stream in front of the waterfall instead.
Did I mention I was only wearing flip flops for this hike?
It was somewhat poorly planned, but I made it safely across the stream (which wasn't deep at all or I wouldn't have attempted it), and met up again with Derek and the kids at the overlook on the other side. It was pretty amazing to be so close to such a tall waterfall!
We all were very impressed with the waterfall and agreed it was a great 4th of July adventure in lieu of fireworks.
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When we haven't been face-to-face with huge waterfalls or running mundane errands, I've really been enjoying being home this summer. Aside from it being somewhat stressful financially to go anywhere with gas prices as they are, I've really been enjoying cooking more when I've had a rare day at home. I've made a caramel apple pie a couple times now, biscuits and gravy from the Magnolia cookbook (which I must admit were a huge hit), and sweet and sour chicken from scratch (as good as any we've had at a restaurant). I really want to perfect a key lime pie this summer, and perhaps even attempt the holy grail of pies - the lemon meringue. I don't know how many times I've heard my dad fondly remember his granny's lemon meringue, and though I don't have any hope of supplanting her pies in my dad's memory, maybe my kids or grandkids can remember my lemon meringue pies with fondness someday.
For my birthday in June, Derek took me shopping at Ulta and Hobby Lobby and let me buy whatever I wanted - I got some nice lotion and makeup at Ulta, and at Hobby Lobby I found an inspiring watercolor and drawing book. I would really like to spend a little time playing with watercolor and practicing drawing this summer. I can't guarantee I will share any of my attempts online, but it's something I always wanted to get better at, and I'm hoping for more down time in the next few weeks to practice.
On the to-do list for today though, I have to call and set up a couple more doctor appointments (though these won't be for a couple months yet), register for our homeschool umbrella school for the next year, renew HSLDA, start to plan a bit for next school year and potentially order some curriculum, and cut Gwen's hair. It reaches to her shorts waistband right now, but she wants it to be mid-back length instead.
The kids have donned their swimsuits to play in the kiddie pool on the porch, and I just spotted a water gun, so I think I'll wrap this up before water comes flying this way!
How has your summer been so far? Has it been as crazy as my June was, or have you had some down time?
In case you somehow missed it, the Supreme Court made the decision today to overturn Roe v. Wade this morning. I was preparing myself for something crazy to happen after that leak a while back, for this decision to somehow not come to fruition. But despite my worries, the Lord was gracious to this country today!
I just feel the need to mark this day, the day Roe c. Wade fell! And Lord willing, the beginning of the end of abortion in this country. We’ve destroyed 60+ million babies in this country over the last 50 years. This country deserves judgement for that, but God has shown mercy to us. I didn’t think I’d see Roe v. Wade overturned in my lifetime, though I’ve prayed for it for years. In a year, there will be human beings alive who wouldn’t have been because of the Supreme Court’s decision today! Praise the Lord!
I'm so thankful for the courage and fortitude of the Supreme Court with all the pressure they must have been feeling after the leak a month ago. I'm so thankful that Trump got those four years to put some of those justices on the court. Some of these people are probably believers, many of them probably are not, but I'm amazed at how the Lord "turns the hearts of kings wherever He wishes" (Proverbs 21:1). God did that, through the actions of unexpected people, through everything that led to this historic decision from the highest court in the land.
I've explained about abortion to my kids. When it came up a few years back, I didn't need to do very much beyond just telling my kids (age appropriately) what abortion is, and they were immediately adamantly pro-life. Sometimes children are wiser than adults.
I told them about the Supreme Court decision today, and we celebrated and cheered! When I explained about what it all would mean, their immediate question was whether abortion would be allowed in our state, and with sorrow I had to tell them yes. Our state is wicked. We need to keep praying, keep voting for the pro-life candidates, keep defending the unborn. Then we prayed for an end to abortion altogether.
“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, And on Your wondrous works…The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works.”
Psalms 145:3-5, 8-9 NKJV
My hope and prayer now is that I will get to celebrate with my kids again when abortion is banned across the United States. Soon, Lord, please!
Tonight is for celebrating and telling the kids what God has done! Don't let anyone dampen the day for you, friends! Today is a very good day!
“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, And on Your wondrous works…The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works.”
Psalms 145:3-5, 8-9 NKJV
"This will be written for the generation to come,
That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord."
That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord."
Psalm 102:18 NKJV
(The desert above Carlsbad Caverns.)
First, I wanted to say that as far as I could tell, this is a very family-friendly documentary. I did miss the first five minutes because I was a smidge late to the theater, but there was no mention of any sensitive topics (like gender ideology, for example) in the parts of the film for which I was present.
I think the purpose of this movie, from my perspective, was to present a vision for how homeschooling can look, the freedom families have to do education their own way, to think outside the box and help their kids pursue their own interests and talents. We saw kids taking pilot-lessons at 14, raising ducks, exploring the woods, starting Etsy shops, interning on farms and in a chiropractic office, accelerating their education to graduate college before most finish high school, and traveling the country full time just because they can. Under all this was the theme that homeschooling is a way to build tight-knit relationships within your family and experience life together, and I thought that theme was very poignantly highlighted at the end of the film.
I thought the documentary in alot of ways was very intentionally balanced. I could tell they tried to include a homeschool families from a variety of backgrounds and tell their stories, giving them a chance to present their insights. We had families who had homeschooled for a month and some who have homeschooled for decades, young families and families that have graduated children. There was an emphasis on how children can learn at their own pace in homeschooling, so it was mentioned that children who need more time to learn certain concepts get that time, and can excel. To balance that out, we also hear from families who have students on an accelerated pace. We have kids who applied to college and won prestigious scholarships, kids who tested out of college classes by studying at home, and kids who are successful without attending college. There was also a focus on finding the individual talents or "smarts" (based on Kathy Koch's "8 Great Smarts" book), and we saw children in the documentary with a wide variety of talents and interests.
There are also obvious benefits in homeschooling to pass on your worldview to your children as a full time pursuit, and the documentary also touched on that aspect. Christian principles were mentioned throughout, while also discussing how a family of any faith could also see benefits of passing on their values to their children.
One way I thought the documentary felt a little imbalanced was that alot of families were showcased that did not have traditional job structures. There were several parents talking about owning their own businesses and how that gave them flexibility for homeschooling, and one family who bought an RV and traveled the country for several years (I'm not sure if it was ever mentioned what kind of jobs this couple had). One family had a dad who worked from home while the mom homeschooled, and I think that was the closest we got to the types of jobs that most people have - which are "9-5" jobs, either at home or in an office or job site. I thought it would have been nice to showcase a few more..."average" families, so to speak. Alot of us can't travel the country and give kids all these out-of-the-box experiences full time. You can give a child rich, and meaningful experiences in more local ways or through simple summer vacations, working within the limits that a 9-5 job structure would naturally place on an average family. Several of these families perhaps were working with a "9-5" job structure, but that fact just wasn't highlighted or mentioned.
I do think the focus on this documentary was on imaging how homeschooling could look, exploring all the possibilities, but in some ways which I mentioned above, I think it missed the boat a bit on giving a realistic day-to-day picture. This is a movie to be inspired by and get ideas from, but my encouragement would be to keep in mind that the documentary was still very much a highlight reel. Most days are not going to look like the bits shown in this film, and some days are downright hard, but that doesn't mean you are doing homeschool wrong, and it doesn't mean what you're doing is not worthwhile and meaningful, even if it doesn't always look exciting.
I'd recommend this film for those who are curious about homeschooling, new homeschool families who want to get inspired, and for family members that may be skeptical to help them catch the vision. This is not a movie that I would call a thorough "apologetic" for homeschooling, it is very much about offering inspiration and helping you think outside a traditional school structure.
For experienced homeschool families, this is a chance to get a little inspiration and a chance to support a great homeschool film. I didn't learn a ton from this documentary, and I know from my own experience that there are hard days being the scenes to balance out a lot of the exciting opportunities showcased in this film. But I did find myself tearing up seeing the strong relationships within these different families, and remembering that what I am doing in homeschooling is investing in my own family in the best way I know how. That reminder was certainly worthwhile to me!
If you want to see the film in theaters, tonight is your last chance! You can learn more about it here. I don't know of any plans for it to be released online, but I imaging eventually it will be available in other formats too!
- Last week we decided to visit one more National Park for the month, and we took a trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park. We haven't been there for a few years. The last time we went, Georgie was still a baby and cried every time we let her feet touch the sand, but somehow we didn't even make it as far up the dunes as we did last time. We hiked the first short hill, played for a couple minutes, climbed back down and staked out a claim near the water. Every year in May and June, the snow melts off the surrounding mountains and creates a gentle river right in front of the dunes. It's a great chance to cool down and play in the sand without getting your feet burned. We've been particularly enthused about visiting and revisiting National Parks because we got a family National Parks passport book. I may do another post about this, but it's a fun project for us!
- My kids finished their library challenge early this year, mostly at my urging. Last year we finished the challenge in July, but all the finishing prizes were gone, which was rather anticlimactic. This year I pushed them to do a few activities and played audiobooks for them until we reached the 500 points, wondering why it was so difficult for us to finish last year when we flew through this summer. Regardless, they did receive a finisher prize, which were tickets and a free meal at our local aquarium! So that activity will be going on our calendar sometime in July, I'm sure.
- Tonight I am going to see "The Homeschool Awakening" in theaters, a documentary about homeschooling by Kirk Cameron. I think it should be interesting! I know of several people in the documentary already, and I've heard Kirk Cameron speak at homeschool conferences before - but I like to support these kinds of films, and it's fun to go with some homeschooling mom friends! I will report back (possibly on Instagram, or a quick post here, I'm not sure) what I thought about it!
(Unrelated picture of my boys hiking around outside this morning.)
- This week is also my birthday, which is fun and everything, except for the fact that I have jury duty. Now, if you've been around for a while, you may remember that I have always wanted to get picked as a juror - I want to see how the process works, do my civic duty, etc. I'm very interested in it (and well aware that I'm in the minority on this)! I have been notified of jury duty twice before, and was so disappointed when my court days were cancelled. So the fact that my third chance at jury duty happens to be on my birthday is leading to very mixed feelings. Would it be really cool if I finally got a chance to be a juror? Yes! Would I prefer not to spend my birthday in a courthouse? Also, yes. Why must the judicial system do this to me? Let's be real though, it will probably be cancelled again anyway.
- With prices of everything going up, and no indication of this slowing down, I've decided it's time I take cooking at home a little more seriously. I used to really enjoy trying new recipes before I started having kids, and then it was a whirlwind of pregnancy and baby phases on repeat for the next 10 years, and I didn't really have the mental energy to give it another go. Cooking is actually not something that comes naturally to me - I'm more of a baker at heart. But we need to have good enough things to eat at home that we aren't tempted to drop by the store or a restaurant for an easier meal, and I suppose it's my job to make it happen. My goal is to try to make something from scratch every time I have a day at home, and to branch out and try some new recipes while I'm at it. So far, that's been African peanut stew (yum), chocolate chip cookies, and caramel apple pie (what did I say about being a baker at heart?). Next up, I'm going to try Joanna Gaines's biscuits and gravy. I always felt like Joanna Gaines was a little overrated (unpopular opinion, right there), but her cookbook has been fun to read through so far!
- Our local homeschool conference is also this week, and it looks like it's going to be a good one! Ken Ham and Allie Beth Stuckey are a couple of the speakers, and there is going to be traveling display of a life-size tabernacle (based on the tabernacle in the Old Testament) as well. I intended to have alot of next year's curriculum ordered earlier in June, because I don't want to be tempted to buy things I wasn't planning on at the conference, but at this point I'll probably wait until after the conference to see if there are any special sales I should take advantage of. Homeschool conference curricula halls are dangerous places. I am hoping to buy more little "Sermon Notes" notebooks which I found there last year, as well as this book for myself, which I'm sure will be there as well. I guess if I can save a bit on shipping, that's a win!
- Speaking of conferences, there is also a free online enneagram conference going on this week (analyzing the enneagram from a biblical perspective), and this online "life skills camp" for kids that I might let the kids watch (though probably only a few videos, because glancing at the first day, I think many are geared toward older kids).
That's all for now, but I'm hoping to get another post up later this week (assuming I don't get picked to be a juror for a 3-week murder trial or something). Wish me luck!
Currently...
Celebrating...The end of the school year, and to mark it our crazy mountain weather dumped 1.5 feet of snow on us, with several other smaller snowstorms in the last two weeks as well. It put a damper on our summertime feelings, but I am very grateful for the moisture. The grass greened up significantly since that big snowstorm, and before that it was scarily dry. Here's to hoping for no fires this year!
Trying...to recover from our Memorial Day weekend trip, which was so fun but also took all my energy. We took a road trip to New Mexico, to see a couple of the National Parks down there - Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands (with a brief stop at Guadeloupe Mountains National Park in Texas, and Petroglyph National Monument and the Manhattan Project National Historical Park on the way home).
My kids especially loved Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We saw Mammoth Cave with them last fall, and I think Mammoth Cave was a good starter cave - Carlsbad was the ultimate goal though, and they were ready for it. We walked over two miles of trails inside the caverns, and the kids were fascinated with all the formations. Clarice frequently reminded us "Don't touch the formations!", and Georgie quietly walked through the trails and occasionally declared that she was "kind of freaking out". But no one was too afraid, and we all enjoyed the adventure! We also enjoyed watching the bats fly out in the evening, while marveling at the inability of some people to understand what "silent" means. Any little noise can spook the bats and prevent them from flying out of the cavern, and yet still people were fiddling with bags, opening food wrappers, knocking around water bottles and allowing their children to cry without taking them away from the amphitheater. I'm proud to say our kids were silent and still though, and we did get to see a little flurry of bats anyway.
White Sands National Park was also impressive and a little mind-blowing - the sand stretched for miles, and if you didn't know better, you would think it was snow. We tried going in the middle of the day, but if you are going to visit this park, this time you want to be there is 7-9 PM. The light turned pretty, the wind died down, and the park was relatively quiet! Here are a few photos, but these are just the ones I took with my phone - when I get my big camera photos edited, perhaps I'll share more.)
We came home to 3 inches of snow on June 1st, which thankfully melted off immediately. I can't be too bummed about the incongruent weather when I see sparkling water trickling along the road and quenching the dry grass. We even had some flowers springing up despite the cold!
Giving...some thought to sharing the homeschool posts I promised a while back. I intended to write a few homeschool-related posts in March, but for some reason March and April became extremely busy. Maybe it just comes with getting older, but I find myself drained alot more easily in recent months by too many days out of the house or excessive socializing. I have thought of myself for years as an "ambivert", leaning toward an extrovert, but the pendulum has seemed to swing back to the introverted side for right now.
May was a little frantic because my dear friend moved away to another state (yes, I cried a few times), we were trying to wrap up school, and then I immediately had to start switching out the kids' clothes from winter to summer and prepare for our trip.
All that to say, my homeschool posts never got written, but I hope to rectify that soon. I still have some ideas swirling around in my mind, and I may even make a rare foray back to Instagram to share a few thoughts or curriculum videos in the next couple months! A couple people have specifically asked me what we've been using for language arts, so that's the first topic on my list.
Wearing...I really can't decide what to write here. I'm still wearing long pants (the snow, you know), but with sandals, wearing my hair curly (which I like better now that my hair is longer), wearing this eyeshadow palette (so light and pretty). Wearing this body spray (smells like summer laundry), this lip oil. Wearing out my earbuds from listening to a bunch of chic-lit audiobooks (thanks Katherine Center and Chanel Cleeson).
Taking...charge of the budget. I have been a little lazy about my budget over the last year, but in 2022, with this ridiculous inflation, there is no more wiggle room for that. My method is to plot out every event I have going on each month on one of those little $1 monthly planners, estimate how much each event is going to cost me in gas, eating out, etc, and then work around that. I've also gone back to our repertoire of cheaper meals so I can stock our pantry a bit each month, as so many people seem to be doing. We already have quite a good amount of noodles, grains (for flour), oatmeal, rice, and dry beans - this month I want to stock up on sugar and coffee. You can make all kinds of things with those essentials!
Reading...alot of fiction, especially on audio, and it's been great for getting out of my reading rut. I think I was just getting bogged down in too much nonfiction - my brain gets tired, and then I don't want to read at all. Re-finding my fiction/nonfiction balance has been good. I just got The Lost Man by Jane Harper from the library, so hoping to start that this week, and I finished a bunch of books in the last couple weeks, so a book roundup is coming!
Watching...this amazing video about fractals. Apparently the solutions to certain mathematical equations can be graphed, and when they are, they create amazingly complex shapes that repeat themselves for infinity. You have to watch the video to fully appreciate how complex and crazy this is. It's amazing to me that God hid these incredible shapes in math, for goodness sake! It reminds me of this verse:
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9
Indeed.
How has the start to your summer been, friends?
This year started out strong for my reading life, but I'm not going to lie, March threw me for a loop. I'm hoping I'll have a longer post for my Quarter Two roundup, but these are the books I've read so far this year! My favorites so far have definitely been A Chance To Die and The Wingfeather Saga!
The Wingfeather Saga: The Monster In The Hollows & The Warden And The Wolf King by Andrew Peterson - I did a whole video on Instagram about this during my month back on Instagram, but this series was so moving. The last book really wrecked me for a few days, because I was just so sorry to see the series end! It was a series hangover. I love how these books bring in some biblical ideas or themes, but in a way that is truly unique to the world of Aerwiar. This series isn't an analogy to anything, it's a totally unique story, and I loved the picture of sacrificial love at the end. As far as content goes, I will probably wait until my kids are at least 12 before letting them read this series - the first book is fairly light, but some more serious themes and plotlines come into play in the next two books, including the deaths of several characters.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - I read this as part of The Daily Wire's Third Thursday Book Club, before I realized that I wouldn't be able to watch the video live until I become an official member! Which I should probably do anyway one of these days, and then I'll be able to tell you if the Book Club lives are worthwhile - but I did have access to Ben Shapiro's notes after reading the book, and it was really interesting to read his take. Huckleberry Finn was a really fun classic to read to start the year off, and the characters won me over so quickly. I love how Mark Twain can write in the rather convoluted thoughts of a 13 (14?) year old boy, and still pull out so many interesting themes and commentaries on the Old South. Content Notes: Definitely some negative portrayals of religion (Twain was rather anti-Christian), violence, and mentions of slavery (one of the characters is a slave trying to escape) and the n-word is used alot (maybe this was a realistic portrayal of the south at that time? But still hard to read with modern eyes).
A Chance To Die by Elizabeth Elliot - This is a biography of Amy Carmichael written by Elizabeth Elliot, and I was NOT expecting to love it as much as I did! This is a really readable biography, and though I didn't know alot of details about Carmichael before this book, I feel like I know her now. Elliot really brought Amy Carmichael alive. There were so many things I highlighted in this book, and maybe I'll try to share quotes here and there on the blog, but one aspect that really stuck out to me was how difficult it was for her family members to let her go to be a missionary so far away. It was inspiring and heart-wrenching to read in some of their letters about their process of trusting their daughter into the hands of the Lord, loving God enough to give something precious up to His service, so Amy could follow His will for her life. What also struck me was the emphasis Amy placed on prayer - in all her letters home, that was the things she urged the most. This book made me want to focus more on my prayer life.
10 Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier - I listened to this book a while back and talked about it a little bit in this post. It's written by a Big Tech insider, who sees alot of problems with social media and advocates deleting your accounts for various reasons which he explains in this book. I disagree alot with him politically and on religion, but his insights into how social media interferes with our personal autonomy in subtle ways were really interesting.
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - This is one of the few of Austen's works that I hadn't read, and I enjoyed it very much! I thought the process of Fanny's personal growth was really interesting in this book. She has her own opinions from the start, but she begins with little confidence in her own judgement and we see her develop that confidence throughout the book, until the end when she is proved right for all to see. I also thought the relationship between Edmund and Mary Crawford was thought-provoking - it was a good example of the dangers of infatuation, because Edmond is blinded to the conflicts between his and Mary's worldview until a crisis situation makes it painfully obvious. I wasn't sure I was going to like this book because of a badly done movie adaptation I watched years ago, but I think this may rank up there with one of my favorite Jane Austen books!
Out Of The Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis - I decided to start reading Lewis's space trilogy, and this book is also helpful in understanding it. I won't go into detail here since I wrote about Out Of The Silent Planet in this post, but I will say that I started Perelandra, and I'm already annoyed with a few things in the beginning so I'm not sure I'm going to like it as well. We'll see.
Saving My Assasin by Virginia Prodan - I listened to this for a book club! This is a memoir written by a woman who was a lawyer for persecuted Christians in Romania before she was threatened by the communist government there and forced to flee to America. Years later she reconnects with a man who tried to assasinate her, and learns that a simple conversation she had with him ultimately led to him finding Christ. A really interesting story and peek into what it would be like to live in a country that persecutes Christians.
What's the best book you've read so far this year?
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