Life through Joy's Eyes.
On a family vacation to North Carolina, my cousin Matt and I had an unfortunate experience. We went floating down a mountain river in inner tubes. It took a few hours to make it to the end, but it is relaxing and worth it. Before we even got in the water, things went south. Matt ...
Mom did a lot of work to find curriculum that would work really well for my sister and I as we progressed through our homeschool era. One of the curriculum items that worked really well for both of us was Shurley Grammar. It broke down grammar and writing into approachable chunks and patterns. Shurley also ...
I came from a family that has an appreciation for routine. We did things in an order most of the time. That kept things moving but also kept things predictable. Except for this one night. Mom, Dad, Janine, and I were sitting downstairs in the basement enjoying some downtime watching TV together. In the middle ...
Disclaimer: This post is going to expose a beautiful nerdy streak that my sister and I both share. Prepare yourself. When Janine and I were old enough to stay home solo when mom and dad went out, we’d more often than not entertain ourselves in a simple way. We’d grab a game from the basement, ...
I have no clue how we came up with this idea, but somewhere along the line in our childhood world of wonder, Janine and I decided that some of our collectible Beanie Babies that grandma had bought us had fallen in love, and of course, needed to get married. All we needed to do was ...
One thing I love about my sister is that she is optimistic, creative, and all around brilliant. I have the feeling that one of the worst things that could happen to our household growing up was a bored little kid me...especially when Janine was in charge of me. Somewhere along the line, Janine, or Janine ...
In the early homeschool days, science was one of my favorite topics. It was so easy to feel productive - pull out the microscope and look at things in high magnified detail. Boom. Science. Baking = Chemistry. Let’s figure out how things interact! The mac daddy of them all at that time: Baking soda and ...
My sister, Janine, is a brilliant human. She came up with some amazingly ingenious ways to cope with having a “monkey see, monkey do” and “I won’t do that just because it is something you want me to do” little sister like me. As many of you know, I do best when I feel like ...
September 11, 2001 is a day that none of us will forget. Everyone has their stories of where they were, when they heard, how they felt. I am no different. Except that I made a huge mistake that day. It was a normal Thursday morning. Dad was already gone (either on a trip or to ...
I had my priorities pretty straight as a kid. Sleep often, eat well, and scream frequently - just for good measure. But my mother was also very thoughtful when it came to what we ate and drank. Admittedly so, I got a little out of hand when too much sugar was in my system. For ...
