Author: Anna Sofia & Elizabeth Botkin

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Two New Messages by Victoria Botkin
by Anna Sofia & Elizabeth Botkin

In honor of the beginning new school year and in conjunction with their Back-to-School Sale, Western Conservatory is releasing two practical new messages on home education by Victoria Botkin (one of them free!)

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How to Teach Your Children to Love Learning: Home Education Made Simple, Stress-Free and Successful by Victoria Botkin

Until your children learn to love learning, homeschooling will be a battle and a chore.

Wrangling unmotivated children will wear you out. School will be the first thing to drop on days when you just can’t stay on top of everything. That nagging fear will creep in: You’re just not teaching them everything they need to know. And you may find yourself being crabby teacher lady more often than fun, lovable mommy.

When children love to learn, they drive themselves as fast you can steer them and fill their own educational gaps faster than you can find them. Their educations march on even during busy days, stressful days, hard days, tired days. But can we turn our children into those children?

Make Homeschooling the Most Fun You and Your Children Ever Had!

With warm motherly wisdom and the experience of over 30 years homeschooling seven children, Victoria Botkin explains how you can give your child that unquenchable thirst for knowledge and motivation to learn. With practical tips on creating a home that will do a lot of the homeschooling for you, getting your children more interested in studying than being entertained, making “free time” educational, helping them take ownership of their own educations, rising above the limitations of your own education, and more, Victoria will soon become the teaching mentor you’ve been waiting for.

If you’re more interested in real, lasting investments in your child’s mind, heart, and character than in expensive programs and gimmicky formulas; if you want to make home education happen without, you know, having to make it happen; if you want learning to be the most fun you and your children have ever had together… listen to this message!

“Victoria, you truly are a sort of spiritual mother to me. The type of motherly wisdom I have longed for and that I desire to be to my own children. As I go about my day, home educating (none of our children have ever been in public school), I often hear your voice in my mind when teaching my darlings or in other daily activities. Thank you for your example. Thank you for giving young mothers and wives a different option to understand in a deeper depth a way of living other than our current culture. A million times, thank you!” T.D.

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My Top Teaching Tips (From 30 Years of Homeschooling) by Victoria Botkin

Whether you’re a new homeschooler, or the mom who’s been at this a while and just needs to push the “refresh” button…

Whether you’re feeling bogged down and wanting to start over, or you’ve already got a good system in place and could just use some time-tested tips and advice… this message provides wisdom that could be making a difference in your home by lunchtime.

Victoria Botkin’s “Top Teaching Tips” is both a refreshing step back to refocus on what really matters, and a vault of valuable tips gathered from over 30 years of learning what does and doesn’t work with real children. Victoria’s sane, simple, stress-free, and successful approach to producing well-educated children will give you a sigh of relief, and her warm, transparent, grace-filled spirit will refresh your soul.

Answers to Your Biggest Homeschooling Questions

Learn to conquer the homeschool-mom-bugaboos like teaching writing, getting your children interested in reading, seizing the teachable moment, using the internet, finding good books, using books by non-Christians, helping our sons transition into manhood when they’re with mommy all day, teaching our children to be life-long learners, and much more! Whether your children are toddlers or teens, you will come away from this talk reassured, re-oriented, and refocused (and your husband and children will be blessed by your increased peace and confidence!)

“We would like to thank you for your cd on curriculum advice. I say ‘we’ because my husband enjoys the new, relaxed me! It has allowed me to breathe and relax in our homeschooling journey. Well, I have only had your CDs for a couple months but listen to them ALL the time, along with the virtuous woman series, which my sister-in-law and i just LOVE. I always come away from them peaceful and happy to be a helpmeet and mommy!” E.

Botkin Projects
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Engaged: Isaac Botkin and Heidi Roach!
by Anna Sofia & Elizabeth Botkin

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One of our favorite things about having so many brothers… is all the wonderful new sisters we keep getting! As of last week, another of our dearest friends is about to become family: Our brother Isaac just became engaged to Heidi Roach. Heidi has been a real inspiration to us over the years as an example of how a woman can be uncommonly strong, capable, sensible — one of those women who can cook for a hundred or organize a 4000-person event without breaking a sweat and then run help deliver a baby or two in the middle of the night — while also being uncommonly humble, meek, tenderhearted, funny, selfless, genuine, and sacrificial. “A virtuous woman,” says Proverbs 12:4, “is a crown to her husband,” and God has given Isaac a virtuous woman and crown indeed.

We’re so happy for you, Isaac and Heidi, and can’t wait to see what amazing things God has in store for you two!

Botkin Life
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Announcing the Reclaiming Beauty Study Course
by Anna Sofia & Elizabeth Botkin

We’re delighted to announce the release of the Reclaiming Beauty Study Course! The response to our Reclaiming Beauty webinar was so tremendous that we’ve repackaged the recordings into a digital study course, which includes nine hours of video recordings (audio with image-rich power-point, plus Q&A) and a brand spanking new study guide, ideal for women’s study groups.

To be honest, we’re grateful the webinar is over. It was a fascinating glutton of time and energies that we’re now very happy to be able to devote to other things, like gearing up for future family projects and studying things that are not beauty-related. And taking a minute to organize our messy closet, like we told all our listeners to do theirs.

That said, we gained a huge amount from the experience of preparing and hosting this webinar. And most importantly to us, the webinar seems to be doing what we prayed it would: helping young women sort through the important, frustrating, confusing subject of personal image.

During the webinar, listeners signed up from all over the world, some getting up in the middle of the night to tune in. The flood of notes we received after each session, and are continuing to get, made the whole thing worth every moment of effort. Here are just a few, out of hundreds.

Finally, the help I need…thank you! — C

The webinar helped me to truly “reclaim” beauty. I felt inspired with every session! — J

There were so many times where we would say, “Wow! I’ve never thought of it that way before.” Our lives are changed (or should I say, changing) for the better – practically, physically, and most importantly, spiritually. — V

I loved how you brought everything back to Christ and the truth of His Word. — B

 

 
It is amazing how one topic can do so much to change a person’s life. … Before listening to this seminar, I would have such terrible anxiety about what I was going to wear and who I was, that it was affecting my health. I have been battling with Anorexia for 7 years and I can’t thank God enough for your obedience to Him and sharing the discoveries you have made in His word. …I no longer feel like I have no purpose, the suicidal grip Satan had on me has ceased, and my relationship with my family is beginning to blossom with healing. — S

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this! It is so refreshing to hear a well-balanced view on this subject- a view that is based upon the Word of God and a love for the Lord Jesus. — A

…listening to you both was very helpful, encouraging, exciting, fun, freeing, enlightening, insightful, thought-provoking, action-provoking… It produced growth in all of us and it was a huge blessing! — V

After each session, we were amazed by the number of questions we hadn’t considered and the answers so graciously and persuasively presented from Scripture. …Your presentation was carefully researched, fiercely loyal to Scripture and yet gently and winsomely communicated, practical to everyday use and eminently vital for the cultural transformation of the world. — K, E, and A
 

“I encourage you to check it out because I have experienced myself what these ladies live and breath, what beauty shines forth from them.” (R.C. Sproul, Jr.)

“My daughters and I have heard the Botkin girls many times and we are always improved in our thinking as a result. I commend this experience to all those who would like to grow in their understanding of this important subject.” (Scott Brown)

Beauty and FashionBotkin ProjectsEducation
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Why So Complicated?
by Anna Sofia & Elizabeth Botkin

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Boy-girl relationships are hard. They’re hard because they’re made of people, not mathematic equations, formulas, or quantifiable factors like numbers. When talking about relationships, we’re dealing with fluctuating factors like motives, irrational feelings, and a nature that was made by God to be one way and twisted by sin to be another. Numbers are easy because they are predictable, but the heart, as Jeremiah 17:9 says, “is deceitful above all things… who can understand it?” And if one person wasn’t complicated enough, just add another person, multiply their sin natures, and we’ve got an equation too hard to solve in our own strength. When we do try to boil these relationships down to simple rules and formulas, they can come out looking something like the diagrams below. Because when it comes to each of these quandaries of the heart… it’s just (not that) simple.

Here are some drawings that didn’t make it onto the cover of It’s (Not That) Complicated, but we wanted to share with you anyway:

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Girl-Guy Relationships
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It’s (Not That) Complicated: It’s Here!
by Anna Sofia & Elizabeth Botkin

How do young men and young women interact with one another when marriage is not in view? Can young men and young women be ‘friends’? And how does a young woman guard her heart, preserve her purity, and walk in integrity without treating young men with disdain? In It’s (Not That) Complicated, Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin address these and other questions with wisdom, grace, transparency, and biblical acuity.

— Dr. Voddie Baucham Jr.

We’re excited to announce that It’s (Not That) Complicated is now available! For more information and to order a copy, visit NotComplicatedBook.com, and don’t forget to check back in the coming weeks for excerpts and special features.

Girl-Guy Relationships
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Our Egyptian Adventure
by Anna Sofia & Elizabeth Botkin

Many of you may be waiting to hear an update on our newest book project… and you will… soon. But first we want to tell you about an adventurous endeavor that we undertook with our brother Isaac, and are now ready to unveil.

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Navigating History: Egypt — more information here

Several months ago, Isaac (with Dad’s blessing and encouragement) conceived and developed a vision for a six-episode series about Egypt that would take viewers from the top of the mountains surrounding the Valley of the Kings into the tombs under the pyramids. His goal was to take a team with cameras to explore the darkest and most secret parts of Egypt’s history and illuminate them with the light of Scripture.

But Isaac wasn’t about to have all the fun without us. He brought us on board at the beginning to help make his vision a reality. Though we didn’t get to be on the trip this time, this was our part of the adventure: We got to help man Mission Control and the snazzy project website while he and his team were on the ground in Egypt.

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Anna Sofia and the not-yet-Nadia-Botkin editing B-roll images

No, we didn’t get to have the boots-on-the-ground experience of actually being there and seeing and touching Egypt. But we were enjoying plenty of action on the home-front with our family; doing things we had never done before and had no idea how to do. For example, we had to learn Photoshop and basic HTML, and had to write briefings for the team on subjects like Islamic architecture and ancient Egyptian medicine.

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Elizabeth and Nawelle hashing out website details

All of us had to work around the clock, marketing, managing the live broadcasts, writing articles and designing headers. And then, when he got home, the real work began – writing content for the 220-page companion book, on everything from biblical chronology to French mysticism to Shariah law to pagan death rituals to evolutionary history-revision to pyramid-building-theories (in which we discovered that aliens didn’t do it).

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Anna Sofia does hands-on research on Egyptian heiroglyphs

We didn’t do this because we believed we had a biblical duty to submit to Isaac, or to be his junior helpmeets. We also didn’t do it because we particularly (initially) cared about proving that aliens didn’t build the pyramids. We did this because we particularly cared about Isaac. Isaac was about to take a big step, a bold risk, a fearless stand, and we didn’t want to miss that for the world! If Isaac was going to stand inside a mosque and call Muhammed a false prophet, and denounce Statism in front of the giant pillars at Karnak, we, for one, wanted to be on his home team. It was our way of saying to him, “We think what you’re doing is important – we think it’s important enough to put our money where our mouths are.” And we did it because our time of being with Isaac, and available to help him, won’t last forever.

Saying Goodbye
Sending the Navigating History team off to Egypt with prayer.

It was an experience we wouldn’t have traded for anything. We discovered a whole new world of ideas and broadened our intellectual horizons. We learned that sisterly duties don’t have to be limited to domestic things, far removed from what the boys are doing. We discovered how much fun it is to be part of a man’s world, even if it means taking the plunge into finding world politics as fascinating as they do.

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Multi-tasking: Elizabeth compares notes with Isaac on Islam’s view of women over dinner prep.

Most importantly, though, we became much closer to Isaac; and we helped him accomplish his dream, making big strides as a dominion man and disciplemaker.

(And we ended up having enough time left over to still be able to write our upcoming book about relationships with boys. But more news on that soon. Stay tuned!)

Botkin ProjectsWomanhood
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We’re Writing Another Book
by Anna Sofia & Elizabeth Botkin

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It’s been over five years since we released So Much More, and since then, we’ve seen much, heard much, done much, and learned much. And we’ve decided it’s time to write another book. The topic, this time, is relationships with boys. What we need now is for you, dear readers, to give us your feedback! What information would you most like to see in a book on this topic? What questions would you most like answered?

What do you think are the biggest issues girls deal with regarding young men?

Their biggest questions about proper guy-girl interaction?

Their biggest fears regarding relationships, marriage, and singleness?

Things they’ve always wanted to know about the young man’s perspective?

The most complicated relationship situations they face?

What lessons have you learned that you would most like other girls to hear about?

Please send your feedback on any or all of these questions to us at damselsATvisionarydaughtersDOTcom.

We’re eager to hear from you soon! This is an exciting project, and your help with it will be invaluable.

Botkin ProjectsGirl-Guy Relationships
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Our Favorite Married Couples Speak On Marrying Well
by Anna Sofia & Elizabeth Botkin

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Over the past year and a half we have had the privilege of watching two of our brothers humbly and prayerfully consider the decision to marry their future brides. Their examples have taught us a lot about discerning the Lord’s will and studying Scripture for answers to the many questions that surface along the way. We’re excited to announce that our father, Geoffrey Botkin, and our dear mother Victoria will be joining David & Nadia and Ben & Audri for a five-week webinar discussing marriage–and the challenges and joys of getting there. Find out more at westernconservatory.com!

Botkin ProjectsGirl-Guy Relationships