What I have learned lately:
-if you ask your older son to make a gingerbread cake be sure to specify what size pan to bake it in.
-if the cake spills over the too-small sized pan onto the floor of the oven, remember to clean it up the next day. If you don’t clean it up it can catch fire. If too much lands on the heating element it can eventually burn the element through and break it. I am forever grateful that I already knew how to put out an electrical fire. Important: turn off the source of electricity and use baking soda not water!

-it is fun to observe your young son “carve” a crayon with a K’nex piece during schooltime, and decide maybe he would like something bigger to carve, then get him some ivory soap to carve. The process is definitely more important than the product.
-it is fun to have a closet for your homeschooling where you keep things that you only do during school. My kids actually ran to the closet when I announced that it was school time! Thanks to applying Mary Ann Johnson’s “Rules of Engagement.” You can read all her fabulous tips and see my pictures on her blog at http://home-school-coach.com
-A great chapter book that reminds me of the power of maturity in young children, like in Little Britches, is Stone Fox. I can’t wait for our schooltime to find out what happens next.

-I can actually go jogging for 30 minutes now. Woo-hoo! Maybe a marathon is in my future after all.

-I now have a daughter who some would officially call a “teenager” because she now tells me when clothes are out of style. I was relieved that it wasn’t something I was wearing but rather it was from a hand-me-down bag from the neighbors that I was considering for her. It’s been well over a year now that she can wear all my clothes, including my shoes. We are still working on asking before she takes things. Generally though she is a GREAT young lady who I call a youth and not a teen. See Michael Platt’s article about the difference at http://tjedforteens.com/bonus-gifts/

-Kim Simmerman’s recipe for roasted Mexican potatoes is really yummy! I will post it soon.

-The annotated book of Pride and Prejudice is better than the movie. I learned what Elizabeth Bennet meant when she said that “four ruins a picturesque.” I am sooooo enjoying having these obscure references explained.

-My scholar son doesn’t have enough homework in his Williamsburg physics class. That is going to change for that boy! Loads of story problems like I had in my college physics class, here we come!

-I have a great group of friends in my homeschooling community. I already knew that though. What I didn’t know is that these people actually believe in many of the lifestyle choices I do, like not vaccinating and the importance of reading the Uncle Eric books.A lot of these friends have read more than I have about history and politics. One of them even keeps up with Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief, which I gave up years ago because it is so depressing and hard to understand. See http://worldaffairsbrief.com I don’t feel so radical when I am with them. Another friend started reading Jack Monett’s books at my and this other friend’s suggestion.

-After you read some books you almost wish you hadn’t read them because of scary things they say. Let’s just state the scriptures are true and God’s side will win. Isaiah gives me a lot of comfort. In chapter 4 he tells us that the covenant people of God in the last days will have protection that was like the pillar of fire by night and cloud by day in their homes, their assemblies (church meetings) and their temples. that gives me a lot of peace.

-it’s uncanny how the law of attraction works. I was just thinking about an old friend of mine from my YW/Girls’ Camp days who I haven’t seen in over 20 years. Then just a few days later she friended me on Facebook and told me she was at the Knights of Freedom summit that I went to last month. I also attracted some new white tops that I have been wanting since all my old white knit tops have either stains and/or holes.

-I am learning more from the Story of the World CDs/downloads while listening with my children than I ever learned in 2 years of AP U.S. and art history classes in high school and my honors world civilization class at BYU. A lot of famous historical people aren’t so great after all. It’s amazing how kings and queens killed their own flesh and blood or wives for political purposes.

-the Civil War was more complicated than the typical story that the North fought the South to get rid of slavery.
-most of the cool things in our nation come from the South.
-Alexis de Tocqueville was right. The reason slavery started in Jamestown is because of the lazy men there who didn’t want to work. They were not family men of principled character like the Pilgrims of Massachusetts.
-one of the first slaveholders in the U.S. was actually a black man.

-my life is full of blessings and more are flowing to me!

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