Story Warren

Kindling Imagination for Kingdom Anticipation

The Warren & the World Vol 7, Issue 30

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I’m writing this on World Cat Day. Usually social media informs me of these things and I don’t know until the day is mostly over. Just so you know, this week also held National Frozen Custard Day and National Happiness Happens Day. Oh, and National Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day. I’m really sorry you missed that one. 

Around the Web

The One Indispensable Tool to Rely On Each Day

Sally Lloyd-Jones reminds us of the only thing we need remember daily to see the world as a beautiful place.

  • I love going behind the scenes and seeing the studio of an illustrator, or the desk of a writer, don’t you? I recently posted a behind the scenes of my own desk. These tiny pencils. One child calls his tiny pencils, “Legendary Pencils.” So that’s what they are from now on: my Legendary Pencils.
    What other tools do you count on? I love Moleskines—squared not lined.
    But there is one tool that I count on every single day. It’s invisible. And indispensable. It is the most important one of all.
    Read more

Study: Kids Who Spend Time in Nature Become Happier Adults

I’ve got a friend who’s started an organization called 1000 Hours Outside. I think she’d agree with this study.

  • At this point it seems the evidence is overwhelming—new studies seem to arrive on our desks each week that suggest simply spending time in green spaces can improve our health, both mentally and physically. As avid outdoors people, we instinctively know that, but it’s always nice to have science confirm our suspicions. And recently, researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark published yet another study about the outside/good health connection that may provide the most conclusive evidence yet. Getting outside, walking around, hearing the rustle of trees, feeling the wind on our face, the rain on our backs, the sun on our skin—the more we do that as kids, the happier we are as adults, their study suggests.
    Read more

Nature Provides Exceptional Multi-Disciplinary Learning Opportunities.

Ginny Yurich reminds us of some of the gifts nature gives us.

  • For so long you are a mom in the trenches, trying to make it from dawn to dinner and then recoup a little bit before nighttime parenting. But then, almost like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, you emerge on the other side, with a child who has keen and unique interests. An early childhood filled with nature immersion gives way to fascinations that are  interdisciplinary and that leave the door wide open for the kind of learning we are desire, deep learning about the things that thrill us about life.
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Mark Kermode chooses 25 of the best films for children

This is a great list full of classic movies. Some of them may or may not be appropriate for your kids depending on their ages and your family culture, but there are some real gems here.

  • What is a children’s film? Is it a film aimed specifically at younger viewers, tailor-made to cater to their growing needs? Maybe it’s a film about childhood, a coming-of-age story that resonates with a wide range of viewers, young and old alike. Or perhaps it’s simply any film that a child could watch, anything that isn’t restricted by its nature to adult-only audiences.
    Read more

Around the Warren

Castles in the Air

Jessica Burke took her friends the March sisters to France with her.

  • Last week as I visited France with my husband on an anniversary trip, I couldn’t help but think of my friends, the March sisters. When we arrived on the southern coast, I thought of Amy rebuking Laurie in Nice and her determination to see that she got her castle in the air by marrying the rich Fred Vaughn whether she loved him or not. I thought of Jo and her failures on her path to build her castle as a successful writer. I thought of Meg and Beth and Marmee and Hannah and the twins. They were on my mind with every site that took my breath away, with everything I got to experience.
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Louis L’Amour and the Moral Imagination

Kevin Morse takes a trip to the wild west through the novels of Louis L’Amour.

  • “My brother, Orrin Sackett, was big enough to fight bears with a switch. Me, I was the skinny one, tall as Orrin, but no meat to my bones except around the shoulders and arms.” –The Daybreakers, 1984
    The other day I read those words for the first time in about twenty five years and the strangest thing happened.
    The whole story was there, in front of me, like a rutted track that wound through those same Tennessee hills where the Sacketts started out on their journey west.
    Read more

Something to Do with Your Kids

I love that The Spruce always has a list of fun things to do with your family for each month. Here’s August’s.

Something to Watch

I’m a big fan of random facts and this video is chock full of facts about the states–along with quasi-ridiculous transitions between them. (The final full minute is ads, so you can end it when he’s done with states).

Thanks for reading. We’re on your side.

-The Story Warren Team
Carolyn Clare Givens
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