Leslie | Heart of the Matter

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Encourage Your Children to Express their Creative Side

Oh how I love art and crafting. Although all my kids have their own favorite activities, I am a watercolor fan. I truly wish I had a bit more time to develop my drawing and painting skills. When I lived up north I would take the littletons to art museums often. The true beginning of this activity began for me the first time I...

Library Skills: Essential & FUN!

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I have fond childhood memories of visiting the library. We lived just 4 blocks from our local library, so at a fairly young age I was permitted to walk or ride my bicycle to the library. I spent countless hours there. Looking back, I wonder if the librarians ever thought I was an orphan. During those early years, the...

A Simple Mindset Change

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Surfing the net, I recently came across two sentences that simply state the difference between a frugal life and a simple life. I found this answer (and a LOT more) over at Thoughts on Voluntary Simplicity. There is much wisdom to be gleaned here, but I will leave you to search that on your own. What they wrote that was so...

Getting Your Reluctant Reader to Love Reading

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As a homeschooling mom I have been asked one question more than any other. No, it is not how I teach socialization. The question is, “How did you teach your children to read?” Although this question is frequently asked, I always find myself blushing and replying, “I never taught my children to read.” Now, you might...

School Organization for Everyday

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One thing that everyone tries to accomplish at the beginning of each school year is to make a system that will work for keeping things organized. We all dream of mornings that are non-chaotic with never a spinny, spin, spin for that one needed item that seems to be hiding somewhere. “I know I put that pencil somewhere, but...

Become an Action Lister

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I was talking to a new homeschooling mom a couple of weeks ago who was in the frantic…”It’s time to get busy”…stage. You know when you have to pull it all together, but have never done it before, and ALL of the thoughts of what you simply MUST accomplish to succeed are spinning around your head. Oh this is a...

Visual Simplicity

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Most women have some type of planner or calendar system that they use to keep track of their lives. It is a common and fairly simple way of keeping track of life. Some women use a multiple calendar system, while others use a one calendar system. Whatever system you use, you can use this visual tool to determine how you can...

Weeding the Garden of Life

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You have likely heard the idea that your spiritual life is like a garden; if you do not tend to it regularly the weeds will take over. It starts slowly, and may even happen unconsciously. You skip weeding (devotional time) one day because there is a torrential downpour of chaos on your life. Your mind is preoccupied with...

Let God Get You Organized!

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Many of you are aware that I have been working on getting my home overhauled over the last few months. This process has taken a bit longer than I originally had planned for a variety of reasons; work schedule, lack of “homes” for stuff, loss of motivation, illness, and my attitude. Last week I posted on the Total Home...

Simple is as Simple Does

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Simple is as simple does, is a credo I try to live by. I encourage others with small steps that can be used to bring simplicity to your life for the first time, or the thirty-first time. The fact is that even the simplest life can begin to become chaotic as life changes occur. Living a simple life is about the journey and the...