Structure and Style: An Institute for Excellence in Writing Review

I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

Writing is not something my 9 year old son loves to do all the time.  When he has to do it, he usually does as little as possible as fast as possible.  Knowing his tendency to shy away, it is my job to find methods and curriculum that will help him learn the proper skills despite himself! Today's review was a program I couldn't say no to because of the company's excellent reputation and my son's desperate need for creative encouragement in writing.  A few years ago we reviewed a Poetry program from them and fell in love with Andrew Pudewa's charming approach! Today's product, Structure and Style® for Students Year 1 Level A from Institute for Excellence in Writing® was designed with reluctant writers in mind and proved to be just as engaging as previous products!

What We Received:

Structure and Syle - We received lifetime digital access to 24 videos intended to cover 24 weeks of coursework, 1 Teacher's Manual, 1 binder, 1 student packet of dividers, stories and worksheets, and access to PDF downloads of student samples, checklists, and a 30 week schedule.  The teacher's manual provides various options for homeschool, public school, and 1-5 day a week program, depending on your scheduling needs.  The Scope and Sequence provides a weekly/unit overview of the stories covered, grammar discussed and optional literature suggestions. 

How It Works:

The student pack comes with an Introduction page that includes instructions for assembling the binder (stories, dividers, etc.) and how to utilize it from week to week.  Each video corresponds with a story or passage to be used in the assignments that week.  The videos consist of Andrew Pudewa speaking to a classroom of 3rd-5th graders and leading them through a variety of writing techniques amidst his fantastic storytelling.  Through these videos, students are led through writing analysis, vocabulary words, and a variety tasks students do during the video and then homework assignments to be done on their own before the next video.  Parent involvement depends on a student's diligence and how much optional literature or grammar is included.

What We Thought:

My son was extremely diligent to watch the videos.  They were so engaging and entertaining that my 7 year old daughter begged to watch them too!  The work that Mr. Pudewa guided the students through during the video always got done.  The homework was the part that I had to follow up on regularly to make sure he did it.  In one of the early weeks, he encourages the students to find an editor, which mom and dad are good options since they are free!  My son really liked that idea.  The first thing introduced is a keyword outline that I know would have intimidated my son if I had tried to teach him myself.  While there are times when he doesn't want to do it, he certainly has the skills and understanding to utilize it, which is the real goal anyway.

The stories and storytelling that Andrew Pudewa brings to his products are are always engaging and the writing excellence that he teaches is truly valuable!  We loved this curriculum and will certainly be continuing it through the end of the school year.

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We reviewed Level A, but there are other families reviewing Levels B (Middle School) and C (High School).  Click on the link below to check out the rest of the program!

The Writing Spot: An Antidote for Over-Thinking

When you don't consider yourself a writer, it is natural to dismiss the notion that you should write anyway.  I would like you to consider it a tool that everyone should have in their toolbox whether you fancy yourself a writer or not.   The other day I received some unexpected good news late in the afternoon.  By the time I went to bed, the what ifs started to explode!  When I woke up the next morning I had started to anticipate all the problems I could think of with this good news.  My favorite way to start the day is to sneak out onto the patio before anyone is up to pray, study my Bible and to write.  On this day of swirling thoughts, I prayed about it on the patio, but my brain wouldn't stop.  I needed to write it all out, but found myself resisting at first.  The stubborn independent streak in me really wants to muscle through things sometimes.  But no matter what, I couldn't shake the conspiracy theories that were tainting my initial excitement.

So, I wrote.  I put down words to explain what I was feeling, why I was feeling that way and what I was afraid of happening.  All the possibilities of failure or rejection just spilled onto the page.  With every passing word, the pressure I felt in my brain started to drain out.  This processing of my emotions and worries clarified what was actually valuable and what was trash built on lies and fear.  Over thinking - for me - often happens at the speed of light.  The new information sparks multiple rabbit trails that I can barely keep up with much less recognize their falsehood.  When I write, I am slowing those thoughts down enough to truly consider them and hopefully reject the ones that aren't helpful.

As soon as I was finished writing all I had to say on the matter, I was good.  The small possibilities of negative outcomes were put into their proper context.  The positive aspects of the news were free to be celebrated.  And emotionally and physically I was lighter.  I didn't have to carry around this toxic bag of fear and worry which can viciously disrupt my life.

You may never pen plays for Broadway or poetry for the ages, but writing to gain a better attitude and mental state - especially in this age of chronic depression and anxiety - is worth it! 

The Writing Spot

My favorite spot at my house is this little corner of my patio.  From this seat I hear a wind chime above my head and see the willow tree dance around when the wind blows. Being outdoors calms my racing brain and soothes the ache in my heart.  That willow tree is my favorite - it was one of the many things that sold us on this house.  Those trees have a way of bringing all of my soul longing feelings straight to the top. 

Today it stirred up feelings - no matter how foolish and untrue they are - that I was forced to trade one beautiful life for another.  I gambled a bit when I got pregnant with the Race Car because of my health problems after miss Z and as a result had a hard time with his pregnancy.  Now that he is here and a healthy whopping 3 year old, I thank God so much for him.  When the Race Car was about 2 months old, my dog Grace got sick and never recovered.  I was barely hanging on as it was just trying to recover from having a baby.  I've never loved a dog the way I love her and I can still weep like a baby when I dwell on it.  The hard truth is that it just felt like too much to handle and almost like a punishment or price tag.  I know that is not how life works, but on a day like today when it's the perfect weather for chasing frisbees (Grace was a leaper), I feel guilty that I can't spend it with her.

Anyway, this little patio spot is the perfect place to write because of how clear my feelings seem to be here.  There are a lot of reasons to write, but at the end of the day, I write for therapy sake.  I am a sensitive and emotional person, whether I like it or not.  I've spent a lot of years fighting myself about it because it always seemed to get me into places I didn't want to be.  Pretending the emotions weren't there didn't work because they would erupt like a volcano and ruin everything in its path.  Letting the emotions do whatever they want whenever they want is destructive to other parts of my life, even if it might feel good.  Some people have words for days.  Some nursing mothers have a crazy big milk supply.  Some of us sweat like it's going out of style.  And some of us feel all the things and can't help it. 

What I have found is that writing, for me, is the most efficient therapy for dealing with my feelings.  Just creating is a therapeutic process.  It's common to hear artists or songwriters talk about their art that way.  As a parent, I'm seeing the emotional sides of my children needing a place to work out their feelings as well.  The process of writing and then often rewriting or creating something new from that writing is fascinating and one that I spent a couple of years in college learning about.  As I explore this in my own writing, but also with my children, I would love to share it with you, so stay tuned!

Looking Ahead to 2020

When I started this blog many years ago, I needed to write in order to breathe.  I've always been a sensitive and emotional person with more words than most people had time for.  When the well of emotions got full, it had to go somewhere and spewing onto everyone around me just made matters worse.  So writing became an important tool in my mental health.  Since then a lot of things have changed - like, a lot - but needing to write hasn't really.  The time and energy to do so has been way more limited, but the need is a constant.  Whether on a blog or just in journals at home, I've continued writing in some form regardless of life circumstances.

As we're leaning into the holiday season and the ending of another year, I'm considering where I'm at and where I'm heading.  I have felt behind in life for a while now.  Having kids - especially 3 kids - fills up so much of your mind and time that it requires a ton of pro-active and preventative work just feel caught up.  Getting ahead is just impossible in certain seasons.  My baby is 2 1/2 and becoming more independent every day.  With older siblings to cart him around and teach him the ropes, certain parts of life are simplifying.  I'm so thankful for that.  That is opening the windows a bit, allowing me to breathe a little deeper and consider where we need to adjust now.

My review season with the Homeschool Review Crew has ended for the year and I've been thinking about what I want this blog to do in the coming year.  So much of my writing has gotten rushed or simply not realized because of time constrains this year and I really do not want that to continue.  I'm excited for an article I wrote being published in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine's Winter Issue 2019. and I'm looking into doing more of that in the future.  For 2020, Mr. Butler is joining me on the blog to share his perspective and projects as a husband, engineer, and homeschool dad.  I have wanted to to include him for a while, but life.  We are a very health-conscious family and I hope to include more of our approach to staying well through a colorful, intentional diet, active lifestyle and high-quality supplements. As my 9, 6 and 2 year old continue their journey at Butler Academy (homeschooling), we will continue sharing curriculum ideas and home education perspectives. 

And finally, though it might sound like a buzzword, this next year we're going to talk more open and freely about mental health.  There is a very real crisis in our culture where the innocent literally get caught in the crossfire of the neglected mental states of those on the fringe.  There is also the rest of us who struggle with anxiety, depression and isolation but feel like we shouldn't so nothing is said.  We are the norm and this suffering is becoming common.  If I'm going to be writing anyway, I might as well address what most of us are thinking, right? :)

Simply Classical Writing - Step-by-Step Sentences: A Memoria Press Review

Our educational system is very compartmentalized simply because it is easier to evaluate that way.  Students are divided into grades and sorted by scores.  The reality of learning and development is that two people will never grow at the exact same rate in the same way.  We as parents get caught into the milestone game from day one where delay is bad word and a different approach is automatically called therapy.  We let other people's labels and schedules push us into corners that usually don't help and borderline hurt students.  This may seem like an odd introduction to a couple of writing books, but Memoria Press's books: Simply Classical Writing Book One: Step-by-Step Sentences (Bible Story Edition) and Simply Classical Writing Book Two: Step-by-Step Sentences (Bible Story Edition) with Teacher Key, taught me a very important lesson about the skewed perspective we are so often taught.  

When these books first arrived in the mail, I noticed Memoria Press Special-Needs at the top and immediately started worrying there had been a mistake.  My kids are not classified as special needs so I was afraid that I had misread something and committed to this review as if they were.  Turns out, Memoria Press offers books like this that simply go at a slower pace and break down the subject into smaller chunks than traditional methods might.  This approach seems very appropriate for those with learning difficulties, but what surprised me was how spot on this approach was for my son whose only learning disability is his gender! Ha!  My son loves to read and is great at the things he loves, like the piano and baseball and soccer and cooking.  Do you see a pattern? He loves things that comes naturally to him and he can accomplish them without hesitation!  Things like long division or writing more than a sentence or two are hard because they take time.  

So, while he is not behind or having a difficult time with his grade level work, he does drag his feet a lot in certain areas, sentence writing being one of them.  As it turns out, this gradual " Step-by-Step" process is exactly what a boy full of boundless energy can get behind!

What We Received:

We received 3 books in all: 

Simply Classical Writing Book One: Step-by-Step Sentences (Bible Story Edition) 

Simply Classical Writing Book Two: Step-by-Step Sentences (Bible Story Edition) 

A Teacher Key corresponding to the above Book Two

How They Work:

Each lesson has a theme taken from a passage of scripture where various skills are then practiced using words and phrases from that story.  Both books work towards improving students writing skills through combining copywork, grammar, composition, and artistic expression.  There is a large focus on rules about sentences in the beginning of the books that gets reinforced throughout the lessons. The Teacher Key provides all answers and  some nice resources in the Appendix like a template for extra practice, a theme outline of the entire scripture scope of the book and a certificate of merit.

How We Used It:

The intended grade level of this set is 1st-3rd grade, which happens to be where my kids are at so I was able to begin using both books.  My daughter (almost 6) has started first grade work so Book One was right on target for level.  My son (8 1/2) is about halfway through 3rd grade, but often loathes sentence writing perked right up and never complained when we started him in Book Two.  In the Teacher Notes it has a variety of teaching schedules, but we chose the One-Day Schedule where you cover the entire lesson in one day.  The reason for this was simply because they kids wanted to continue working in the books because they enjoyed it. Made my decision easy with that kind of attitude!

Since our society categorizes children so automatically, it becomes a negative thing to consider them to be in a transitional place academically.  The truth is, though, they are always in some kind of transition.  Just because we say 2nd grade ends on May 31st and 3rd grade begins on August 15th does not mean their education is somehow still.  Learning is always transitional and finding resources that honor that reality is a huge blessing! 

 

Memoria Press on Social Media:

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Memoria Press contributes significantly to the homeschool curriculum community and the crew reviewed several of their products including Spelling and History.  Click on the link below to find out what the other texts are like and how families used them!

The Bears on Hemlock Mountain E-Guide: A Progeny Press Review

One of the benefits I appreciate about homeschooling is the opportunity to integrate my children's education with character building and development.  Even if I agreed with my child's public school teacher on everything, they are still usually limited in the topics and curriculum they are allowed to use in the classroom.  My review today is about The Bears on Hemlock Mountain E-Guide from Progeny Press, something that most public schools couldn't allow because, as the title indicates, is from a plainly Christian perspective.  

Progeny Press is a Christian company that strives to help students aptly understand literature through their study guides that cover literature of all ages.  The Bears on Hemlock Mountain was the appropriate grade for my son (1st - 3rd), but there were three other study guides that were reviewed by the Crew: 

• Charlotte’s Web E-Guide (Grades 4-6)
• The Silver Chair E-Guide (Grades 5-7)
• Macbeth E-Guide (Grades 9-12)

 For this review we received a downloadable eBook that corresponds with the reading of the book.  We didn't have the text in our personal library so we obtained a copy of The Bears on Hemlock Mountain  by Alice Dalgliesh from our local library, but you can also purchase a copy from Progeny Press for $4.99.  The book is a short 10 chapters, a Newberry Honor Book and written in 1952.  The Hemlock Mountain E-Guide is 35 pages long complete with instructor notes, a synopsis of the book, author information, background information on the book, and over 25 pages of activities related to the book.  There is 2 pages of before-you-read activities all having to do with animal tracks, the outdoors, or hospitality.  For every two or three chapters, there is vocabulary work, comprehension questions and Bible verse application. 
What We Thought 
The instructor notes recommend reading the entire book first before beginning the chapter activities, but due to my son's age (6) I chose to have him read a couple of chapters and then do the activities.  While that worked fine, in retrospect I believe that reading the entire thing first would have benefited his comprehension a little better.  Sometimes it pays to trust the experts!  
Many of the questions are open or discussion-type in nature.  That initially was a great frustration for us, but only because my son would rather have a one word answer he knew was exactly right than come up with a couple of different sentences that would work.  Some doodling was certainly found in the margins.  

As we powered through though it proved to be a good learning experience in patience and qualitative work.  One of the best aspects of this study guide was the Bible verse application in each section.  Sometimes we would look up the verses in our own Bible to see how different translations read it and it always led to a spiritual application of principles found in the book.  As Christian parents, the training of our children always requires pointing out the spiritual aspects of life.  It's extra nice when their schoolwork lays it out for me!
Overall, we had a good experience with this product and I look forward to use more from this company as my children get older!

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Read what other people thought about Progeny Press and the other E-Guides:

Musical Fun with the Alphabet: A Critical Thinking Co. Review

As a lifelong student of music, I know that adding music to just about anything in education has the potential to increase its benefits.  It may feel silly sometimes to put data or information we need to remember to a child-like melody, but if you have tried it, you know it works!  We had the chance to play around with a fun combination of music and letter sounds learning which was perfect for my 3 year old!  She's very verbal and internalizes songs overnight it seems.   The Letter Sounds Song and Game 2-PCs Win Download from The Critical Thinking Co. has done a great job of increasing her understanding of the alphabet while having some great fun too.

The Letter Sounds song goes something like this:
"A is the ah in apple.  B is the buh in bat.  C is the cuh in candy, in cookies and in cat."
The melody is simple, but catchy, as it repeats throughout the song.  For someone who internalizes the words she hears, putting words to music is perfect for miss Z's learning style.  There are 7 different games that come with the software download that challenge a child's letter sound knowledge in various ways.  The first game begins with just testing the memorization of the song, but then the games progress to sound association and letter identification.  The entire program involves the visual and auditory senses, while the games have the added tactile response through a mouse or hand.  As we all know, the more senses we employ in learning a skill, the better our brains respond, especially when music is involved! 

As the description states, this is geared towards preparation for preschool level children and designed to prepare for Kindergarten.  J who is almost 6 and reading just fine enjoyed it right along his sister.  He sang the song on his own pretty quick and was a great help to miss Z on the games when she might not be ready for some of them quite yet.  It wasn't something he particularly needed educationally, but it engaged him and provided a good relationship building opportunity for them.  While we aren't currently suffering from any atypical learning struggles, I believe this program (and the others I mention below) would be a super fun and effective way to smooth those out.  A struggling reader could blossom with a break from their normal and a few fun and catchy games.
The Letter Sounds Song and Game that we used was a delightful addition to miss Z's activities.  While we only reviewed this one activity, it is actually part of an entire preschool bundle from Critical Thinking, Co.  Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic Before Kindergarten!™ includes 5 different apps/downloadable programs.  In addition to letter sounds, there are ones highlighting the alphabet, vowels, phonics, and arithmetic.  If they are as catchy and engaging as our letter sounds program, then it should be a great adventure into preschool. 

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Check out the other programs the Crew reviewed!

Buyer Beware: Affiliates Among Us

I've been writing on this blog in some capacity for 5 or 6 years at least and its main purpose was to be a creative outlet for me to sift through my thoughts and feelings.  Documenting family events, pictures, and any business ventures were largely secondary.  One of my loftier long term goals has been to write/blog for profit in some capacity, especially as we have chosen to live on my husband's income so that I can stay home.  While that may not happen quickly or directly, it is something I'm pursuing to help support our family.  About a year ago, I applied to the Schoolhouse Review Crew and was given the opportunity to try out different educational materials for free with the assignment of writing about our experiences.  As a result, my curriculum library has certainly grown, but I've also developed some profitable relationships with many of the curriculum vendors, also known as becoming an affiliate.

Becoming an affiliate usually just means that if anyone purchases something through my link to a company, I'll get a percentage of commission off of it.  It doesn't mean you would pay more or have to pay differently somehow.  It just means I get a small kickback.  I'm sharing this with you so you can know and understand the circumstances.  All of the companies that I participate with have products I have tried in my own family so they aren't just random.  They also will come with a review that shares what I think of the products - what I liked and what I didn't - to help you determine if it is a good fit for your situation.

My hope is that if any of the products I review and share with you are something you choose to buy, please be mindful to use the affiliate links I provide (when available) because it will support my family directly!  There is also a new blog page just for all of the companies I am an affiliate of where you can access them directly.  If you ever have questions about a company or products, please feel welcome to contact me.  

Healthy December: What's On Your List?

Healthy living can become a nagging annoyance in our minds if we don't continue to educate ourselves about our changing world.  MANY corporations and entities are motivated by money and ignore health ramifications for as long as possible.  It's not a conspiracy theory, it's a historical fact that is still alive and active today. So, what? So, the status quo of living life in the most convenient way possible all the time is not good for us.  Just because a company sells something doesn't mean it can be trusted.  Like people, some companies lie or don't care what is best for you.  Never assume and always do your research.

That is why making some healthy goals for each month is important in our house.  I can't assume that what everyone else is doing is going to magically help me reach my goals.  And neither can you.  Unless everyone around you is mastering the goals you have for yourself, it is unlikely that you'll absorb them by osmosis.  And even then.  ;)

This month is December packed with holiday goings on and end of the year activities, but also I'm moving in two weeks!  Of course everything is crazy so why not just give up?  Remember, shoot for the moon and land in the stars?  I want to reinforce healthy habits no matter what the circumstances and know I'll be that much better off than if I had quit.  Here's my short list:

-Write Every Day.  This is inspired by the book below.  I need to be in a better habit of writing.  It doesn't matter if it is a novel or a single comment.  Just writing as a way to further process my life.  Does your husband or friends not want to listen for as long as you need to talk?  Then you need to write my friend.  It's not about having lame friends or support necessarily, but about your physical and emotional need to process.  Being healthy is more than just eating vegetables!

-Read a Proverb a Day.  There are 31 chapters for 31 days.  It's easy and simple AND it clarifies the walk of a Christian beautifully.  It reminds constantly to ask what is the WISE thing to do, not just the right or wrong.  I'm reading it to my children too!

-Make my Healthiest Lifestyle Mandatory.  Exercise.  Lots of Water.  Plenty of Space (days) between Less than Healthy Choices.  I know what will feed my brain and emotions.  I know what will feel good in a moment, but fill me with regret and discomfort for hours to come.  Just because there are more options available doesn't mean my body will act any different.

How are you going to make this a Healthy December?

Honor the Past by Honoring Others

I'm not a person who has a past riddled with pain and tragedy.  I've lost 3 grandparents, an uncle, and then a handful of friends, but nothing so personal as a spouse or a child.  This week marked an anniversary of a sweet Roscoe's passing and then we received word of a sweet family's loss of a precious little girl.  Miss Z is just a little bit older than Carly and that combined with my overactive empathy bone, I'm just over here sobbing during nap time.

The pain we endure, directly and indirectly, is usually ugly and for little profit.  I know nothing of a parent's painful loss so I will not pretend to offer some cheap quote that presumes simplicity and order.  I never actually met either child and I'm a blithering mess over them both.  Clearly I've not mastered simplicity and order.  Still, my heart wants to do something and so I write.

So, as an introverted mother who is homeschooling, gardening, working (from home) part time and a lousy housekeeper in the first place, I've seen why moms need a break from their kids.  It is challenging to be everything to everyone in every situation.  But today as I weep for families who have lost, I'm convicted to honor the little innocent souls who look to me and every other adult to make sense of their world.  It's so easy to communicate annoyance to our kids.  They pester and whine and argue.  It's so tempting to diminish their needs or experiences because we have weightier matters to worry about.  They are messy and complicated.  But so am I.

While we have today with tiny fresh souls (or even the jaded, old souls), let's do more than just survive a moment.  See it through the window of the future when, whether through loss or maturity, these trivial moments will cause your heart to swell with yearning.  Give those you love more honor today.  The past cannot be changed, but you can honor it through the relationships you feed today.

Right before Miss Z was born, we planted a peach tree in our yard.  My parents used to have one before their home was hit by a tornado a couple of months before that so we were hungry for it.  This year was the first season we had peaches.  The tree was full and we had already had 5 or 6 - delicious!  The other day I went to pick a few and I felt disoriented.  There wasn't a peach on the tree.  Not even on the ground half eaten!  Apparently, squirrels can and do wipe out a harvest over night once everything is really ripe.  I cried and Mr. Butler was ready to kill some varmints.  The taste we received of the sweetness of peaches wasn't enough.  It was delicious but it was over too soon.  These precious babies' lives were only beginning to charm us with their purity and joy.  And yet.  So, what can we do? What I can do is desperately try to live this way:

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
And when the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say, Lord
Blessed be Your name

The Creative Outlet

I feel the need to greet you, reader, as though we've not talked in quite some time.  It's been about a year since my life started to slow way down and speed way up all at the same time.  It's been a great and, more importantly, significant year that has taught me how much I need to grow further.  And for that, I'm very grateful.

So, now that life has shifted around a lot and I've gotten (sort of) used to the movement, it's really important for me to write more.  As I've said before, this writing is little about you the reader or some number of page views, but about my health and as such, the health of my family.

By nature, I'm very sensitive (quick to detect or respond to slight changes, signals, or influences) AND I process through words (talking or writing, expression somehow).  What that combination means in everyday life is my brain is constantly on, I have the tendency to vomit words in the name of processing and that part of my personality is a drain or stumbling block in relationships.  Either I never want to stop talking or I say everything on my mind and probably criticize too much.  THEREFORE, when I say I need to write, it is a certifiable NEED.  I need a verbal and creative outlet to use up all of the thoughts and observations that flood my heart every day. 

And while we're talking about it, having an outlet of expression in your life is important.  Maybe you consider yourself a professional or 'not like that', but I bet you're wrong.  As humans, we're designed to express and create.  The beauty of it is that no one has to be/is the same.  Mr. Butler's creative outlet of choice is woodworking.  My mother prefers singing.  The point isn't about what outlet, but making sure you have your own.  You know that person who never stops talking? Or the one who flies off the handle and you're always terrified of what inappropriate thing they are going to say?  They need a creative outlet.  When we don't have one, things build up and start to turn sour really fast. 

As a parent, I can see it in my kids even clearer.  Their play is their creative outlet.  That tells me just how important play is to life itself.  The phrase let them play is relevant to the needs of our children, but we also need to join them!  Expectations and responsibilities change as adults, but base needs do not disappear. Just as our children are required to perform certain skills (go to the bathroom, feed the dog, eat with utensils) but still need ample play time, we are the same.  Do your job as unto the Lord, but also allow yourself to enjoy His creative world!

"I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man. I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him."

Ecclesiastes 3:10-14 ESV

No Nonsense November

We let things that don't matter dictate how we live our life.  Wait, not we, I.  I do that.  I work overtime to make it look like I don't, but it still happens.  I'm also bad with friendships, not being in control and stress.  I am not the person you want on the operating table or in the middle of a secret mission.  I crack under pressure.  And like I mentioned last time, I'm ready to be more open and straight-forward about things instead of hiding behind fear and irrelevant concerns.  So, I'm calling this my No Nonsense November.  There's just no sense in being anything but real, authentic and genuine.

So, in closing and in the spirit of no nonsense, I'd just like to say that I hate when people have monthly themes, but then don't finish or hardly last half the month.  And I'm honestly afraid of doing that again this time around, because I'm caaarraaaaazzzy busy.  But when I write, I'm such a better person to be around and it satisfies something in my soul that few other things do.

“November comes
And November goes,
With the last red berries
And the first white snows.

With night coming early,
And dawn coming late,
And ice in the bucket
And frost by the gate.

The fires burn
And the kettles sing,
And earth sinks to rest
Until next spring.”
― Clyde Watson

Exaggerating

Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say 'infinitely' when you mean 'very'; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

                             C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963)

It's hard, especially when you are young or inexperienced to use extreme language.  If you've never felt real heartbreak, the first time a meaningful relationship ends can feel like the worst thing ever to happen.  But, those of us who've been there and back, know that it's not.

Today you will likely be tempted to make something bigger out of a task or experience than what is necessary, what is beneficial.  Whether in writing or in your daily speak, try to say what is for a day.  Not what might be, not what you're afraid could be, but what is.  See how freely we throw around information that is purely speculation, conjecture, imagination!  How is it harmful?  How is it stimulating?

Why Writing is So Important

Sometimes when I begin to write, I have no idea what I'm going to write about.  All I know is that there is a huge mass lodged somewhere between my throat and my heart that needs to be digested somehow.  The only way I can find to do that is to disassemble it piece by piece through writing/typing word after word until I finally understand what the mass was made of.  By that point, it no longer plagues me.  That's why writing is so important to me.  

We live in an America that can be very self-centered and entertainment-oriented.  In religious and service circles, the reaction to that is admonition to do the opposite: focus on others and serve others.  And I believe in those principles.  When every move we make is all about our needs and entertaining ourselves, life quickly grows miserable and pointless.  Balance, though, is always the name of the game.  We must care for ourselves so that we can care for others.  Never caring for what makes you healthy (physically, mentally & spiritually) leads to destruction and breakdown in your effectiveness and accuracy in serving others.  For me, writing is a beautiful tool that feeds the self while usually accomplishing other things simultaneously.  Side effects from writing regularly (letters, journal, essays, art in any literary form) can be self-awareness - Are you really who you think you are? Deeper honesty with yourself or those you write to, strengthening the health of your brain in the creative process.  Some even get paid for writing!

I know that everyone is always busy.  I am too.  And I hate that, by the way.  But if there was one thing I would encourage you to do - one thing I believe could light the fire that could change everything - that would be developing the practice of writing.  You will not regret it.

:)

Prompted Writing: Childhood

Writing is good for the soul.  No question about it.  The trouble is finding/taking the time to do it and then once you've carved out that time, knowing what to write about.  Most of the time, it just doesn't matter the topic.  I ran across this quote in a friend's office and knew it needed to be in my possession.  Take some time this week and write about what comes to your mind when you read this.  Below is what came to mine.

"There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer and the morning more fragrant than ever again." -Elizabeth Lawrence

A single digit age, probably around 8 or 9, in the middle of a sweltering summer.  My granny and papa's house and that window air conditioning unit.  Sticking my face in it and that moment being frozen into my memory.  The contrast between the heat and the blast of air on my face was almost too much to handle, but not quite.  The excitement of being at their house was only matched by Molly (my favorite cousin) coming over to do whatever we did.

My love for children is rooted in this saying's truth.  Colors are brighter, the world is gentler and more real when you are small.  Being close to a child, experiencing their heart rubs off on your own.  It reminds us of heaven and the way we were designed to live - close to God, with eyes of joy and wonder.

Milestones are difficult for anyone, but saddest for parents.  The wonderful thing is that even when children leave childhood, it can still be remembered and touching it with our hearts, visiting that beautiful garden even for a moment.