Whether it is through homeschooling, private school, or public school, educating our children is a priority. The reasons behind the educational choices we make for our children are varied, yet the common link is our love for them. With that in mind, MMCW’s Educating Our Children section strives to balance all three avenues: public, private, and homeschool education.

We want to celebrate the differences and similarities among each of the three avenues of education. Whether you realize it or not, we all face challenges no matter the direction we’ve taken. I’ve heard public and private school moms say they feel looked down upon by homeschool moms for their choice. I’ve heard homeschool moms say they feel looked down upon by private and public school moms for educating their children at home. Bottom line, it’s a vicious lie the enemy tells to discourage us all. We’re on the same side.

How do I know this? I homeschooled my oldest through kindergarten and first grade, then he attended private school from second grade through fourth grade and public school from fifth to ninth grade. He is currently back at home with three younger sibling being homeschooled. The most amazing part of my children’s educational journey has been seeing the Lord in each step. Public, private, and homeschoolers all have hard days–a test is failed, the math concept doesn’t click, and the dog does eat the homework.

Whatever educational course you have chosen, MMCW’s Educating Our Children section is here to cheer you on with encouragement and strategies. In the coming weeks, you’ll see posts and links here and there on education–for all of us. Take a moment and see if they can be of help to your family.

If you would like to share about your children’s educational journey or have a specific area you’d like to see addressed, let us know. Email mentoringmoments@aol.com.

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The weather may still be a bit nippy outside, but don’t let that stop you from planning a visit to a virtual history museum. Many museums now offer virtual tours online at no cost. With over 2,000 living history museums in the U.S. alone, there are plenty of places to visit without leaving home. In fact, take a world tour! Just do an online search to find links. Living museums are an excellent way to find more information for book reports and assignments.

Comment to this post with your favorite links!

Jamestown Settlement

Museum of Natural History

Another way to visit the Louvre

Creation Museum

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Your Best You: Discovering and Developing the Strengths God Gave You

Have you ever wanted to break free from unhealthy habits or a negative lifestyle?  Then Your Best You by Bonnie Grove might be just what you are looking for.  Whether you want to quit smoking, overeating or storing up clutter, you will learn through this book how to use your strengths to overcome your weaknesses.

Grove clearly explains how to do an inventory of your strengths, likes, and goals (among other things) to enjoy living in freedom from the activities or choices that would entangle us.  She provides not only the forms to fill in right in the chapter itself, but she also includes her own personal form filled out so you can clearly see how it should be done.  Seeing her true-to-life form gives a glimpse into another woman’s journey to discovering her best self.

As you work through this 185-page book (which includes all your forms and hers) you will uncover your true goals and dreams.  A the same time you will recognize the goals and dreams you’ve been striving for that you thought should be yours or what others communicated you should own.

Throughout the book, Grove points the reader to Scripture, prayer and God’s active involvement in your life, your strengths and desires.  As you journey through the book, you will be engaging with God through Bible reading, prayer and journaling.  It is a valuable resource you will work through once and keep on hand to go through again and again.  It will help you see yourself, your friends and family with eyes that look for strengths instead of weakness as you break free from the things that entangle you.

Please enjoy the interview with Bonnie Grove about Your Best You in today’s TalkShoe podcast.

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Your Best You
Carla Coroy interviews Your Best You author, Bonnie Groves.

To leave a comment:
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Each year at Christmas, our family decorates a Jesse Tree.  Every ornament on the tree is specially selected to help us trace God’s hand in redemptive history.  The Christmas season culminates with ornaments to remind us of Christ’s birth.

At Easter, we re-purpose this tree.  Some of the ornaments remain the same, but the stories now build toward the events of Passion Week.

This has been a wonderful tool to help our children see the connection between the Old and New Testament.  An Easter tree helps our little ones begin to see how events such as the Passover point toward Christ, our Passover Lamb.

If you’ve never done a tree like this before, this Easter is the perfect time to start!  The Easter season is not as hectic as the Christmas season, so you may find it easier to pull this project together.

For instructions about making your own redemptive history tree, as well as links to paper ornaments, see my original post about the Jesse Tree.  For our tree, we use repurposed Christmas ornaments.  You can take a week for this activity or a month.

At Christmas, we hang one ornament during our family devotions each night in December.  We read the accompanying scripture and talk briefly with the children about it.  At Easter, we condense the initial ornaments and focus more on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, spending about 10 nights talking about the tree.

Here are some ideas to get you started.  These ornaments would work well for either a Jesse Tree (Christmas) or an Easter Tree.

• The Creation, Genesis 1, a globe ornament
• The Fall, Genesis 3, a toy snake
• Noah and the Flood, Genesis 6-9, an ark ornament
• Abraham and Sarah, Genesis 12, a star ornament to illustrate the covenant
• Abraham and Isaac, Genesis 22, a tiny toy knife hung by a ribbon on the handle
• Jacob and Esau, Genesis 27, twins
• Passover, Exodus 12, a lamb
• Ten Commandments, Exodus 20, a cutout paper in the shape of tablets
• Israel desires a king, 1 Samuel 8, a crown
• The Prophets, Jonah, an ornament of Jonah in the whale
• The birth of Jesus, Luke 2, Christmas manger ornament

Here are some more ornament and scripture possibilities for Easter week:

• Boyhood of Jesus in Egypt, Matthew 2, palm tree ornament
• Baptism of Jesus, Luke 3, a dove ornament
• Temptation of Jesus, Luke 4, another toy snake
• Palm Sunday, Matthew 21, small branch
• Cleansing the temple, Mark 11, a small piece of leather to resemble a whip
• Jesus anointed, John 12, a small satin box with a sample size perfume spray inside
• Judas plots, Matthew 26, a bag of chocolate foil wrapped coins
• The Last Supper, Luke 22, a Play Mobil toy cup or a little plastic communion cup
• Crucifixion, Luke 23, a cross
• Mystery Saturday, 1 Peter 3: 18-22, no ornament
• Resurrection Day, Easter Sunday, Mark 16, an empty Easter egg (empty tomb).

To leave a comment:

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For these cupcakes, I altered the recipe for Caramel Lightning Cake from The Joy of Cooking (75^th Anniversary Edition), by Irma Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker.

For truffle filling:
1 ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
¼ cup flavored creamer (I used eggnog flavor, but any would be great) or half-and-half
10 large marshmallows

Begin melting chocolate chips in 30 second increments in microwave, stirring thoroughly after each interval.  As chips begin to melt, stir in creamer and marshmallows and continue to heat. Stir carefully until blended.  Set in refrigerator to cool.

Whisk together in a large bowl (I use my stand mixer)
1 ½ cups flour (we often use half whole wheat):
½  cup sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

Add in and continue to blend:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp espresso powder
1 Tbsp coffee liqueur (optional)

Beat in and continue to blend until light and airy (about 3 minutes, stopping to scrape down bowl halfway):

½ cup salted butter, softened

Fill cupcake cups ½- ¾ full (I use a large ice cream scoop).  Carefully place a small scoop, approximately ½ tsp, of the ganache onto each cupcake, trying not to drop it to the bottom.

Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 16 minutes, watching carefully.

Allow to cool and frost with:

Espresso Mocha Buttercream
2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter
3 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
2 Tbsp dark cocoa
1 tsp coffee liqueur (optional)
Beat until light and fluffy.

“If you really loved me, you’d know what I was feeling.”

“If I have to tell you what I’m thinking, I won’t do it.”

Have you ever said things like that to each other? It’s not uncommon for hurting spouses to expect their mates to know exactly what they’re feeling and why. It’s also very unrealistic. The truth is we can’t read each other’s minds.

The apostle Paul offers a wonderful alternative to the impossible task of reading minds: speaking the truth in love. He tells us to “put away all falsehood and tell your neighbor the truth.’”

When we’re upset with our husbands, we should quit expecting our spouses to read our minds. Instead, we should say something like, “Dear, when you walked ahead of me through the mall, I felt unimportant to you.” Or “When you criticized how I painted the eves, I felt unappreciated.” That will end the guessing game and let the reconciliation begin in your marriage.  Speak the truth in love.

So what’s on your mind today?

“But this is what you must do: Tell the truth to each other.” Zechariah 8:16

Remember, marriage is for better for worse for keeps.

Here are some phrases you can use to cheer, encourage and woo those around you.  Feel free to print a copy to hang on the fridge or keep in your purse.  If you are like me and criticism comes much more naturally than encouraging words, this is the most invaluable tool!  When you’ve used them all… think of your own and add to the list!

As a matter of fact… leave a comment with some ‘Wooing Words’ you’d like to share with all of us!

1. You brighten my day!
2. I love it when you smile!
3. You are part of what made today great.
4. I choose you.
5. You have the courage of a soldier and the heart of a lover.
6. Your advice is always rich with wisdom.
7. Kindness looks great on you!
8. Conversations with you are like a great cup of coffee, they perk me right up.
9. When you tell me stories I feel like I’m right in it.
10. You are on my ‘favorite people’ list.
11. It will be exciting to see how the miracle of your life (or this difficult situation) unfolds.
12. I love it when you listen so intently to what I say.
13. Time with you is wisely invested.
14. You are worth every minute!
15. Listening isn’t hard when you are talking to me.
16. You make our house seem like home.
17. Without you our family would be dull.
18. Your voice is music to my ears.
19. You certainly add spice to my life.
20. I’m glad you are my (husband, daughter, friend, son, teacher, etc.).
21. Getting to know you better is a real privilege.
22. I can see in you the makings of a true hero.
23. I wouldn’t ever wish that I’d done things differently in my life, because if I did you might not be part of it.
24. It’s quite an honor to be seen with you in public… thank you!
25. When I talk to God about the important things in my life, I often talk about you.

Do you ever get tired of hunting through stacks of recipes, looking for your favorites?  It seems that I return to the same tried and true dishes again and again.  Time is at a premium for me, and I don’t like wasting it while searching through my large stack of cookbooks and recipe cards looking for particular recipes.

Several years ago I took a few minutes to set up my own “Best of the Best” cookbook, and it has saved me countless hours every week.  I have found, over the years, it is well worth the time I spent organizing my favorite recipes.  Now I primarily rely on one single cookbook each day:  The Best of the Best.

To make your own cookbook, just take a plain 3-ring binder and fill it with a stack of page protectors.  Place your favorite recipes in the pages and voila, you have created your own perfect cookbook.

Here are some tips to remember when setting up your Best of the Best cookbook:

• Only choose your favorite tried and true recipes.  If you use this cookbook to store recipes you are hoping to test out, it will quickly become clogged with useless papers and the purpose will be defeated.  This cookbook allows you to immediately find your favorite recipes, so be sure to reserve it for that purpose.  If you need a place to store recipes you want to try out, set up a separate binder for those.
• Recipe cards and magazine clippings can easily be stored in the pages.  For all other recipes (such as those found in favorite cookbooks), photocopy the recipe from your book or type it into a Word document, print and place in your Best of the Best cookbook.  This will save you from thumbing through a thick cookbook looking for a particular recipe.
• When asking a friend for a recipe you’ve enjoyed, see if she can email it to you.  It will be simple to print off the email and slip the page into your Best of the Best cookbook.
• Once a year, go through your cookbook and cull recipes you haven’t used much.  Take a few minutes to update Best of the Best with any new favorites you’ve discovered.
• When a son or daughter gets married or heads off to college, give them their own starter version of Best of the Best, including copies of recipes for their favorite foods as well as family heirloom recipes.

Do you find yourself saying these words:

Do you think money grows on trees?

or

What do you think I’m made of, money?

When my kids hit middle-school age I felt like I was constantly shelling out money for the movies, Chick-fil-A, youth group activities, and new clothes. I wanted my kids to have all of this but what yanked my chain was they did not seem to appreciate the value of money.

Chuck and I came up with a plan that taught a great life lesson to our children. We figured out how much money we spent on them over a twelve-month period. This included clothes, fun money, and summer camp. We then divided the amount by twelve and came up with their weekly allowance.

We sat down with the kids and explained the value of budgeting, tithing, generous giving, and saving. We even took it a step further and presented it in typed form and had them sign it.

My boys still enjoy wearing only designer clothes, but they bid for them on e-bay or watch for sales. They don’t mind drinking water and using coupons when they go out to eat with their buddies or on a date.

I knew Wesley understood the value of a dollar when one evening after the movies he and his friends stopped to buy ice cream at Marble Slab. Wes was shocked at the price and convinced his friends that he had a much cheaper plan. They bought a gallon of ice cream from Wal-Mart and a package of plastic spoons for the price of two double dipped cones. Wesley’s innovative idea is now a tradition after the movies.