Bower Books – The Person I Marry

 Books and Writing, Homeschool, Reviews  No Responses »
Nov 082011
 
Bower Books - The Person I Marry

It’s not often anymore that Chey and I take the time to curl up with picture books. At nine, she’s mostly outgrown it and moved on to chapter books, and though once in a while we’ll read one aloud, most of the time, it’s each to their own favorite novels. We recently read a story together, though, that has me missing those evenings, tucked under a cuddly blanket with a book or five, talking about the books, what we liked, what we didn’t, and what our favorite pictures were. (Side note: we actually viewed an ebook version, not the hardcover [Read More...]

Nanowrimo 2011 (with kids)

 Books and Writing  No Responses »
Oct 312011
 
Nanowrimo 2011 (with kids)

Nanowrimo starts tomorrow! Are you participating? Our status? Undetermined. My kids have done the Nanowrimo: Young Writers Program for the last 3 years. Naughty me – I haven’t even asked them yet if they want to this year. Part of me wants to – they really look forward to this every year. And part of me feels like it’s all we need, is one more thing to do right now. We have until November 18th to be out of this house, and as of right now, we still don’t have anywhere to move to. Scary. (Prayers and happy house thoughts [Read More...]

Scrivener – A writer’s toolbox

 Books and Writing  No Responses »
Sep 292011
 
Scrivener - A writer’s toolbox

Literature and Latte has released the latest beta of Scrivener for Windows today. (Yay!) They’re not quite ready for a full 1.0 release, but in the meantime, the beta versions are free – and stable and reliable enough for daily use. I’ve been using Scrivener for Windows on a daily basis since late last year, and it’s made a huge improvement in my productivity. Don’t know if the thrill of good software, the ease of use, or how simple it makes it to organized, yet flexible. If you haven’t checked out Scrivener for Windows yet, you really should. Let me [Read More...]

Before Five In A Row

 Books and Writing, Homeschool, Reviews  1 Response »
Sep 202011
 
Before Five In A Row

My teens may not thank me for saying this on the web, out here where everyone can read it, but… they still read pictures books. Willingly and randomly. At least on occasion. It’s only been a few weeks since I packed up our shelves full of picture books. (I’m being optimistic about finding a place to move to.) But before I could pack them, I had the challenge of convincing the kids that 1. No, I am NOT getting rid of them, and 2. They really can live without them for a few months.) Of course, as soon as I [Read More...]

Online / software student planners

 Books and Writing, Family & Household  No Responses »
Sep 142011
 
Online / software student planners

I’m starting online college classes (again) in a couple of weeks. I’m excited. I’m scared. I’m determined to be organized and stay ahead of schedule. So of course, I went looking for online planners. And downloadable planners. And printable planners. (And this was interesting, but not the type of college planner I was looking for.) And I ended up over on Donna Young’s site printing calendars and a few other things. Red Notebook is interesting, but not quite what I’m looking for. If I could add a couple of these features into Scrivener, that’s be perfect. Going to have to [Read More...]

Read For The Heart

 Books and Writing, Homeschool, Reviews  2 Responses »
May 272011
 
Read For The Heart

I admit it. I’m a book-a-holic, and I love to read. Books, books, and more books. It’s contagious, and my kids have caught the bug. With the way we go through books, well… let’s just say, we can always use suggestions of what to read next. So of course, books ABOUT books are a particular favorite of mine. I’ve collected quite a few over the years, and each of them have their quirks – some arranged by mood, some by age level, many by genre… and even several created especially for homeschoolers. I’ve recently had the absolute pleasure of reading [Read More...]

I am such a goof sometimes…

 Books and Writing  No Responses »
May 092011
 
I am such a goof sometimes...

Okay, so I boo-booed. I told y’all to go enter the Books Obsession giveaway… and forgot to LINK to it. So that’s corrected, and I’m mentioning it again. Plus, there is another giveaway featuring Lynn Viehl’s book, After Midnight, along with a few other Young Adult titles, over on Adventures in Children’s Publishing.

Kregel Publications – Circle C Beginnings

 Books and Writing, Reviews  1 Response »
May 062011
 
Kregel Publications - Circle C Beginnings

Last year, when I was just a reader of reviews, and not yet a Crew member, I’d seen the reviews about the Circle C series from Kregel Publications. They sounded fun, something my daughter would enjoy, th0ugh this was before her horse-crazy phase. The covers really stuck in my mind – in fact, that’s what caught my attention in the first place. They reminded me of the old Harlequin Presents romance series. Not sure why – they just did. Made a mental note to myself to track down the titles sooner or later, and moved on. Princess wasn’t quite ready [Read More...]

Yesterday’s Classics

 Books and Writing, Homeschool, Reviews  1 Response »
May 042011
 
Yesterday's Classics

I absolutely LOVE ebooks, let’s just get that statement out of the way right off the bat. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got a pretty huge space in my heart for real books, too – but the enticement of one small device stuffed with a virtual library of books, enough so I never run out – well, that totally tips the scale. I’ve been using ebooks for (literally) ten years. First on PDAs purchased solely for that purpose, later on a Palm phone, most recently on a dedicated ebook reader. And intermittently on the computer. I tell you this so [Read More...]

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