Fun for a Rainy Day

This video even shows how it was done at the end. 

Free Habit Training Download

Habit training is foundational in the Charlotte Mason Educational Philosophy.  But it seems to be one of the hardest things for me to do.  Perhaps that is because of my own habits that need retrained!  If there is one thing I have learned it is that we all have bad habits to remove and good habits we need to replace them with.

Simply Charlotte Mason is providing a free download on habit training called Smooth and Easy Days With Charlotte Mason.  If you aren't familiar with Charlotte Mason SCM is a great resource with lots of articles on this method and how to practice it.  SCM wrote my favorite habit training book Laying Down the Rails.  I urge you to get both!  It's a New Year and a great time to start building good habits.

I'm sure many of you have already experienced the delightful period drama called Cranford based on the novel by Elizabeth Gaskell and produced lavishly for television and shown on PBS. The novel takes place around 1840 and is about life in a small town in England.  You can find out more here.

But what's REALLY exciting is that for a limited time you can view all the episodes online!!!!!  I would definitely not delay in watching these because who knows how long they will be available??  And it's so charming you'll really want to.

Even MORE exciting is that after you watch all three episodes of the first production...you'll be ready to watch Return to Cranford which is starting January 10th!!!  Suddenly all this snow we have seems much cozier.

Gaskell is one of my favorite authors and Masterpiece Theatre also aired a lovely production of her delightful novel, Wives and Daughters. You can see it on YouTube of all places.  Or borrow it from your library...or buy it.  It's really worth it.  Oh and definitely read the books!  They are not only humorous with an excellent story and charming, but also feature spunky young women that your daughters might enjoy.  I certainly did.

The Book Seer

I'm in love with this...

Next Year's Reading

A very long time ago I read the bible but I was young and it didn't really mean that much to me. Then I sat through years of liturgical readings and probably reheard massive chunks of it. In fact, to this day I'm surprised at the verses I know by heart from hearing them each Sunday in church. But years went by when I didn't attend church, and frankly thought it was all about equal to mythology anyway.

Then, in adulthood I made a decision to follow Christ's example and accept him as my Lord and Savior. Okay, that's christianeze for I decided that he would be in charge of my decisions and my example for how to live and I believed that he did indeed serve as a replacement for me in the punishment for my sins.

Naturally, I decided that it was now time for a very thorough reading of the Bible, the book that contains the information about Christ's life and teachings as well as God's words that have been written down for all of us by the men He chose to write them. I read it several different ways. Through intensive bible studies with others that took months to get through a book or two, reading it on my own and now I listen to someone else read it.

I listen almost daily to http://www.dailyaudio.com/. I've written about dailyaudiobible.com and I highly recommend it. January 1st Brian will start reading from the beginning once again and it's a good time to start. You can get there by clicking on the red button on the right hand side of my blog. No matter what any time is a good time to jump in and start listening. It will be a worthwhile experience regardless.

Rose Publishing offers many study aids for the Bible and Biblical History. If you sign up for their newsletter you will receive links to free downloads frequently. Right now they are offering a free Bible in One Year reading plan. You can get it on their website here.

Another opportunity I recently ran across is The Bible in 90 Days. You can read about it at The Happy Housewife blog. It only requires an hour a day for 90 days. I think if you want to just read the whole of scripture this would be a good way to do it, but I really think and the Bible directs us, that reading scripture daily is a worthwhile goal. I know that for me my whole day is set in better perspective when I do.

So my New Year's wish for you would be that you would give it a try. You may find the answers you have been looking for through the experience.

Pan Giveaway!

Mary of Owlhaven is giving away a great looking Emerilware Stainless 4-Quart Sauce Pan. If your needing a good pan this size I suggest you enter. But even if you don't take a look around this great blog. Mary has a large family and lots of good information.

1200 Free Prints at Arts Cow

This is an exceptional deal. Right now you can get 1200 free prints credits & 3 8"x8" photo books & other great photo gifts credits at Arts Cow if you are a new member. If you use this link I will get some free credits too!

Remembering Martin Luther

Today is All Hallows Day, also known as All Saint's Day, a day set aside by early Christians to remember the Christians that have gone before them. It's an excellent day to talk about your family's Christian heritage and talk about the godly example of your ancestors. If not in your own family than you can teach your children about Christians in the New Testament or in Church history who have sought to glorify God in their lives.

Martin Luther was one such person. He was a man who found the knowledge in the scriptures that Salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone. At that time he was a Catholic monk who felt that he would never be good enough to achieve righteousness...he was correct. None of us can on our own. This knowledge ripped apart Europe as the reformation swept that Continent. But even under threat of death Luther stood by his belief in the word of God.

This day is also known as Reformation Day as it was the day that Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Church in Wittenburg in 1517. These theses outlined his problems with the Church at that time. Since he was "protesting" the Church he and others like him became known as Protestants.

So today you might remember Martin Luther as you are remembering the godly who went before us. I found this videos from PBS's Empires series on Martin Luther. I haven't watched them all the way through, but they are a good overview from what I have seen. Please remember...Luther was protesting the Catholic Church at that time and these videos will contain critical remarks about the Catholic church.

New Free Audio Site

I found a new site for free audio through my Learnoutloud.com newsletter. I've blogged on Learnoutloud.com before and I urge you to receive their newsletter which provides links to all sorts of free audio, some not good, some good but definitely worth looking at. Today's link was for Cicero's Treatise on Friendship. I thought this was something that would be good for me to listen to with my kids to start some conversations on friendship. That brought me to Ejunto.com

Learnoutloud.com links to other websites with free audio. Ejunto is a site that provides audio of Historical and Philosophical works and there are some really interesting offerings there. Everything from Aesop and Shakespeare to The Federalist Papers and The Communist Manifesto. Lots of things we can use for school. I bet you can find something useful there as well!

Joshua Bell CD Giveaway!

I recently discovered a nice blog, freelyeducate.com. Lots of nice free resources everyday. And today they have announced a CD giveaway of one of my favorite artists, Joshua Bell. Check it out!