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Hello, Reader.

If you love books like I do, you won't want to miss celebrating the quirky holiday coming up this weekend. April 12 is National Drop Everything and Read Day!

Aren't you glad it falls on a Saturday? No normal homeschool lessons to teach or weekly co-ops to attend. If you tend to your house chores early in the day, that will leave a nice, long stretch of time in the afternoon/evening for enjoying a good book -- maybe even outdoors under a leafy shade tree (like the kids and I did yesterday during lesson time).

However you spend your Saturday, I hope the following reading-themed resources will be a big blessing to you.

Free resources for you this week:

• ​Reading Challenge for All Ages - can you read a book from all 26 genres?
• ​My Reader Rewards - free books & Bibles for readers of all ages (including Mom & Dad)
• ​Free Printable Book Plates - helps books you loan find their way back home
• ​"Just Open a Book" - an original poem about the significant & surprising ways books benefit us
• ​25 Ways to Encourage Literacy - even more ideas for cultivating a love for reading
• ​Conversation Starters for Book Lovers - brand new set of dinnertime discussion prompts
• ​Good Books are Better When Shared - coloring page page for book lovers

What I'm reading this week:

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I recently finished The Power of Regret by Daniel Pink. When it comes to regret, some people seem to wallow in regret, paralyzed by their past mistakes. Others stubbornly refuse to feel remorse over any past actions, thereby missing an opportunity to improve. The author contrasts both of these unhealthy extremes with the more balanced practice of learning from our mistakes, adopting an "at least" instead of an "if only" mindset, and using our regrets to improve our future performance. Pink provides plenty of case studies. While I often disagree with what "moving forward" actually means, I did thoroughly enjoy reading the book. ​

On the podcast this week:

Loving Life at Home: Episode 79 ​LET'S ADOPT A WINSTON CHURCHILL MINDSET IN MARRIAGE​ Little known fact: Today (April 9) is Winston Churchill Day in the US. So today, I'm taking some of my favorite quotes from the British Bulldog, examining them in light of scripture, and applying them to marriage. I hope you'll listen in! Listen Now

Progress on last week's goals:

I finished most of what I set out to accomplish last week, including ✅ attending my daughter's choir concert, ✅ installing new childproof locks on stovetop dials, ✅ clearing out 70% of the emails in my inbox, ✅ putting away all my CCC purchases, and ✅ wrapping up most of the loose ends on my graduation responsibilities (namely ✅ designing/ordering/addressing/mailing invitations as well as ✅ completing assigned yearbook pages)

Still undone: ❌ turning in tax receipts to co-op bookkeeper, ❌ writing senior bios for programs, and ❌ installing second of two new water filters.

Personal goals for next week:

• cut my boys' hair
• write/send several neglected thank you notes
• dress up for Superhero Day at co-op
• submit lesson plans for next year's co-op classes
• make a sample luggage tag for leather class
• weed flower beds
• review cool new art kit for Timberdoodle

One last freebie for you this week:

The Homeschool Curriculum Summit began on Monday and continues until Friday. It's not too late to sign up for this free online conference, which you can do here (affiliate link). In addition to some great, informative workshops, you get some great swag -- including my own Easter Print Pack -- all for FREE for the duration of the summit.