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Category: motherhood

Restaurant Salsa for Under 1 Dollar in Under 1 Minute!

  No, I’m not kidding. I thought about naming this post “How to Get Your Very Picky Teenage Son to Eat Vegetables,” because that’s how it came about. For a child who has had a life-long aversion to vegetables and all things good-for-you, he somehow loves restaurant salsa and store-bought salsa in the jar.  In his mind there is no connection to vegetables here. However, if I buy tomatoes and chop them up to make fresh salsa, which is amazing, nope. He won’t eat it. Go figure. So…

The Santa Question

I remember where I was when I was first confronted with the truth.  I’ll bet you do, too. A cousin of mine (who was much older and wiser, six months older than I was) informed me as we stood in my grandparents’ house after Sunday dinner that, of course she “didn’t believe in Santa Claus anymore…there’s no way he could get to all those houses in one night.” I stood there, stunned.  She had a point there. It’s a funny story now, but at the time, I…

Gratitude Garland

Even though Thanksgiving has come and gone, and the bursts of autumn color are winding down, I wanted to share one last little bit of the season, because **it’s my favorite.** 🙂 And also because I did something new with the kids this year that I love.  I really wanted to foster an attitude of gratitude with them, so I made them think a little bit. Y’all.  This is one of my favorite things I’ve ever done.  It’s not the perfectly printed or stenciled banner that I may or may not have had…

Enjoy the Ride!

Homeschooling is… having to stop and think about what grade you’re in, because… it really. doesn’t. matter. Are you shocked? Homeschooling is having to stop and think about what grade your children are in, even though you are their mommy AND their teacher. Are you appalled? I might’ve been too, once. But that was before 15 years of homeschooling. Actually, home educating sounds so much better, doesn’t it?  Use that one when talking to the most critical critics. 😉 My children get asked this all the time.  Sometimes they answer right…

Best Teaching Tool Ever!

Last week, as I was using this little thingy for the bazillionth time, I realized I love it just as much now as I did the first time I ever used it with a student- 20 years ago!- and I thought maybe I should share this little goodie with you. If you have ever tried to teach a child to tell time, you know that it can be a LITtle frustrating (for them, of course.)  There’s a short hand, long hand, the three is also a fifteen, the six means thirty, and then there’s the problem…

How Summer Days are Meant to be Spent

This summer, we’ve had fun speeding down waterslides, eating watermelon (an absolute summer requirement around here), going to the park, watching fireworks on the 4th, playing volleyball (they play; I watch), gardening (mostly, we grow weeds), and working on projects (fun for me, anyway!) Active things.  Fun things. But today I looked outside, and saw this… Maitland & Wyland (brothers) and Bekah & Joe (siblings) and I thought…THAT is how summer days are meant to be spent.  At least some of them.  Green grass, warm sun, a breeze, and leisure.  Permission to be lazy.  To…

And the winner is…

  Lara Leger! Congratulations to Lara, who won the Giveaway for this book.  🙂 I wish everybody could have won, because I want everyone to have it. If you are still interested in owning this book, I have listed some links where you can find it: http://www.themysteryofhistory.info/volumeI.shtml and http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntt=mystery+of+history+volume+1&N=0&Ntk=keywords&action=Search&Ne=0&event=ESRCQ&nav_search=1&cms=1 Also, there are companion products, as well as volumes II and III (and soon…

A Way of Life

Sometimes I think about all the scriptures I want the children to learn, and I think, there’s no way.  They should’ve learned so much more by now.  There are so many more they need to memorize. I notice they don’t recite their multiplication facts quite as snappily as I’d like.  And I worry a little. I think about the list of US presidents I want them to know, and while we’re at it, the vp’s to boot.  And I hear the clock ticking. I flip through my favorite…

Connections… and a Giveaway!

Homeschooling is…       making connections. and I love when that happens. when our history lesson   becomes our story time   becomes our writing lesson   becomes our art    becomes our science lesson   becomes our math activity   becomes a project   becomes a character lesson   becomes a gift to someone   becomes a field trip   becomes family time…becomes life. and after all…isn’t that what learning is all about? In honor of connections  I want…

Kid-sized Priced-right Great-tasting GF Pizzas

Cute little pizza Yes, we do eat things that have nothing to do with pizza around here.  It’s just that pizza is such a kid-friendly, good-tasting comfort food, and GF people often have to pass it up or pay more for it.  Not this time!  These handy dandy little pizzas are just what the mama ordered.  Kid-friendly, good-tasting, comfort-giving, gluten-free aaand cheap and easy little pizzas.  With not even a bite of crust left over. I asked some of my favorite taste-testers how they liked them, and 4 out of 4…