Miracle In East Texas: New From Sorbo Studios

 Miracle In East Texas- Out now from Sorbo Studios!

(Tickets here: https://bit.ly/3Q3IWt4) 

Based on a true story, Kevin Sorbo stars in a wonderful movie that is sure to be your favorite of the year. A story of forgiveness, hope, redemption, and the biggest oil strike in US history.

Truly an amazing movie and a great one to watch with the hole family.

You can even download a free homeschool curriculum to follow along with Miracle In East Texas, as well as a group discussion guide.

Sam Sorbo, Kevin Sorbo's wife, also stars in the movie and produces it. Their son Breaden is part of the project as well. Sam is a Classical Conversations mom and Breaden is a Classical Conversations graduate. How Amazing!

My Top 5 Apps

 None of these are affiliate links and I have not been asked to post about any of these. These are the apps I use daily. 

1. Pollen.com

I use this app daily to check the pollen count for my son. He has pretty bad allergies and we try to limit his medication. With this app, I can let him know if he needs to stay inside, use a nasal blocker, or even wear a mask. It is helping him not have to take 3 prescription allergy medications every day like he was doing. We also use a sinus rinse if it is a bad pollen day. We were having to do them every day. 

2. Local News

WYFF 4 is my local news station of choice. I can keep up with local, national, and international news. I can also see the forecast and watch the radar. Must have for our family. 

3. Google Voice

I have two different google voice accounts and they are the best thing ever. One is for business and the other is for our bigfoot/ paranormal work. With Google voice, I'm not giving out my personal number, can easily not answer business calls on the weekend, have a different voicemail message for each account, and I can also record phone calls- which I always do with paranormal/ bigfoot calls. 

4. Ultimate Facts

Ultimate facts is one of my absolute favorite apps. I love learning random things and I love adding random facts into our homeschool day. Ultimate facts makes your lock screen a picture and fact each time its used. You can read the simple fact and even click a button to go read more about it. 

5. Family Link

Family link is a wonderful product from Google. Each child has an email address/ google account that is linked with yours. You can set it up to have to give permission to download an app or just get a notification when one is downloaded. You can track your child's usage on each device and even track location. I've only been using it for a few months and I love it. I'm still exploring features. 

I hope one of these apps, or more, creates a solution for your family. 

What are your favorite apps? 

Homeschool Organization: Backpacks

Ever since we started homeschooling, I've kept all of our homeschool stuff in a bag that I carry. The kids have clipboards that hold their work and supplies. 

This year, I have a 7th grader and 4th grader. We have more materials and more books. It would no longer fit in my one bag and getting a bigger bag isn't something I really want to do. I have enough to keep up with. 

I decided the kids would keep up with their own stuff this year. It is working very well, although they balked at first.

 

The kids each have a supply pouch, clipboard, science journal, atlas, and a few other things we use a good bit in our lessons. 

We already had backpacks the kids use for travel and I'd been wanting to upgrade those for a while (they outgrew their Pottery Barn MacKenzie backpacks and that was a sad day). So, we decided to use those for school and go ahead and upgrade their travel bags (They will get the new ones for Christmas).

The Zipit pouch is making a huge difference too. It doesn't take up a log of room but opens so they can see what is in it. 

Supplies:

Pink Backpack

Black Backpack

Zipit Case

Green Clipboard

Pink Glitter Clipboard

National Geographic Kids World Atlas

Composition Books (Great for color-coding)

Pens

Ultra fine dry erase markers for handwriting

Ruler

Pencil Sharpener

Free Printable: Jack-O-Lantern Scripture Printable

My husband and I have always loved Halloween and now our kids do. We love the magic of the season, the weather, and the family fun. My husband actually hates horror movies, while I love them. 

We put up a Halloween tree, play pranks on eachother, and dress-up all month. My kids always get a new cup and some kind of a costume that is useful (hooded blankets, kid onesies, hooded towels, hoodies, etc). Something they can use all year but that doubles as a costume for movie night. We carve pumpkins, paint pictures, and have zombie wars.

We actually do not trick-or-treat. The kids have been once and they were adorable! We usually cook a fun dinner together, have lots of candy, and watch a funny Halloween movie together, like Hocus Pocus.

For us, it's all about family fun. 

We also do a scripture study that shows how we are like Jack-O-Lanterns carved by God. 

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I have this free printable available in poster size and in a size just right to go into your bible. I hope you and your family enjoy!

Poster Size

Bible Size

A Season of Thankfulness

In the last few years, our family has undergone a lot of changes. A lot of these were because of the pandemic, like not traveling and not going to crowded places (my kids have immune issues). However, many of these changes are just life changes. 

My best friend died

My husband's papa died (we were all very close to him)

My husband's grandmother developed dementia and we're helping care for her

My kids are older- 13 and 10

Our homeschool studies are much more in-depth

For some reason, I cannot stay organized. I've always been very organized and prepared, but I'm on the struggle bus lately with it.

(my very favorite picture of them)

With all of this going on, I found myself really struggling to find peace and contentment. Then, it happened. God helped me realize just how blessed I am and every day I see wonderful examples of his work and love. 

This season of thankfulness has just made me look at the world around me and the world inside my bubble. No matter how chaotic the outside world gets, my bubble is peaceful and full of love. 

I love watching my kids grow into these wonderful young people that they have become. They are grateful, kind, caring, sympathetic, giving, and absolutely love God. 

I love watching them learn each and every day. I'm so grateful to be in the position to be the one who gets to see those lightbulb moments each day and share in the excitement of learning new things. 

I've loved exploring the world around us. They love bringing out microscopes and other scientific tools to check out mini ecosystems under bushes and to look at things in their sandbox. 

I think about people being so excited that their kids are back in school, but I just don't know what I would do away with my kids all day. I love being their comfort and peace. I love being that we (their family) are the main influences on them and not people that we do not know spending 8+ hours with them each day. 

Even if your kids go to school outside of home, grab them and hug them. Soak in the moment and enjoy your family. Don't wish the time away or wish to be alone. One day you will be, let's not rush it.