Credit for Images Above and Just Below: Blossom Schoolhouse YouTube Channel
If you don’t know what a Morning Basket is, go here. Let’s talk about ideas for a summer morning basket. These are are more for ages 8 and up. If you want ideas for under 8 scroll to the very bottom of this post. I love using Morning Basket time to share a sense of wonder for all that is good, true and beautiful. It’s just such a fun, sustainable way to share poetry, art, science, history, and more, all while snuggled on the couch, or now that it’s summer, somewhere outside enjoying the fresh air.
It’s truly a lovely way to begin the day. But don’t get hung up on the time of day you use it. It can also be used in the afternoon or evening. If used in the morning, you can use it to gently transition you and your children from sleep to wakefulness. Or use it during breakfast time while the kiddos are eating (after you’ve eaten earlier since you will be reading/talking and not eating yourself) or use it after the breakfast dishes are done.
What’s most important about a Morning Basket? Two things:
1. Being consistent in using it most or many of the days of the week
2. Using it to cultivate wonder and connection.
If you see glazed over eyes or resistance, switch out the contents until you see a spark in your child’s eyes. Let them pick out instrumental music to play softly in the background. If hands are fidgety and you are not eating food during this time, have some fidget toys, coloring/drawing/activity books that don’t take much thinking, or handicrafts available.
OK, let’s talk about some books and games to put in your Morning Basket for summer. If your children are younger, definitely don’t use all these ideas. If your children are older, than they may have the attention span for all of these ideas I list below. You know your children best of course and can plan accordingly. Feel free to add in the things you and your children love to learn about.
-Start with today’s date and what happened on this day in history. I like to do this year-round for the start of Morning Basket time. The books above and below are sample resources, the one above geared more for younger folk and the one below for older, since it’s black and white and has few pictures/illustrations. Be prepared to edit on the fly as you read aloud the events, according to the sensitivities and attention span of your children.
-Tell a scripture story (you can use the scripture story books sold by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here. If you want to get fancy and it would appeal to your young children, use the flannelboard figures collected over here. That’s a link to the website of veteran homeschooling mom of many, Montserrat Wadsworth. She has links there to all the flannelboard stories published by the Church in the Friend magazine, and they are already colored! So amazing! Thank you Monteserrat! (Decades ago when I was a young mom of 3, my sweet sister-in-law printed the black and white figures out, colored them, and mounted them on flannel, and put them all in a bag with a little flannelboard, for a Christmas gift to me. I can only imagine the hours she spent coloring these figures to make this gift of labor and love. We are so blessed by technology these days to save time coloring such things!)
-Read one contemporary faith-in-God promoting story from the Church magazines. Read for free online here or in the Gospel Library app on your phone, subscribe for hard copy issues here. I have some of the stories organized in monthly/seasonal themes in my free devotionals ebook here. The Friend is for children ages 3-11, For Strength of Youth is for ages 11-18, and the Liahona is for adults.
-Sing a hymn or seasonal song, and/or learn the history of hymns, one a day. The Mr. Pipes books make it fun. (My devotionals ebook here has gospel-themed songs arranged by seasons and holidays)
Image Credit: Sheri at ourlifehomeschooling.com
-Do memorization work, yay! (This is a reminder to me to get back to doing with this with my son.) Watch a video by my friend LaDawn Jacob about the benefits of memorization below.
+scripture memorization, where you work on memorizing one scripture together (LaDawn Jacob’s free scripture collection is here). Then whenever you let your child use an electronic device later in the day and week, have them recite the scripture before they get to use the device.
This book is also a great guide for memorization.
+poetry sharing and/or memorization (go here for LaDawn Jacob’s free poetry collection).
Here’s a video above that talks about all the interesting things you can memorize with your children, thanks to Sheri of ourlifehomeschooling.com (I love watching her videos, she has such a peaceful, joyful and calming spirit.) Then over here is a list from Pam Barnhill of things to memorize. Pam tells how she does memory work in her homeschool below.
-Read one classic picture book a day. You get bonus points of delight if you read something that fits in with the season (summertime themed picture books are here, and then I have some patriotic picture books displayed here)
-Read a patriotic story from the book above or below. If your children are younger, than skip the one above. The one below is better suited to younger children.
This video below shows a ton of fun American patriotic resources for a summer morning basket.
-Learn from a page or two a day from a book about nature, such as one of those below.
-Study a card or a page a day about the night sky.
Read one or two pages a day about a National Park.
I’ve found some of these at thrift stores.
-Play a short card game like Professor Noggins games, Laurence King nature-themed bingo or card games, or a math or word game to sharpen those language and math skills.
Do a Mad Libs/Ad Libs/Fill in the Blank game to learn/review grammar. When I was young, I loved doing these, laughing uproariously at the results. They come in all sorts of summer themes: camping, animals, National Parks, etc. Keep a pencil in the basket to go with it.
End your Morning Basket time with a summer-themed read aloud of a chapter book, go here and here for suggested titles. If you aren’t used to reading aloud, start with 5 minutes a day and gradually lengthen the time. Reading aloud picture books and chapter books is the best part about homeschooling! Go here for more reading aloud resources here on my blog.
Happy Morning Basket time to you! It’s one of the best parts of homeschooling, but you don’t have to homeschool to enjoy it. You can use it regardless of where your children attend school.
P.S. Moms can have Morning Baskets too. Go here to see some of those.
What is the truth about Heavenly Mother? These videos below and the book above explore what God has revealed in this latter-day dispensation. I’m super excited to get a copy of the book above, which is mentioned in the first video below. I know Valerie Hudson Cassler from my La Leche League Leader days. She used to be a professor at BYU as well as a La Leche League Leader, when she lived in Utah. Now she is a professor at Texas A&M University. (See her website here.)
It’s so important we get the truth about women right, which is that women are worthy of respect just as men are worthy of respect. We are all children of Heavenly Parents. Women are not second-class citizens. It has been so easy for women to feel this way because of the way we have been dismissed, disrespected, and discriminated against, probably in large part because of they myths about Eve. I remember growing up in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wondering why girls didn’t have a scouting program in the church when boys did. It was certainly easy to feel second class because of that reason by itself. I don’t have an answer for why the gap existed. I am thrilled that the Church finally let go of sponsoring a pack or troop of the Cub and Boy Scouts of America in every unit.
Eve did not make a mistake when she partook of the fruit. Go here for more about that. To receive the highest degree of glory, women and men get to work together as partners. It is a glorious thing to be a mother and a wife, an equal partner with a husband in creating a marriage on earth as a nucleus of creative exalted glory for eternity. My heart grieves for all women who are not treated as equals in their marriage.
Dr. Hudson Cassler tells a little bit of her story here. Below is an excerpt from that article:
“After decades of studying LDS doctrine concerning women (and carefully distinguishing it from LDS cultural understandings and practices, which in quite a few cases contradict that doctrine), I have been liberated as a woman from the erroneous and harmful beliefs about women that haunt those raised in Abrahamic traditions. How remarkable and in some senses ironic it still seems to me to have experienced “women’s lib” by conversion to Mormonism!”
So interesting right? That’s to whet your appetite for what’s in the videos below with presenter Annalee Hawley.
“PART 1 (of 3 Parts) Are there deceits to the Doctrine about Mother In Heaven? Or were there misdirections in a culture? Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are unique in knowing that we have a Heavenly Family of origin, as well as Heavenly Parents that we knew in a Pre-mortal world! How glorious this doctrine is! No matter the trials and fractures we experience in this life, we ALL BELONG to Heaven, through our Savior Jesus Christ. Isn’t it interesting that in every language and culture, that our Earth is Female (not that we believe Mother in Heaven IS the earth), but why would she not be included in our Earth Schooling, and in Nature (MOTHER NATURE…yes, in EVERY CULTURE)? These are questions perhaps for another time, but we hope you enjoy a foundational presentation on several aspects we DO know about MOTHER IN HEAVEN. Do we realize that when we pray to “Elohim” (plural for God our Father AND MOTHER) that our Eternal Mother is INCLUDED too? Pray with that in mind, knowing that we all were PRESENT IN THE COUNCILS OF THE GODS….with our spirit-Eternal PARENTS and all the great and noble souls who agreed to come to this Earth in order to 1- Gain a physical body (like our Eternal Parents have), 2- To grow and progress, and to 3) “Experience CREATING our own families, as we all are The Family of God (even if we don’t know it yet. Think of all the great literature that suggest we are ALL joint-heirs in a great Family Trust – Dickens, Bronte Sisters, Jane Eyre, Cinderella stories, David Copperfield, Oliver, just to name a few)… “
Summary of Part 2:
“What do we know about our HEAVENLY PARENTS & FAMILY? Annalee sets forth important doctrinal points about MOTHER IN HEAVEN, distinguishing where many MYTHS have arisen about her, and what questions have caused women of the Restoration, and perhaps ALL WOMEN concern at times. This topic touches on IDENTITY, HISTORY, and DOCTRINE vs. Ideological differences over time from a perspective of Restored Truths in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.”
Summary of Part 3:
“Do you feel left out of the important telling of REAL HISTORY? Do you wonder about your true identity, hidden from most human beings in so many ways? Fear no more. We have ALWAYS had Divine modeling and connection to our Divine origin. As always, we notice there is ORDER in the Universe and on this Planet we call our home and Earth School. If you wonder why you are here, where you came from, and where you are going, this Series by Annalee Hawley is not only instructive, but inspiring. Keep an open heart, but seek for wisdom. There are many who would deceive (many with good intentions). Let’s see how we can seek for our own ‘Divine Blueprint’ and claim it. Ask for guidance. Clarity counts.”
Want to learn more about Mother in Heaven? Go here.
I had hoped to blog about my Splendid Spring Mother Curriculum by now. I enjoyed a Merry Christmas Mother curriculum as seen here, and a Wondrous Winter one, shown here. I haven’t shared my spring one yet. In the meantime, I’m sharing today about some lovely music and books to add more sparkle to your springtime days, especially if you are homeschooling. This is the most wonderful time of year as the standard public school year winds down and whatever classes we are doing that are tied to that schedule wind down as well. It’s a great time to make a new schedule for your personal learning!
The video below by Olivia Grace Cook shows some books similar to Anne of Green Gables for your spring reads.
Here are the books mentioned in the video.
She recommends all the volumes in the Emma M. Lion series.
I have read most of these books, and the ones I haven’t read (the two castle books and the horse book) have been recommended to me by people I trust so I recommend those too. The Emma Lion Vol. 1 ended too abruptly for me with an unsatisfying ending, but it’s part of a series so the first book was just an intro to her story. I have read Vol 2 and Vol 3 and enjoyed those more. They are all the rage right now. The video above recommends the whole series (9 so far with more to come). The Susan Branch books are a trilogy. They do show a couple living together without marriage and then the heartbreak that comes when the relationship falls apart. I review some of Susan Branch’s cookbooks here and here. These cookbooks are a delight to read!
I’ve enjoyed most of those books above as they are “girly” but none of the them show a mother in the trenches, finding joy in ordinary marriage and mothering/homeschooling life.
So I add to those books above this one below as a super great, inspiring read for homeschooling moms. The author, Sarah Janisse Brown, shows the joy that comes from pursuing chaste, Christian-based courtship, marriage, and motherhood. She has accomplished so much: being a teen model for Seventeen magazine, being homeschooled as a child, marriage, motherhood to 15 children, including adoption of 5 from Ukraine, homeschooling the 15 children, helping her oldest daughter with dyslexia, writing books, owning and running a successful business publishing her books, and public speaking. Now she is running for Congress in Indiana. Amazing! To think that she failed third grade!
Now how about some lovely music to listen to while you read? Here is some springtime-themed music below. When you hear it, you will feel like you are frolicking with Peter Rabbit in a garden. I’ve been listening to it as I do a drawing lesson each morning with the book below while my 16 year old son does his math in Mathusee. So dreamy!
Is it time to get a few spring/summery items of clothing, decor, or books? You can get those things for a fraction of the cost at thrift stores. Here is Rachel, of the Sweet and Simple Home YouTube Channel, with some thrift hauls for spring and summer.
I can’t mention spring culture without including a book about gardening. So here’s a gardening book, by the gardening/farming/homesteading pro William DeMille. Go here to watch a video of him presenting some of what’s in this book.
Lastly, here’s another book for your spring mother culture, appropriately called Mother Culture, by Karen Andreola. I’m hosting a random giveaway of the book this month of May 2026. Go here to read my review and enter the random drawing of the giveaway.
Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers and mothers-to-be! Where would we be without mothers? We wouldn’t be here. They are so indispensable to life. Fathers too of course. Ideally, they are a team.
Here are some memories of my mom with some videos that give inspiring counsel for mothers or show inspiring stories of mothering.
Some of my favorite memories of my mom are the following:
-when I started kindergarten I remember my mom curled my hair often the night before school and then styled it the next morning to look wonderful with her artful touch.
-she also sewed almost all of my clothes for the first few years of my public school career. I have fond memories of the different jumpers, tops, and dresses she sewed for me. I felt like a princess going off to school with my beautiful hair and clothes.
-when I was 5-7 I had to have a series of doctor visits culminating in a surgery, where I was hospitalized for 2 weeks. My mom always coached me through theses visits and procedures, including injections with needles. I remember her distracting me one particular time in a doctor’s office, telling me to look at the USA map on the wall as the needle was about to go in, asking me where Nevada was. (Nevada was her home state.) I felt such a calming presence with her there.
-also in my young years ages 5-12 I saw my mom paint and create beautiful art. That set an example for me, cast a vision for me, and inspired me to be an artist. I drew a lot of pictures when young then put drawing aside to focus on other interests as I went through jr high, high school, and college. But that creative seed she planted in my heart by me watching her is finally blossoming forth as I’ve delved into learning to draw for the past 18 months or so. Eventually I will get into painting. I also always knew my mom studied art in college and graduated from college. Knowing that she graduated from college cast another vision for me to graduate from college, which I did.
-I remember living in Illinois when I was about 4, and it was that week between Christmas and New Year’s. I remember my mom playing with my older brother, who was 6, using a Batman toy and other action figures on the couch in the living room. That cast a vision for me to be OK with playing with my own children. I wish I had played more with my own children but felt like I hardly had the time, so I’m making up for it more by playing with my grandchildren.
-my mom read aloud to us. I remember her reading the picture books above and below, among many other books. When I was 8-9 we lived in upstate New York. My mom read aloud Little Women to my sisters and me at bedtime. That planted a seed in my heart for that book and others by Louisa May Alcott. (I have blogged a lot about that love, see all my posts here.)
-I remember helping my mom in her kindergarten class as an aide, getting high school credit, for my whole senior year. She has always had a special love for little children and helping them learn. It was fun to see how she organized her classroom and how much those little children adored her.
-My mom (and dad) paid for piano lessons for years starting in first grade, off and on till I graduated from high school, and violin lessons when I was in high school. I never knew she could also play the piano until I was a teen, because they were so busy with work and family responsibilities. (Then when I was an adult, mother of 5 maybe, I discovered that my dad can play the piano too!) I enjoy creating music to this day on piano, violin and organ, and credit for my parents for paying for my lessons. I am not a natural at music and would not have picked up on it on my own without lessons.
-I remember camping at Yellowstone with my family when I was about 10. I remember being inside the tent and my mom was setting up sleeping bags and cracked some kind of joke. That was the first time I realized my mom has a sense of humor.
-My mom has helped me out after the birth of each of my children, often being there in labor to give me moral support. It was so fabulous to go be there last August when I assumed that role and watched and helped my daughter during her labor and childbirth, and then babysit my older grandchildren afterwards, just like my mom did for me.
-When I was in the throes of young motherhood, homescholing in Layton UT with seven children at home my mom would randomly offer to come visit and help out with my kiddos. She has babysat for me through the years at her home too. I so much appreciate the breaks she gave me.
So thank you mom for guiding me through the years and helping me so much when I became a mom!
Mothers have so much influence by setting down habits for their children for life. I’ve never wanted to be a CEO of a company or any other high-powered career outside the home when my children were young because I knew I had all the power I wanted for eternity being a wife and mother. I have enjoyed being joint CEO with my husband of our family, with the high-powered career of being a Queen and Mother in my home.
Here are some mothers I spotlighted last year who have made tremendous difference as mothers, following the natural seasons of a mother’s life.
Here is my review of one of my favorite inspiring books for mothers, A Lantern in Her Hand.
As a Gen Xer, I am old enough to remember the Osmonds, watching them sing and dance on TV. I’ve always loved their music and have fond memories of the Donny and Marie show. I never had the Donny and Marie fashion dolls (like Barbie dolls) but some of my friends did.
Hey I never knew about the Jimmy doll! Photo Credit: ebay.com
Watching the Osmonds reminds me of my childhood and the tame, peaceful way the world was compared to now. Sure, we had Watergate and Vietnam in the 70s but that’s nothing compared to now! So I’m sad that Alan Osmond, the oldest brother of the performing group, recently passed away, due to complications of multiple sclerosis. Here is his funeral below and then some videos below showing fun memories of him and his family. He and his brothers were the original boy band.
Alan’s younger brother Donny conducted the funeral. I have always loved watching Donny just because he’s kind, talented and good-looking, same as his brothers. But Donny was the cutest, just sayin. Everybody loved him or they were jealous of him for those reasons. I was too young to have a crush on him but have always admired him. It’s funny though that I ended up marrying a man close to his age. My sister saw Donny once at ToysRUs in Orem 20 years ago so that made me envious. She said he was wearing a purple sweater. If you know anything about Donny that makes sense.
I could go on telling Donny stories, but this is about Alan. Here is a video of Alan’s sons practicing a song for their dad’s funeral. So sweet!
Some of these boys made up the Osmonds 2nd Generation. Here the they are in a Disney TV pilot.
It’s so wonderful that Alan and his wife Suzanne Pinegar Osmond created a family life of 8 sons who continued on with his legacy of music. 8 boys, wow! I just continue to marvel at that! They each speak at the funeral in the top video above.
This video below of Alan dancing and singing Stevie Wonder songs with his brothers and Cher is so fun and so 70s! Those colors and those pants, oh my!
Thank you Alan for your legacy of living a testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, singing beautiful harmonies with your brothers, charitable fundraising with your Children’s Miracle Network, and offering wholesome, showstopping entertainment, including the annual Stadium of Fire in Provo UT. Here is Alan’s story and testimony of Jesus Christ below.
Want more of the Osmonds?
Go here for the story of Alan’s mother, Olive Osmond, giving a copy of the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ to the Queen of England. At the same post you can watch the funeral of Alan’s brother Wayne, just scroll down to the very bottom.
Go here and scroll down to the middle of the post for Donny talking about playing Joseph and the coat of many colors on Broadway. He also mentions, in the video below at the 45:28 mark, of the parallels between him and Joseph. That’s so fascinating.
Here is a call to action for all seekers, believers, and defenders of truth. I encourage all to watch these videos and join the fight to stand for morality, liberty, life, light, and Christ. These videos all feature Merrilee Boyack. She is one of my favorite nonfiction authors. (I read her book The Parenting Breakthrough years ago as a young mother. It totally revolutionized my life, giving me the mothering spine to enforce chores done by the children. That resulted in a much smoother, joyful mothering life. I also enjoyed her book about marriage.)
In the first video below, Merrilee shares the horrific fact that in the USA we have 200,000 elective abortions happening a day! This is the greatest evil of our time.
What can we do about this? We can start by talking about with others to raise awareness. She refers to an article here about Latter-day Saints shutting down conversations on abortion by saying, “We can’t talk about that, it’s political!” She explains what to say when people say that. “It’s not political, it’s doctrinal.” Elder Neil L. Andersen brought up this same phrase in a General Conference talk a year ago, which you can read here.
I appreciate her emphasis that we as women have a unique moral compass. She quotes President Russell M. Nelson from this article here.
The videos below show what we can do about this evil.
Thank you Merrilee for you tireless dedication to fighting this evil. Here is Merrilee’s site, Abortion Free Utah. Here is the Latter-day Saints for Life site. May all truth defenders everywhere be able to tell our posterity that we did something to stand up to this plague of evil.
If you want to learn one young woman’s story of having two abortions, and then going from working at Planned Parenthood, an abortion provider, to becoming a pro-life mother of 8, go here. Listen to her podcast here.
Mother’s Day is less than two weeks away! To celebrate I’m blogging about a wonderful book that is geared towards mothers, especially homeschooling moms. It’s Mother Culture by veteran homeschooling mom Karen Andreola. I’m also doing a giveaway of this book. To enter into the random drawing for the giveaway, please comment in the comments section at the bottom of this post. I will announce the winner on Monday June 1, 2026 around noon MDT. When you make your comment, please include your name and what chapter in the book you are most interested in learning, as shown below in the two images featuring the Table of Contents.
This book is such a wonderful, refreshing gem! Reading from it is like sitting under a shady tree on a pleasant sunny day, minus any annoying bugs; sipping lemonade as you chat with experienced homeschooling mom girlfriends. Actually, I take that back. It’s more like having a slumber party, wait, no… a month-long moms retreat in a cabin by a lake, with other homeschooling moms, eating your favorite food, talking, laughing, learning and hugging. It’s like having a vacation as in the chick lit book Enchanted April, but for homeschooling moms, with no drama, some comedy, some married romance, and a lot of encouraging love to keep on with the homeschooling journey. (Enchanted April is actually mentioned in this book, LOL.) Mother Culture allows you to glean wisdom from the author, who homeschooled her own children in the 1980s and 1990s using the Charlotte Mason philosophy of home education. Now she is a grandmother, which adds another layer to her depth of wisdom.
I was delighted a few years ago to find out that Mrs. Andreola has continued to be a voice in the homeschool world, since my early days of homeschooling in the late 1990s. I bought her first book, A Charlotte Mason Companion, when my oldest was 5, in 1998. Mrs. Andreola continues to write to spread the good news of Charlotte Mason. Astute observers will notice that this book, as shown below, is featured as the top book in the pile to the left of the mother’s elbow on the cover of the Mother Culture book, shown at the top of this post. Mrs. Andreola’s son, Nigel Andreola, is the illustrator. How fun!
ACMC was my first “how to homeschool book” that I ever bought, and I still have it. That book is a primer for parents on how to homeschool the Charlotte Mason way. I view Mother Culture as a companion to that book, maybe a sequel? It shows mothers how to nurture their souls so they can better nurture their children, by using the Charlotte Mason method. I learned so much from the ACMC: knowing the difference between living books vs. twaddle, the power of reading living books aloud, the power of narration, the value of short lessons, the value of getting your child outside into nature, and the importance of establishing good habits for children, among other truths. Charlotte Mason’s idea that good habits are like railroad tracks that give your child a solid foundation to life was in my mind and heart a lot when I was in the thick of mothering my seven children. It helped me to persevere in helping them form good habits. (I’m now at the end of homeschooling, with only my youngest child in the nest.) One of my first homeschooling conferences was in the fall of 1999 that featured a Charlotte Mason expert (Not Karen Andreola). I attended it with my husband and two other couples who are still great friends. We had so much fun that day, such that I have happy memories from that conference. I also joined a Charlotte Mason email support group and felt blessed to have all that guidance. Even though I haven’t been strict about using the Charlotte Mason method as in, I haven’t used the Ambleside Online curriculum or been a faithful nature journaler, I have benefitted much from the CM philosophy. That means I have used the aforementioned truths to guide my homeschooling. So to find this “new,” at least new-to-me book by Mrs. Andreola is such a delight!
Here’s a little bit of what I enjoy about the book:
-the author intersperses her big sister/grandmotherly counsel with lots of interesting stories from her own marriage and homeschooling family life, living in different places, including England, Maine, and Pennsylvania
-the author mentions books and movies that are sure to delight and inspire you. One of them she mentions is Room for One More, starring Cary Grant, which my husband and I watched last week and thoroughly enjoyed. I’m always looking for movies about wholesome family life, and this one delivered. I look forward to watching the other movies and reading the books she mentions.
-the child discipline tips in the book show respect for children and their developmental stages as well as how to establish your authority as mother.
-Biblical scripture is expounded on and shown how to put into genuine Christian living.
-the author writes about how to help siblings become best friends
-every chapter begins with a quote from a classic work of literature, or an author of a classic work
-the vintage line drawings showing domestic felicity are just so lovely. The above image is a sample. They come from Mrs. Andreola’s own collection of antique books.
-the author’s emphasis on wifely and motherly femininity is fun, with her fashion and homemaking suggestions, including the story of designer Laura Ashley
-it’s fun to read about the author’s pleasure in knitting mittens for her children and grandchildren
-the importance of having regular quiet time in your homeschooling day and how to do it
-the importance of “play” for a mother
That’s just to whet your appetite! This book has so much more for you to enjoy!
The images below, again courtesy of amazon.com, show the opening pages of the book.
Here is a lovely video with the author talking about Mother Culture:
I give this book 5 out of 5 stars! If you have a homeschooling mother in your life, this would be such a wonderful gift for Mother’s Day or any day! Pair it with a pretty notebook and some colorful pens for her to keep track of her ideas as she reads the book and she will be thrilled! You don’t have to be a homeschooling mom to benefit from it. It’s a wonderfully charming book that shows what the author calls Charlotte Mason’s Gentle Art of Learning for a happy, cultured mama life. An alternate title for this book is “The Homeschooling Mom’s Guide to Maximizing Joy and Preventing Burnout.”
Mrs. Andreola has also written three works of fiction to show the Gentle Art of Learning in story form. I haven’t read those yet and can’t wait to digest them all! See above and below. They comprise a trilogy that follow the journey of a mom named Carol. You can follow her as she applies what she learns from Charlotte Mason’s book Home Education. Carol desires to love her husband, treasure her children, and enjoy homemaking and home learning.
These books look amazing! How rare to find works of fiction that shows happiness in marriage, homemaking and homeschooling!
Once again, if you want to be entered into the random drawing for the giveaway of a copy of the Mother Culture book, please comment below with a mention of which chapter shown in the book’s Table of Contents (shown at the top of this post) that you are most interested in reading.
Here’s another video featuring Mrs. Andreola, interviewed by Sonya Shafer of simplycharlottemason.com. I hope you glean at least one thing from these videos that blesses your mothering and homeschooling. May it be just the beginning of a wonderful journey resonating with Charlotte Mason’s principles! They are compatible with other philosophies of homeschooling and are truly timeless.
Want more of Mrs. Andreola? Go here for her Charlotte Mason Research site and here for her Mother Culture website.
This video shows some amazing things about the signs and wonders of spring 2026. As it says in the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ in Alma 30:44:
“…all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.”
A rare photo where I actually was able to see and capture a full rainbow.
Here are a few recent stories of my life from March and April 2026 where I felt God blessing me. These stories either involve God blessing me with thrifting angels, inspiring me through the Holy Ghost, or inspiring others to minister to me. I’m also sharing some photos of springtime happenings from my observations and my friend Heather’s flower garden.
One half of the same rainbow shown above, on Y Mountain, just east of BYU.
Back in February or so we received a bill for one of my son’s out-of-home educational activities that complements our homeschooling. It’s a significant chunk of money. We’ve been wondering how to pay it. In late March, I got an email about an envelope of cash, given anonymously, that was available for anyone to go pick up at a specific drop-off place in our neighborhood. So I told my son and he ran over there and got over $100 cash! He has also been blessed with some work opportunities from a neighbor to earn money too. So we’ve paid part of the bill. Then today at church I found out that a neighbor is willing to pay him to teach her son drum lessons. So he can earn money that way too.
The other half of the rainbow.
Recently I had a very overdue library book. I’m talking about a picture book I checked out for Christmas. So way overdue. I looked for it a bit but couldn’t find it. I asked the library to look for it as I was pretty sure that I had returned it. They looked and said they couldn’t find it. I asked them to look again as I was beginning to think I had never checked it out. I couldn’t remember every reading it. On the way home from the library I felt the Holy Ghost tell me “Look under the couch.” So I did as soon as I got home and found it! I was as happy as the woman in the Bible who finds the lost coin. I returned the book later that day and got all my library privileges restored. Now I can use the Libby app again, use the self-check-out and don’t have to pay a $20 fee. Yay!
Just this last Friday my husband showed me that his laptop wasn’t working. It wouldn’t let him log in even though he was using the right passcode. He had already taken it to two places to get it fixed and they couldn’t fix it. I thought for a few moments and then remembered our son-in-law, who is techy. I suggested my husband talk to him. So we took the laptop to him. He fixed it! This is just so glorious, because my husband uses his laptop to earn money from home. He had a big project starting the following Monday that required him to have a computer. He would have had to use mine, 9 hours a day, and then that means I can’t use mine very much. Or he could have used our desktop PC which is old and slow. So we are feeling so blessed that our son-in-law fixed it.
Over a month ago my husband and I had a big disagreement. I was so mad at him and he was mad at me. I prayed to God for help. God spoke to me through the Holy Ghost, telling me to ask my husband if I could fix him some breakfast, the next morning after the big fight. That got us talking. Then the Holy Ghost told me to ask my husband if I could give him a hug. Which I don’t want to do when I’m mad at him, but I asked anyway because the Holy Ghost told me to. So I did and that completely diffused the situation because my husband said yes. We forgave each other and moved on with peace restored.
For our Easter Sunday celebration a few weeks ago, I wanted to get a non-edible gift for everyone in my family who lives in town and would be celebrating with us for Easter Sunday Dinner, for them to get in our Easter egg hunt. I had plans to go to the Provo Deseret Industries (DI), Orem Savers, Springville DI, Five Below, Dollar Tree, and Hobby Lobby, all in one afternoon, to shop for these gifts. Yeah, that was way to ambitious of me, to do all that in one afternoon. Anyway, I wanted to get beautiful and useful and/or fun gifts. I also thought it would be fun to find some new clothes for me, my husband, and my last child in the nest, my 16-year-old son.
I went to the Provo DI first. I found so many wonderful things. I found these books above and below so everybody got at least two books. So many classics! Plus a Spot It! game. (The Winnie the Pooh game I accidentally put in this photo. It actually was from the Springville DI thrift haul, shown below.)
–The Virginian by Owen Wister! That title was the answer to a clue on Jeopardy! just last night. (Boy did I feel smug when I got the answer right and none of the contestants did, even Jamie Ding, who is on a 30 day streak. Chalk up a victory for the education I’ve received as a homeschooling mom, especially from TJEd, as to how I knew that answer. I’ve read the book and loved it and was happy to gift it to someone in my family.)
–A Midwife’s Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich! My daughter had a homebirth with midwives last August so I thought she would enjoy it. Maybe I will pick it next when it’s my turn for Sisters’ Book Club.
–A Girl’s Guide to Heavenly Mother! I wish the art were more my style but I love the text. I wanted one of my girls to get it, and my married daughter did. My other daughter lives with her so hopefully she will read it too.
-A guide to discovering the world of the Bible by a man who used to be our next-door neighbor, D. Kelly Ogden. He was a great neighbor and BYU professor of religion. I saw reconnected with him randomly about two years ago in the parking lot of a Walmart. His wife is wonderful too.
-A book on how to grill for my son-in-law. He said he has used many times so far and enjoys it.
-a drawing anime book for my oldest grandson and younger daughter to connect over. She draws extremely well and he’s learning how to draw.
-some chapter books, The Great Brain and The Moffats for my oldest grandson
-two picture books for my second oldest grandson, a classic, Mike Mulligan, and a Little Golden Spiderman book
-I also found a gardening-themed board book for my baby grandson and a cute little stuffed bunny toy but my photos of those got lost
-a book for teens by Sean Covey for my 16-year-old
-a book about George Washington and his spy ring which I got for any of the adults. One of the little boys got it so it will default to be read by the adults in the home I hope (my daughter and son-in-law)
Two of the books I already owned but threw them into the mix, the Viva Le Repartee, which I got at a little free library last fall, and the Action Storybook Bible, which I found thrifting at DI sometime last year. My daughter said her oldest son is getting into graphic novels so that’s perfect because it’s a graphic novel and it’s about Jesus. Then an ESV Bible, another graphic novel, and a biography of Pres. Henry B. Eyring, to replace the one I gave away to my dad for his birthday last summer. The book about angels I kept for myself, as well as the yellow book in the lower right. It’s a chapter book about a girl studying ballet. I may give it to my older daughter later after I read it. I read the How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton Christensen earlier this year. I was excited to find another copy to give away.
Then I found these shirts below for my husband and son. The button-down shirt is Lands End, looked brand new, and was $6. The Van’s T-shirt for my son was $4.
I found this shirt below for me that I can wear with a variety of pants for everyday, or a skirt and dressy sweater on Sunday. I wore it on Easter Sunday with a cream-colored sweater and a cream-colored skirt. Definitely a piece that dazzles my heart with the flowers in a heart shape, the sun peeping up behind, and words that say, “Meet me in paradise.”
I was delighted to also find those three books across the top of the photo and the snowflakes book to add to my hygge winter/Valentine’s Day picture book collection. You can see how I use them for decorations over here, under Point #4. Then the Little House on the Prairie picture book, which I can read aloud to my grandchildren. I have two others in the picture book series, but this is the basic intro book which is exciting. I like reading Cleon Skousen’s stuff even though I don’t agree with everything he says. The Third Thousand Years tells part of the Old Testament story which my church is focusing on this year for Sunday School and home study.
Now for more from the Provo DI. A light blue top for me for spring and summer! I’ve been wanting The Quiltmaker’s Gift for so long, as in decades, every since I saw my little sister Emily receive it for her birthday from a friend when I had three kiddos not seven, and she hadn’t married yet. It’s such a gorgeous book that illustrates the perfect love of Christ, called charity. I will add it to my hygge wintry picture book/Valentine’s Day picture book collection. I’ve also been wanting an acrylic pitcher that looks like glass, and I found the one above for $2. Plus another Reader’s Digest Songbook! To add to my collection of RD Songbooks. These give me so much joy when I play the music in them on the piano. So far I have the Christmas one, which I got for my 16th birthday, and then three others that I have thrifted: Children’s Songbook, Family Songbook, and Popular Classics. So the Great Music’s Greatest Hits makes me a collection of 5. Then Cold Sassy Tree! We are reading this book this month for my Shumway Sisters’ Book Club. Then a book about Joseph Smith as America’s Greatest Educator by Neil Flinders, who was a colleague of my father’s at BYU. His writings on education helped inspire the Thomas Jefferson Education movement.
I got the book in the lower left corner because it’s a Christmas songbook and it has a few Christmas songs I don’t have. The orange thing in the middle left of the photo that is a key shape is a Jr. Learning Wrapup educational toy to have in my basket of puzzles/games/toys in the dining room when the grandsons visit for Sunday dinner or playtime. The book in the middle that says “Joy” is a book about a musical family, which I’m fascinated about. See it below. I love reading books about family life and then to have it be about a musical family adds a cherry on top. I just started reading it so I have yet to discover why the cover shows a spoonful of lentils and dried legumes. Maybe because music fed the family’s soul while they lived on beans and rice?
I also wanted to find some books for my ministeree sister. That is my name for one of the women in my congregation/ward who I am assigned to minister to. She loves to read and I was hoping to find something Easter-y and/or springy for her as an Easter gift. The book on the left below fits the Easter theme and the tree book is for the spring/nature theme. The book is historical fiction about Joseph of Arimathea.
I spent so much time at DI that afternoon enjoying the bounty of books I didn’t have time to go to all the rest of the places that afternoon, just the Springville DI and Dollar Tree. It just had so many great books!! I didn’t buy everything I saw even. I definitely had to restrain myself and leave some treasures behind. I finally left there after being there for almost three hours (!), went home for a quick pitstop, then I had ten minutes at the Springville DI before it closed and found the following things below.
A new dress for me that can be dressed up for Sunday with pearls and a sweater and dressed down for casual days with no accessories and just sandals. I got the Charlie book for my oldest grandson. I hope to read it aloud to him and have his parents read it aloud to him too. I want us to stop reading at certain exciting points to encourage him to read more of it on his own.
Then the next day, since it was General Conference, I only had time to go to to the Orem Savers and Daiso on the halftime break. I went to Daiso in search of a cute Winnie the Pooh bag to replace the worn-out, tattered and torn box shown above. I found one, as shown below!
The illustrations are just so cute in the classic WTP style. What a perfect match for a matching game!
I was really hoping to find something related to Narnia after stating in my blog here that if I could rewind the clock and go back and do not junky Easter baskets (here and here) I would give something Narnia related each year to my children. I was thrilled to find the 7 volumes in 1 book Narnia book below.
All 7 of these volumes, shown below,
are combined in this volume below, which I got for around $3 at Savers. My BYU-attending single son got it as part of our Easter celebration. I hope he keeps it to read aloud to his future children.
-For over two years, I have been wanting to get the LaDawn Jacob resources fixed on my page here. When I closed down one of my Google accounts the files disappeared. I had restored two of them but still needed to fix two more. It had been a slow process. Just in the last month of March, I felt the Spirit urging me to make another effort. I reached out to LaDawn and this time I was able to go to her home and get the physical files and digitize them, as she said she had lost the digital copies and couldn’t email them, like she did the others. I have met her before, but this time I got to have a longer visit, the first time in her home. It was just so delightful! We talked about the mutual friends we have. She said something to me that just made me feel so loved.
I confessed that not all my children play musical instruments like hers (11). I said I just didn’t have the wherewithal and the money to get them instruments and lessons and make them practice. She said, “Well not every family has that mission.” We talked more about it and she concluded our conversation by saying, “I’m confident you raised them in the way that was best for them.” I felt such peace at hearing that! Yes, my family’s mission was homeschooling not focusing on raising musicians. She did not homeschool, and she focused on making musicians out of all of them. Not that you can’t do both, as witnessed by The Happy Caravan family, but for me, homeschooling was what I was called to do and that stretched me to my limit. I couldn’t add raising musicians on top of that. I was just doing good to homeschool them, keeping their body and spirit together with my marriage intact during all the trials I have faced, raising 7 children. I did expose all of them to the piano, with some getting formal lessons when we were awash with money, then the money and the lessons fizzled away. One taught himself to play the drums and one the guitar. For decades though I’ve been comparing myself to her, thinking I was a somewhat of a failure for not having a family orchestra.
It sounds silly but that statement she made to me is such a beautiful blessing. I felt like as a wandering sinner I had just been absolved by a fatherly priest of all my mothering guilt. All the guilt I’d been harboring for decades for not raising them to be more musical. So thank you LaDawn!
I got the files digitized quickly thanks to the wonders of a copy store with an automated scanning machine. Now everything is back on the page, so go check them out here and dive deep in the motherly wisdom of LaDawn. As they say in La Leche League, take what works for you and leave the rest! Don’t let any comparison sneak in, just move forward one baby step at a time with what God is telling you to incorporate from her writings, for you in your family’s life.
(If you want to learn how one mom with not much money has raised her musical family, go here, where I contrast that method with another family’s method. If I had known her approach I would have tried it. But I did the best I could with the knowledge I had so I’m at peace.)
That’s all for now! May God’s richest blessings be upon all of you! I’d love to hear from any of you in the comments below as to how you have seen God’s hand in your life.
I was so thrilled to attend this meeting last week featuring my dear friend Patti Rokus, one of my amazing Veggie Gals. She is the artist behind the rock art I’ve shared here on the blog, over here and here. One of her other many talents is healing. She explains in this presentation that true healing can be reduced to one page, and explains how to find it. So fascinating! Thank you Patti!
The chart for the Emotions Code by Dr. Bradley Nelson that she refers to in the video can be found here.
She tells an amazing story of helping an autistic 9 year-old son of a single mom to sleep in his own bed, after never doing it before. The mom was desperate to get his 200 lb body to sleep away from her and Patti facilitated the solution, all over the phone!
Patti does rock art too! Check out some of her Bible videos here.
Tree of Life Mothering 
