Welcome to Daily Encouragement!
Hi, I’m Charlene Notgrass. I was born a long time before you, way back in 1953. I loved homeschooling — once I learned how to make homeschooling who our family was instead of something I carried around like a big, heavy burden every day. From the lessons God has taught me, I offer you daily encouragement.
Compete or Rest?
Mothers start comparing (and worrying) when their children are still babies. Tina is four months old and already has two teeth; Janie is seven months old and doesn’t have any. James was walking at eight months; Dustin’s first birthday is…
“Glad We Chose to Homeschool”
A few weeks ago I told you about my friend (I called her Lisa) whose daughter created an adorable Un-happy Meal. A couple of hours after I posted my Monday blog about our son John’s birthday, I got this note…
Teaching with Confidence
Mrs. Frances Landrum taught me English in the seventh and eighth grades. She was short, pleasingly plump (as we used to say), and gray-headed. Photos of Laura Ingalls Wilder taken after she began writing the Little House books remind me…
Dads and Moms and Sons
Broken windows, scratched car doors, missing shed roofs, lawns scattered with debris–stuff like that can wait. Last Friday morning, we surveyed our storm damage, left almost every bit of it lying where it was, and left town. Sometimes you just…
Jesus is Your Storm Shelter
Weather forecasters warned us yesterday that storms were likely. Ray and I hurried through our errands in town so we would be home before they got to us. We made it before the rain began. I was at my desk…
Beautiful of Form and Face
When Jacob travels back to the land of his grandfather Abraham to find a wife, he discovers Rachel who was “beautiful of form and face” (Genesis 29:17). I believe that every little girl (or big girl or little old lady)…