Seven Quick Takes: What’s Normal for this Blog, Reading Categories, a Tortoise, and More!

What is normal for Afterthoughts? There are a lot of new subscribers around here due to the 31 Days series, so I thought that now might be a good time to, first of all, say hello and we’re glad you’re here, and then explain what “normal” looks like.

I am not Superwoman, plus I homeschool, so normal does not look like me posting awesome article-length content seven days per week.

Sometimes, during busy times of year {think: homeschool planning}, I post compulsively five or six days per week, but that is not normal, either.

Normal looks a lot like this:

• Sunday: Stupendous Selections on Sunday. This is a link roundup of all the best posts I found on the web during the previous week. The content really varies because I try to keep a varied reading diet — so mixed in with inspiring homeschool and philosophy posts, there will be politics, comedy, mothering, theology, and whatever else strikes my fancy. As an Afterthinker, I reserve the right to be interested in anything, and possibly everything.
• Tuesday and Thursday: These are the days for feature articles. Usually written by me, there will still be high-quality guest posts on occasion. This is where we talk about the practical details of homeschooling, or the more philosophical points of education, or continuing our education as moms through scholé-or-what-Charlotte-Mason-called-Mother-Culture, or, once again, anything else that comes to mind.
• Friday: Seven Quick Takes. This is the day where I make announcements, share discount codes, or embed my most ironical Facebook posts. Also, I share pictures of my odd assortment of animals {see today’s fourth take for an example}.

:: 2 ::

I really thought I could consider podcasts as part of my reading categories. What I mean is, I thought that it didn’t matter if my podcasts were of balanced variety because they would naturally be balanced by my reading stack. This hasn’t turned out to be the case. My podcasts subscriptions mainly focused on health and business content, whereas my reading runs the whole gamut.

Well.

After spending so much time listening to health and business content, I started to feel off-balance. It was like I could feel myself beginning to think more secularly than I’m comfortable with. It’s amazing how much what we put into our minds can change what comes out.

Needless to say, I went on a theology/Christian culture hunt. It wasn’t like I needed a lot. Just a couple things to add some balance. I’ve settled on two for now: White Horse Inn and The Mortification of Spin.

:: 3 ::

Today, I’ve got a couple deals for you. First up, I’ve got a Teaching from Rest discount code. It was supposed to expire earlier this week, but I’ve got it on good authority that it’ll work fine all weekend long. The code is TFR2014 and if you’ve been thinking about buying, this will get you 20% off the Complete Set.

Secondly, Mystie has changed the pricing on Simplified Organization, the most awesome organizing course out there {in my opinion}. I’m not even done taking it, and Mystie has already helped me so much just by teaching me some basic ways to think better about what I’m trying to accomplish with my days. You can still buy the whole course, of course, but Mystie has also debuted module pricing, and you can gain six-month access to Module 1 for only $15, and pay module-by-module {or upgrade to a full membership} thereafter. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I cannot recommend this enough.

:: 4 ::

If you follow Afterthoughts on Facebook, then you know I’m the proud owner of a desert tortoise named Sophie. Sophie is new to us, but she’s not new. In fact, she’s almost as old as I am, and I distinctly remember meeting her when she was barely bigger than the palm of my hand and belonged to a friend of mine.

I have always wanted a desert tortoise, so I basically think Sophie is awesome. She’s supposed to hibernate soon, and I almost put her up in the garage a few days ago, but it’s been warm again, and she’s out every day, wandering around the yard and eating whatever the children feed her.

:: 5 ::

Start Here: A Journey Through Charlotte Mason’s 20 Principles is doing really well, and I’m still excited about it, even after a whole week for the newness to wear off! Thanks to all of you for your supportive feedback, kind words, and even typo reporting. I had many sets of eyes on this, but I’m still finding a few errors. Feel free to report any you find to me soon as I’m going to update the file. It’s really not much, but I can’t stand it, now that I know they are there!

In other news, if you’ve started studying your copy, I would love for you to post a review on Amazon. If you are a blogger, I am giving away a handful of review copies. Fill out the application if you’re interested! You might be the sort of reviewer I’m looking for.

Also, there is an affiliate program, if you want to help me spread the word.

:: 6 ::

I’m already thinking about Advent. Advent is my favorite time of year. I adore planning our Advent Circle Time, which is usually how I spend a day during our Thanksgiving week break. I’m going to combine a couple resources for what I think should be a super-rich Advent time.

After using Cindy’s Advent Messiah guide last year, I’m fairly well settled. We are officially a Messiah family for Advent now.

I thought I was done adding resources until Candace emailed me a review copy of her new Advent ebook Jesus, Light of the World: Praying the Scriptures Through Advent. Oh, we are most definitely using this during our regular morning prayer time! It is perfect!

:: 7 ::

So, what are you reading these days? I’m mainly reading AO Year Seven, my usual habit. But I’ve found I can’t resist branching out a little. I’m reading three right now:

          

My hard copy of Consider This finally arrived in the mail. I haven’t read the final draft until now, so it feels like I’m reading it “for real” this time. The Living Page is for my local group. And if you can get past the parts that contain bad theology, The Rock that is Higher is quite good.

And that’s it for this week. Have a great weekend, everyone!

More Seven Quick Takes posts are linked at Conversion Diary.