Summer Camp at Home Update

IMG_2676

Morning devotions, praise and worship songs, crafts, nature, art, snacks, sleeping bags, s’mores and more! Sound like summer camp to you? With a little bit of planning, you can host your very own summer family camp. Frugal and fun! It’s time to share our annual habit of Summer Camp at Home. In the past we [...]

I Was Born to Do Tricks

IMG_2615

I was born to do tricks. She said it at 8:50 Friday night, when it was past tucking in time. “Look, I should be in the Olympics!” When I wanted her to quiet down. She was stretching her legs long, touching the top of the bunk. I started to sigh. But her words hit me. [...]

Homeschool Post A B See Photo Meme Prize!

IMG_1477

Look what came in the mail! See, for the last several months I’ve been journeying through the alphabet with the Homeschool Post’s A B See Meme. It’s been so much fun that I was sad when I reached Z. But I brightened when I realized that Hodgepodge children can participate! Pictured is the prize I [...]

Helpful Habit: Getting Away

IMG_2599

These last weeks I’ve shared the basic habits that bless our homeschool. One of the habits that is most important, especially for Mama, is getting away. Now, you don’t necessarily have to spend big bucks on a get away. You can plan an at-home retreat. Or Just Step Outside. Wow, what 15 minutes of alone [...]

Homemade Cookie Cake

IMG_7473

I used to do this by opening a tube of store-bought cookie dough and squishing it flat in the shape of a circle. Baking it for 20 minutes then decorating. You can still do it that way. Now, because it tastes so much better and because of the allergies of our youngest two, I do [...]

Pay It Forward

IMG_1487

I was the happy recipient of a lovely Pay It Forward package from Phyllis and her family at All Things Beautiful. I have to tell you that I’ve always heard of friendships forged over the internet. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Phyllis in the Charlotte Mason and Outdoor Hour Challenge communities we [...]

Watermelon: A Pastels Tutorial

IMG_2543

Eight-year-old’s watermelon slice. What says summer better than a luscious watermelon? A quick, simple pastel tutorial from Nana. A wonderful start to the summer. First you start with a green rind which looks like a smile. Skip up about an inch – this leaves space to show the white part of the rind. Draw a [...]

Baby Steps to Frugal Living

IMG_6724

Creak. Creak. Stick. Stick. That’s the sound my sandals made as I walked across the kitchen floor. It was yucky. I couldn’t avoid it any more. Time to get the mop out. When I reached under the kitchen sink, I found no floor cleaner. {Sigh.} But I spied the baking soda on the counter. There [...]

Seed Tapes

IMG_2459

Frugal fun by Nana! My middle granddaughter and I just made some spring-time seed tapes like the ones in pricey seed catalogs.  We decided that $14.00 was much too much to pay for this convenience, so we made our own!  We used plain toilet paper!  I made some tapes with bath tissue last year, and [...]

Beautiful Birds

IMG_1455

Eldest Boy, a.k.a. My Backyard, has a passion for bird watching, is our resident bird feeder filler and is sharing our May bird study today. He wrote this up last week during our study… For our bird study, we picked the most interesting birds we’ve seen in our backyard lately. Brown Thrasher – The brown [...]

You Must Do This

DSCN3435

From the archives because this is the week Eldest Son goes on his twelve year old trip. Make the plans, slowly set aside the money, move forward praying through the obstacles… Soak up the reward, laugh and laugh, enjoy the freedom to focus your time, twirl and play, relax and be honest, channel the investment [...]

The Habit of Moral Living IV – Willful Ignorance

john_adams_1798_gilbert_stuart

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. –John Adams, October 11, 1798 What happens to people who reject God?  For He is the very moral underpinning of a civil society.  Without Him, the republic cannot subsist any length of time. First [...]