Betsy, Author at Family Style Schooling

Adventures in Spelling…and Reading for that matter

I am not a natural speller. I called myself a “creative” speller because I could come up with some pretty outlandish combinations of letters when asked to spell a simple word. With my own struggles looming over me, choosing a spelling curriculum was daunting. I burned through many different curricula because I could never find…

Tips to Suburban Gardening…From Someone Who’s Done it All Wrong

So, I’m new to gardening. My mom grew up on a farm, but somehow the cultivation of soil was not passed down. It might just be that we live in the suburbs and are surrounded by concrete. Also, don’t let the title fool you. I’ve had small successes this year with my garden, but I…

How Highlighting Changed the Way I Think When I Read

Last year, while tutoring Challenge A, one of the greatest tools I learned was Andrew Kern’s highlighting system. It is a color coded process for marking books. Recently, Sarah Mackenzie hosted a webinar where Andrew taught her about the system. It is worth a watch. For those of you who are skeptics about marking in books,…

Top 3 Skills Gained in Challenge A

Our family has been a part of Classical Conversations communities since 2010. I homeschooled a year without it, and while I enjoyed being able to guide the direction of our studies, I knew that if I was going to make it through the high school years, I’d need a community. When I found CC, I…

Biloxi Beach Bliss

Last year at this time, my husband was graduating from Seminary, and our whole family celebrated with a trip to the beach. I found a great deal on groupon for the South Beach Biloxi Hotel and Suites in Mississippi – a beach I had never visited, but the hotel looked so inviting, we decided to take a…