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Another Visit to Honey Pot
Coming soon! Lydia Everett wants nothing more than to regain her youth before she turns forty. Strapping on her running shoes, she challenges herself to complete the Lavender Lane 5K. Her path to the finish line is thwarted when she stumbles upon Averie Stardust. She finds the tender-hearted relaxation artist , and internet celebrity, bleeding in the middle of the race track. There are no witnesses and no way she crawled out there on her own. How did she get there? Who wants to hurt her? Lydia races to find the answers knowing Averie’s attacker will only rest once she’s dead. Follow Sarah Hualde on Amazon for updates and possible…
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Hang Out With Me
Too tired to read another blog post but still need encouragement and information? Come hang out at my new Channel on YouTube. I’m the same crazy coffee lady just in a different format. For now, the schedule is the verse of the week Mondays, to do list Tuesdays, Write with Me Wednesdays, Book Chat Thursdays and Free for all Fridays. Sometimes I wear makeup. Sometimes I don’t. I strive to be real with you and cheer you on. We talk about books, coffee, curriculum, coffee, mom life/stress, and coffee. Watch my video skills grow, laugh at my hair, be heard, and lift each other up in the comments. Visit my…
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Using Clay in our Homeschool
Learning how to cope with and use dyslexia isn’t a walk in the park. It’s an epic trek across foreign lands rife with new foes and hidden dangers. Or at least it can feel that way. In the past two posts about reading remediation we’ve chatted about fluency practice and Pathway Readers. In the Pathway Reader post, I told you I write down words that stump my student. This post will explain what I do with those words. When my child was first diagnosised with dyslexia, our assessor offered many techniques and solutions to get us started on the road to reading and understanding. One of the methods suggested was…
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Victory Drill Book
How our family uses Victory Drill Book for reading remediation. This post might contain affiliate links. Just thought you’d like to know. We’ve used many, many, MANY tools, sets, and kits to help teach reading. I could cheer for several curriculum and program providers. Some work quickly and then fizzle. Others take too long to integrate and discourage my students. In our home, reading curriculums work until they don’t. Changes in hormones, changes in mental capacity, and changes in attention span interfere and morph our remediation routines and needs. This mama is tired of stalling and running off to purchase the next package that promises to help, only to reach…
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Time to Read (24 hours of it)
What’s a 24 hour read a thon? It’s exactly what it sounds like. 24 hours of reading, for fun and relaxation and retreat. In years past our family celebrated Valentine’s Day by having a candlelit dinner at our local Chick-Fil-A. When the tradition fizzled we scoured for something unique to replace it. We stumbled upon the 24 hour read a thon and are just about to start our 2nd round. Here’s how we do it. On Friday night, at 9 pm, all electronic distractions are shut off. Armed with amazing snacks and lots of coffee, we collect our new bookventures and dive in. Mom has her huge pile of prospective…
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Books for your Morning Basket
Words, words everywhere and not a book to read. Sometimes the task of bringing it altogether for morning basket time is a daunting one. The amount of book lists cluttering the internet can clog the mind like confetti down a kitchen sink. I love books that clump one or more subjects together. They make my morning reading time instantly more successful. Here are a few of my favorites. (Pst… this post contains affiliate links. Just thought you’d like to know) Prayers that Changed History By Tricia Goyer This book blends faith with action and impact. It demonstrates the power of prayer to change the world with historical examples of prayers…
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90 Days through the New Testament
I love challenges. I do a great job tackling hard missions. Juice fasts. Nanowrimo. Once I signed up for a read the Bible in 90 days challenge and nailed it. The problem, for me, is once I’ve conquoered the challenge I don’t continue the behavior. It only takes a week or two and before I’ve slid off the wagon and back into familar routines. My 90 days through the Bible challenge was fantastic and did spur on a deeper love for God’s word but didn’t become a habit. This time around I want to savor the scriptures as I push myself to complete them. I also want to include my…
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Restructuring the Ruins
You didn’t see it coming. Life crept up behind you and hijacked your homeschool plans. You have no choice… the curriculum, the routine, the hard-won easy flow of the day… SPLAT! It’s gone and you have to start from scratch. After you’ve prayed what do you do next? First, comfort your children. Even if the change is the very thing your kids have been routing for all semester, the pressure that comes with the rubble is not. Don’t convince yourself you’re the only one affected. Your children feel the stress and if it’s not handled gently they can fling it back at you. It doesn’t matter whether or not the…
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Family Game Time
Christmas is coming. That means gifts and for our family that means GAMES!!! We love family game time. During Christmas break, you can find us playing video games, board games, and card games. The kids will often set up a card table and get a game board ready for when Dad gets home. We love love love games. Here’s a few of our favorites: The teenage boy likes: Killer Bunnies, Catan, and Machi Koro. Each game involves strategy mixed with game time whimsy. Each also has an element of dumb luck within its structure. Killer Bunnies: you can collect nearly all the magic carrots and still lose because you didn’t…
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Holiday Game School
Does Christmas break have you worried about brain drain and video game stupor of your homeschool students? How can one homeschool and break at the same time? Let me introduce you to Game-Schooling. Christmas break offers solace for students. This midyear recharge comes at a much needed time. The first semester is wrapped up, for better or worse, and the second is yet to peek around the corner. However, for students in higher grades, the break often is accompanied by homework and projects. With groans and grunts and remembrances of past years and the freedom, December used to offer students and parent/teachers often plug away and ignore the needling necessity of rest.…
