August Looking Ahead & What’s Been Happening

Published on by Dianna

We are starting school in a couple weeks. This will be our last year homeschooling. My youngest child is a senior and we have no others. lol I honestly can not believe we are in our last year. All you young momma’s who right now are thinking that you have tons of time before you get to this point let me just remind you to enjoy every moment that you can because your going to blink and it will be over.

It’s bitter sweet. My girl only needs 2.5 credits to graduate and I am still working on my degree as well. She needs a Math (I will post curriculum choices later), an English and Personal Finance. I only have 6 classes left to take. 3 of which I am taking this fall (Photography I, Design I, and ePortfolio) and 3 more in the Spring and then I’m done. I’m also teaching again for our final year at the co-op. I’m teaching Novel Writing using the NaNoWriMo curriculum. It’s going to be a fun class.

We just celebrated Ori’s first birthday on July 29th and Ben’s 5th birthday on August 5th as well as my middle daughters 21st birthday. They grow up so fast. We also just got over our first encounter with COVID. It spread through my entire household but we are all doing good. Hubby, my eldest daughter and I are just dealing with an annoying cough that the doc informed us could last a couple months. I am really hoping not.

In May my middle daughter graduated with a degree in Photography. This coming September my youngest will be taking 3 classes at our co-op just for fun since she doesn’t technically need the credits. She is taking Novel Writing, Theater, and Kitchen Fun (cooking). So yes I get to teach my youngest in her senior year besides what she is doing at home.

This is going to be a fun year and I am going to enjoy as much of it as I possibly can without stressing out.

The Element of Love by Mary Connealy review

Published on by Dianna

The Element of Love by Mary Connealy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Excellent story. It will be listed as one of my favorites by Mary Connealy. It has drama, adventure, romance and of course some comedy. I’ve been very pleased with the writing. The story draws you in and keeps your attention. You just don’t want to put it down.

The story is something that could have happened during the time it is set in. The characters are fun and likeable. They are also smart and real. The situation they were put in was harsh but also realistic. Although, I would have loved to have seen the log flume scene played out in real life as it could have been a sight to behold. Also dangerous but 3 women in 3 seperate barrels sliding down a log flume. I can’t even begin to imagine how that would have really gone. The scene playing out in my head was quite humorous even though it was a serious moment in the story.

There were also a few twists I wasn’t expecting which made the story that much better. I recommend you read this one.

I’m looking forward to book 2. I’m hoping its the story of Michelle and possibly Zane? And in the third book will Jilly end up with Nick? Things to think about and consider. Not sure I can wait until books 2 and 3 come out.



View all my reviews

**I received a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion. No other compensation was recieived.

And so it continues…

Published on by Dianna

I keep trying really hard to keep up with the blogging but I haven’t been able to sit down and do it. So I actually started adding blogging to my “To Do” list. It’s really funny how hard it is for me to blog and yet I used to do it all the time. I’m not trying to be inconsistent but other things will sneak up and take priority. It’s not as if I spend all my time sitting at my desk just trying to find motivation. It’s that I don’t take the time to sit, think and write. I do try. But the last couple years I have run into the same issue. The lack of motivation.

I have such great intentions but I have been having a hard time with follow through. Do you deal with the lack of motivation? How do you deal with it? Do you have some tips on how to keep myself motivated to follow through with some things?

If you do leave those ideas below. I would love to know.

Weekly Journal – Week 1

Published on by Dianna

This year I am going to try to actually do a weekly journal on the blog. It won’t be super detailed or even very personal but it will just share with you some of what we are doing in different areas such as: homeschool, reading, watching, faith, photography, etc. Whatever I feel like I should share or you might want to know. I will include links to things when necessary. I hope I can keep up with it this year. I am determined too this time around. I’ve tried in the past and failed many times but I’m not going to give up. I will eventually find a way to make it work. lol

Our First week of January –

This week we have had snow twice. As I sit and write there is still snow on the ground and its beautiful. I have a fire going in my fireplace and everyone is home today. It’s nice and quiet as some in my house are still sleeping. Others are just working on their own projects and things. I’m enjoying the peace for the moment. That is something my heart and soul needs daily, peace. How about you?

What I’m Reading this Week

I’m working on reading the first two books from my book list. One from my non-fiction list and one from the fiction list.

I’m reading The Life, Work and Sermons of Moody. It’s a 1900 edition of the book and includes three books in one. I love old books and I have quite a few including some old textbooks from the 1800’s and early 1900’s. They are quite interesting.

I’m also reading An Heirloom Christmas. This is 6 novellas in 1. And it is an eBook I downloaded from Amazon for free. It is Christian/Inspirational fiction because I don’t read much that isn’t mainly due to content.

A Movie I Watched this Week

This week I watched two movies that I hadn’t seen before.

Te Ata – This one is based on a true story about a Native American Chickasaw woman. I won’t say much else other than it is clean and only rated PG. I really enjoyed it. It is one I recommend that you watch especially if you enjoy American history.

Journey 2 – I’m assuming this is a sequel to the remake of Journey to the Center of the Earth that starred Brenden Fraiser and Josh Hutcherson. But in this one its only Josh Hutcherson that is in it from the previous movie and Dwayne Johnson plays his stepdad. Vanessa Hudgeons is also in it. As far as whether I liked it or not it was okay. A clean family movie but it was a bit cheesy as well. a

Scripture of the Week

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation,

1 Peter 1:3 NLT

What We are Doing in School

We’ve been working through the book Defined for our Bible class. Reading a chapter a day together. We took a break from our Chemistry curriculum to study about the Blue Diamond for just some fun science. We are learning about the Revolutionary War in History. We visited Capernaum in Geography. We learned about Horses in Art and Literature in Studio Art. We also are learning about Frederick Douglas in our African American Literature class. You can learn more about all of the courses (except the book Defined) at Schoolhouse Teachers in the Eleventh Grade curriculum plan.

Question of the Week:

How long have you been homeschooling?

I have been homeschooling for more than 16 years. We actually started in Kindergarten with my oldest daughter. She and my middle daughter have graduated from homeschooling and have both gone on to college. She got her associates last Spring and will be heading to art school in the fall to finish out her bachelor’s degree. My middle daughter will be graduating with her associates this spring in photography and has chosen not to go on for her bachelors. My youngest is a junior in highschool and we only have one more year after this one left. it’s hard to believe when you first start homeschooling that you will ever get to the point of all your kids being done but it does happen and it happens faster than you would ever believe.

How has your week been? What are you reading, watching or doing? Share with me in the comments what is going on with you. I would love to connect with you.