Labor Day: Books to Get Your Kids Working!
“Of course ‘successful careers’ are important, but I would suggest thinking of them in the very different Christian paradigm of vocation. Not, what career should I choose that will make me successful in the sense of making a lot of money, but what has God equipped me to do best and what is He calling…
Read MoreBooks-to-Movies Contest: We Have a Winner!
When we teamed up with Reelthinking.wordpress.com, Janie and I hoped there would be a little interest in the subject. Little did we know that in response to our contest, our guest and readers combined would produce over 50 suggestions of good books made into movies, all excellent for family viewing! I am so grateful to…
Read MoreOne More Movie Post: The Lightning Thief
In our continuing tradition of slopping over themes to the following week, I wanted to weigh in one more time on our book/movie emphasis. Partly because John Kwasny’s excellent post from last Monday inspired me to click on over to Netflix and queue up a few DVDs I’d been intending to watch. What came first…
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Ted Tripp’s Worship Principle
The basic premise of Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Ted Tripp is this: “Behavior is heart-driven, therefore, correction, discipline, and training—all parenting—must be addressed to the heart. The fundamental task of parenting is shepherding the hearts of your children.” And that, he goes on to say in Chapter 3, is essentially an issue of worship.…
Read MoreBooks-to-Movies: Training “Reel Thinkers”
Back-to-school time means hitting the books and living more structured days. All the more reason to look forward to a good, family movie at the end of the week! We’ve been living in The Secret Garden at my house for sometime, an experience which includes an abridged version of the book, an audiobook we’ve just…
Read MoreThat Hideous Strength 4: Denouement
For earlier posts, start with the Introduction. Denouement is not a common word in everyday conversation, so for a long time I didn’t know how to pronounce it. It’s day-noo-MAHN (go easy on the final n). It’s the resolution, or (according to my dictionary), “the events following the climax of a drama or novel in…
Read MoreThe Abolition of Man, Part Three
Part One. Part Two. In the second essay of The Abolition of Man, “The Way,” Lewis showed that humanity seemed to have only one code of ethics, one set of standards for determining what’s good. Though it goes by many names, western tradition calls it Natural Law. Lewis tagged it the Tao, as a way of…
Read MoreHelp For Struggling Readers: Dyslexia and Beyond
For several years before I became a parent, I worked part-time in The Literacy Council of Sumner County (LCSC). Like most non-profit organizations, it was cash-strapped, barely-staffed, and run by folks who were absolutely devoted to the cause of helping their neighbor. When I first showed up as a volunteer, I made my way to…
Read MoreNational Poem in My Pocket Day
Yesterday as I was emptying the contents of my husbands’ pockets and my own, preparing our clothes for the Great Machinated Flume Ride that is our washing machine, I found some unusual pocketry. I’m used to finding hairbands and pennies and small toys, but yesterday’s find caused me to pause and reflect. And no, I…
Read MoreThat Hideous Strength 3: Climax
Previous posts: Introduction, Part One: Setup, Part Two: Development. Climax? Isn’t it a little early for that? Most of us have the idea that the climax is a high point of the story (as the word would seem to suggest), after which nothing is left but tying up loose ends. But there’s another way to…
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