"....Your children shall be like olive plants all around your table." Psalm 128:3

Monday, December 26, 2016

A Purple Monday Sale at Lilla Rose!

Hi friends,

There is a Purple Monday sale at Lilla Rose beginning today from 7:00 am (Pacific time) until tomorrow at 12:00 noon (Pacific time)...

At least 10% off everything...

15% off select styles...

50% off holiday themed limited releases...

Plus, free shipping on orders over $40!

Head over to my site for all the details....  www.lillarose.biz/LisaKnight

Thank you for your support!


Thursday, December 8, 2016

Keeping Company with Amy Carmichael

     From Gold by Moonlight, by Amy Carmichael, chapter 3 entitled, The Ravine, pages 24-25:


This book may find one who must thread the ravine at its darkest. There are wrongs done to innocence that scorch the mind. The indignation of the Lord waits upon the wrongdoer. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:31) If our Scripture showed no righteous Judge who hath eyes like unto a flame of fire, the revelation of Love incarnate would be a shimmering dream. But this does not help the tortured in the hour of torture: "All Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over me. As with a sword in my bones mine enemies reproach me, while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?" (Psalm 42: 7 & 10)
     
And yet there is a lifting up: Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shall quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. (Psalm 71:20)
    
 O thou afflicted, tossed with the tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. Thou shalt be called, "My delight is in her": thou shalt be called "My Pleasure."
     
Do not push the words away as too beautiful for you, you who have been trusted so. "Tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised" (Luke 7:22) -but though the Lord omnipotent walks so near thy prison, thou shalt be left in prison-  "And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me."  That is the word for you. The Father trusts His broken child to trust: "If thou sink to dishonor, soar thou to love the honor of thy Beloved, who is sufficient to honor all that love Him. If thou be deceived and betrayed, rise thou in love even to the faithfulness of thy Beloved, by whom thou shalt be neither deceived or betrayed. If thou sink through fear, soar thou through love till thou be safe with thy Beloved." (emphasis mine -  I love that part!)

(My other posts about this gem of a book can be read here, here, and here. )

Friday, December 2, 2016

The December Flexi of the Month and a Special Offer from Lilla Rose

Hi friends,

It's time for the December Flexi of the Month: Pearl Tree...




And there is a special offer for the month of December..

You can visit my website for more details.

Have a fantastic Friday!  :)

Friday, November 25, 2016

A BIG Black Friday Sale at Lilla Rose!

Hi friends,

There is a BIG four-day Black Friday Sale going on now at lillarose.biz/LisaKnight!

Up to 60% off and free shipping on orders over $75! Many of the new releases won't last long, so place your order while supplies last!  



And the November special offer is still going on: a free zippered pouch and Holiday Bobby Set with orders over $100.
Thanks for your support. :)

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

God is so good! Let 's remember to be thankful all year, and not just for one day.  :)

Monday, November 21, 2016

Keeping Company with Amy Carmichael

From Gold by Moonlight by Amy Carmichael, chapter  3, entitled The Ravine, pages 20- 21:


That weary way is a place of memories. One of the readings of Psalm 42 sees the soul sharpening the knives of pain by remembering jubilant  yesterdays. "These things will I remember, how I passed on in the procession, how I marched with them to the house of God with the voice of joy and praise-a festive crowd." (v. 4b) Yes, we were one of a festive crowd; was there any happy thing we did not do?  And we think of what used to be, so different from all that is now: "When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me." (v. 4a) Was ever a sad heart that did not feel like that?

And yet we are ashamed of such feelings, and the stronger part of us tries to encourage the weaker. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?" (Ps. 42:5a) "Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance." (Ps. Ps. 43:b)

...Blessed be the tender mercy that has given us the truthful story of such hours, and with that story the power of release: "O send out Thy light and Thy truth; let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles." (Ps. 43:3) The mountain we are going to climb, the holy hill where His tabernacles are, is not in darkness. A broad beam of light falls upon that hill, a lighted path that leads to light like the pavement of heaven for clearness.

It is all true. We know that it is true. And yet there is something in the trend of our thoughts that is like the backlash of the waves, as wave after wave breaks on the shore. We have looked up. We have seen the lovely radiance of that upper air. but our feet must walk the ways of earth down that dreary hill, past those sombre trees, and into the valley before we can press up through the mist and stand under shining skies.

There is nothing imaginary about the oppression of the enemy, but there is deliverance from that oppression: "O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore, will I remember Thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar."  (Ps. 42:6)




(You can read my previous posts about this Amy Carmichael book here and here. )


Sharing with Celeste.
And with Dawn.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

For Today - The Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today


Looking out my window,
I can see our free-range chickens pecking and scratching in the yard.

I am thinking (and praying!)
about the election.

I am thankful
to know that no matter what the outcome of the election is,
God is still on the throne.  

One of my favorite things
is this time of year: I love fall, y'all!  :)

I am creating
a cross-stitch butterfly bookmark for my mom.

I am wearing
a long denim skirt, a blue print shirt, and my toasty warm insulated socks that hubby got me from the farm store.

Love, love, this book!

I am hoping
that our new pullets start laying eggs - soon!

I am learning
that the Lord is all-sufficient; no matter the circumstances, no matter the situation, no matter what, He is all I need.

In my kitchen,
 we are having Ethiopian veggies and 5 grain bread for supper tonight. Yum!  :)

In the school room,
Ian is doing his Bible readings, Aaron, Asher, and Naomi are working on a Grammar lesson. And Natalie is working on Geography.

In my garden,
there is a beautiful, sparkly frost.

Shared quote:
"God whispers to us in our pleasure,
speaks to us in our conscience,
but shouts in our pain;
it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."
The Problem of Pain 
~C.S. Lewis

A moment from my day:

Aaron's tarantula molted 2 weeks ago. In this photo, he is holding the actual tarantula and the molt is on the right.

Linking up with Peggy.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Keeping Company with Amy Carmichael

From Gold by Moonlight, by Amy Carmichael, chapter 2, entitled The Dark Wood - Illuminated, page 18:

"So the forest in sunrise is a figure of the true. There is always light above us. Our roof is like the roof of the forest, transparent. So, verily, there is no roof; we live under the open heavens. Look above the tree-tops, O my soul;from thence flow the fountains of light. See how that blessed light streams through the wood. See how it fills and floods and overflows the air with its splendour. Hear the word of the Lord the Light: 'Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay himself upon his God.' {reference to Isaiah 50:10}

We have far too poor a conception of the intimacy with our God which He desires should be habitual. We are satisfied with with too little and so we know too little of the light of the woods of life-that light which is always there."



(You can read my previous post about this book here. )



Tuesday, November 1, 2016

November Flexi of the Month and a Special Offer from Lilla Rose

Hi friends,

It's that time of the month again...time for the Flexi of the Month! And for November it's North Star:
How beautiful is that?!

There is also limited time free shipping, AND a free offer (while supplies last) from Lilla Rose....

Take a look at these lovely new releases that are available for the holidays...


Find out more about Lilla Rose hair accessories at


Thanks for your support!  :)

Monday, October 24, 2016

Homemade Apple Cider

Well friends, fall is upon us, at least in my neck of the woods. And these chilly mornings have me craving a warm and comforting  drink to start my day. 

Since I love apples so much, I decided that apple cider would be perfect on these cool fall mornings. But I took a look at the apple cider at our local WalMart recently, and saw that  the ingredients include pasteurized apple cider and added Vitamin C. Hmm...not thrilled about that, so I wondered.... could I make a homemade version that would be healthier than the "pasteurized Vitamin C added" version?

I found a recipe online, but it wasn't as healthy as I hoped, so I experimented, tweaked, and tweaked some more, and here's the version that I came up with:

Ingredients:

Wash and quarter:
2 green apples
2 red apples
2 yellow apples
1 orange

Spices: (**can be adjusted according to tastes**)
3 cinnamon sticks
2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 c. pure maple syrup
8 whole cloves
12 cups water


Put everything into a large soup pot.


Bring to a boil; lower heat and simmer at least 2 hours. The longer you simmer it, the more flavorful it will be.  
And a word of warning, friends:  be prepared to be completely intoxicated by the wonderful smell of the cider boiling!  ;)

This is what it looked like after 2 hours of simmering.

Strain.

And serve. 

Yummy! Healthy and delicious - perfect for a cool fall morning. 
Enjoy!

Sharing this recipe with JES.

Monday, October 10, 2016

Keeping Company with Amy Carmichael

I have recently been reading a book by Amy Carmichael called Gold By Moonlight. (For those of you who are unfamiliar with Amy Carmichael, you can read about her here. )





I have had this book for years and never picked it up until a few weeks ago, but since I have started reading it, I realize what a gem of a book it is! It was given to me by a dear older lady who I consider to be my spiritual grandmother, which makes the book even more special.

The first time I read the title, I was curious about the meaning of it.

But inside the front cover, Miss Carmichael gives the explanation. She wrote,

"In 1637, out of much trouble of mind, the Scottish minister Rutherford wrote to a friend:
'It is possible to gather gold, where it may be had, with moonlight.'
This book is written to any who are walking in difficult places and who care to gather that gold."

"Walking in difficult places"..that has been the story of my life the past few years.  I won't go into detail here, but I will say that the Lord knew exactly when to nudge me toward reading this book - it was definitely His perfect timing.  Any earlier and I would have given up trying to get into the book; it's not an easy read. In fact, I have picked up the book several times and tried to read it, but I just couldn't get interested in it. It had to be when I was ready for it. And the Lord knew that. I am so thankful for His perfect timing. :)

As I said earlier, this book is a gem. And it has been a great comfort and encouragement to me, second only to Scripture. I am only on page 31, but I have read enough to know that it's a treasure. It is chock-full of  analogies, metaphors, and references to Scripture. I seriously can't say enough good things about it!   I even splurged on a new Keeping journal to write down all the wonderful quotes that I want to remember. However, I am also doing lots of highlighting, underlining, and writing in the margins.  :)



So, since it has been such a help to me, I will occasionally share some snippets here, hoping and praying that it will encourage others who are going through trials.


Prior to writing this book, photos of the Austrian Tyrol and the Bavarian Highlands were given to Miss Carmichael. As she looked at the photos, she says, they "fell into a kind of order, and became for me figures of the true, transparent, full of the sense of things. Then came the thought of others, and so this book."

The first chapter is entitled, The Sense of Things, and this is the accompanying photo..


My favorite passage in this chapter is: "Wrapped in the clouds and hidden by the mist is all that makes up life, its woods and ravines, its upland meadows where we go with much content, its hills called Difficulty, and its Delectable Mountains (reference to The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan): in brief, its greater and smaller joys and sorrows, its trials of faith, disciplines, batterings of soul and body; all that our Savior, in His story of the two builders, calls rain and flood and wind and the vehement beating of a stream.

There is no house of life out of reach of the stream. So, to be surprised when the rain descends and the floods come, and the winds blow and beat upon the house, as though some strange thing happened to us, is unreasonable and unjust; it also miscalls our good Master, Who never told us to build for fair weather, or  even to be careful to build out of the reach of floods. 'We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God' is not a fair-weather word. 'My son, if thou comest to serve the Lord, prepare they soul for temptation.'  'Ye will not get leave to steal quietly to heaven, in Christ's company, without a conflict and a cross.'

Even so, even though we must walk in the land of fear, there is no need to fear. The power of His resurrection comes before the fellowship of His sufferings."

So friends, the storms will come; we should anticipate the pouring rains, the winds, and the floods since our Savior never told us to build out of the reach of these things. But we can take heart: He is with us, walking us through the storms of life. Looking back at the valleys I have been walking through (and I am not quite out of those valleys, yet), He was right there, even though He seemed so far away. He never left me or forsook me. As He promises in His Word,

"I will never leave you, not forsake you." ~Hebrews 13:5b

Sharing with Celeste's Keeping Company.


 And Dawn.








Saturday, October 1, 2016

The October FOTM, a Special Offer, and a Sale!

Hi, everyone!

The October Flexi of the Month is Fox!I love it! Take a look..

Some autumn re-releases...








And there is a special offer for the entire month of October....a free hairband for all retails orders over $75!

Also, there is free shipping on all orders over $40 until tomorrow (Sunday), October 2nd at 11:59 Pacific time.

Thank you!



Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Addendum to a Previous Post

Hi friends,

I forgot to add something to my post about tweaking AO. 

Instead of following the AO hymn schedule, we are using this wonderful book for hymn study: 

 Each section gives a short history of the writer and composer of each hymn.

It's a great alternative to the using AO hymn list.  :)

Have a blessed day!  :)


Friday, September 16, 2016

Sale at Lilla Rose!

Hi friends,

There is a sale at Lilla Rose beginning today (Friday) at 7:00 am PDT and ending tomorrow (Saturday) at 11:59 pm PDT.

15% off everything and 40-50% off select styles!



Have a fantastic Friday!  :)

Saturday, September 10, 2016

The Final Tweak and Looking Back on First Two Weeks

Hi friends,

We started school on August 22nd, but I am just now getting around to posting about my major  overhaul  (to me, anyway) of our AO book lists and schedules.

If you would like to know the hows and whys of our journey towards implementing the Charlotte Mason philosophy of education, you can read them here and here.  Those were the good ol' days...when the children were younger and things were simpler. All I knew about the CM philosophy was what I read in that issue of Old School House Magazine and these 20 principles of a CM education.  Looking back, I realize how little I knew about the CM method. But it was a enough to make our days wonderful, rich, and learning-filled. We truly enjoyed every minute of it.

Then, I discovered the AO curriculum.  The book lists and schedules were very intimidating at first (*understatement*). Also, the AO advisors recommend that if you haven't read the complete 6-volume series by Charlotte Mason to get acquainted with her philosophy, you should do so to get the most out of AO. Well, I didn't  own the series, but I managed to get it a couple of the volumes on my Kindle.

However, with 5 children, a garden, dairy goats, and chickens, I had little extra time to read it. I was able to manage reading volumes 1 and 6 over a long period of time, but that's as far as I got. Regardless of my lack of reading, after we got all the booklists and schedules figured out, we jumped in head-first. My kids loved it!  And I loved it! (You can read about my AO "honeymoon" here and here.) In those early years, I thought we had to read every book on every list, or my children wouldn't be getting a "full-fledged" CM education. I thought AO was the complete embodiment of a CM education. I would realize later how totally wrong that mindset is. I also joined the AO Forum. You can read about my experience with that here.  Not good. But the good news is that I have since joined a new Forum of like-minded homeschooling moms.  :)

Eventually, the AO honeymoon ended, and homeschooling my children became overwhelming - and I got no joy from it whatsoever. In fact, I dreaded it. (Just keeping it real, folks.) Now, don't get me wrong - other than an occasional complaint about a long reading, my children were still loving it, but I wasn't. The AO schedules were simply too much. For example, Mimi was in AO yr3 last year, and for term 2, was required to read Children of the New Forest.  That might not sound like a big deal, until you open the book and see that some weeks she had to read 3 chapters, which averaged 50 pages altogether. 50 pages! In one week! Plus all of her other readings and lessons - it was too much!  I admit that even Mimi was a bit frustrated at this point with all the readings from that one book - and she is a voracious reader, as are all my children.

Also, the schedules are for 5-day weeks, so if I am sick one day or one of the children is sick, all the readings have to be squeezed into 4 days instead of 5.  Or if hubby is home on a weekday and we want to take the day off from school, or we want to take field trip, same thing: squeeze 5 into 4. So there isn't much flexibility. At all. We would spend those 4 days playing "catch up". And it makes our entire week stressed trying to make it fit into 4 days and get it all done. That's one of the things I loved most about the CM method before our AO days: our days were relaxed, and stress-free. There was flexibility; there was time for a day off here and there; there was time for a sick day or field trip, or just to take a day off for no particular reason. 

So obviously, I usually felt burned out before the first term had ended. All 5 of my children were in 5 different levels of AO, and I felt as if I was sinking just trying to keep up with 5 kids' worth of narrations, checking Math lessons, Grammar lessons, Spanish, etc. (The full post is here.)

And looking back, I realize now that the problems all started when we began using AO. And while I love all the living books in the curriculum, from my experience there seems to be alot of pressure in the AO community to follow the schedules and book lists to a T. 

I realized that some serious tweaking had to be done, regardless of the "all or nothing" attitude I was getting from some of the other moms at the  AO forum. I pared it down a bit last year - here.  But I knew that there was much more to be done before this new school year started. I had made my mind up that I wasn't going to go through another year of barely keeping my head above water.

So, after much prayer and lots more paring down, here is what we are doing this year:

Together: 

Poetry. Instead of each individual child reading poetry, I let them choose a poet to study together. They chose William Blake. So we are reading one of his poems at lunch, each of us taking turns reading one poem. Lovin' that.  :) 

Shakespeare. No more individual Shakespeare. The children chose a play this year, and since we decided to read Plutarch's Julius Caesar (oops - veering off that AO schedule! ;)), they chose Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (love the connection there, but again, not on the AO schedule - *gasp*).  And instead of reading it, we did the unthinkable - we watched the Julius Caesar play on DVD! Yikes! It was in the original language, though, so that counts for something, right?  hehe. 

Nature journals/sketching. We haven't been doing much of this lately. My children are outside so much and very observant about everything in Nature, so I don't push the sketching thing. Besides, we are getting ready to do a Nature Exchange with Amber, so we are getting plenty of hands-on Nature study.  :) We might do some sketching this winter. But we might not.  :)

For Grammar, each child has a Rod and Staff Grammar textbook.

For foreign language, each child is doing Duolingo.

For composer study, instead of listening to each of the composer's pieces listed on AO, I created a Pandora station for the same composer and that's our background music during lessons.

For artist study, I print the images and put them in clear sheets. Then I slide them under our clear, vinyl tablecloth on our dining room table where we do school work. The children study them together and narrate together.

Each of the olders has a commonplace notebook. Some weeks, they put several entries in it. Some weeks, only 1. Some, none. That's okay. No pressure.

Now for individual changes:

Mimi's yr4 schedule has her reading Robinson Crusoe for this term and part of term 2. And like Children of the New Forrest from last year, the weekly readings of that book alone are up to 50 pages! So instead of reading 2 chapters each week, she is reading 1 chapter. When she finishes that book, she will choose between Kidnapped or The Incredible Journey. Also, instead of reading Madam How and Lady Why and The Story Book of Science, she is only reading The Story Book of Science. She asked to Apologia's Land Animals of the 6th Day, so being the animal lover that she is, she is really enjoying it and uses her Science notebook for sketches and narrations from each lesson. 

Natalie's schedule and book list changes for yr7 are a bit more than Mimi's. For example, there are 8 or 9  Science books listed. 8 or 9!! I don't think so.  So, instead of all that, she is reading The Wonder Book of Chemistry (all my kids are big Jean Henri Fabre fans :)), Great Astronomers, and a creation worldview weather book (she loves to study the weather and is keeping track of high and low temps for each day, precipitation, etc). She is also using her Science notebook for narrations and sketches from each lesson. We also scratched the following  books from her schedule: Be Your Own Selfish Pig, What Ever Happened to Penny Candy?, How to Read a Book, The Fallacy Detective, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made (I am saving that for a later year), and The Story of Painting. Sounds like I am leaving out alot, doesn't it? But ya know what? Natalie is still reading so many living books, and she is loving every minute of it. So I am okay with that.  :)

Now for Asher, who is in yr8. Like Natalie, his schedule has too many Science books listed, so we are skipping all of them except for Great Astronomers. Instead, he is studying Apologia General Science and writing and sketching in his notebook. We also dropped the government and economics books (he will start those in yr 10 and 11).

Aaron is in yr9. For Science, he is studying Physical Science and loving it! He is also using his Science notebook for narrations and sketches from each lesson. I dropped/substituted 5 books on his schedule. Again, it sounds like alot. But I am okay with it. And more importantly, he is okay with it.  :)

Now for Ian, my senior (*sniffle*) in yr11. I dropped a several of his books, too, including an extra Science book and and Art book. The AO schedule also lists The Great Gatsby for term 1. Now for those who might not know, this book is about a millionaire who falls in love with a married woman and they begin an affair. I don't think so!! So I substituted that book with this book that's far more wholesome - and clean -  about missionaries John and Betty Stam.  Also, for biographies, Ian chose one about George Mueller, instead of those listed on the schedule. 

So the final result of all the paring down, cutting out, substituting, and combining is that our days are much more relaxed and less stressed, just like the good ol' days! And if we want/need a day off, we'll take it; making 5 days fit into 4 days is no longer an issue. Ahhh...sweet relief.  :)

I have learned so much over the past several years. Probably the most important thing is that children can get a wonderfully rich CM education without ever using the AO curriculum. It isn't AO or nothing! After all, AO is CM; CM is not totally embodied in AO.  There are wonderful options other than AO. But now that I have made some slight adjustments ;), we will probably be staying with AO. For now.  :)

Sorry for the long post, friends. Thanks for reading.  :)

Until next time...






Thursday, September 1, 2016

September FOTM - Skye

Hi friends,

The September FOTM is so lovely -  Skye.


And during the month of December, retail orders over $60 will receive a free pair of U-Pins!  :)

Thanks for all your support! :)

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Big Sale at Lilla Rose!

Hi friends,

There's a big sale going on now until Saturday at Lilla Rose - up to 50% off! :)



Thanks for your support!  :)


Monday, August 1, 2016

Free Scarf From Lilla Rose!

Hi friends,

Just a quick Lilla Rose announcement before getting back to planning for the new school year...


During the month of August, retail orders over $60 will receive a beautiful floral scarf! And there are many new releases at Lilla Rose this month, too.


Oops..almost forgot..the August Flexi of the Month is Seascape..
pictured in top photo at right, but here is a close-up..
Lovely!


So if you're interested, head over to my website www.lillarose.biz/LisaKnight for more info.

Thanks, friends!
Have a great first week of August!  :)

Friday, July 1, 2016

Tweaking AO, A Blogging Break, and the July FOTM

Happy July, friends!

I hope you having a lovely summer so far.  :)

As you have probably noticed, I am not blogging much these days. We are busy, busy..but enjoying these long summer days.

This month will be a month of decision making for me about tweaking AO.. I have posted about it before, but there is still more tweaking to be done.  It's the schedule; with 5 different children in 5 different levels of the curriculum, keeping with all of the narrations, and plethora of the other things on the AO schedules, it is simply overwhelming. And stressful. And not very enjoyable. For any of us. We will definitely continue to implement the CM philosophy in our home education, but that philosophy is not exclusively found in the AO curriculum, obviously.

So the tweaking begins...will I combine more things to do with all of the children?

Will I substitute some books for others on the schedule?

Will I  completely ditch the AO schedules and booklists altogether and go back to doing school the way we did in the early days of our CM journey? 

Time will tell.

So while I am deciding what to do about the upcoming school year, I will be absent for a while. I hope to be back sometime later next month and let you know what I decided to do.

Until then....



P.S.
The July Flexi of the Month is Stars!