Book Review: How to Read Books Like a Professor: For Kids
How does seeing figurative language help you be a more thoughtful reader? You can read a book and think it’s a good story. Or you can read a book and notice the symbols, setting, and figurative language and understand the meaning of the story on a whole different level. This book is for the reluctant reader and the avid reader, the young and the old, but especially for the middle schoolers. Written by New York bestseller author and professor Thomas Foster, How to Read Books Like a Professor: for Kids teaches the reader some secrets to understanding books and points out helpful examples and connections along the way. Through humor and insight, the Foster teaches how to read books using familiar books, stories, and movies as examples. With chapter titles like “Nice to Eat You” and “Where Have I Seen You Before,” readers learn about the skills needed to find meaning and make connections. Not only will they read better, their summaries and conversations about literature will also be much richer. This book is so good I suggest you get a copy this summer and read it aloud to your kids, ages 5th grade and up, especially the middle schoolers.…
Product Review: Bankroll Coffee
Can drinking coffee make you a millionaire? I self identify as a coffee snob. No doubt about that. For Christmas my kids got me a coffee bundle from Bankroll Coffee, and it was the perfect gift! Good coffee, catchy packaging, and amazing prices per cup. Names like Double Down, Morning Drip, and Diamond Hands grace the bags. I can’t even pick a favorite, but maybe Hodl, the espresso roast. Eventually, I’d like to try the decaf, Buy the Drip. If you read my earlier post, you’ll know that I make cold brew coffee at home. I always have some regular and some decaf in my fridge. Check out my cold brew coffee review here. Graham Stephan, with his interest in personal finance, real estate, and investing, has an interesting recipe for brewing coffee at home and saving money to invest so you can be a millionaire when you retire. According to Stephan, millennials spend more on coffee than they do on retirement! He says in his video that he wants to create a business that will continue to grow on its own without him having to be constantly involved as the influencer. I resonate with that business goal. That’s what…
Book Review – Relationships: A Mess Worth Making
What relationships are a mess worth making? There’s no denying that relationships are messy, but there is hope for improving them. After the added stress of distance or close confinement during Covid, most of our relationships could use some strengthening. This book, Relationships: A Mess Worth Making, by Paul David Tripp and Tim Lane is a guide for deepening our relationship with God and improving our relationships and reactions with our fellow man. I first came across this book when our small group chose to do it as a book discussion. There was plenty to discuss and reflect upon with each of the chapters. When a friend came to me with some relationship questions, I immediately thought about several of the chapters of this book. I tried to summarize and quote large chunks of it. Then I gave up and bought her the book! It’s that kind of book. You will benefit greatly from the personal reflection, but you will also find yourself using this as a resource for others. Go ahead and add it to your shopping list. It’s available in paperback, audio book, or ebook. In fact, add a couple to your list and stock up. It’s a…
Product Review: Pinch of Yum
What’s your go-to website for recipes? Finding healthy, exciting, and approachable recipes can be a challenge in the giant universe of cyberspace. It’s not that they don’t exist, but that there’s so many websites to choose from. Let me introduce you to one of my favorites. Pinch of Yum is one I discovered in the last few years when a friend shared a yummy recipe I had tasted at her house. Now I regularly find myself clicking on the links in their newsletter or searching the blog for a recipe featuring whatever food items I have on hand that night so I don’t have to go to the store just to make dinner. The ability to sort recipes by categories like quick and easy, dinner, Instant Pot, vegan, tacos, freezer meals, etc. make it easy to find particular things. Another thing I love is the beauty of the website! Not only are the recipes a delight to taste, the website is a feast for your eyes from the fonts to the colors to the photos. Whether you want printed recipes, videos to follow, or explanations, you can get them at Pinch of Yum. If you are looking for a way…
How to Answer the Questions Kids Ask About Life and God
How do I explain the basics of the Christian faith to my kids if I didn’t grow up in church? What do you do when your kids ask you big questions about life and God, but you struggle to even answer those questions yourself? A friend recently asked me this question. She wanted to know how to answer the questions kids ask about life and God. She knew what she believed but was hesitant to try to explain it to her kids for fear of messing up the answers because she didn’t grow up in the church and missed out on hearing all the familiar stories taught in Sunday School. Essentially, my friend and her kids needed to learn some basic theology (the study of God) and basic Bible doctrines (Bible beliefs) together. What you believe affects how you live so understanding and talking about theology with your kids is important to Christian parents. It doesn’t have to be as hard or complicated as it sounds. It can be reading and talking together at the dinner table or storytime. The Bible is the best book and tool for truth and encountering God. Christian parents need to help their kids learn…
Product Review: Esteamed Coffee
How do you choose your coffee shops? The title wasn’t a typo. It wasn’t a mistake. The mission of Esteamed Coffee is to “build esteem and employment for adults with differing abilities.” This delightful coffee shop is in the heart of downtown Cary, NC and employs several friends of mine. The concept of the shop came together after the stroke and long recovery of an 18 year old friend of ours. Did you know that there’s an over 70% unemployment rate for adults with disabilities? Esteamed Coffee is hoping to lower that rate and show other businesses that it’s possible and meaningful to employ people with differing abilities. They want businesses to steal their employees! Along with their coffee for a cause, they showcase local artwork and have space for small meetings and events. If you have not visited this coffee shop, grab a friend and go see why Esteamed Coffee was nominated as one of the top 5 finalists for “Most Innovative Local Startups in 2021.” Or pack up your laptop and work for a few hours inside or outside the shop while sipping on one of the specialty lattes. The staff is happy to make drink recommendations! The hardest…
Product Review: ASANA
How many sticky notes are on your counter or desktop on any given day? Asana is an application designed to help you organize, track, and manage your work. It’s a game changer for teams! If you are unfamiliar with ASANA, it’s a work management tool. I love the project and task features where I can see what I need to do and check it off when I complete it. I use it for home and for work. I LOVE it! All my EVENTS go on my Google Calendar and all my TASKS go in Asana. There’s a free version that you can begin using today, plus lots of tutorials such as this one from Louise Henry or these from the Asana Academy. When a friend shared an Asana board with me a few years ago, I was instantly intrigued. We used Asana to manage event planning for a conference. I felt a bit overwhelmed by all I didn’t know about Asana. After the event, I took some time to watch tutorials and become an Asana Ambassador. Even now, there’s so much more I could be using Asana for. I just keep adding to my knowledge and use of Asana as…
Product Review: Manual Pencil Sharpener
What’s your favorite non electric office product? I have a serious love of office products. Zebra striped paperclips and pastel sticky notes make me swoon. I wrap my trademark blue tape around my brand new Sharpies so nobody walks off with them. I wasn’t brand specific until I discovered Dixon Ticonderoga pencils. However, for years, pencil sharpeners frustrated me. I kept bent paperclips and screwdrivers in my desk drawer to unclog them after kids sharpened colored pencils or cheap pencils down to the nubs or inserted the wrong end of the pencil in the sharpener. Grrr. Manual. Electric. New. Used. Handheld when we broke the remaining one in the supply closet. Grrr. Then one day I got a gift. My best friend said her husband bought a box of pencil sharpeners and wanted to give me one. She didn’t seem overly excited about this as she handed it to me. Considering mine were always breaking, I was happy to get a new pencil sharpener. Life suddenly went from good to great. I had a new office product love! Where had this gem been all my life?! I found myself teaching kids and adults how to use my Groovy Green pencil…
Ministry Review: Moms In Prayer International
Is praying for an hour straight hard or easy for you? “Moms in Prayer International impacts children and schools worldwide for Christ by gathering mothers to pray.” This tagline says it all and it’s probably one of the best parenting decisions I ever made. For many years I joined like minded moms in praying for our children, their schools, and their teachers. What started as two moms praying together in 1984 has now grown to groups in over 150 countries with the vision that eventually every school in the world would be covered by a group of praying moms. The premise is to pray for your kids and their schools for an hour each week. I really liked the format they provide weekly, which is an outline for your prayer time and starts with highlighting an attribute of God. Since the groups are organized by schools, it’s not likely that everyone is from the same church which I found to be a strength. The best part of my week was the hour spent with sisters in Christ, passionate about our kids, schools and teachers. When I went back to work as a teacher, I also really appreciated knowing that there…
Book Review: Blazing New Homeschool Trails
Are you more of a trailblazer or a trail follower when it comes to raising and educating kids? No matter how you answer this question, this BRAND NEW book, Blazing New Homeschool Trails: Educating and Launching Teens with Developmental Disabilities, could be for you! My friend, Natalie Vecchione, did not set out to be a trailblazer. She set out to be a wife and mama and along the way, realized that the path was no longer clear for her as a mama of a child with FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is a brain based disorder). She unexpectedly became a trailblazer and is now leading others down the path though FASD Hope. I had the privilege of tutoring Natalie’s son, so I got to walk a little bit along their path. So many hindrances to their path could have broken their family, instead, it made them stronger. When Natalie said she was co authoring a book, I couldn’t wait to read it. In fact, I happily volunteered to be on the launch team so I could read it early! I also looked forward to reading the story of Cindy LaJoy and the business, Buckaroos Slices and Scoops, that her kids…
