Thrift Schooling

  Psalm 101 is a powerful passage where David promises his faithfulness to the Lord. He promises that he will behave wisely, walk perfectly, and destroy slanderers. Sounds noble, doesn't it? At first glance, this can look like an unattainable requirement for Christians. Is this passage saying that, like David, we must always behave wisely, walk perfectly, and (gulp) destroy our slanderers?  My suggestion is to look at this passage from two angles.  1) What is this Old Testament passage foreshadowing about the New Testament? 2) What is the heart of this passage? 1) As I mentioned earlier this week. It is important to read the Old Testament  through the lens of how it points to the New—primarily Jesus. Otherwise, we can fall into religiosity and legalism like the Pharisees, which I am definitely guilty of at times. The biblical commentary written by Matthew Henry states that this passage was a declaration written when David became king. Just like when a president in t...

  You have a blog. You finally nailed down the template that works best. You have a handful of posts up and you are ready for the Internet to enjoy your content. Then you look at your pageviews. Eight on one post. Three on another. Your monthly views are under 1k and you cannot figure out why. You are sharing your posts on social media. What is going on?   It all comes down to reaching your target demographic.   Your friends from high school following you on social media might not be interested in your content—as harsh as that might sound, it just might not resonate with them. Your best friend from high school might be a business woman while you are a stay-at-home mom—or vice-versa. Sure, you will gain a few cheerleaders to help encourage you along your blogging journey but if you want to grow your blog beyond just a family affair, you will need to take a few extra steps. Readers in your demographic are out there—you just need to find them.  One way to reach readers ...

  The  CSB Jesus Daily Bible  is the Bible that helps you read through the entire Bible in a year keeping Jesus at the center of each day. This Bible includes a 52-week, Christ-focused, guided reading plan that you can join at any point during the year . Day by day, you'll thematically study Scripture through a weekly introduction, helpful articles and infographics, and a weekly summary to help you understand Jesus’s central role from Genesis to Revelation. With this Bible, you can see how every page of God’s Word points to the bigger story of Jesus . This might seem like an obvious concept. It's all about Jesus, right? Yet I am reminded of Paul's warning in the New Testament: You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified — Galatians 3:1   Through many modern doctrines, music, teachings, and beliefs the center is man. It is about us. What God can do for me. How can I read myself into the Scrip...

Eagerly awaiting the storm clouds to pass, two dozen kids sat wondering if they would get into the air. Several privately owned jets were expected to arrive that morning, but due to poor weather conditions, they had been delayed. A volunteer with the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) assured the children that the weather would clear up.   Read more in The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine . Stop by again next Monday for another  Thrift Schooling Monday Memory  where I share my published content on other websites created to encourage, equip, and edify homeschooling families.

  Homeschooling is legal is all 50 states—yet each state has its own laws and requirements. Some states, such as New Jersey are extremely lax. While its neighbor, Pennsylvania, is one of the strictest in the nation. As a public school graduate from New York state, I will never forget when I first became a Christian in my early twenties and heard people refuting evolution. The speaker made the comment,  “ The question is not if we should teach evolution or creation in public schools. The question is if we should even have public schools . ”   What did that even mean? I could not wrap my brain around it until I could. Until I did. Until I began homeschooling. Of course eliminating the public school system is not something I am going to entertain in my brain right now, but eliminating it from my life is .  When I first began homeschooling over a decade ago in Virginia I was presented with two options.  1. Notice of Intent : This is where I would have to provid...

  When I signed up for my first free Blogger.com account in 2010, I was eager to start monetizing. Since I was going to be online, I might as well make an extra buck or two to buy that curriculum I had been eying. That was my mindset back in the day. The first order of business was picking out my URL. The second order of business was organizing the settings. Did I want to have Google Ads popping up on my site? Did I want to have an extra source of passive income dropping into my account? Of course! I began placing the ads in my sidebar, at the end of each post, and even within posts. This was going to be great—or so I thought.  Even though there were some settings that I could fine tune—I did not understand the moral cost—which would become more evident over the years . If you look at my sidebar currently, you will see ads, but they are not created by Google. These have been placed there intentionally by yours truly. ( Even the Quick Spot ad. It says something about Google ads...

  The creators of the documentary Americans With No Address hope to use this film to challenge preconceptions about homelessness, prompt viewers to confront their biases, and inspire broader conversations about policy reform, community engagement, and empathy toward those who are homeless. .  The Americans With No Address team is on a mission to raise awareness and offer  solutions to homelessness in America. Through a comprehensive five-production approach, including the documentary Americans With No Address and the feature film No Address which will be coming to theaters nationwide on February 28, they  aim to break the cycle of homelessness.  These two films are part of a broader effort  to build empathy and compassion for those experiencing homelessness .  In addition  to these powerful films, they have the novelization of the award-winning screenplay,  a soundtrack, and an interactive study guide that guides people who want ...

  In a crumbling Soviet Union, the Petrosyan family are outcasts—wherever they go. Armenian heritage marks them for discrimination both at home in Azer Baijan and in Russia. Based on a riveting true story of faith and hope set amid great oppression . . . in the shadow of exile, hope became their home. As a middle-aged homeschooling mom I come in contact with more and more women who are struggling with chronic pain. Sure, on the outside everything appears to be fine and normal but the day to day is not so easy. You might see a woman smiling on the outside but crying on the inside as the pain consumes her. The same goes with mental turmoil. These issues came to my mind as I watched this film . When seeking asylum from discrimination in their home country and in Russia, everything seemed fine on the surface. The courts deal with asylum cases all of the time and they know which questions to ask—or so they think. Are the lawyers just money hungry or do they genuinely care about those w...

The task of teaching our kids how to live the self-sufficient lifestyle might seem insurmountable with technology surrounding us on all levels. Technology has become so integrated into our daily lives that even many of us who have adopted many traditional methods of living a self-sufficient lifestyle depend on it in many ways.  Read more in The Homeschool Minute .  Stop by again next Monday for another  Thrift Schooling Monday Memory  where I share my published content on other websites created to encourage, equip, and edify homeschooling families.

  When snow hits our area I usually let out a sigh of relief. My kids generally live outdoors so when it is bitter cold, with no snow, they tend to get stir-crazy. As soon as the snow hits (the days can be counted on one hand usually each year—zero last year), then they are outside for hours. Time for me to warm up a hot cocoa and snuggle up with a good book (I read The Hidden Hand by E.D.E.N. Southworth during this last snowstorm—my new favorite piece of literature!) This year, the snow has been seeming to last a little longer than normal. One day, my youngest asked me in passing if I would go out to have a snowball fight with him. His older siblings were worn out. To his surprise, I said, “Yes”, while grabbing my winter coat and gloves. You should have seen his face. I'm from upstate NY living in Southwestern Virginia. I miss snow!! Of course, he doesn't really understand that. He doesn't know about the hours spent sledding down the hill at the end of my road, ice skatin...

  Our first year selling at the local farmer's market was brutal. Customers would come in, walk right past us, and go to another vendor with the exact same products for a higher price. We were scratching our heads for weeks. Sure, we understood that some customers prefer to stay loyal to vendors that they have seen year after year yet we saw the same trend at different farmer's markets that first year and we were puzzled. Then, move on into year two and our sales began to pick up. After speaking with other vendors we realized that some people just want to know that you are serious. They prefer a familiar face. They might visit several markets in the area and if they see you around—you are legit. So that is what we did. We signed up for several in the area plus a craft show here or there. We figured if we got our name out there that it would help.  What didn't help though was our conviction against having a Facebook account—for business or even ourselves. People are online a...

  Our family once traveled from Canada to Mexico in one summer—with a nine-month old! I'm not complaining though because we had an incredible vehicle, a Sprinter van with enough seats for the whole family plus a queen size bed in the back. It certainly was an upgrade from the minivan without the fuel costs of an RV. That was a summer to remember filled with plenty of memories! Although we did not make it to all of our planned stops, I figure that we still have eleven more years of homeschooling . That sounds overwhelming considering I've already graduated one and will graduate two more in a few years but I'd rather look at the years ahead as an opportunity—an opportunity for adventure! Though I wish we could visit all fifty states during the next eleven years (with the graduates tagging along, of course!) it simply isn't practical. I know plenty of families do it, but as homesteaders with milk cows and a running greenhouse, we can hardly sneak away for a weekend trip m...

  Whatever your reason might be for learning homesteading skills, whether it is for educational purposes or because you desire a lifestyle change, know that you are not alone in this desire. Read more in The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine . Stop by again next Monday for another  Thrift Schooling Monday Memory  where I share my published content on other websites created to encourage, equip, and edify homeschooling families.