Put the Pause on Summer

althea

It’s the last week. The last week before we start to hear of ‘back to school’ advertising. You know it all starts next week with Independence Day. Right when we’re just getting settled into a summer routine. A couple more weeks we’ll even see fall fashions in the stores. So this girl is determined. Pause [...]

Child Training Bible Review

Child Training Bible tabs

The Bible is the tool for life. The resource for parenting. The Child Training Bible (CTB) makes it easy to use as just that. I received the Child Training Bible to review right before we went on our family vacation. What a great vacation project it was! Each time I got out the rainbow of [...]

Simple, Frugal Ways to Celebrate an Anniversary

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This past weekend Hodgepodgedad and I celebrated 17 years of marriage! It was a simple celebration spanning a few days. Because celebrating need not be elaborate and doesn’t have to break the bank. Picnic at the Park. Friday night we went through the Chick-fil-a and the Starbucks drive-thrus. We took our picnic of chicken cool [...]

Golden Days of Parenthood

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Don’t miss the links to parenting resources at the end… Oct 2010 I hear his little feet coming around the corner. It’s busy, in-the-thick-of-it Sunday morning. I’m putting the ingredients in the crock pot for our lunch. His Daddy has dressed him. He’s ready to go. So he runs, pounding little shoes and slams full [...]

Forward and Back

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I’m pushing him in the swing. And with each push I say, “forward!” Then, quickly, as he comes back toward me I say, “back.” He’s learning, just like brother and sisters before him, how to pump his legs and swing on his own. Forward and back. Forward and back. Forward…and…back. And it comes to me [...]

I Honestly Don’t Know How You Do It

I Honestly Don't Know How You Do It - Teaching Multiple Ages

Have you heard that statement? “I don’t know how you do it.” Or the question – “how do you teach so many different ages?” Well, we’ve covered that in many ways in this series. But, today’s topic is for you, the homeschool parent. It seems that statement or question always hits me on one of [...]

Good Friday Garden and Choosing a Tree

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Both my grandfathers planted their gardens on Good Friday. We’ve adopted this tradition as well. And while it’s a good practice to wait until Good Friday because all danger of frost has past, we’ve discovered another significance. We talk about Easter. We pour that fresh soil into a flower bed. And a little finger makes [...]

Fun for Easter Week

cross with pastels

A guilt-free, clean-slate stay-cation celebratory Easter week ahead! We’ll enjoy some Easter traditions and add in a few other activities from this list: All of our favorite Easter resources: resurrection rolls, box of repentances and more Make a cross with chalk pastels (this tutorial is for oil pastels but it also works wonderfully with chalk) [...]

The Passing of Two Pots

red crockpot

This post, from December 2009 has new meaning. New meaning because yet another slow cooker has passed. It became a cracked pot. Slow cooked meals for two years in the fancy pot with the timer. This is a big deal because I depend on that slow cooker many times a week. Plus there’s the twice [...]

Same Life, New Story

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Life is God’s novel; let Him write it. ~ Isaac Singer Perhaps it’s time for a new story.

The Habit of Hymns

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I have an old hymnal – one passed down. I’m not sure how it came to be on my end table. But I’m sure glad it is there. I’ve always loved the old hymns. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul, When at the cross the Savior made me whole… Like many, I was [...]

How to Make Memories this Spring

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It seems to me that we are always talking about making memories with our children during the summer. Or over the Christmas holidays. But memory-making lasts year ’round. Spring can be the time to burst outside and enjoy. To build a new tradition. Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks [...]