"When you start with babies on your lap and you're reading board books... that's a bond and memories that they'll have forever." ~ Lindsay Vroegindewey
Are you searching for ways to enrich your homeschool with wholesome, impactful books? Aby Rinella talks with Lindsey Vroegindewey, of Big Sky Life Books, about her how passion for carefully curated children’s literature blossomed into a trusted resource for homeschool families. Learn why choosing the right books matters, how stories shape character, and practical ways to use living books across every subject—from history to science to biblical studies.
Whether you’re a new homeschool parent or a veteran, this conversation is packed with insights on:
- Cultivating a lasting love of reading and learning
- Building strong bonds through shared stories
- Selecting age-appropriate literature that supports biblical values
- Organizing home libraries by character trait and subject
- Encouraging learning without overwhelming curriculum demands
Ready to raise readers with strong character? Dive in and discover book recommendations, curriculum advice, and the beauty of simple, story-centered learning.
Recommended Resources:
Submit Your Homeschooling Questions
“Let’s Adventure Together” Aby's Rinella’s Book Bundle
Connect with Big Sky Life Books:
Recommended Podcasts:
- The Ministry of Motherhood, with Yvette Hampton and Aby Rinella
- Teaching Language Arts: Mastering Reading - Andrew Pudewa
Sponsors:
Apologia is a Christ-centered, award-winning homeschool curriculum provider. Our mission is to help homeschooling students and families learn, live, and defend the Christian faith through our print and digital curriculum and online classes.
BJU Press Homeschool is dedicated to providing homeschool families with academically strong curriculum rooted in a biblical worldview. They offer a complete curriculum from preschool through 12th grade, available in both traditional textbooks and video courses. By teaching through the lens of Christ’s power, they help students view the world through the transformative story of God’s creation
CTCMath specializes in providing online video tutorials that take a multi-sensory approach to learning. Creative graphics and animation, synchronized with the friendly voice of internationally acclaimed teacher, Pat Murray, make learning math easy and effective. Start your free trial today.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You can get a curriculum for anything all year long and you
can have a stack a Mile High andhave that pressure like, Oh my
goodness, this is all this beautiful curriculum.
And then they have these homeschool planners and I've
seen them just like by the 15 minute beep, beep, beep, beep,
beep. Oh my goodness.
And and some women operate better that way.
I get that. And then some just want the
(00:22):
freedom of just sit with a stackof books and grab a cup of tea
and take a breath. Hey everybody, welcome back to
the Schoolhouse Rock podcast. I am Abby, Abby Renell Abby.
Well, how does Eva Hampton say it?
Avenella? I am Abby Renella, also known as
Avenella on the Schoolhouse Rockpodcast.
And I'm so excited to be your host today.
(00:44):
I've missed you guys and it's good to be back.
And I am back with a super exciting guest that I cannot
wait to share with you all. You are going to love her.
I already love her. But before we get started, I
would like to thank our sponsor,Bjupress Homeschool for
sponsoring this podcast. Their materials won't just equip
you for a successful homeschool journey.
(01:06):
They'll prepare your child for afuture full of possibilities so
that your child can confidently move beyond homeschool, ready
for whatever God has next. They've cracked at their
curriculum to give you the toolsyou need that are rooted in a
solid biblical foundation. Bjupress Homeschool offers
lessons that encourage critical thinking skills as well as
activities and lessons that support multi sensory learning
(01:28):
and the unique learning styles of your children.
And they have both online and parent LED formats to fit your
lifestyle. Visit them at
bjupresshomeschool.com. That's bjupresshomeschool.com.
All right, Lindsay, first of all, you're going to have to say
your last name for me. Oh, it's a doozy.
Yeah. When I'm, when I'm talking to
(01:48):
someone in, you know, phonetically, it's Rogan Dewey.
So. Rogan, Dewey.
Rogan, Dewey. Rogan, Dewey.
Yeah. And if you're my husband's from
Holland, so if you're Dutch, you're going to roll things and
you're going to go frugan, devai, frugan.
Devai is that a beautiful? Well, when I saw it I said I'm
not even going to attempt it because I would butcher it.
But this is my friend Lindsay from Big Sky Life Books.
(02:11):
And I have to tell you, Lindsay,I, I got a call from my cousin
who lives kind of up in your neck of the woods.
Lindsay's from Montana. She's my neighboring state,
which is super fun to have her on, hence the name Big Sky Life
Books, right? And my cousin called and he
said, have you heard of this person?
Have you heard of what she's doing?
She's a book lady. And he knows that I love
(02:33):
children's books. I actually in college, part of
my degree, I spent a lot of timedoing classes in children's
literature, picture books, that sort of thing.
And so I started to stalk you online and found out that you,
you are amazing. And of course, you're a
homeschool mom. So would you tell us just a
(02:53):
little bit about yourself and your family and your kiddos
before we dive into all talks ofbooks?
Yeah, love stalkers. Thank you.
I mean, the word of mouth, the word of mouth has been exactly
how we've grown. So I appreciate that.
And your cousin as well. Yeah.
So born and raised in Montana and homeschooled, actually
growing up. So homeschooled all through.
(03:15):
Went to Bible college, left Montana for a brief stint in
North Carolina. So I got a little bit of East
Coast experience, and then I came back.
So my background is in government, legislature works.
So I've been able to do that for20 years and then had kiddos and
resigned my position because I Icouldn't do both and do them
(03:38):
both well and I wanted to be home with my kids.
So the book thing kind of bloomed from that.
I think it was, I think I joinedInstagram and I started seeing
all of these, I think they call them books, books to grammars,
you know, posting like, you know, 10 books for this and 20
books to read for that and all these things.
And I thought it was so great and I would click on it and it
(04:00):
always sent me to Amazon. Like I want to buy this.
And I thought, well, I really want to buy this, but I don't
want to keep supporting Amazon. How can we do that?
And so I had a dream talking to some elderly folks about their
difficulty in finding books for kids and not knowing what to
get. And then I dreamt one night and
(04:21):
I woke up and I told my husband.I said I just dreamt that.
We we did. We created this whole wholesome
bookstore where everything in there is pre read and wholesome
and grandparents and teachers and parents and everybody can
trust anything they grab and andwe have that for them.
And he's like, well, let's do it.
Oh my goodness, that's amazing. That is so cool.
(04:44):
And I think I mean, this is likeevery mom's homeschool mom's
like heart song is we love literature, we love books, but
it is nearly impossible to find good books like the the days of
the going to the library. And I want to talk about that a
little bit later. Feel like they're a little bit
over. But today I really want to talk
about not only the importance ofreading to our kids, but the
(05:05):
importance of what we read to our kids, right?
And how important it is that we,we know what we're reading and
that we're intentional. So can you just kind of open us
up by talking about the importance of books in a kid's
life, the importance of reading to children?
Oh man, and there's some people who didn't have any books when
they were a kid. Incredible.
Dad, he said, well, I had highlights magazine.
(05:26):
I was like, well, highlights magazine and I just, I felt so
spoiled with my childhood and all the books.
But I, you know, there's all thereasons it's good to read to
your kids, you know, gives them a jump start and all those
things. But I think also it, it instills
a desire for lifelong learning and reading, but it also bonds
my kids and I and parents and kids.
(05:47):
So when you start with babies onyour lap and you're reading
board books or, you know, they're older and you're reading
chapter books, you know, my mom used to do that with us.
And that's like, that's a bond and memories that they'll have
forever. So beyond the why you should
read kids to your books to your kids, right?
You know, just creating that loving bond with them and
(06:08):
memories that will just, they'llhave forever.
Oh for sure. And I think I love that it is so
bonding. It is so I mean, even now, I
have older kids now and it's unbelievable how when you get
out of picture book, the kids, the older kids, my teenagers
will like come over and they're curious and they're interested
and they still love to sit and look at the picture books with
(06:30):
my littles, right. And then we'll be into a chapter
book and and everybody just kindof naturally gathers around to
to listen. It's, it's such an incredible
bonding thing. And also just bonding over the
stories where later you know, you're, you're talking about
something. Oh, remember that in that book.
Remember that in that book. It's true.
It's true. I have great memories of my mom
(06:52):
reading with us. And.
Yeah. And to see the kids even now
with stacks of books everywhere,they'll just plop down and read.
And, you know, we go to a used bookstore and they're so
excited. And, you know, you're instilling
that love with them and. And they can learn anything if
they know how to read. Yes.
And love to read. Yeah, expand on that because I
think if we, like you said therewas a, there were people that
(07:13):
maybe didn't have books, but I also hear a a lot of families
say, you know, we can't afford all the curriculum that's out
there, all the every kind of curriculum.
And I always say, you know, if you just have good books, you
can learn every subject level through those books.
So I mean, share a little bit about just even your experience
with diving into so many books. How?
I mean you hit every academic area with good books.
(07:33):
Yeah, it's true, It's true. And I think growing up we had
that as well. I think my high school
curriculum was all, I mean, my mom bought it just came in as
just this whole shelf, just there's your high school
curriculum. Boom.
That's amazing. I think that was how it was
growing up. But also, you're right, if you
can't afford the curriculums, you know, when your kid loves to
read, well, I mean, goodness sakes, you can just dive right
(07:55):
in. And we have on our website books
sectioned out by category. So you can do history and then
pick a war. So if you're studying a specific
war with your kids, you know, you can go there and find some
books that'll just, you know, somuch better than a textbook or a
curriculum. You can just read the stories.
Totally. Only a homeschool mom would
think to organize books like that, right?
(08:18):
It's been a lot of fun. But you know what?
It's true because I remember when my kids were younger, I
would be teaching them something, anything, right?
And I feel like we get out the textbooks and I'd get I, we
would talk about it and I'd lecture them on it.
And it was like I pounded in them and they weren't getting it
and then some. And then we'd pick a good book
up and all of a sudden there wasabout that topic.
They were, they knew everything just from one book.
(08:40):
And I realized really quickly it's just the power of story.
Like I don't need history textbooks if they are reading
really good literature and and novels and story about that time
period. It brings it so to life for
them. And for me too, I've learned so
much. I just read a book, the
(09:00):
Declaration of Independence, that almost burned up in the
White House, and the guy that, you know, rescued it in all of
the documents, I was like, I didn't ever knew this happened.
And it's, you know, $9 paperbackpicture book that we sell.
And it's like I enjoyed the story as much as them, so I'm
learning. Totally.
That's so true. I, I would agree.
I, I would completely agree, butthat's how it is with homeschool
(09:22):
moms. I'm learning so much now that
I'm like, how did I make it all the way through public?
I was a public student, a publiceducation and college and I
didn't know any of this stuff. And I can pick up a children's
book and I learn all this incredible stuff.
So I did not realize that you were second generation
homeschooler, which of course you are because look at the
entrepreneurship in you. And I mean, you're like the
(09:44):
success story, which we're goingto talk about later.
But how So share a little bit. How were books used?
I mean, did you you said your dad didn't when he was a kid,
but was that something that yourmom was really adamant about
having books surrounding you? Yeah, And you know, we, I was
homeschooled. I'm 40, so I was homeschooled
when it was not popular to be homeschooled.
There was not this social media platform where everybody was
(10:04):
homeschooling. We all knew each other and and
it wasn't even legal for part ofmy childhood.
So yeah, it would have been my mom, who really, she actually
read the book for the for the children's sake.
Is that. OK, it really is familiar.
Yeah, and it's all about that. It involves living books and
those types of things. And she just fell in love with
(10:26):
not using textbooks and using real books.
So our shelves were full and we read and read and read.
So I think, you know, she was a public school kid too.
So kudos to her for, you know, being that spearheading that
generation of people using booksinstead of textbooks, It really
boosted our desire to read. And yeah, home schooling has
(10:49):
definitely evolved. It's, you know, gone nuts in the
last. It has almost to the point where
we've pendulum the other way, where there's so many things
that we do forget the art of just sitting down with your kids
on your lap and reading a good book.
I feel like this generation feels like they have to do all
the things they have to do all, every science experiment, every
(11:09):
subject, every, every, every. And, and I just see these moms
getting almost overwhelmed and they they kind of just forget
the art of sitting down and reading.
And I want you to talk a little bit about because this is
something that I will you share again, how old your kids are,
Lindsay. So Lindsay, the thing that I'm
noticing is these these parents these days feel like they need
to do all the things like, like you said, the pendulum has
(11:32):
really swung, but it's almost swung to where we've lost are of
just having a kid sit on our lap, gathering the kids around
and just reading a story. Like we don't have to do all the
science experiments, all the curriculum, all the things that
are available. They can learn so much more.
And and something I want you to talk to is I have moms come all
the time and they say, OK, we'restarting kindergarten, five
(11:54):
years old. You know, what curriculum do we
need? What all the subjects?
And I always say the greatest thing you can do in that year is
what? What would you say, Lindsay?
Just read, read, read and play. And this is you get them outside
and read and play, and that's it.
So my son is 7 and absolutely what?
(12:16):
Well, and especially in North Carolina, my goodness, what
preschool curriculum are you going to use?
Oh. My goodness.
Was was bigger over there than it is here.
So and then kindergarten. So technically now we're in
first grade. And granted, I'm starting this,
I have my childhood experience, but I'm starting this and we're
focusing on two things, Bible and reading.
Because I know that once he's a fluent reader, like the world's
(12:39):
going to open up to him. And then I also want his heart,
so I want his heart to follow the Lord.
So discipleship and reading are the two things.
Yeah, we'll play store and play money and play games like that.
But I'm with you. And I think also social media
just showed me that so many momsare also writing their own
(13:00):
curriculums. So you can get a curriculum for
anything all year long. And you can have a stack a Mile
High and have that pressure like, Oh my goodness, this is
all this beautiful curriculum. And then they have these
homeschool planners. And I've seen them just like by
the 15 minute be be, be be. My goodness.
Like, Oh my goodness. And and some women operate
(13:22):
better that way. I get that.
And then some just want the freedom of just sell the stack
of books and grab a cup of tea and take a breath.
And I'm telling you, the statistics show like I have, I
have, you know, high schoolers now, and it works.
It's not like I think that thesemoms operate in this state of
fear, like if I don't get it alldone right, if I don't have
(13:42):
every 15 minutes blocked out. But I'm telling you, if you just
like you said, take a class of tea, take a good book and relax
because that's going to instill a love of learning like you had
said, and everybody's just goingto be more chilled and it's OK.
I love, I love that your top twothings are discipling your kids,
right? The word of God, good books.
And then I know you and I'm going to throw in and getting
(14:04):
them outdoors. Like if you, if that's all you
have, you're 100% good to go. But what's neat is I found that
as I'm teaching my kids the wordof God, and then I'm coupling it
with these good books that we'regoing to talk about choosing
good books, it's almost like that can bring the word of God
to life because our kids aren't going to experience every single
(14:25):
thing. My kids are not going to
experience what it's like to, I don't know, fight in a war.
I pray, well, let's pray that asa child they are not going to
experience what it would be liketo be a child during the Civil
War, something like that. But as they dive into these
books, they can see God's word being applied to circumstances
they wouldn't naturally be in, right?
So, so share a little bit how you see how coupling the Word of
(14:47):
God and great books, it really just opens it up for them,
right? Yeah, it does.
And I think also I'm trying to, I think you had a podcast
episode recently where they're like, you know, when you're
discipling your kids, just use the word of God.
Don't use all these other things.
Just start with the Bible. So yeah.
And the Bible is full of great stories.
It is full of amazing. We were reading Second Kings
(15:10):
about Elisha and, you know, his eyes, you know, the guy's eyes
being open to just this army of angels and Chariots and then him
praying that they would their eyes would be blinded.
And these are incredible stories.
So, yeah, you've got those greatstories.
And then you can read the historical stories more recent
and God's hand that is in, you know, all those circumstances
(15:31):
too. So it does tie it all together.
And it gives you also so many opportunities of it's talking to
your kids. Wow, Did you see that?
Did you see, you know, he had hidden God's Word in his heart
so he could use it here? And, you know, just so many
things like that. Right.
Oh my goodness, so good. OK, we have to take a quick
break though. I didn't realize how how fast
this is going. We're going to just cut to a
(15:52):
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We are back with Lindsay from Big Sky Life Books.
OK, so we're talking all things books.
I feel like I found my soul sister.
She loves books. She loves the outdoors, she
(17:16):
loves God's word. OK, so we know we we've made it
clear books are really important, right?
It's important to read to our kids, but as important it is to
redo our kids, it is important as to what we read to our kids.
And I was a public school teacher and granted, I, I
stepped away from that, you know, nearly 15, golly more,
more like 20 years ago, which isinsane.
(17:38):
But I'm hearing now from moms. OK, here's an example.
I had a mom, this kid is in the public school and you can't
monitor everything. So they get to go to the school
library and get a book. And her son came home from
school one day and he had a bookabout Penguins.
And it was talking about how thelittle boy Penguin, he was like
(17:59):
hanging out with the little girlPenguins, but they were doing
things that he wasn't interestedin, like painting their nails
and doing their hair. And he was way more interested
in doing what the boy Penguins were doing.
Like, that makes sense, right? Well, So what the story evolves
around is, well, you like boy Penguins.
Obviously you relate to boy Penguins more so therefore, and
you know where I'm going, right,Lindsay?
(18:21):
So the son brought this book home.
Praise God, she saw it, but whatshe said is these kids go to the
library every day and look at books and I don't ever see them
necessarily unless they check them out and bring them home.
And so it's so much more than just about our kids reading.
It really truly is about what they're reading and, and how
(18:41):
that shapes kids and how we needto be intentional.
And that is really the call thatthe Lord has put on your heart
and the message that the Lord has given you and, and honestly,
the the gift that God has given you to help homeschool parents
to be able to choose good, good books.
So can you, can you share why itis so important that we are
intentional in what we give our kids, how it affects our kids,
(19:04):
how it shapes our kids, how reading actually is more than
just words on a page and stories?
Yeah, it's so funny. I hear the quote a lot.
Well, it doesn't matter what they're reading as long as
they're reading. And he's like, Oh my goodness,
there's some real trash out there.
And, and, and what is that Bibleverse about what we become, what
we think, that influence. And I remember my mom always
(19:24):
said, guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus and let us
be transformed, not of this world.
And, and, and that is so true inwhat we're putting in our kids
minds. So, and it our kids books don't
all have to be Christian. They don't have to all have to
have that biblical agenda. But it is important to just
(19:45):
screen those. And it's even with small
children, the bad attitudes, my goodness, the amount of
children's books that introduce those bad attitudes.
And I know my children, if I'm reading them, they're picking up
on that. And then even later on, like you
say, you know, introducing the trans.
Little, little hints at that, you know, insecurities and in
(20:07):
self absorption. Also in children's books, you
know, the world revolves around you.
And, and it's so funny. We've lost a lot of just good
books that our kids can read. And I and I remember being in
Barnes and Noble, Lieutenant governor was standing next to me
and she was looking for a baby gift and she was just looking
for corduroy and couldn't even find corduroy.
(20:30):
It's like, man, there we don't have to write new books.
There are so many good books. We just need to bury these
books. We need to find the corduroy and
that really good classic books. So I love books.
We we sort books also by character trait.
I love that. I love that about your website.
It is so fun. So instead of pummeling our kids
(20:50):
with man, you need to be a man of courage.
You need to be courageous, you need to be humble.
You need to be this and that. If we can just read stories that
demonstrate that, then that's that's sinking in.
That is so true. OK, I love on your website that
you and it's Big Sky lifebooks.com and what I love
about it is it it so you can pick like subjects, history, you
(21:12):
know, science, but you can also choose books by character, which
is really good because we're allraising sinners, right?
Like, darn it, we are raising these so, so our kids are going
to have character issues. But I love how you said that,
that we don't, we don't need to pummel our kids over the head
about, you know, be, be less selfish, be less selfish.
You give a kid a book that inspires them to those character
(21:34):
traits and, and it's incredible.The other section of books, OK,
you said we we don't need to write new books, which we're not
really saying you don't, but there are so many incredible
books. You've done a good job of
finding books that that I didn'trealize were out there.
You have a whole section of like, OK, so one of my favorite
book of all time, if I could pick besides the Bible is the
hiding place, right? But we, I made the mistake.
(21:56):
My older kids were a little bit older.
So we read it as a family and then one day I was reading it
and I'm like, oh, I have a little kid on my lap and I
forgot like this is kind of there's a rough story, right?
It is, it is hard and it is reallife and it's OK.
But you found books on like Quarry 10 Boom for a child to
read because these are incredible stories that we don't
(22:16):
need to wait till they're in high school to read them.
Like these are incredible stories.
Like we said that take God's word and then put put it to feet
in in these other stories where where it all comes together.
And so I, I love that it's, it'sbroken down by character.
What are some of the character traits that you found books that
hit? Oh my category Courage is my
(22:37):
favorite. I love that.
It's so because I also think in this time we want our children
to be courageous like they. We don't know what lies ahead.
We want them to be men and womenof courage.
And so I am. I gravitate towards those books,
perseverance, courage and thingslike that.
And then work ethic is another good one.
(22:59):
That's something that's. Lost.
It's it's lost and we need, we need books on that just to
demonstrate that, you know, great stories, but also ones
were wow, yeah, you worked hard and didn't complain.
Look at that. Right, totally right.
Yeah. And it also makes you feel like
I'm not asking that much of you,right?
Like these are attainable thingsfor a child to have courage, for
(23:20):
a child to be selfless. These are attainable things with
the help of God, right? One book that I'll tell you in
our environment, when a child isthrowing a temper tantrum, the
whole gentle parenting is, you know, to coddle them and, you
know, embrace their feelings and, you know, pull from within.
And we have a book, Count Yourself Calm that encourages
(23:44):
the child to quote scripture andlook to God to have that
self-control. And I love that.
It's like, yes, our kids are going to freak out.
They're going to have, you know,they're not going to get their
way and they're going to throw temper tantrums, but let's give
them the tools that are biblical, the verses and
encourage them to have self-control.
So that's another one that I wasreally excited to find.
(24:04):
That is. So how are you?
OK, that's this is my next question before we have to wrap
up for the week. How are you finding these books?
Oh my goodness. So that's one of my favorite
things to do. You know, like a Sunday
afternoon, our day of rest. I love to scrounge.
And I'm just, you know, if I have a good author, I'm looking.
Well, what else did they write? And then people will also give
me suggestions and and I just diving deep into the Internet.
(24:27):
I think Count Yourself Calm camefrom a friend of a friend and
but just finding there's lots ofbook lists online and so we
don't rely on those, but we'll get ideas from them and then
just kind of go down the rabbit hole and find more.
Right, I love that and I love itbecause we as homeschool moms,
we're busy. I mean, you are too.
You get it. We don't have time to pre read
(24:48):
every book. We don't have the, you know,
time to to sit all this. And so you've kind of done the
leg work for us. And it's, it's one of those
golden things where when I find someone that's put together a
book list that I can trust, thatI can just trust that I can
trust that I can trust. It is so such a blessing.
And I just want to share a little story.
You and I, and we're going to share this a little bit more,
(25:08):
but you and I were putting together a book list.
I, I was hoping you put togethera book list about get to help
inspire kids, get outdoors, which because everybody knows
that's what I love to do. And there was a book on that
list. And this, this just elevated
what you're doing so much in my mind.
But there was a book that I put on that, that list that I love.
I absolutely love the book. It's a great story.
It's about a wonderful person. And you came back to me and
(25:31):
said, Hey, Abby. And I hadn't read it for a
while. I just, it was kind of, you
know, in one of my, in my home library that I loved.
And you said, you know, it talksabout billions of years in
there. And I was like, OK, at first I
was like, what it does? Why do they always have to ruin
the good books? And then I was like, I didn't
remember that. But I also know I read books
with my kids. So we would have addressed it.
But it made me realize, like, you are doing, Lindsay, an
(25:54):
exceptional job. Like, like to me, the fact that
you caught that little thing andthat you were like, you know,
that's just not going to go on our website.
And what else I love that I've seen you do is you have said,
you know, here's a list of really here's you've recommended
some really great books. They're not books that you would
carry because you are really thegatekeeper and you're saying,
(26:14):
you know, this isn't something that I would necessarily carry
because we vet every book doesn't make it not a great
book. It just means that mom and dad
are going to have to hold the hand.
You're going to have to have theconversation.
But to me, it, it, it just really blessed me that your
standard is, is just right in line with God's word.
Really, it's high enough that isyou're not going to put anything
(26:34):
in there that goes against anything the word of God says.
And I just appreciated that so much.
And I know that parents will, when they're building their home
libraries and they're, you know,giving suggestions to
grandparents, they can feel totally and completely safe with
what you've chosen. So I just want to thank you for
that. While we try but I don't catch
everything. Yeah, and we're going to talk
(26:56):
about that. OK, So this is a fun
conversation that is a perfect way to end this.
Lindsay doesn't catch everything.
And we are going to come back next week because she has an
incredible story that if you stick around next week, we're
going to share that actually what the enemy meant for evil,
God used for incredible good in your life life and, and in your
family's life. So I just wanted to ask before
(27:18):
we close out, Lindsay, where canpeople find you?
Well, we're on Big Sky lifebooks.com and we're on
Instagram and Facebook at Big Sky Life Books.
We also have a YouTube channel where I read books.
So if you want to see it read before you purchase it, there's
my I think a couple dozen books on there that you can check out
too. That's so fun.
All right, And you can find me Abby Rinella scrubbing toilets,
(27:41):
making snacks for my kids. But you can also find me on
Instagram, Facebook, call to thetop.com, anywhere.
And we really can't wait for youguys to come back next week as
we carry on the conversation about books and the importance
of books and building your home library.
But also, we're going to dive into entrepreneurship and
homeschool moms running businesses.
And then we're going to get a little bit into the wild and
crazy story of Once Upon a time when Lindsay didn't catch
(28:04):
something. So we cannot wait to see you
guys back here next week. Thanks for being with us.
Bye bye. You're listening to the Biblical
Family Network. Hey, I'm Miki and I'm Will and
we're the Co host of the CultureProof podcast.
We want to invite you to join usevery week as we discuss what's
(28:25):
happening in the world and then filter those happenings through
a decidedly biblical lens. There are many questions,
especially when we see what's happening in our culture today,
but the answers are found withinthe Word of God, so that's where
we want to look. Amen.
When we resist those cultural trends that rival the truth.
We remain culture proof. It is a constant juggle and in
(28:47):
my mind it's like, well, who am I doing this for?
I who cares about a book business if my kids aren't don't
have their mom and I'm not present with them.
So it is that constant, you know, keep my priorities in
check. That's the beauty of home school
is that you aren't shipping yourkids off for someone else to do
your job. So you can do this job and they
come home and have no clue what you're doing, right?
(29:08):
They're involved in it. They're all hands on deck like
this is the building of a familybusiness.
This is what I believe God is called us to do, and they're
getting an incredible education that they wouldn't get otherwise
just by doing this with you.
You can get a curriculum for anything all year long and you
can have a stack a Mile High andhave that pressure like, Oh my
goodness, this is all this beautiful curriculum.
And then they have these homeschool planners and I've
seen them just like by the 15 minute beep, beep, beep, beep,
beep. Oh my goodness.
And and some women operate better that way.
I get that. And then some just want the
(00:22):
freedom of just sit with a stackof books and grab a cup of tea
and take a breath. Hey everybody, welcome back to
the Schoolhouse Rock podcast. I am Abby, Abby Renell Abby.
Well, how does Eva Hampton say it?
Avenella? I am Abby Renella, also known as
Avenella on the Schoolhouse Rockpodcast.
And I'm so excited to be your host today.
(00:44):
I've missed you guys and it's good to be back.
And I am back with a super exciting guest that I cannot
wait to share with you all. You are going to love her.
I already love her. But before we get started, I
would like to thank our sponsor,Bjupress Homeschool for
sponsoring this podcast. Their materials won't just equip
you for a successful homeschool journey.
(01:06):
They'll prepare your child for afuture full of possibilities so
that your child can confidently move beyond homeschool, ready
for whatever God has next. They've cracked at their
curriculum to give you the toolsyou need that are rooted in a
solid biblical foundation. Bjupress Homeschool offers
lessons that encourage critical thinking skills as well as
activities and lessons that support multi sensory learning
(01:28):
and the unique learning styles of your children.
And they have both online and parent LED formats to fit your
lifestyle. Visit them at
bjupresshomeschool.com. That's bjupresshomeschool.com.
All right, Lindsay, first of all, you're going to have to say
your last name for me. Oh, it's a doozy.
Yeah. When I'm, when I'm talking to
(01:48):
someone in, you know, phonetically, it's Rogan Dewey.
So. Rogan, Dewey.
Rogan, Dewey. Rogan, Dewey.
Yeah. And if you're my husband's from
Holland, so if you're Dutch, you're going to roll things and
you're going to go frugan, devai, frugan.
Devai is that a beautiful? Well, when I saw it I said I'm
not even going to attempt it because I would butcher it.
But this is my friend Lindsay from Big Sky Life Books.
(02:11):
And I have to tell you, Lindsay,I, I got a call from my cousin
who lives kind of up in your neck of the woods.
Lindsay's from Montana. She's my neighboring state,
which is super fun to have her on, hence the name Big Sky Life
Books, right? And my cousin called and he
said, have you heard of this person?
Have you heard of what she's doing?
She's a book lady. And he knows that I love
(02:33):
children's books. I actually in college, part of
my degree, I spent a lot of timedoing classes in children's
literature, picture books, that sort of thing.
And so I started to stalk you online and found out that you,
you are amazing. And of course, you're a
homeschool mom. So would you tell us just a
(02:53):
little bit about yourself and your family and your kiddos
before we dive into all talks ofbooks?
Yeah, love stalkers. Thank you.
I mean, the word of mouth, the word of mouth has been exactly
how we've grown. So I appreciate that.
And your cousin as well. Yeah.
So born and raised in Montana and homeschooled, actually
growing up. So homeschooled all through.
(03:15):
Went to Bible college, left Montana for a brief stint in
North Carolina. So I got a little bit of East
Coast experience, and then I came back.
So my background is in government, legislature works.
So I've been able to do that for20 years and then had kiddos and
resigned my position because I Icouldn't do both and do them
(03:38):
both well and I wanted to be home with my kids.
So the book thing kind of bloomed from that.
I think it was, I think I joinedInstagram and I started seeing
all of these, I think they call them books, books to grammars,
you know, posting like, you know, 10 books for this and 20
books to read for that and all these things.
And I thought it was so great and I would click on it and it
(04:00):
always sent me to Amazon. Like I want to buy this.
And I thought, well, I really want to buy this, but I don't
want to keep supporting Amazon. How can we do that?
And so I had a dream talking to some elderly folks about their
difficulty in finding books for kids and not knowing what to
get. And then I dreamt one night and
(04:21):
I woke up and I told my husband.I said I just dreamt that.
We we did. We created this whole wholesome
bookstore where everything in there is pre read and wholesome
and grandparents and teachers and parents and everybody can
trust anything they grab and andwe have that for them.
And he's like, well, let's do it.
Oh my goodness, that's amazing. That is so cool.
(04:44):
And I think I mean, this is likeevery mom's homeschool mom's
like heart song is we love literature, we love books, but
it is nearly impossible to find good books like the the days of
the going to the library. And I want to talk about that a
little bit later. Feel like they're a little bit
over. But today I really want to talk
about not only the importance ofreading to our kids, but the
(05:05):
importance of what we read to our kids, right?
And how important it is that we,we know what we're reading and
that we're intentional. So can you just kind of open us
up by talking about the importance of books in a kid's
life, the importance of reading to children?
Oh man, and there's some people who didn't have any books when
they were a kid. Incredible.
Dad, he said, well, I had highlights magazine.
(05:26):
I was like, well, highlights magazine and I just, I felt so
spoiled with my childhood and all the books.
But I, you know, there's all thereasons it's good to read to
your kids, you know, gives them a jump start and all those
things. But I think also it, it instills
a desire for lifelong learning and reading, but it also bonds
my kids and I and parents and kids.
(05:47):
So when you start with babies onyour lap and you're reading
board books or, you know, they're older and you're reading
chapter books, you know, my mom used to do that with us.
And that's like, that's a bond and memories that they'll have
forever. So beyond the why you should
read kids to your books to your kids, right?
You know, just creating that loving bond with them and
(06:08):
memories that will just, they'llhave forever.
Oh for sure. And I think I love that it is so
bonding. It is so I mean, even now, I
have older kids now and it's unbelievable how when you get
out of picture book, the kids, the older kids, my teenagers
will like come over and they're curious and they're interested
and they still love to sit and look at the picture books with
(06:30):
my littles, right. And then we'll be into a chapter
book and and everybody just kindof naturally gathers around to
to listen. It's, it's such an incredible
bonding thing. And also just bonding over the
stories where later you know, you're, you're talking about
something. Oh, remember that in that book.
Remember that in that book. It's true.
It's true. I have great memories of my mom
(06:52):
reading with us. And.
Yeah. And to see the kids even now
with stacks of books everywhere,they'll just plop down and read.
And, you know, we go to a used bookstore and they're so
excited. And, you know, you're instilling
that love with them and. And they can learn anything if
they know how to read. Yes.
And love to read. Yeah, expand on that because I
think if we, like you said therewas a, there were people that
(07:13):
maybe didn't have books, but I also hear a a lot of families
say, you know, we can't afford all the curriculum that's out
there, all the every kind of curriculum.
And I always say, you know, if you just have good books, you
can learn every subject level through those books.
So I mean, share a little bit about just even your experience
with diving into so many books. How?
I mean you hit every academic area with good books.
(07:33):
Yeah, it's true, It's true. And I think growing up we had
that as well. I think my high school
curriculum was all, I mean, my mom bought it just came in as
just this whole shelf, just there's your high school
curriculum. Boom.
That's amazing. I think that was how it was
growing up. But also, you're right, if you
can't afford the curriculums, you know, when your kid loves to
read, well, I mean, goodness sakes, you can just dive right
(07:55):
in. And we have on our website books
sectioned out by category. So you can do history and then
pick a war. So if you're studying a specific
war with your kids, you know, you can go there and find some
books that'll just, you know, somuch better than a textbook or a
curriculum. You can just read the stories.
Totally. Only a homeschool mom would
think to organize books like that, right?
(08:18):
It's been a lot of fun. But you know what?
It's true because I remember when my kids were younger, I
would be teaching them something, anything, right?
And I feel like we get out the textbooks and I'd get I, we
would talk about it and I'd lecture them on it.
And it was like I pounded in them and they weren't getting it
and then some. And then we'd pick a good book
up and all of a sudden there wasabout that topic.
They were, they knew everything just from one book.
(08:40):
And I realized really quickly it's just the power of story.
Like I don't need history textbooks if they are reading
really good literature and and novels and story about that time
period. It brings it so to life for
them. And for me too, I've learned so
much. I just read a book, the
(09:00):
Declaration of Independence, that almost burned up in the
White House, and the guy that, you know, rescued it in all of
the documents, I was like, I didn't ever knew this happened.
And it's, you know, $9 paperbackpicture book that we sell.
And it's like I enjoyed the story as much as them, so I'm
learning. Totally.
That's so true. I, I would agree.
I, I would completely agree, butthat's how it is with homeschool
(09:22):
moms. I'm learning so much now that
I'm like, how did I make it all the way through public?
I was a public student, a publiceducation and college and I
didn't know any of this stuff. And I can pick up a children's
book and I learn all this incredible stuff.
So I did not realize that you were second generation
homeschooler, which of course you are because look at the
entrepreneurship in you. And I mean, you're like the
(09:44):
success story, which we're goingto talk about later.
But how So share a little bit. How were books used?
I mean, did you you said your dad didn't when he was a kid,
but was that something that yourmom was really adamant about
having books surrounding you? Yeah, And you know, we, I was
homeschooled. I'm 40, so I was homeschooled
when it was not popular to be homeschooled.
There was not this social media platform where everybody was
(10:04):
homeschooling. We all knew each other and and
it wasn't even legal for part ofmy childhood.
So yeah, it would have been my mom, who really, she actually
read the book for the for the children's sake.
Is that. OK, it really is familiar.
Yeah, and it's all about that. It involves living books and
those types of things. And she just fell in love with
(10:26):
not using textbooks and using real books.
So our shelves were full and we read and read and read.
So I think, you know, she was a public school kid too.
So kudos to her for, you know, being that spearheading that
generation of people using booksinstead of textbooks, It really
boosted our desire to read. And yeah, home schooling has
(10:49):
definitely evolved. It's, you know, gone nuts in the
last. It has almost to the point where
we've pendulum the other way, where there's so many things
that we do forget the art of just sitting down with your kids
on your lap and reading a good book.
I feel like this generation feels like they have to do all
the things they have to do all, every science experiment, every
(11:09):
subject, every, every, every. And, and I just see these moms
getting almost overwhelmed and they they kind of just forget
the art of sitting down and reading.
And I want you to talk a little bit about because this is
something that I will you share again, how old your kids are,
Lindsay. So Lindsay, the thing that I'm
noticing is these these parents these days feel like they need
to do all the things like, like you said, the pendulum has
(11:32):
really swung, but it's almost swung to where we've lost are of
just having a kid sit on our lap, gathering the kids around
and just reading a story. Like we don't have to do all the
science experiments, all the curriculum, all the things that
are available. They can learn so much more.
And and something I want you to talk to is I have moms come all
the time and they say, OK, we'restarting kindergarten, five
(11:54):
years old. You know, what curriculum do we
need? What all the subjects?
And I always say the greatest thing you can do in that year is
what? What would you say, Lindsay?
Just read, read, read and play. And this is you get them outside
and read and play, and that's it.
So my son is 7 and absolutely what?
(12:16):
Well, and especially in North Carolina, my goodness, what
preschool curriculum are you going to use?
Oh. My goodness.
Was was bigger over there than it is here.
So and then kindergarten. So technically now we're in
first grade. And granted, I'm starting this,
I have my childhood experience, but I'm starting this and we're
focusing on two things, Bible and reading.
Because I know that once he's a fluent reader, like the world's
(12:39):
going to open up to him. And then I also want his heart,
so I want his heart to follow the Lord.
So discipleship and reading are the two things.
Yeah, we'll play store and play money and play games like that.
But I'm with you. And I think also social media
just showed me that so many momsare also writing their own
(13:00):
curriculums. So you can get a curriculum for
anything all year long. And you can have a stack a Mile
High and have that pressure like, Oh my goodness, this is
all this beautiful curriculum. And then they have these
homeschool planners. And I've seen them just like by
the 15 minute be be, be be. My goodness.
Like, Oh my goodness. And and some women operate
(13:22):
better that way. I get that.
And then some just want the freedom of just sell the stack
of books and grab a cup of tea and take a breath.
And I'm telling you, the statistics show like I have, I
have, you know, high schoolers now, and it works.
It's not like I think that thesemoms operate in this state of
fear, like if I don't get it alldone right, if I don't have
(13:42):
every 15 minutes blocked out. But I'm telling you, if you just
like you said, take a class of tea, take a good book and relax
because that's going to instill a love of learning like you had
said, and everybody's just goingto be more chilled and it's OK.
I love, I love that your top twothings are discipling your kids,
right? The word of God, good books.
And then I know you and I'm going to throw in and getting
(14:04):
them outdoors. Like if you, if that's all you
have, you're 100% good to go. But what's neat is I found that
as I'm teaching my kids the wordof God, and then I'm coupling it
with these good books that we'regoing to talk about choosing
good books, it's almost like that can bring the word of God
to life because our kids aren't going to experience every single
(14:25):
thing. My kids are not going to
experience what it's like to, I don't know, fight in a war.
I pray, well, let's pray that asa child they are not going to
experience what it would be liketo be a child during the Civil
War, something like that. But as they dive into these
books, they can see God's word being applied to circumstances
they wouldn't naturally be in, right?
So, so share a little bit how you see how coupling the Word of
(14:47):
God and great books, it really just opens it up for them,
right? Yeah, it does.
And I think also I'm trying to, I think you had a podcast
episode recently where they're like, you know, when you're
discipling your kids, just use the word of God.
Don't use all these other things.
Just start with the Bible. So yeah.
And the Bible is full of great stories.
It is full of amazing. We were reading Second Kings
(15:10):
about Elisha and, you know, his eyes, you know, the guy's eyes
being open to just this army of angels and Chariots and then him
praying that they would their eyes would be blinded.
And these are incredible stories.
So, yeah, you've got those greatstories.
And then you can read the historical stories more recent
and God's hand that is in, you know, all those circumstances
(15:31):
too. So it does tie it all together.
And it gives you also so many opportunities of it's talking to
your kids. Wow, Did you see that?
Did you see, you know, he had hidden God's Word in his heart
so he could use it here? And, you know, just so many
things like that. Right.
Oh my goodness, so good. OK, we have to take a quick
break though. I didn't realize how how fast
this is going. We're going to just cut to a
(15:52):
quick break from one of our sponsors and then we will be
back to carry on this conversation.
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We are back with Lindsay from Big Sky Life Books.
OK, so we're talking all things books.
I feel like I found my soul sister.
She loves books. She loves the outdoors, she
(17:16):
loves God's word. OK, so we know we we've made it
clear books are really important, right?
It's important to read to our kids, but as important it is to
redo our kids, it is important as to what we read to our kids.
And I was a public school teacher and granted, I, I
stepped away from that, you know, nearly 15, golly more,
more like 20 years ago, which isinsane.
(17:38):
But I'm hearing now from moms. OK, here's an example.
I had a mom, this kid is in the public school and you can't
monitor everything. So they get to go to the school
library and get a book. And her son came home from
school one day and he had a bookabout Penguins.
And it was talking about how thelittle boy Penguin, he was like
(17:59):
hanging out with the little girlPenguins, but they were doing
things that he wasn't interestedin, like painting their nails
and doing their hair. And he was way more interested
in doing what the boy Penguins were doing.
Like, that makes sense, right? Well, So what the story evolves
around is, well, you like boy Penguins.
Obviously you relate to boy Penguins more so therefore, and
you know where I'm going, right,Lindsay?
(18:21):
So the son brought this book home.
Praise God, she saw it, but whatshe said is these kids go to the
library every day and look at books and I don't ever see them
necessarily unless they check them out and bring them home.
And so it's so much more than just about our kids reading.
It really truly is about what they're reading and, and how
(18:41):
that shapes kids and how we needto be intentional.
And that is really the call thatthe Lord has put on your heart
and the message that the Lord has given you and, and honestly,
the the gift that God has given you to help homeschool parents
to be able to choose good, good books.
So can you, can you share why itis so important that we are
intentional in what we give our kids, how it affects our kids,
(19:04):
how it shapes our kids, how reading actually is more than
just words on a page and stories?
Yeah, it's so funny. I hear the quote a lot.
Well, it doesn't matter what they're reading as long as
they're reading. And he's like, Oh my goodness,
there's some real trash out there.
And, and, and what is that Bibleverse about what we become, what
we think, that influence. And I remember my mom always
(19:24):
said, guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus and let us
be transformed, not of this world.
And, and, and that is so true inwhat we're putting in our kids
minds. So, and it our kids books don't
all have to be Christian. They don't have to all have to
have that biblical agenda. But it is important to just
(19:45):
screen those. And it's even with small
children, the bad attitudes, my goodness, the amount of
children's books that introduce those bad attitudes.
And I know my children, if I'm reading them, they're picking up
on that. And then even later on, like you
say, you know, introducing the trans.
Little, little hints at that, you know, insecurities and in
(20:07):
self absorption. Also in children's books, you
know, the world revolves around you.
And, and it's so funny. We've lost a lot of just good
books that our kids can read. And I and I remember being in
Barnes and Noble, Lieutenant governor was standing next to me
and she was looking for a baby gift and she was just looking
for corduroy and couldn't even find corduroy.
(20:30):
It's like, man, there we don't have to write new books.
There are so many good books. We just need to bury these
books. We need to find the corduroy and
that really good classic books. So I love books.
We we sort books also by character trait.
I love that. I love that about your website.
It is so fun. So instead of pummeling our kids
(20:50):
with man, you need to be a man of courage.
You need to be courageous, you need to be humble.
You need to be this and that. If we can just read stories that
demonstrate that, then that's that's sinking in.
That is so true. OK, I love on your website that
you and it's Big Sky lifebooks.com and what I love
about it is it it so you can pick like subjects, history, you
(21:12):
know, science, but you can also choose books by character, which
is really good because we're allraising sinners, right?
Like, darn it, we are raising these so, so our kids are going
to have character issues. But I love how you said that,
that we don't, we don't need to pummel our kids over the head
about, you know, be, be less selfish, be less selfish.
You give a kid a book that inspires them to those character
(21:34):
traits and, and it's incredible.The other section of books, OK,
you said we we don't need to write new books, which we're not
really saying you don't, but there are so many incredible
books. You've done a good job of
finding books that that I didn'trealize were out there.
You have a whole section of like, OK, so one of my favorite
book of all time, if I could pick besides the Bible is the
hiding place, right? But we, I made the mistake.
(21:56):
My older kids were a little bit older.
So we read it as a family and then one day I was reading it
and I'm like, oh, I have a little kid on my lap and I
forgot like this is kind of there's a rough story, right?
It is, it is hard and it is reallife and it's OK.
But you found books on like Quarry 10 Boom for a child to
read because these are incredible stories that we don't
(22:16):
need to wait till they're in high school to read them.
Like these are incredible stories.
Like we said that take God's word and then put put it to feet
in in these other stories where where it all comes together.
And so I, I love that it's, it'sbroken down by character.
What are some of the character traits that you found books that
hit? Oh my category Courage is my
(22:37):
favorite. I love that.
It's so because I also think in this time we want our children
to be courageous like they. We don't know what lies ahead.
We want them to be men and womenof courage.
And so I am. I gravitate towards those books,
perseverance, courage and thingslike that.
And then work ethic is another good one.
(22:59):
That's something that's. Lost.
It's it's lost and we need, we need books on that just to
demonstrate that, you know, great stories, but also ones
were wow, yeah, you worked hard and didn't complain.
Look at that. Right, totally right.
Yeah. And it also makes you feel like
I'm not asking that much of you,right?
Like these are attainable thingsfor a child to have courage, for
(23:20):
a child to be selfless. These are attainable things with
the help of God, right? One book that I'll tell you in
our environment, when a child isthrowing a temper tantrum, the
whole gentle parenting is, you know, to coddle them and, you
know, embrace their feelings and, you know, pull from within.
And we have a book, Count Yourself Calm that encourages
(23:44):
the child to quote scripture andlook to God to have that
self-control. And I love that.
It's like, yes, our kids are going to freak out.
They're going to have, you know,they're not going to get their
way and they're going to throw temper tantrums, but let's give
them the tools that are biblical, the verses and
encourage them to have self-control.
So that's another one that I wasreally excited to find.
(24:04):
That is. So how are you?
OK, that's this is my next question before we have to wrap
up for the week. How are you finding these books?
Oh my goodness. So that's one of my favorite
things to do. You know, like a Sunday
afternoon, our day of rest. I love to scrounge.
And I'm just, you know, if I have a good author, I'm looking.
Well, what else did they write? And then people will also give
me suggestions and and I just diving deep into the Internet.
(24:27):
I think Count Yourself Calm camefrom a friend of a friend and
but just finding there's lots ofbook lists online and so we
don't rely on those, but we'll get ideas from them and then
just kind of go down the rabbit hole and find more.
Right, I love that and I love itbecause we as homeschool moms,
we're busy. I mean, you are too.
You get it. We don't have time to pre read
(24:48):
every book. We don't have the, you know,
time to to sit all this. And so you've kind of done the
leg work for us. And it's, it's one of those
golden things where when I find someone that's put together a
book list that I can trust, thatI can just trust that I can
trust that I can trust. It is so such a blessing.
And I just want to share a little story.
You and I, and we're going to share this a little bit more,
(25:08):
but you and I were putting together a book list.
I, I was hoping you put togethera book list about get to help
inspire kids, get outdoors, which because everybody knows
that's what I love to do. And there was a book on that
list. And this, this just elevated
what you're doing so much in my mind.
But there was a book that I put on that, that list that I love.
I absolutely love the book. It's a great story.
It's about a wonderful person. And you came back to me and
(25:31):
said, Hey, Abby. And I hadn't read it for a
while. I just, it was kind of, you
know, in one of my, in my home library that I loved.
And you said, you know, it talksabout billions of years in
there. And I was like, OK, at first I
was like, what it does? Why do they always have to ruin
the good books? And then I was like, I didn't
remember that. But I also know I read books
with my kids. So we would have addressed it.
But it made me realize, like, you are doing, Lindsay, an
(25:54):
exceptional job. Like, like to me, the fact that
you caught that little thing andthat you were like, you know,
that's just not going to go on our website.
And what else I love that I've seen you do is you have said,
you know, here's a list of really here's you've recommended
some really great books. They're not books that you would
carry because you are really thegatekeeper and you're saying,
(26:14):
you know, this isn't something that I would necessarily carry
because we vet every book doesn't make it not a great
book. It just means that mom and dad
are going to have to hold the hand.
You're going to have to have theconversation.
But to me, it, it, it just really blessed me that your
standard is, is just right in line with God's word.
Really, it's high enough that isyou're not going to put anything
(26:34):
in there that goes against anything the word of God says.
And I just appreciated that so much.
And I know that parents will, when they're building their home
libraries and they're, you know,giving suggestions to
grandparents, they can feel totally and completely safe with
what you've chosen. So I just want to thank you for
that. While we try but I don't catch
everything. Yeah, and we're going to talk
(26:56):
about that. OK, So this is a fun
conversation that is a perfect way to end this.
Lindsay doesn't catch everything.
And we are going to come back next week because she has an
incredible story that if you stick around next week, we're
going to share that actually what the enemy meant for evil,
God used for incredible good in your life life and, and in your
family's life. So I just wanted to ask before
(27:18):
we close out, Lindsay, where canpeople find you?
Well, we're on Big Sky lifebooks.com and we're on
Instagram and Facebook at Big Sky Life Books.
We also have a YouTube channel where I read books.
So if you want to see it read before you purchase it, there's
my I think a couple dozen books on there that you can check out
too. That's so fun.
All right, And you can find me Abby Rinella scrubbing toilets,
(27:41):
making snacks for my kids. But you can also find me on
Instagram, Facebook, call to thetop.com, anywhere.
And we really can't wait for youguys to come back next week as
we carry on the conversation about books and the importance
of books and building your home library.
But also, we're going to dive into entrepreneurship and
homeschool moms running businesses.
And then we're going to get a little bit into the wild and
crazy story of Once Upon a time when Lindsay didn't catch
(28:04):
something. So we cannot wait to see you
guys back here next week. Thanks for being with us.
Bye bye. You're listening to the Biblical
Family Network. Hey, I'm Miki and I'm Will and
we're the Co host of the CultureProof podcast.
We want to invite you to join usevery week as we discuss what's
(28:25):
happening in the world and then filter those happenings through
a decidedly biblical lens. There are many questions,
especially when we see what's happening in our culture today,
but the answers are found withinthe Word of God, so that's where
we want to look. Amen.
When we resist those cultural trends that rival the truth.
We remain culture proof. It is a constant juggle and in
(28:47):
my mind it's like, well, who am I doing this for?
I who cares about a book business if my kids aren't don't
have their mom and I'm not present with them.
So it is that constant, you know, keep my priorities in
check. That's the beauty of home school
is that you aren't shipping yourkids off for someone else to do
your job. So you can do this job and they
come home and have no clue what you're doing, right?
(29:08):
They're involved in it. They're all hands on deck like
this is the building of a familybusiness.
This is what I believe God is called us to do, and they're
getting an incredible education that they wouldn't get otherwise
just by doing this with you.
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