A big book list for that Christmas list

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Books.

In my book (see what I did there?), you can never have enough books. In our home, I sometimes wonder if we have too many books (and quickly dismiss that thought!). And you know you check out a lot of books when the librarians know your name and lets you know if a book by a favorite author has come in :)

This year, we’ve read a lot of books—personally, I read more than I expected and enjoyed so many good books! And as a family, we’ve also read (or listened to!) many good ones. So, I’m going to share my favorites from this past year (and, well, maybe other years too!) just in case you need to add a few books to your Christmas list, need a gift idea, or just want to add some more books to your library check-out list :)

My top five books I’ve read recently:

Gently and Lowly by Dane Ortland. I plan to read it again soon and recommend it to everyone who needs fresh eyes to see Christ’s love for us.

Yours is the Night by Amanda Dykes. I’ve loved all her books, and this one was just lovely. I’m picky about Christian historical fiction (a lot of it is a bit too cheesy or unrealistic for me), but this had strong characters and a moving story.

A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus. I started reading this to the kids, but they weren’t super interested in it. I, however, ate it up. Such a sweet and delightful story :) This would make a lovely Christmas-time or winter read!

The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner. This one kept me at the edge of my seat (so it was a quick read), but also a story about resilience and friendship.

The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp. If you are a fan of The Sound of Music, you may want to add this to your list. I found it fun and fascinating to read about Maria von Trapp’s life.

Our favorite chapter books or series:

Secret of the Hidden Scrolls series by M.J. Thomas. My boys have really enjoyed reading these together and also listening on audiobook. A litttle adventure + Bible learning mixed together. Win! Win!

The Wingfeather Saga series by Andrew Peterson. My oldest has deep dived into these books and loved them. I’ve read the first one too and enjoyed all the interesting characters, purposeful themes, and funny footnotes.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. Cute, funny, and lovable characters—plus adventure, surprises, and a little suspense. A refreshing read about friendship!

Christian Heroes Now and Then by Janet Benge. We’ve read a number of them (George Muller was probably the favorite) and I’ve stocked up on a number of them for the future.

Stick Dog by Tom Watson. Clever, cute, and full of adorable doggie characters. They are an easy and fun read with kiddos!

Some of our recent favorite picture books:

Any of the Tales the Tell Truth series from The Good Book company (we love them all!)

Seek and Find books—especially if you have a kiddo who likes the search and find books.

Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Things that Go. My boys all love this book—it’s quirky and fun. You can’t beat his illustrations!

Go, Go, Go! Stop! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read this book. But I can tell you it’s A LOT.

Other favorites:

Risen Motherhood by Emily Jenson and Laura Wifler. Gospel + motherhood—such a refreshing, helpful, and encouraging read!

Awaking Wonder by Sally Clarkson. I soaked this one in. Such practical and loving encouragement.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer. I read it a few years ago, but it’s been a story that has stuck with me—sweet, full of interesting characters, and of course, a bit of romance too :)

Kaleidoscope Kids Bibles. We have been using a few of these for our morning time and absolutely love them. I’m learning from them too!

She Reads Truth Study Bible. It’s pretty, full of helpful study tools, and one of my favorite translations.

Beholding and Becoming: The Art of Everyday Worship by Ruth Chou Simons. This book is just so pretty (it decorates your coffee table for you!) and it’s also full of solid Biblical wisdom. Win! Win! And this one is one my own Christmas list :)

Friends, I could go on and on. But I won’t ;) I hope you discovered a few new books to add to your list or grab for your kids or family/friends. What books have you recently read that you’d recommend for a Christmas list?

Have a good one!

Nicole

ps. Some of these links are affiliate links —which simply means I receive a small commission if you purchase through these links.

Encouragement to keep faithfully teaching + sharing God’s Word with your kids (even when it feels hard or weird)

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I have a bit of a confession to make.

Sometimes reading the Bible to my kids feels, well, awkward or stilted. I want to share the story or passage in an approachable way and, in the end, I feel like I muddled through a strange tale about a talking snake, or a man who walks on water, or demons entering pigs. Even though I hold strongly that the Word of God is perfect, true, and God’s inspired Word, it is definitely filled with many crazy and hard-to-understand parts.

And that can trip me up. I want it to feel natural and simple—but sometimes, it just feels weird trying to explain or unpack part of the Bible that I struggle to understand myself or seems hard to bring to the child’s level. 

I feel like it’s up to me to have the answers or be able to articulate the Bible clearly.

Another confession.

Sometimes I try really hard to make learning the Bible fun and engaging and it ends up exposing what sin looks like (hello crabby and frustrated momma!) in a better way than a cute Bible craft can (ha!). My curated plans meet the reality of children, and I find myself smiling through my teeth and saying “Time to learn about Jesus and you.better.listen.and.like.it.”

In the end, I feel defeated because the last thing I want is for my kids to feel like reading the Bible is drudgery or learning about Jesus is a task. 

I want them to have a hunger and thirst for the Word of God and a desire to know about the One who wrote it. 

Maybe you can relate to this. 

Over the years, I have found some helpful tips, resources, and reminders that have helped me when I struggle or wonder if I’m doing it right. I thought I’d share them with you (and you can share your tips with me too!).

  1. It’s not my job to change my kid’s heart or give them ears to hear. That’s God’s role. When I remember this, it gives me the freedom to simply walk with Christ, share my life and learning with my children, and prayerfully ask God to work in them. You saw my list up there--those challenges often come when I’m trying to take on more responsibility for my children’s faith than I ought to. I’m often reminded of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 3:7:

“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”

  1. Be honest. If you don’t understand something about a passage, tell your kids. Admit when you find something challenging to obey or understand in the Bible. Realizing that we don’t know or understand everything shows that we approach God’s Word with humbleness and ask Him to help us understand it.  Study it together!

  2. Just do it. Okay, okay. I know that sounds a little silly, but often, when I feel discouraged because my kids don’t seem interested, I tend to give up and say, “Oh well! No one is listening so I just won’t do it!” I’ve realized that there won’t be amazing learning or lightbulb moments for my kids (or myself!) every day (or even every week or month). They will be distracted, sometimes disruptive, or bored. But God tells me in His word to share with others about Him--and my kiddos are part of that. If you are like me and struggle with this, ask God to help you be faithful (especially when it’s hard or you yourself are feeling spiritually parched). Ps. Sometimes it is wise to stop reading or sharing if your kids are all over the place--but don’t let that stop you from picking it back up at a later time :) 

  3. Use tools to help you teach your kids about the Bible and the Gospel. Grab a storybook Bible, kid-friendly devotional book, or a Bible reading plan to help you know what to read. I often find that when we are working through something, my kids are more likely to ask “What’s the next story in….” or “Mom! We haven’t read from ____ yet today!” Ps. At the bottom of this post are some of my favorite tools we’ve used! 

  4. Pray. Pray. And Pray. Like I mentioned before, I often get stuck when I’m relying too much on myself and thinking it’s all up to me. While I do think that we have a responsibility to teach our kids the truths about God (see Psalms 78:1-7), we can’t manufacture faith in our children’s hearts. But! We can pray for wisdom, gentleness, and patience as we teach and share with them. We can also pray with our kids and ask God to help us study and learn from His Word.

  5. Spend personal time studying and learning about God through His Word. I’ve found that if I’m consistently in the Word, it’s far more natural to simply share with my kids what I’m learning about and how God is working in my life. 

  6. Focus on God and the Gospel. Well, I bet you’re thinking, “Nicole, isn’t that pretty obvious?” Let me explain. I think we (or at least I do!) get befuddled when we try to impart too many lessons or ideas when we are reading something about the Bible. I’m learning how to better whittle it down to “What does this passage/story teach us about God?” or “How does this show God’s big story (aka the Gospel)? 

  7. Engage your kids at their level. Maybe you have a little one who loves music and singing? Sing the scriptures! Maybe you have an analytical child who has a lot of questions--perhaps deep dive into theology with them. Do they need to keep their hands busy? Give them something to play with as they listen to you read the Bible. Meet your kids at their level and remember that we all learn differently--their style may be very different from yours! 

  8. Remember that it's not about the boxes. I’ve fallen into this more times than I care to admit. I want to be sure that I’m doing the “right Christian mom thing” and teaching my kids the Bible. So, I bring out the Bible, read something, and we move on with our day. The end. Check. Maybe it sounds like I’m repeating myself, but I’m going to say it again, pray! Ask God to bring life and excitement for sharing the Word with your kids--He has definitely met this need many times for me when I’ve been in a rut or going through the motions. 

  9.  Trust God’s Word to do what God says it will do. It’s a light. It’s God-breathed. It’s truth. It’s a useful for teaching and correcting. It endures forever. It’s flawless. It is right and true. What a joy it is to have God’s word and to be able to know God through His word! If you feel discouraged, remember this: God’s Word never returns void. And even our most muddly-fuddly, awkward storytelling, and strange explanations can be used by God. 

As I wrap this up, I want to leave one last encouraging word to you. And I’m telling myself this just as much as I’m telling you.

Stay rooted. It’s easy to get distracted and discouraged. Maybe you see a mom teaching her kids 25 memory verses a week, or they do a fun weekly Bible skit or lesson, or whatever she is doing just seems...well, better than what you are doing.

It is not your job to do more; it is your job to be faithful. More hustle on our part does not produce more faith in our children’s hearts.

God has given you these little ones in your home, and He has given you His Word to guide you. He loves and created your children. 

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So stay rooted. Open up that good and precious gift and read it. Ask God to help you understand and apply it. Study it. Live it. Be in awe of the One who breathed it. Tell your children what it says, talk about it throughout your day, joyfully share the Good News, and keep watering those cute little plants that live in your home. Let’s encourage one another as we do this in our homes :)

Some of our favorite Bible tools + resources:

Ps. Don’t forget to download your free “God’s Word” printable—a print full of everything God’s Word is! I stuck mine of my fridge so that it will daily remind me to trust + stay rooted in God’s word :)

Have a good one!

Nicole

What's inside this year's Back to School Basket?

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In less than two weeks, we’ll finish up our summer break and enter into our 4th year of homeschooling (I can hardly believe that!). As much as I adore the loose schedule and break of summer, I am SO ready to begin our school rhythms and enjoy bringing back some structure to our days.

Whether you send your kids off to school or homeschool, I bet you can relate to the itch for routine ;)

Every year, I love putting together a basket for the first day of school. Especially since we don’t do the typical back-to-school shopping, this is a fun back-to-school tradition :)

This year, we are doing the King Kingdom from the Peaceful Press and I am so excited to learn about medieval history, kings and queens, Narnia, and not to mention, try to make our own Turkish delight ;)

So, of course, I had to create a basket that had a few Narnia-inspired or medieval-inspired items in there.

So, let’s start with what in the basket for my littlest (he’s two and a half):

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For my middle guy (he’s 5 1/2 and entering into Kindergarten), we got:

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Here’s what we gathered for our oldest who is entering 3rd grade:

I generally try to stick to including a new book, game, school supplies, and something we can use through-out the year (such as a water bottle, new shirt, etc). Often, the first day of school includes lots of reading new books, playing a new game, and gently beginning the new year :)

Have you given your kiddos a back-to-school basket? Or do you have any fun back-to-school traditions?

Have a good one!

Nicole

*Some of the links included are affiliate links. See my affiliate disclosure here.

Do you use reverse planning? Do you know what it is?

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I know that we can’t see one another across the channels of the internet, but if are a homeschool parent, and have felt like you have no clue what you are doing—raise your hand. I’m over here raising mine!

We are about to enter into our 4th year of homeschooling (and I still feel like an absolute newbie), but on the other hand, I have found some systems and tools that work (and don’t work) for our us.

At the beginning of our homeschool journey, I made a lot of plans. I wrote them down, organized them, and then, well, got frustrated when they didn’t quite work the way I had envisioned. Even though I often knew that we should shift gears with a plan that wasn’t working, I was determined to check it off the list. To be honest, I chucked planning every detail pretty quickly. But then I was left feeling like we aimless and I would often wonder if I was doing enough.

I’m pretty sure the question: Am I doing enough? is an age-old parenting and homeschooling question.

You can raise your hand across the internet if you’ve felt that too!

Then, someone introduced me to reverse or back planning. And it truly made all the difference. For the last few years, I’ve purchased a simple calendar and just jotted down notes about our day and what we did. Doing this gave me more freedom to shift gears (instead of dogged determination to follow my plan), keep track of what we’ve done during the day, and visually see that our day was made up of all kinds of learning and together moments. I also used it to keep notes about attitudes and what seemed to be working (or not working!). I write down everything from library visits, to baking together, impromptu science experiments, math lessons, games we’ve played together, trips to the store, outdoor adventures, reading lessons, and everything in between :)

This year, I’ll be homeschooling two kids instead of one, so I went on the hunt for a planner that could better keep track of what we’ve done. I wanted something that could separate the subjects a bit to get a feel for our rhythms with those areas. I also wanted a planner with a way to jot down some tasks and priorities that I want do during the week (as I do like to make a few loose plans ahead of time).

Goodness. I found a lot of amazing homeschool planners and even teacher planners. They were filled to the brim with so many wonderful pages of goals, subject leaning, mini-unit plans, etc.

But at the end of the day, I was looking for something that could mainly be used to plan ahead a little bit and also back or reverse plan. As much as those homeschool planners looked awesome, I knew that I didn’t need all the extra tools they included.

So, what’s a girl to do? Well, I made my own. It’s simple and has just what I need. It has a weekly planning page, a weekly spread with blank subject and weekday spots (which I plan to use to write down what we did), some encouraging verses and quotes, and a section to keep track of books we’ve read, places we’ve gone, memories we’ve made, and other notes. Plus, I added some full calendar pages to help me get monthly overviews and keep track of weeks off, holidays, special events, etc.

It’s more of a memory-keeper than a plan aheader ;)

I thought that maybe someone else would like something simple and straight-forward too. I enjoyed making some pretty covers, and it was hard to choose which one I liked best. But, the interior pages are all black and white (to help you save on printing costs!) and easy to get printed and bound.

So, if you’ve been on the hunt for a tool to simply keep track of learning or plan ahead, this may work for you. I’m looking forward to using it this year and then tucking it away with our school items at the end of the year.

I’d love to know: Do you like all the planning tools or do you like to just jot down the basics? Have you tried reverse or back planning?

Have a good one!

Nicole

The Gospel for Pirates

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A number of years ago, when my oldest was close to 3-years-old, I was ready to teach him the Christmas story. But, it happened a little like this:

I asked Luke where Jesus was born. His response, "the hospital?"

So, I read him the first part of the Christmas story in the Jesus Storybook Bible and afterward asked him the same question. His response this time, "That place? Starbucks?"

I guess it was all the talk about stars?

Then we went to the page about God creating space, and I asked him, "Luke, who created the stars and outer space?" And you know what he said? Darth Vader. Darth Vader.

True story. I’m still learning that teaching my kids about God’s word and the truth takes perseverance and seemingly repeating the same truths over and over again. To be honest, sometimes it’s discouraging when I feel like I’ve told them a story or a truth over and over and they just don’t seem to get it. Have you been there?

Last year, I did a little survey and asked you guys what you want your kids to know the most about the Bible and God. Overwhelmingly, you responded with The Gospel or God’s Love. So, I wanted to create something that could break down the Gospel story for kids. I often struggle with knowing how to best communicate the Gospel to my kids—on one hand, it is so simple. God loved us so much that He sent His son to die for our sins and give us eternal life. And on the other hand, how does a man dying on a cross thousands of years ago for our sins make sense to our kids? Ever feel the same way?

And I started thinking about it, I started thinking about the curse of sin, and then I started thinking about pirates and treasure. So, here we are! I hope that the Gospel for Pirates provides an engaging and simple way for you to walk your kids through the Gospel story—from creation to restoration. There are four lessons total: creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.

Going through the Gospel for Pirates was an engaging way to share the Gospel with my boys—the moldy “sin” bread especially struck a cord and they enjoyed creating their big pirate map.

My hope that if you use this resource that it can help you share the Gospel with your little pirates too!

Have a good one!

Nicole

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