“Mommy! Please!” Susie whimpered “Just one more song?”
“No! Not another song!” Laura whined “Scratch my back! Susie had enough songs.”
“How about the story with Amy and the big holes when you were a little girl?” Naomi chimed in.

“Amy and the holes! Amy and the holes! Amy and the holes!”  Five little voices were chanting together.  So I sat down on Laura’s bottom bunk, gave her back a little scratch and drifted back in time, I was about 9 years old.

“Amy's family lived in the woods at the end of the street, every day after school I would rush down to her house to play.  She had bunnies, dogs, Cabbage Patch Kids and her very own forest.  When it was raining we would play Clue or Monopoly, but if the weather was nice we would go exploring in the forest.

I love to make up stories that teach little lessons to my children.  Here is one of their favorites, they want to hear it over and over.

Four Sisters and the Chocolate Chip Cookies

There was once a family with four sisters.  The oldest girl was about eleven her name was Lily.  Next was Lucy, she was eight.  The six year old's name was Seashell, and the toddler's name was Daisy.

One morning their mom woke up early to bake chocolate chip cookies for a Valentine's  Day party, after the cookies came out of the oven she started making breakfast.  The smell of the cookies filled the house as the daughters woke up one by one to wander into the kitchen.

Where would we be without the goodness of God? What is sweeter than knowing His love? We live in a world full of chaos and pain, yet I can find perfect peace in God's plan. When I fail He is gracious. When I pray He hears. When I am weak He is strong. When I am trusting He fills me with hope. He leads my path, He holds my hand. I belong to Him. 

God is my Father above who loves me as a precious little child. He is my shelter, my protector, my defender, my hope. In trials and triumphs He cheers me on, and I never have to be afraid, because my Father God is by my side, He holds my hand and whispers in my ear. There are many things that I can't understand, but nothing worries my Lord, and if He isn't troubled by my trials why should I be troubled? I don't always understand God's ways, but I can trust in Him. 

When I feel alone, He reminds me that He is always by my side. When I am hurt, rejected or misunderstood, He never leaves me or pushes me away, even if I did mess up. When something is too much for me, it's never too much for Him, so I can give Him all my burdens. I am free. I am at peace. I am loved. It is good to be a child of God. I only hope that I can love others in the same way that He loves me, I don't deserve His blessings... but look how blessed I am! Why am I so blessed? Not because I am special, clever or perfect, but because I am God's kid, and that's what matters.

I have a few kids who do not like math workbooks, textbooks, or worksheets.  When I was a kid I didn't like them either.  Did you?  I think kids learn best when they are having fun and not feeling bored, strained or overwhelmed.  Why not make math fun by playing more games?  Here is a great article to help you learn more about math games for kids online, FREE math games.                                            - Sarah Brown

Eight Online Math Activity Sites
The following post is from contributing writer Demetria Zinga of Christian Homeschool Moms.

If you have struggling math learners who need a little jolt of fun included in the school day, you might want to locate low-cost or free resources that will assist your child in learning to love math.  After doing a search in Pinterest, I was astounded by the amount of free online math games available that I haven’t been taking advantage of! This school year, I now know that I’ll be sprucing up our math programs- making it a much more fun learning experience for my kids.

Millions of teachers, experts, animal trainers, musicians and chefs from all  around the world have uploaded videos on any topic you can dream of, and many topics you would never imagine.  My homeschooled children can learn ANYTHING on YouTube.  Yes, ANYTHING, and  ANYTHING is a dangerous word.  How can we be sure that our kids are using the internet as a tool, and not falling into many of it's dangerous traps?  Read on...