A few weeks ago, I shared ideas, over here, to make summer with children at home a satisfying time with just the right amount of structure and free time. I just saw this video by Julie Kreke, a veteran homeschooling mom of 10. She has some great ideas so I’m passing them on. She gives the following ideas for summer learning challenges. Watch below to get all the details.
Math Challenge. The app she recommends is here, from the Good and the Beautiful.
Reading Challenge
Journal Writing Challenge
Typing Challenge. also using a resource from the Good and the Beautiful.
Treasure Box
Here are more of Julie’s links, copied and pasted from YouTube:
If you want some songs to teach multiplication facts without having your child using a screen/app, here are some resources I recommend.
The Mathusee skip counting songs. This is what I used with my children.
Mathusee has two versions.
Here’s the Bible version:
Then here’s the science and literature version:
Then Janeen Brady of Brite Music has the Times to Times songs. They have a depth of musicality the ones above don’t. See the playlist here. I tell the story behind it here. Several years ago, I got to hear Janeen play some of her fun music on the piano in person. What a treat!
Today’s idea to celebrate America 250 is to listen to this music with your family, especially if you have children. It’s the Take Your Hat Off album by Janeen Brady of Brite Music fame. When I go on outings with my grandsons, I love to play this in the car on my phone. It teaches you a summary of the Revolutionary War, the basic features of the U.S. Constitution, and the words to the preamble to the Constitution. So delightful and patriotic!
Want more of Janeen? Go here to learn about her song to teach the times tables.
Want more of how to celebrate America 250? Go here.
Did you hear about this? Some people are inviting all American citizens to celebrate America’s 250th birthday by having a potluck on Sunday July 5th. Go here to learn more. Sounds fun!
I’ve been thinking a lot about friendship lately because of a recent Sunday School lesson on the famous friendship between David and Jonathan in the Old Testament of the Bible. This was in last week’s reading for the Come Follow Christ study guide for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Whenever I start to get too much in my head or depressed, I realize I haven’t been connecting with friends as much as I like. When I connect with my friends, I always come away feeling happier. I’ve been so blessed to have good friends when I was a child and teen. When I became I mom, I met a wonderful group of friends through La Leche League, over 30 years ago. We started having potluck lunches or dinners 3-6 times a year outside of La Leche League meetings. These are my Veggie Gals, and we still get together. Some of us have left the group, and new ones have joined, but the core group of about 6 of us has stayed the same. They provide so much support, laughter, joy and education for me. We pray for each other and cry together. I’m so grateful for them.
I’ve also been blessed to find friends in the homeschooling world, new friends when I moved to Arizona and lived there for 5 years, and then new friends when I moved back to Utah. I have been so blessed by all of them. It’s so comforting to know that I can reach out any time and get help from my friends.
My Sunday School teacher put these questions on the board:
“Who has been a true friend to me?”
“Who needs my friendship?”
“How can I be a better friend?”
All good questions for all of us to ponder and pray about.
She, the teacher, gave six principles of friendship:
Trust
Closeness
Vulnerability
Loyalty- the person will stay a friend even if it’s hard
Unity
She didn’t get to the last point because we ran out of time, but I’m thinking maybe this last principle is “Accountability.” Good friends hold each other accountable to truth. They are not afraid of bringing up truth, in a nice, diplomatic way. Not to hurt us but to help us.
A few people in the class shared stories of finding friends. The teacher and one other member each told a story of desperately wanting a friend, and then within a week, a friend showed up! Then I told my daughter about that and she said a similar thing has happened for her.
God wants us to have friends! Friendship is a principle of living the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you don’t have a close friend, I encourage you to pray and ask God for a friend and He will send one to you. Part of that process might be you following a prompting from the Holy Spirit to reach out to someone, to be the one who initiates the friendship. As my Young Women leader used to say when I was in high school, “To have a friend you must be a friend.”
One of my neighbors is famous in our neighborhood for saying over the pulpit at church “One of the greatest gifts God wants to give to us is each other.” Amen!
I love these four simple ways to teach children about what Independence Day is all about. They come from Sheri, homeschooling mom of 10 over at ourlifehomeschooling.com. Watch below and learn, or go to Sheri’s blog here. She’s a kindred spirit for sure, as just like I have, she suggests reading Chapter 8 of Little Town on the Prairie to celebrate the holiday. That’s because it talks about who is the king of America really is as the Ingalls Family celebrates Independence Day.
I watched this video below by Eric Metaxas yesterday. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m so grateful he is willing to stand for truth and say that there can be no liberty without an acknowledgement of God and maintaining a connection to God. He shares that most of the Founders believed in God and that our liberty comes from God. This truth fits right in with the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Some verses in that book point out that America is a land that is not supposed to have any earthly kings. The only king for America is Jesus Christ. See 2 Nephi 10:7-14.
See specifically verses 10-14, copied below. Note that “this land” means the continent, North America, on which the plates were found that were translated into the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ by the prophet Joseph Smith.
10 But behold, this land, said God, shall be a land of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land.
11 And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles.
12 And I will fortify this land against all other nations.
13 And he that fighteth against Zion shall perish, saith God.
14 For he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish, for I, the Lord, the king of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto them forever, that hear my words.
So, yes no king except God the Son, Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten son of Heavenly Father! Preach it Mr. Metaxas! If we lose our obedience to God we will no longer have liberty, we will be in bondage. Liberty does not come from a president, from an earthly king, from government, or from any other human. That’s what America’s founding was about. That’s what the Revolutionary War was about.
I look forward to reading his new book, shown above. Get it here.
Want more ideas for celebrating America 250?
Go here and read the top three posts for a patriotic readathon going on right now in June 2026, patriotic morning basket ideas, and a list of 250 books to read.
Today we had stake conference. That’s a meeting where a stake, or a group of about 2000-3000 members in the same geographical area of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gather for sermons and strengthening from fellow Saints. This meeting is held twice a year. All the other Sunday meetings are with a much smaller unit. I enjoyed hearing from the local mission leader couple. They are from Australia. The wife spoke about how Australian English sometimes has different spellings than American English. She said she’s still getting used to it. She prefers the Australian spelling of “Savior” which is “Saviour.” She said that the “-our” at the end reminds her that Jesus Christ is “our” older brother. I love that. Think of the ideal older brother, always kind, patient, fun to play games with, fun to talk to, always handy, always helpful, always wanting the best for you. Never mean. Then multiply that infinite times and you have our ideal older spiritual brother, the Firstborn, the Only Begotten of Heavenly Father, our Savior/Saviour, Jesus Christ.
That’s the Jesus I believe in, a loving brother who loves us all so much that He willingly atoned for our sins. Because He did that, he knows how I feel during this trial. He is walking with me through this. I was assured more than once today at stake conference that Jesus walks with us, as we walk with Him. I’m so grateful to feel the Savior spiritually walking with me. One thing He gives all of us to feel Him walking with us is inspired music. I have been enjoying some spiritual music lately to help me through the deepest, hardest, most heartbreaking trial of my life.
Another thing that is helping me is nature. As I walked by the flowers above at the top of this post after church last week I had an impression from the Holy Ghost. Later on I prayed about that impression and felt more of its truth. That truth is helping me hugely through the trial.
Here is some of the music I’ve been especially enjoying lately.
First, songs from the Scriptures Scouts. Decades ago I got the sheet music from one of the composers, Melanie Hoffman. I finally got the music better organized to be more easily played. Last Sunday I came home from church and sat down and played so many of the songs. It felt so good, it was balm to my soul. Tears flowed from my eyes as my fingers ran over the keys and I sang the gentle songs of faith in Jesus Christ.
Some of the music is above and below.
Next, “The Deep, Deep Love Of Jesus”
I fell in love with this song when I sang it in my church choir a few months ago. Then just last Saturday night, right before bed, I had just read about it in a novel, as a song the characters in the novel sing in church. Then the next day, in my very own church service, we sang it as our opening hymn! I felt God was winking at me, saying, “I know how much you love this song, so I made it pop up in your life twice within 12 hours without you searching for it. You’re welcome!
Then some music from the Readers’ Digest Songs of Faith and Joy Songbook which I found when thrifting in May. This book is a goldmine of spiritual gems!
“Whither Thou Goest” a song about Ruth and Naomi. Perry Como sings it in the version below.
“Somebody Bigger Than You and I”
“I Found the Answer”
Then I just love, love this song from the Osmonds. When you first hear it, you might think it’s about romantic love. It’s actually about letting Jesus into your life. I put an older version with much younger Osmonds from the 70s and then a later version when they are decades older.
This trial has made sleep difficult. I prayed and asked my close friends to pray for me. After that request, the nights I have had since then have been much better. One of the nights I prayed and asked for delicious sleep. God answered my prayer! That night I had a very hopeful dream about this trial resolving. What a tender mercy which I’m so grateful for!
I’m so grateful for good friends, for prayer, for music, for nature, for family, and most of all for Jesus who makes it all possible.
Do the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ and the temple ceremonies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have signs and types of Jesus Christ for the Last Days? How do they testify of Jesus Christ?
Watch below and find out for yourself from presenter Morgan Philpot. These opinions are his. He does not represent the Church. Search out the scriptures that he mentions on our own, pray and decide for yourself.
Here is a Google spreadsheet with a timeline of events from the Book of Mormon that paralell modern history events.
Here is the slide deck for the Part I video below.
Want to learn more spiritual symbolism?
Go here to learn from Andrea Woodmansee regarding women and veils in the temple.
Go here to learn about the plan of salvation is embedded in ancient Hebrew wedding symbolism.
Want to learn more about the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ? Go here for fun facts, trivia, and stories of people whose lives have changed by reading and praying about the book. I testify the book is true, and that it is the best book to guide us through these confusing, chaotic days, to bring us to Jesus.
Today’s Celebrate America 250 idea is to join the Red, White and June Readathon. Watch below to learn the details. If you complete the challenge, you can enter a drawing to win an amazon gift card worth $76! Deadline to enter is July 4, 2026 so you you’ve got a month to get all the reading done!
The idea is to read one book from each category shown in the graphic below to complete the challenge. Get the Red, White, & June Readathon graphic here. Be sure to watch the video above to learn how to enter the drawing. The video will also explain the category names.
Image Credit: Olde American Spirit YouTube Channel
I’ve pictured some of the books recommended here by the booktuber collaborators sponsoring the challenge, but be sure to watch the video below to get even more recommend-ations to get started.
Then below are even more recommendations for this challenge from The Olde American Spirit YouTube Channel.
Thank you to the above mentioned ladies for sponsoring this amazing readathon and providing the recommendations.
Want a HUGE list to celebrate America 250? Go here to get a broader list of books about American history and culture, not just the Revolutionary War era. It’s curated by a homeschooling mom, a great source for recommendations!
Back in December 2025, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that it approves of other translations of the Bible besides what translation it has previously only endorsed, the King James Version.
I recently found an ESV Bible when thrifting and gifted it to one my children for Easter, shown below. I’m eager to dive in more and find out the different meanings that different translations of the same verse give me. So far I haven’t found any differences.
In the video below BYU religion professor and popular speaker John Hilton III explores the question “Which Bible should I use?”
Tree of Life Mothering 