Fermented foods form an important part of all traditional diets, and are valuable for building and maintaining gut health — which, in turn, influences the health of virtually every part of the body.  And few resources provide as extensive a variety of ferments as Kirsten & Christopher Shockey’s Fermented Vegetables, now in an updated 10th-anniversary edition. Fermented Vegetables Fermented Vegetables consists of three overall sections, with the second comprising the bulk of the book. The first section — technically in two parts — talks about the basics of fermentation. This ex ..read more

In the last post I introduced you to a couple of Storey Publishing‘s new spring science titles for younger kids. Today I want to introduce you to a new one for slightly older kids: How to Look at a Bird. How to Look at a Bird Particularly if you’re a Charlotte Mason-style homeschooler, you may already be familiar with Clare Walker Leslie’s book, Keeping a Nature Journal (also from Storey). This new book, by the same author, is in some ways like a subset of that book and in other ways a complement to it. As I’m sure you guessed from the title, How to Look at a Bird i ..read more

New this spring from Storey Publishing, Rainbow Science and Discovering Plants and Flowers are both fun science books for kids.  Accessible for and appealing to the younger crowd, these encourage hands-on interaction. Rainbow Science Rainbow Science covers a spectrum (pun intended). As you might expect, this 48-page hardcover book spends a lot of time talking about light, refraction, and how rainbows are formed. It doesn’t stop there, though. Additional experiments draw on the appeal of brightly-colored things to explore chemistry, as well. It’s full of appealing, br ..read more

I have family members who have “the touch.” Whatever they arrange — whether flowers, table décor, or a food display (like charcuterie) — looks beautiful. That gene skipped me. I’ve read about flower arranging. I can follow all the “rules” of flower arranging, and when I arrange flowers, they still always just look like I stuck some flowers in a vase or jar. Ditto for tablescapes…and charcuterie. Which means that if I’m going to do these things, I need simple. I need something that will be reasonably aesthetically-pleasing, even if it doesn’t look like artistry when I’m finished with it ..read more

For the last several years, I’ve been trying to find the right balance — for me — of compactness and flexibility for my day planner. I also like the idea of leaving some space to play in creatively (art), although that isn’t something I do much. (It’s an area I’m trying to grow in, so having the space allocated is important, even if I don’t use it much.) In 2023 I tried something new. I did it “rough” because I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it, but I ended up liking it a lot and “stepped it up” a bit for 2024. Some of my “step it up” tweaks have been great; others I’m not loving. I ..read more

  A number of years ago, David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) took the world by storm. I found it immensely helpful, myself, especially Allen’s concepts of “next actions” and “contexts.” Unfortunately, as my health declined, my contexts were becoming less and less helpful, because although they made sense…well, contextually…I was constantly having to skip over things I couldn’t do — which is really frustrating. Last year I decided to try something a bit different, and it’s been working pretty well, so I’m hopeful this might also be useful for others who are trying to make us ..read more

I’m always looking to balance the best combination I can find of compactness in my planner, with flexibility. As a general rule, types of planner bindings that most easily allow for pages to be removed or swapped out add bulk. Those that are most compact have the least flexibility. Thus far, I’ve settled on it being flexible enough for me to have an “annual” section separate from a “daily” section, even if these don’t allow for swapping pages, because most of these things don’t need much changing out for me. But there are a handful of things — bits of reference information I us ..read more

One important benefit of fiction is that it teaches empathy. We can put ourselves for a while into someone else’s story, and view life from a different perspective. When I Go to Church, I Belong is one of those books that is excellent for building empathy, especially in kids who are able-bodied and neurotypical. This picture book from IVP Kids shows a medley of children with special needs being loved in very practical ways by their local church congregations. A variety of differences, and a variety of ways of meeting needs, are depicted, demystifying situations that might ..read more

I frequently hear people say that spanking “should be a last resort.”  I appreciate what they’re trying to do, in ensuring that spanking isn’t overused — as the single approach to everything, all the time.  However, this well-intended approach is likely to be more harmful than helpful. Last Resort – Last Nerve When a particular approach — in this case, spanking — is treated as a “last resort,” there’s a built-in quality of escalation.  That is, the behavior gets worse and worse and worse — and usually the parent gets more and more and more exasperated — until finally the s ..read more

My mom talks about Durenda Wilson fairly regularly (they know each other), but I haven’t read any of her (Durenda’s) books before. I’m sure they’re excellent; it’s just that what she’s written about prior to now — at least that I’m aware of — is low-key homeschooling, and homeschooling is an area where I already feel pretty comfortable. Since I have a TBR (to-be-read) list about a mile long already, they just haven’t been at the top of the priority list, if you know what I mean. Then I heard that this book was coming out: Raising Boys to Men: A Simple, Mercifully Short Book on Raisi ..read more