When I was in school our teacher forced us to play The Oregon Trail. It was a way for us to learn how to use computers and to learn about something that we were actually attempting to understand at the time. 

Most of my friends enjoyed it. I was not a huge fan. I never truly understood the point of the game. 

Now that I am a history teacher, (although not just a history teacher this year,) I can see the value in the game. This got me to thinking...If it was on a disk and loved so much all these years ago, it should be available on line right? RIGHT! 

I found it. The original too at Virtual Apple.

I did have to download an extension for Google Chrome to use because this is an Apple product from 1985. However, I was able to play the game with ease and I actually found it fun this time. 

Sadly, I did manage to drown Timmy in the Missouri River. Poor Timmy.

Something I've enjoyed doing for a bit now was writing short stories to teach about different Biblical character traits that I see are missing from our world today. Since this is my sounding board and I enjoy sharing things with the world, I'm going to start posting them here. 

Please feel free to read, enjoy, share, and use them.

Mommy scooted closer to me on my bed. It was time for one of her stories. I’m ten-years-old, but my mother has been telling me her stories since I first started sleeping in my big-boy-bed years ago. I know that most kids my age start thinking things like this are pretty lame, but I still enjoyed the time with my mother each night.

This night was no different than all of the others. She tucked the blanket up to my chin, cleared her throat and started her stories the same way all of the great stories began:

Long ago, in a faraway land, there was a prince. This prince had a mother and father that ruled over a large and rich area. Because his mother and father were so rich, the prince was a spoiled child. If he asked for it, his mother and father granted his wish. As a young child his requests were for toys and trinkets that caught his eye. When he became a young adult he started to request fine horses and sporting partners. All he ever could see in his life was privilege and more riches than he could desire.

Right before the prince’s birthday the king and queen requested to see him. “My child,” said the king, “you have been privileged all your life. We have never asked anything of you as you were growing-up. Now, as you become a man, your mother and I have one request of you.”

“Son,” the queen continued. “Before we are granted leave of this world, we ask that you find yourself a wife.” The prince thought of what his parents were asking. He didn’t see a problem with this request and was starting to imagine his future bride. A beautiful woman of vast wealth fit his fancy.

“I will gladly find myself a wife,” the prince spoke to his parents, “but she must be the most beautiful woman in our land. I will settle for no less than a woman who is the envy of all around her. Send your men to bring me all of the beauties in the land so that I might choose whom will be my wife.” As they have always done in the past, the king and queen did as their child said.

Young woman after young woman was introduced to the prince for all over the land. One by one he had some snide claim about each woman. One was too short, another too tall, and yet another had one eye a slight bit higher than the other. All the women brought before the prince were brought before him as if he were picking a fine piece of horse flesh.

After several months of searching the prince was about to tell his parents that he changed his mind and refused to marry when she was brought before him. She was a beautiful young woman named Rebekah. She had red hair and striking blue eyes that pierced to the soul of each person she gazed upon. Her skin was the color of milk and looked as soft as silk. The prince was smitten with her from the moment her toe passed over the threshold of his throne room.

“Beautiful woman, what is your name?” the prince inquired.

“Rebekah,” she answered with her eyes downcast and her head bowed.

“Rebekah, today is the day that you meet your future. Be my wife and you will have everything you could ever imagine.” The prince looked to the other men in his thorn room and smiled expecting Rebekah to say yes. After all, who would turn down the prince?

“No, Sir. I will not be your wife.” The prince’s face fell. All who were in the room became silent. Rebekah glanced up at the prince to see if he was still there, for she feared that her answer was made to an empty room.

“Dear woman, what did you say?”

“No, Sir, I will not be your wife.” At this, the prince ordered Rebekah to be taken to the lowest level of the dungeon. He thought that she will surly say yes after she’s had to spend time in the most deplorable conditions for even the most evil of criminals. Rebekah was taken to the lowest level of the dungeon and there she stayed until the prince beckoned her a week later.

As Rebekah entered the prince noticed that she had not been able to bathe before she was brought before him. He saw her clothes torn and dirt smeared across her cheek. Surly she will say yes this time, if not to just get out of the dungeon the prince thought to himself.

“Dear woman, have you had time to rethink your decision?”

“Yes.”

“And what answer have you this time.”

“No, Sir, I will not be your wife.” Flabbergasted, and frustrated, the prince sent Rebekah back into the dungeon.

“If a week did not change her mind,” the prince said to the guards, “then a month will have her begging to be my queen.”

After a month of being in the dungeon, Rebekah was brought before the prince again. Again she was seen filthy. However, the prince still had set his mind on having her for his wife. Again he asked Rebekah to be his wife. Again, Rebekah denied him the same way as she had before, “No, Sir, I will not be your wife.” Again, the prince had her placed in the dungeon.

This ceremony went on for a full year. Finally, the prince was becoming frustrated, and tired of Rebekah continuing to tell him no. He had made the decision that if she said no this time he would let her go free. The prince ordered Rebekah to be brought up from the dungeon. This time he ordered that she be allowed to bathe and be given new clothes, as hers were too tattered for her to wear any further.

“Rebekah, each month I have my guards bring you before me. Each month I as if you have reconsidered being my wife. Each month you have said no. Today is the last time that I will ask this of you. Rebekah, will you be my wife?” The prince waited, holding his breath and knowing that he will be disappointed at her response.

“Dear prince, until this time you have never asked me to be you wife. You stood on your stage in front of me like a petulant child demanding that I marry you. When you heard what you did not want to hear you locked me in a cold and damp cellar to suffer while you threw your tantrum for a month. Month after month this continued. At no point did you ever ask me to be your wife.” The prince looked at Rebekah in the eye and realized she was correct. He never asked. He assumed that she would be his wife because he wanted her to be.

“Humility is a hard lesson to learn as a child and almost an impossible one as an adult. I could never marry a man who was not humble, for he would never be a man. He would always be a small child.” Rebekah took a deep breath as she watched the prince’s reaction. He stood stock still. The anger that was always evident in his eyes seem to wash away in an instant and was replaced with a look of shame.

“Beautiful Rebekah, I am so very sorry. You are right. I have been acting like a small child. I have never learned how to not get what I’ve wanted. Now I see that I cannot treat a person as an object, but as an equal. Will you ever forgive me for the way I have treated you?”

Rebekah knew what she had to do at this point.

“Prince, I will forgive you, for you were still a child when you sinned against me. You have learned what humility is. It is not when a person feels as if they are less than another, but when a person learns that he cannot always receive what he wishes and become better for that loss.”

“I understand if you wish to leave. I will make sure that you have all that you need for your journey and bid you farewell.”

“My prince, I do not wish to leave. I do wish to marry you.” The prince’s eyes widened. Disbelief washed over his features.

“But, how? I have wronged you so?” the prince said as he walked toward her in wonderment at this woman. How could someone who was treated so heinously be willing to give her life over to her tormentor? It made no sense to the prince.

She took his hands and for once looked up at the prince as he stood directly in front of her. She spoke in what was barely a whisper, “Because, Prince, you have learned that before you can be first you must be last.” At this the prince leaned down and kissed her hand. He knew that he wanted Rebekah because she was beautiful, but now he wanted her because she was wise too.

Mark 9:33 - 35

One thing I've wanted to do for an extremely long time is be able to homeschool my son. Sadly, because I do work full-time this isn't a viable option. We, my husband and I, cannot afford to have me quit working full-time and helping support our family. 

However, no one said that I still couldn't do homeschooling curriculum with him when I am home.

We still are not sure where we are going to have him go to school when kindergarten starts. (My husband wants the local public school and I want a place where he will actually come out better than he went in.) We are in the process of actually talking about if he's going to school next year or if we'll keep him out until he's six. 

In my world, I would love to keep him out for kindergarten and homeschool him for at least that year. I'll know that he'll have a strong foundation when he starts first grade. No matter where he ends up.

With this in mind I have been looking at different resources that might just work for our family and my soon to be extremely busy summer "vacation." 

Yes, I did Pinterest a lot of different activities. Because I'm a school teacher, I also have some other resources readily available to me. Yet, I still feel as if I'm short in some areas. 

I do know that I need to focus heavier on reading and Bible study with him. He loves math and anything to do with math. He loves science too, right now, because it is so hands on and he's a very kinesthetic child. This does not bode too well for basic reading. 

Thankfully, at the pre-school age it is easier to find activities for him to do than my current classroom of 5th graders. (The older the child, the harder to find hands-on reading activities.)

As I find supplies and resources I will gladly share, but I don't see that happening until further into the "school summer." 

There is something, that if you don' t know me already won't come as much of a shock, I'm very ADD in my thinking. 

Let me give you an example. While I was listening to the radio this morning the Glenn Beck show came on. (It happens.) Either way, I remembered awhile back about Beck getting onto a tirade about books that every parent should force their child to read. 

That got me to thinking: what books should every child read at some point in their education? What books will they actually get something out of. 

Many would say to look at the classics like Homer's epic poems, or something from Charles Dickens. Um, not so much. I've been forced to teach The Iliad and The Odyssey along with David Copperfield and A Christmas Carol. My students gained nothing from these novels. They actually stopped reading them after the first few "chapters." 

This is a short list of books that I found gave great life lessons and that students actually took an interest in.

# 5: All of the Above.  This novel is written by a Cleveland, Ohio native about a school in Cleveland, Ohio. Actually, it's about the students at the school in Cleveland. 

Students at a Cleveland middle school have lost all interest in their math class. Not that they had any to begin with. Yet, their burned out math teacher has one last thing to try; building the world's largest tetrahedron. 

During the process, students who are unlikely to work on anything together manage to get a whole community to support their project along with new friends to help support them.

This book is great for teaching conflict. Not just the typical Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Self, Man vs. Society, but it is perfect for teaching internal and external conflict. Students tend to relate to these characters also. The language used is modern (clean) slang and the students have always easily understood what the characters are going through.

Out of all the years I have taught this book, my entire class finishes it on their own before they even think about finishing it with me.

# 4 Fahrenheit 451: Want to talk to your children (or students) about Big Brother, try this novel. 


A local fireman is getting board with his job. Almost no one needs firemen anymore. At least not for the job that the government has intended it to do: burn books that encourage free thinking and creativity. The world has become a place of government induced fear and socialism in it's purest form. 

Just like All of the Above, Fahrenheit 451 has great lesson in conflict. It also teaches about different government systems and takes a "What if..." approach to the extremes. Bradbury made sure to give a staunch warning to all of his reader about a world to freedom was only a delusion and the government had full control over everyone's lives, much like George Orwell's 1984. 

Beware, however, of the language. Fahrenheit 451 has been banned in schools because of the amount of cursing. The "F" bomb is dropped more than a couple of times. 

To go along with 451, Bradbury has some other great classics that teach about science fiction and other social issues:

There Will Come Soft Rains - A short story about a house surviving a nuclear attack where the people of the house have died. A eye opening reminder of how fragile human life is and how the world will go one when we die. Also great for teaching history and personification.

All Summer in a Day: Imagine living on Venus. In All Summer in a Day, a group of school children get to enjoy the planets entire summer season in the span of one hour. This is an interesting short story because it opens up conversations about space, weather, and bullying.

The Dragon: This science fiction short story plays with the idea of someone from the past reacting to technology from the future. Written in a foreboding tone, this story is great for teaching mood, tone, personification, creativity, and the idea of time. 

# 3 The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School: For something silly, but meaningful, this is the perfect book. 

The Fourth grade class at Aesop Elementary School has managed to terrorize every teacher they have ever had. That was until they met their new fourth grade teacher. 

Each chapter is one of Aesop's classic fable's retold and ends with a moral. This is a nice way of teaching hyperbole and fables. It is also a great way of starting conversations about things that our students (and children) actually care about. 

This book is written at a lower level, but even my upper leveled students enjoyed it. They find the ideas and antics humorous and each student has the one "chapter" that sticks with them more than the rest. 

# 2 Animal Farm: Back to the serious novels. 

After managing a successful coup the animals on Animal Farm are looking for a new group of leaders that will treat each animal as if they were kings and queens. They find the pigs instead. 

This novel walks students through the progression of a true socialistic society and boldly points out the hypocrisies found in the inner workings of that type of political society. 

This is also a fable in it's purest form. The animals talk, the pigs are the leaders, and all other animals are considered stupid. This book is amazing for teaching different governmental systems and for getting students to truly think about what is happening in the world around them. 

Oddly enough Orwell was a believer in socialism when he wrote this book, yet he was still inspired to write a novel warning others about what could happen if (in his mind) leaders perverted socialism and became too greedy. 

# 1 The Holy Bible: No list is complete without a real non-fiction read.

Christ said it best, "Jesus saith to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one doth come unto the Father, if not through me;" ~ John 14:6 (YLT) 

The Bible is the ultimate truth. Every child should read it with their entire family. Pick any literary concept and it can be found in the Bible. Vocabulary enhancements run rampant for students who need an extended vocabulary and the moral, social, government, and life lessons in this book are obvious.  

For our children to be truly successful in their life they need to know Him. The only way to know Him is through His word. The best part about the Bible? No matter how many times you read it, you gain something new each time. Finishing the Bible used to be something that people were once proud of, now it seems equivalent to scaling the world's tallest mountain. Something rarely.

Next time you're wondering what to have your child read next, this list should help. Granted it's only five books, but these books lead to many others that are just as inspiring and worthy as any classic for every child to read.

When I first had my son, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law recommended the book from the Pearls To Train Up a Child. The title was taken from the famous Biblical verse: 

In my circle of friends and sisters in Christ there seems to be a consensus, the Pearls take things a bit to the extreme. That's okay. It works for them. I think that they have some great and helpful lessons to tell, but I'm not one willing to do what they call "Baby Boot Camp." 

That said, there is something that I think is important for my son to learn at a young age: our beliefs. For awhile I had a hard time trying to figure out what to use. Everything I have is more than a little beyond him, but I want him to know that the answer to every question in church is not always "Jesus." There is more to our beliefs than that. 

That is when I started paying attention to what one of my pastor's is using with his son. Then I started seeing it with one of my friends from church. Finally, I saw a copy of it during the toddler church that my was attending. 

It was a Toddler's Catechism. Yeah, never saw that before. I kinda like it.  

While the questions seem simple, they are the foundation for what we believe and what our church teaches. I really think if we teach our children young about who God is and help them to know Him younger they will be more willing to stay in their faith. 

There is something behind the verse from Proverbs. 

If you would like a copy of this catechism please click here. You can also visit Gratia Dei Sola Media's Free Download page here. There are a lot of resources that a great for all ages so peruse carefully. 

One of the first things they teach a new college student in "teacher college" is to no over use worksheets. In some classes it is even considered a form of blaspheme. Yet, there are times when doing worksheets are helpful. For example, teaching a reluctant 4-year-old how to write.

Either way, there is a time when a teacher (no matter where the learning is taking place) needs a good worksheet. 

Last year I found a great site on Pinterest that made handwriting worksheets. And, in true Sara style, I didn't save the link. Now I can't find that site to save my life. 

Here is where google came to the rescue. I did a couple of nifty searches to find a site that would take what I typed and turn it into dotted lines for my son. I ended up finding worksheetsworks.com

The best thing about this site is that a person can create and print more than just handwriting worksheets for their "students." In my case I used this site to create cursive handwriting worksheets for my 5th grade students and basic handwriting sheets for my preschooler and his classmates. 

After doing some exploring, there are a lot more supplemental sheets I can use to help both my son and my students.  I don't get to share too many free things with people on the wide web, but I'm thrilled to share this one.