Growing up, Daddy always carved a watermelon basket for our  summer parties while Momma whipped up yummy food. 

"It can't be too hard," I thought, deciding to tackle the family tradition. 

Don't look too closely at these photos because they are nothing like Daddy's clean straight lines. Here is my watermelon basket and it wasn't too difficult. 

I will walk you through the process step-by-step. 

You will need: 
1 Large Watermelon
1 Large Watermelon
​1 Large Honeydew
1 Sharp Working Space
1 Melon Ball Maker
1 Large Mixing Bowl
1 Large Working Space

Your first job will be to cut off most of the top half of the watermelon leaving a wide handle in the center. (See the photo below)

Next, make melon balls from the pieces you cut off from the watermelon and add them to the mixing bowl. 

Move on to making melon balls from the rest of the watermelon until it is empty, adding them to  your bowl. Scrape the insides of the watermelon so it is smooth. 

Make melon balls from the cantaloupe and honeydew, adding them to the mixing bowl. Mix all the fruit together so there is a pretty color mix. 

Add the melon balls to the empty watermelon basket and it is ready to serve. 

That's it! It's easier than you thought, isn't it? It makes a great centerpiece for a summer party, BBQ, or outside picnic. 

Happy Summer Hospitality! 

Warmly, 
​Meredith Curtis

I was intrigued by the title John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress with 525 Illustrations Spanning 250 Years compiled by Laura Bluedorn available from Trivium Pursuit. 

As I browsed through one of my favorite stories, I found myself delighted. It seemed that Laurie Bluedorn gathered every picture painted of scenes in Pilgrim's Progress. 

Everyone should read Pilgrim's Progress at least once, if not several times. 

This copy is a true treasure, like nothing I've ever seen before. With 605 pages, you will feel like you are in an art museum devoted to John Bunyan. I was blown away by all the different styles of artwork in the book. I couldn't stop browsing through the book. 

Not only do I LOVE the book, but I found an awesome blog on Trivium Pursuit that helps parents to teach Pilgrim's Progress ​to their children. You can read the blog here. 

sA Child's Geography: Explore Medieval Kingdoms from Knowledge Quest takes us back in time to the Middle Ages where we explore the locations of important Kingdoms of Medieval Times. 

Starting with Spain, we learn about the varied landscape, a bit of history, and some famous sites. The text is written in conversation style. 

After Spain, we moved on to Portugal, Andorra, Monaco, France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany,  Belgium, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

We downloaded several resource E-books: Recipes, Extra Reading, Activities, Maps, Prayer Walk, and ​Timeline. 

This additional E-books were free with the purchase of A Child's Geography: Explore Medieval Kingdoms. 

My favorite things about this book is the breathtaking photographs. Wow! They are amazing! 

Since I only had a few days to look over the material, I decided to just read the book, though I was so eager to try out everything with my kids. I felt like I had taken a three-month vacation to Europe when I finished reading the book. I can't wait to use it for geography with the crafts, timelines, maps, prayer guide, maps, and recipes. Everyone looks fun! My children will love it. 

A Child's Geography: Explore Medieval Kingdoms is more than a textbook, it's a unit study with hands-on fun for every member of the family. 

Homeschooling is an all-encompassing adventure. It takes over your whole life, especially if you choose to pursue a lifestyle of learning instead of trying to bring traditional school-style learning into the home. 

We like living books, hands-on-fun, and mentoring our children in the context of close relationships.

Sometimes, Homeschool Moms can wonder what on earth they were thinking when they took the homeschool plunge. 

Not because it isn't wonderful? And fun! And exciting!

But, there is that nagging fear! "Am I doing everything right? Are my children missing something they need in their education? Am I teaching effectively?" 

When I start to nervous about those things, I have to stop and ask myself, "Who is driving our homeschool bus?" Is it me? Or is it the Lord? 

You see, I can do an okay job educating my children, but if I want excellence in my home school, I need the Master Teacher to take charge. 

He is perfect in all His ways and knows everything about everything! Best of all, He wants me to surrender to Him and allow Him to take control of my heart, life, family, home, children, and home school. 

Once you surrender to Him, the pressure is off. The focus becomes honoring Jesus, praying, digging into His Word, and letting Him lead. Homeschooling becomes an adventure with Jesus! 

And so today, I ask you: Who is driving your homeschool bus? If you are driving, you might want to surrender to Jesus. He is an amazing driver! Jesus promises to lead us beside still waters, to nourish our souls, to give us wisdom, to lift our burdens, to fill our heart with joy, to answer our prayers, and work in us to will and to act according to His good purpose. He will never leave us. And don't forget: Jesus said in John 15 that apart from Him, we can do nothing.  

The biggest curriculum sale of the year, the 2019 Build Your Bundle, starts on May 15, 2019 and lasts for just one week. 

Would you like to enter a giveaway to win $3K worth of homeschool curriculum?

Hurry and enter before the sale starts on May 15. You can enter here. 

You will also get a FREE gift for entering the giveaway: The Kitchen Binder set of printables. Yes, it's practical and cute! 

You will also get a $5.00 off coupon to use in the sale toward your purchase once it begins. Enjoy!

This is our sixth  year being part of Build Your Bundle and we are so excited to have 5 products in this year's sale.

We'll tell you more about them next week. 

Now, details are still secret until the first day of the sale, but I can tell you ...

• You can save up to 92% on 15 individual bundles for your home school!
• There are 15 pre-made bundles, but you can put together your own bundles!
• The sale lasts from Wednesday May 15, 2019 until Wednesday May 22, 2019!
• There will be daily giveaways each day of the sale!

The sale has some changes this year to make it even better than before. The best change is that you can build your own bundle with as many products as you'd like--the more you buy, the better the savings. 

Learn more about the 2019 Build Your Bundle Sale here. 

Hey everyone! I have a guest blog at the zoo I call home, "Living Books and Unit Study Fun." 

Check it out here. 

Thank you to Felicia Johnson for the opportunity to share on her site. 

You have to check out The Zoo I Call Home. You will find resources and blog posts for your home school.

I am a fan of Felica's blog where you will find almost everything you need to know about homeschooling. 

Check out the my article here and check out Felicia's blog here. 

Until Next Time, Happy Homeschooling!
​
Warmly, 
Meredith Curtis

We are up and running. It’s a brand-new year. So much to be excited about. It’s hard to believe that soon this school year will just be a memory.

My Missing Photos

I have been homeschooling since 1991 and as I look back at our photo albums—yes, I used to get photos printed and put them in albums before digital—I find one set of photos missing. The photos of my children reading, working on a math problem, reading to a sibling, or doing chores.
I have lots of photos of birthdays, holidays, field trips, and special days, but I wish I had more photos of ordinary school days.

Maybe you do take lots of photos of school and chores, posting them on Instagram for the world to see. Good for you! You will treasure those memories one day.

Storing My Photos

As you go through the school year, don’t forget to snap photos and save mementos. Maybe you don’t scrapbook or print photos and put them in leather albums, but you can label and save them in folders.

I don’t print up photos much anymore, unless I am framing them, but I do label photos with the date and list the people in the photo. Sometimes I just use initials like this: “Christmas Day 2016 JR JA Dad Jim KB Rusty.”

My photos are organized on my computer, too. There is one folder for every year: 2000, 2001, 2002, etc. Then, I also have all twelve months in separate folders: Jan 2015, Feb 2015, March 2015, etc. Inside these folders are all kinds of folders: Beach 6 6 15, Road Rally 6 17 15, Mom’s BD 6 2 15, etc. These folders are descriptive, so I can easily remember the day by looking at the title.

Finding Photos

As Moms, we, like all Christians around the world, are called to make disciples.
“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 [Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you [always, even to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28: 18-20 NASB).

Jesus didn’t tell His followers to make converts, but to make disciples that would walk with Him and walk in His ways.

We are to GO. That is active, purposeful.

We are to BAPTIZE. We lead people to Christ and facilitate a born-again experience with God.
We TEACH. We don’t teach just a few things, we teach EVERYTHING Jesus has taught us.
The most important disciples we will ever make are our children.
​
So how do we impact their young lives for the glory of God? 

​Living the Christian life boils down to loving Jesus and letting Him love and serve others through us.
This is how Jesus made disciples.

First, Jesus loved His Father and loved the people around Him.

Second, Jesus loved His Father, loved the people around Him, and His disciples were with Him.

Third, the disciples loved the Lord, loved the people around them, and Jesus was with them.

​Fourth, Jesus sent the disciples on trial runs to love the Lord and love the people around them.