We had such a great time at our annual Special Weekend for Homeschooling Moms back in March! It was so much fun seeing familiar faces, reconnecting with old friends, and meeting a few new friends. Since our main goal of the event each year is to give moms a much-needed break filled with fellowship with like-minded homeschooling moms, our event was in person! The sessions are great but the best advice and encouragement happen during breaks between the moms at each table. We didn’t feel streaming it live would have the same impact. However, many of you came up to after each session and asked if I could share the sessions on upcoming podcasts for their friends who were not able to attend. So this week, our podcast is a re-recording of our second session on Saturday morning, “How to Apply the Sabbath Principle to Your Homeschooling.”
In this session (and podcast), I share just a few tidbits from the first section of my book, Just Breathe (and Take a Sip of Coffee): Homeschool in Step with God. But the majority of this session were stories and lessons learned after the book was published and during this crazy Covid year of survival schooling. Since I was able to re-record it, I was also able to add a few extra tips, stories, and advice that I didn’t have time to share at our conference.
Since this podcast was longer than most CWC podcasts, we split it into two episodes: Part 1 and Part 2.
I hope you enjoy it and I hope it encourages you in practical ways to rest on the Lord! If it blesses you, please share it with a friend who needs a little “Sabbath” in her home and homeschooling.
NEW PODCAST! Creative Writing Toolbox (Part 1 & 2)
Creative writing toolbox? What toolbox? I fly by the seat of my pants when it comes to writing!
Creative writing? What’s that? We are so busy following our strict writing curriculum we never have time for creative writing?
You have a toolbox? What’s in it? I’m always running out of ideas of things to write about?
If one, some or all of these questions sound like you, keep reading! Then listen to this week’s Coffee With Carrie Podcast, “Creative Writing Toolbox.” Then go back to Season One of CWC and listen to the episode, “Writing Lessons: YOU Can Do It!”
I like to refer to my creative writing activities as my “toolbox.” My goal is to not only help my children become competent writers but more importantly, I want my children to love the creative writing process and to appreciate the value of creative writing process. I am “building” creative thinkers, persuasive speakers, and eloquent writers. Like you, I run out of ideas and steam so it is nice to have a “toolbox” handy with ideas, activities, and resources I can just pull out and use on any give day for any given problem.
The basic tools in my creative writing toolbox are the following:
Daily Journal Writing
Story Starters
Writing Prompts
Story Titles
List Making Suggestions
Questions and “Which is Better”/ “What If”
Creative Writing Games and Word Games
Wordless Picture Books
Photographs of interesting doors, gates, bridges, and houses
Over the years, I have collected writing prompt resources and story starter ideas, websites, and games. I record simple and thought-provoking questions to ask and ideas for lists. I keep on hand picture books, poetry books, and wordless picture books and read aloud all kinds of fables, fairytales, myths, and tall tales for inspiration. I collect interesting photographs of people, places, and things. I never seem to run out of writing prompts or activities with my handy dandy toolbox full of ideas, activities, games, and books.
The main goal is to WRITE SOMETHING (anything….) EVERY DAY!
A goal like that might sound daunting but not if you have a creative writing toolbox.
For ideas on how to use the tools listed above, LISTEN to this week and next week’s Coffee With Carrie Podcast.
All of the resources mentioned in “Creative Writing Toolbox (Part 1 and 2)” are listed below. Also check out Coffee With Carrie on Instagram. Many of the activities mentioned in this episode are shared in past posts. After you read them, don’t forget to save them for future reference.
This coming Sunday begins the most solemn and important week of the year.
It is Holy Week, a week we remember the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior. Our entire Christian faith and our blessed hope of eternal life rests entirely on the events of this coming week. Paul reminds us “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
God began the plan at the beginning of time in the Garden when He promised that he would put enmity between Satan and the woman, between his offspring and hers; that the savior would crush the enemy’s head. The prophets of the OT foretold of a coming Messiah who would rule righteously forever and forever but who would come first to save his people from their sins. John the Baptist preached that the Messiah had come and was in their midst and Jesus himself revealed through actions, words, and miracles that he was indeed the Messiah promised by God.
Our faith, our lives, our existence, and our eternal hope rest completely on this week, on the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is a solemn week but also a week of celebration. During Holy Week, take a break from the “usual” to do something special.
In this week’s Coffee With Carrie Podcast, I share simple Bible readings you can read and simple activities you can do as a family each day during Holy Week. So take a break. Pour yourself a cup of coffee and join me for a little coffee break this week. After this week’s episode, you will have several ideas of how to make Holy Week impactful and special. You do NOT need the items mentioned in this week’s podcast, however, I did list them below with links in case you want to include them.
8 or 9 Plastic Eggs, piece of a palm branch, piece of bread (or cracker), 3 dimes, a thorn or nail, a wooden cross, a little pebble or stone, and a piece of cloth. Leave one egg empty for Easter.
Good Friday Symbolic Lunch:
Place on each plate the following:
a few olives (Mt. Olives and Garden of Gethsemane)
a purple Hersey Kiss (Judas’ kiss)
3 hard boiled eggs or 3 strips of chicken (Peter’s denial and cock crowing)
3 candies (or anything you want) wrapped in foil (30 pieces of silver)
2 pretzel sticks in the shape of a cross
a few salt and vinegar chips (gall or vinegar given at the cross)
Ritz cracker with spread peanut butter. Add broken pretzel pieces to the edges to create a crown of thorns
We had such a great time at our annual Special Weekend for Homeschooling Moms last weekend! It was so much fun seeing familiar faces, reconnecting with old friends, and meeting a few new ones. Since our main goal of the event each year is to give moms a much-needed break filled with fellowship with like-minded homeschooling moms, our event was in person! The sessions are great but the best advice and encouragement happen during breaks between the moms at each table. We didn’t feel streaming it live would have the same impact. However, many of you asked if I could share the sessions on upcoming podcasts for your friends who were not able to attend.
So this week, our podcast is a recording of our first session on Saturday morning, “Living in Hope: Lessons Learned From Hannah”. We dug deep into 1 Samual Chapters 1 and 2 as we learned how to apply the principles of Hannah’s hope and faith to our lives, parenting, and homeschooling.
In this week’s podcast, we learn how to:
Have Hope in the midst of taunts (1 Samual Ch 1: 1-8)
Have Hope in God’s promises ( 1 Samuel Ch 1: 9-28)
Have Hope in God’s Word & His Character: (1 Samuel 2: 1-10)
Hope while living in a lost world (1 Sam 2:11-26)
In Hannah’s story, we learn these vital truths:
God will not be mocked!
In God’s timing, He will bless the faithful and he will judge the wicked.
The Lord hears our cries and answers them.
Finally, Even Surrounded by ungodly behavior and in a godless world, our children, like Samuel, can still grew in stature, serve the Lord, and find favor in his sight.
I hope you enjoy this week’s study in God’s Word and this week’s podcast! If it blesses you, please share it with a friend who is living in a “hopeless” situation.
Homeschool Athletes: Playing (and Winning) the NCAA Game
If you homeschool and you have a serious and competitive athlete, then you don’t want to miss this week’s Coffee With Carrie Podcast. After announcing that my son committed to play baseball at the collegiate level, I received tons of emails and messages from relieved moms, dads, and high school homeschoolers! Sadly, many talented homeschool athletes give up homeschooling during the high school years thinking public or private school is the only door to collegiate sports and scholarships. This simply isn’t true! Homeschool athletes are scouted and recruited at the college level every year, even during this crazy Covid year!
In this week’s episode
explain NCAA & NAIA Eligibility Guidelines,
how to get ahead of the paper work game,
the different ways to play competitive sports as a homeschooler during the high school years,
and so much more.
So if you have a child or a teen who excels in a particular sport and you think he or she may want to pursue this in high school, in college and maybe even as a future career, then don’t put them in traditional high school just yet!
Homeschool Athletes can pursue their sports dreams and goals! Get your pen and paper ready, pour yourself a cup of coffee and hang out with me for this sports-related coffee break!
It’s NOT to late to join us for our Special Weekend for Homeschooling Moms!
Tomorrow evening, we will continue our discussion on homeschool athletes and all things HIGH SCHOOL! Friday night’s session, Homeschool High School, is a Q & A Session you don’t want to miss! You can register at the door ($55). Email c3@mdcbiz.com for more information
