Happy belated Valentine’s Day! I hope your week has been filled with sweetness. In honour of Valentine’s Day, the girls and I have been memorizing some verses about love from 1 Corinthians 13. It’s so precious to hear them talking about that passage throughout the day, although we all need to work on living it out. I’m looking forward to the day when we meet Jesus and are able to love perfectly. In the meantime, we’ll keep learning about what it means to love and praying for our Father’s perfect love to flow through us.

This has been an exciting week for The Grace-Filled Life. I’ve been accepted as a book reviewer for HarperCollins. This is something I’ve always wanted to do, and I’m looking forward to sharing some great literature with all of the TGFL readers in the near future. Stay tuned in the coming months for recommendations, honest reviews, and more.

Have a wonderful weekend!

~Mary-Ann

This Week on TGFL

One Simple Thing That Ignited a Love of Writing in Our Homeschool – Writing used to cause tears. However, with the introduction of one easy activity, creative writing is now everyone’s favourite subject.

Family Rituals: The Key to Happier, Healthier Kids – Find out why family rituals are SO important … and discover some simple ideas to get you started.

This Week in Books

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Children’s Books

This week, we read:

• Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo – We finished up this beautiful book about a motherless girl and the dog that brings a community together. Kate DiCamillo has a way of making heavy issues (abandonment, complex relationships) easy to digest by weaving them into stories that are suitable for most ages. All three of my girls loved this book.

• The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood – When Miss Penelope Lumley accepts a governess position at Ashton Place, she expects that she’ll be educating regular, run-of-the-mill children. She is in for a surprise when she meets her students, three children who have been raised by wolves. We began this book as a read-aloud, as it was recommended in The Read-Aloud Family. However, I decided after a couple of chapters to let my eldest daughter finish the book on her own. I would recommend this book for ages 10+.

• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O’Brien – Another recommendation from The Read-Aloud Family, this book is absolutely delightful so far. Mrs. Frisby, a widowed field mouse, must find a summer home for her family before the farmer begins to plow up the field in which their winter home is located. Her son, however, has pneumonia and will be unable to survive the move unless she finds help.  

• Various books from the Critter Club series – There is always a slightly awkward reading age when a child is too young for meatier chapter books but too old for storybooks. Finding a series that will ignite a love of reading is a different process for each child. For my seven-year old, the Critter Club series is the perfect fit. The books are about four friends who start an animal rescue and all the adventures they have. It’s a wonderful series of chapter books for beginner readers.

Adult Books

• Better Together by Pam Barnhill – I’m continuing to work my way through Pam Barnhill’s book on how to build family relationships through Morning Time.
• The Read-Aloud Family by Sarah MacKenzie – Sarah MacKenzie does a wonderful job teaching parents the importance of connecting with children through read-alouds.
• SPQR by Mary Beard – My husband is reading this award-winning history of ancient Rome.

Homeschool Highlights

Earlier this week, my husband went away on a work trip, and although he was only gone one night, the girls seemed to miss him more than usual this time. Since we hadn’t been able to use our Royal Botanical Garden tickets last week like we had planned, we decided to go on Monday while my husband was away. We saw their spider exhibit and wandered the indoor gardens. It was absolutely lovely.

We talked a lot this week about what it means to truly love. We had lovely morning tea times, a wonderful Valentine’s Day party and card exchange with our science co-op, and the girls had fun baking and blessing others.

In science class, the girls learned about the circulatory system using the Human Body Unit from The Good and the Beautiful. They made models of blood and learned all about the heart.

Snippets from Around the Web

Looking for some extra inspiration this weekend? Here are some wonderful articles from around the web:

• Want to Raise Smart, Kind Kids? Science Says Do This Every Day (Happy You, Happy Family)

• 101 Books Every Girl Should Read (Heart and Soul Homeschooling)

Don’t forget to check out The Grace-Filled Life Facebook page. It’s your one-stop spot for encouragement, inspiration and laughs throughout the week. You can also find TGFL on Pinterest and Instagram.