31 Days To Pray For Your Spouse

I'm joining the 31 Days To Pray For Your Spouse Challenge. It starts January 1, 2014.  What a great way to start a new year!  

Anyone interested in joining with me?

Follow these simple steps:

1. You will need the 31 Days To Build A Better Spouse e-book.  You can purchase it here** for only $4.99.
2. Sign up for the challenge here.

**post contains affiliate links

Homeschool Weekly Photo Challenge

One of my goals for 2014 is to take more photos of our homeschool day so I was thrilled to find a linky challenge to help with this goal!

This week's challenge is FAMILY.

Here's a photo of a photo taken 3 years ago - boy have we all changed!!

Here are the kids chilling on Christmas Eve. :)

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

See more photos at The Canadian Homeschool or link up your own.

Christmas Cookie Exchange - via the internet :)

Here is one of our favorite cookies to make at Christmas time.  They are so yummy and make up in a snap.   

I also have this recipe pinned to my "Tried And True Board" on Pinterest.

All you need is 4 simple ingredients:

• devils food cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• package of Andes mints

Enjoy watching my daughter whip these up!

Weekly Wrap Up - Week 15

I am so bad at wrapping up our week!!  I must get better!!  I love having a record/journal of what we have been doing.  

We only have 1 more week left for this semester and then we will be taking our annual Christmas break!  Things have been going along very smoothly.  This week, we had a few minor set backs with some sickness but overall it was another good week.

In my life this week…

The good thing about sickness is we stay home more!  So, Sarah and I had fun crafting some goodies. We made these ornaments for gifts and made a video to share with you on how to make them.  They are very simple.  I found the original idea here.

Sarah also made these ballerina snowflakes.  This was a pinterest project - done!  She absolutely loved doing this.

We spent some time making small glitter bulb ornaments as well.  So, it's been a crafty week!

In our homeschool this week…

We officially finished Week 15!  Woohoo!!  Week 16 next week and then a well needed/wanted break.  :)  We also have our annual Polar Express party coming up this week.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

If you are worried about homeschooling through high school - you can do it!  I listened to a wonderful expo from the Notgrass' and it was so encouraging to me.  I love being able to spend this time with my high schooler.  He is not at all crazy about school work but he does it and it is such a great lesson in life as well.  There are many things that I'm not crazy about either but they still have to be done - ie....laundry and dishes!

I’m cooking…

Christmas goodies!!  Peanut butter balls, Chocolate Mint Cookies, Sausage Balls, Rocky Road, and Chocolate Chip Cookies.  

Oh my - not helping with my goal of weight loss at all.  I was down 3.4 pounds this week but part of that was the bug we had.  So far, I'm down 9.2 - so close to my first goal of 10!!

I’m grateful for…

A wonderful husband who willingly helps with the dishes and laundry - :)

A photo that needs no words…

Linking up with The Homeschool Mother's Journal and Weekly Wrap-Up!.

Review: Online Learning with SchoolhouseTeachers.com

As a member of The Schoolhouse Review Crew, I have been given the opportunity to review SchoolhouseTeachers.com Yearly Membership Option.  If you are not familiar with SchoolhouseTeachers.com, it is a wonderful website with a wealth of resources brought to you by the fabulous The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

At first glance, the site can be overwhelming as to where to even begin but it didn't take too long for me to start navigating my way around.  I have always been a fan of The Old Schoolhouse homeschool planners and that's the first thing I went straight to.  If you have been reading here long, you know I have a love of planners!! Well, all 5 planners are included for free with your paid SchoolhouseTeachers.com membership. That's a $125.95 value alone.

My second stop was straight the Site Content page where I assumed I could get a better overview of what was available and I was right!  Here you will find all the lessons available for every subject, and I mean every subject from fine arts to the 3 R's!  You'll see it doesn't stop there. There are also resources for parents such as menu planning, articles on various topics, back issues of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, checklists for lesson planning, transcript resources, archived lessons, and much more.  The extras are absolutely wonderful!  To me, they are worth the cost of the yearly membership alone- no kidding!  Some of the extras included are access to discounts and free resources from other homeschool vendors, free monthly e-books, and free expo recordings.  I listened to an expo recording from Ray and Charlene Notgrass from May on "Homeschooling The High Schooler - You Can Do It!"  It was such an encouragement to me "as such a time as this" since I have a high schooler and another one headed that way in a few years!  It wasn't just fluff either.  It was almost 3 hours long and full of encouragement, tips, goals, step by step instructions, and inspiration to keep me pressing toward my goal.

Enjoying the expo :)

For now, we are focusing mainly on the daily tasks which could not have come at a more appropriate time. For us, it's hard to do our normal routine during the holiday season since we are going here and there for extra holiday activities.  So, the daily tasks are simple and fast but still allow a review and training the brain time!  Included are daily grammar, math, copy work and so much more.  See below for a screen shot of the dailies included in your yearly membership.

Subscription Information
You can try your first month for $3.  After that, the monthly subscription is $12.95.  You can save 10% by paying annually for $139.  That subscription amount is not per child but per family so if you have more than one child, the deal gets even better!  With so many courses available, you can use your SchoolhouseTeachers.com yearly membership as your core curriculum for your entire family from preschooler to high schooler.  Everything you need is right there in one place.  You can also just pick and choose what you wish which is how I like to choose our curriculum.   During the month of December, when you purchase your yearly membership option, you will have the opportunity to gift a free subscription to someone else and get the gold membership of Applecore System for free (the silver membership is included already with your yearly membership).  That deal is only for December so you will have to act quickly if you want that.  Click here to subscribe today!

Our Thoughts
I've already alluded to this earlier, but we are very excited to dive further into SchoolhouseTeachers.com and see what we can learn.  Two options we are looking forward to next is the Home Economics course and the Photography Course.  We are so excited to give those a try in the new year.  For less than $5 per month for each of my children to explore new courses, we would recommend SchoolhouseTeachers.com Yearly Membership Option as a wonderful resource for any homeschooling family and think this one is well worth the cost!

Simple and Easy Christmas Ornament

My daughter and I sat down and made these in no time.  They are very simple to make.

Enjoy!



Video

More Than "Mere" Education Giveaway - several prize opportunities!

I am so excited that we are reviewing the Mere Christianity Critical Analysis Journal. I've been wanting to ready Mere Christianity for a while with my 10th grader and this is such a great way to connect further with one another as we read. You too have the opportunity to win your own copy plus lots of other goodies in the More Than "Mere" Education Giveaway!

The Home School Adventure Co. Launch Team is excited to help celebrate the release of the Mere Christianity Critical Analysis Journal with a special giveaway filled with books that will compliment your classical studies, as well as a couple of special surprises.  

The best news is that there will be two winners, each receiving a very valuable prize package!  

We would like to thank the following friends for their generous sponsorship of this giveaway! Be sure to stop by their websites to say thank you!

Institute for Excellence in Writing
Nancy Pearcey
Trivium Pursuit
Bright Ideas Press
Raising Real Men

Here are the prize packages you could win! 

Prize Package #1

Our first prize package contains all of the print resources from Home School Adventure Co., as well as wonderful books, curriculum, and even a marriage retreat. This prize package, sponsored by the Institute for Excellence in Writing, Nancy Pearcey, and Trivium Pursuit, has a value of $500!

Mere Christianity Critical Analysis Journal $28.95
Philosophy Adventure - Pre-Socratics Complete Set $89.95
Philippians in 28 Weeks ESV $28.95
The Wise Woman with Literaray Analysis Journal Questions $28.95

IEW Teaching Writing/Student Writing Value Pack (Winner's Choice of Levels A, B, or C) $249

The Soul of Science $11.99
Total Truth $25.00
Saving Leonardo $26.99

Teaching the Trivium Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style $20.40
The Fallacy Detective $22
The Thinking Toolbox $22

Prize Package #2

Our second prize package is filled with all of the resources offered at Home School Adventure Co. in their downloadable editions, as well as a set of all 3 volumes of The Mystery of History by Linda Hobar. This prize package, sponsored by Bright Ideas Press and Raising Real Men, has a value of $300! 

Mere Christianity Critical Analysis Journal Download $18.95
Philosophy Adventure - Pre-Socratics Digital Download $39.95
Philippians in 28 Weeks ESV Download $14.95
The Wise Woman with Literary Analysis Journal Questions Download $14.95

The Mystery of History, Volume I $49.95
The Mystery of History Volume II $49.95
The Mystery of History Volume III $59.95

My Beloved and My Friend book and Marriage Retreat Online $45
Pollyanna Audio Book Download $18

To enter, use the Rafflecopter below. Residents of the U.S., age 18 and older please.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

December Meal Plan and Grocery Hauls

Here is my list of December Meals.  Our family monthly budget is $500 (just raised this last month to allow a little more freedom in our groceries for hungry teenagers).  I don't elaborately plan but like to have an idea of what is on hand and what is needed.  Not planning as many meals this month since we have Christmas gatherings and parties to attend.  However, any food items taken to those events will come out of this budget as well.

ham x 2
pasta x 4
taco soup
creamy chicken chili
chicken pastry
tuna casserole
cheesy chicken & broccoli over rice
sloppy joes
breakfast
pork chops x 2
salisbury steak
taco ring

I'll add in the videos as I make them.  Here is our monthly Costco visit video.

 


See how we did in November.

Totally gave up on budget and videos for December but we were over by around $100!!  YIKES!

Black Friday Giveaway!

Here is an awesome Black Friday Giveaway and you don't even have to leave your chair!  Enter until December 6th.


The Home School Adventure Co. Launch Team is excited to help our friends at Homeschool Giveaways and Freebies celebrate Black Friday with this giveaway of more than $1,900 in prizes. Included in the giveaway are three products from Home School Adventure Co. -- Philosophy Adventure, Philippians in 28 Weeks, and The Wise Woman with Literary Analysis Journal Questions.

Home School Adventure Co. $217.70 Value! (all physical & digital)

Philosophy Adventure™ is designed to help students 6th-12th grade cultivate and defend a biblical worldview by teaching them how to write skillfully, think critically, and speak articulately as they explore the history of ideas.

Philippians in 28 Weeks™ - It is easier to share the Word of God when it is etched upon your heart. Philippians in 28 Weeks™ is a delightful and painless way to commit the entire book of Philippians to memory. This streamlined approach uses memory cards carefully constructed to present Philippians thought-by-thought, copywork verses, journal questions, weekly reflections, recitation charts to test your retention, and an optional tracking tool called “The Log.”

The Wise Woman with Literary Analysis Journal Questions - The Wise Woman enchants readers while it contrasts the ugliness of pride, selfishness and conceit with the beauty of humility, sacrifice, and compassion. By offering students 16 to 24 literary analysis questions per chapter, this 160-page spiral bound edition teaches critical thinking in a way that is engaging and transformational.

Sponsors of the giveaway include:

Media Angels

Institute for Excellence in Writing

Notgrass Company

Roman Roads Media

Bright Ideas Press

Home School Adventure Co

Master Books

Character Concepts

Family Time Fitness

Hearts at Home Curriculum Store

Click on the banner above to read more about the other incredible prizes and to enter the giveaway.

2014 Budget Calendars are ready! Download for FREE!

I have completed the budget calendars for 2014.  They are the exact same as last year - simple and easy on the ink.  :)  They worked out perfectly for our family for 2013.



If you would like to download them for your family free of charge, go here.  If you find any errors, please let me know! Thanks!

Join me on facebook!

Since I'm trying to create more videos on my Youtube channel and to start checking in here more, I have created a new facebook account to keep up with them all.  

I would love for you to join me there as well as I hope to let that be the in between journal for all.  

Currently on my Youtube channel, I am sharing about our homeschool, our grocery budget and hauls, and weekly weigh-ins.  

Coming up very soon here will be more review items so stay tuned!

Monthly Menu Planning & Budget

For the last half of this year, I have been monthly menu planning. When Groupon had their Costco deal earlier in the year, we signed up.  Our Costco is about an hour away so I knew to make it work, I would need to try monthly menu planning.  Well, it has really worked out great for us!  For June - October, we set our grocery budget to $400 and did well staying within that range going over occasionally.  In November, we raised the budget amount to $500 because we have been focusing on eating at home more and eating out less.  So, that budget includes 3 meals a day for the kids and I and at least 2 meals a day for my husband.  He also eats 3 meals a day for at least 4 days a week.

At first, I kept our menus very simple. Pretty much, we had the same thing every week for the 4 weeks.  I've started to branch out a little the past few months and I'm trying to try out all those pinterest recipe pins.  :)

Here is our menu plan for November - I do not assign a meal to a particular meal unless I know for sure that's what I need to do.  I just write out a list of meals in my monthly calendar and then sit down weekly to finalize the menu plan. 

Spaghetti x 4
ham x 2
tacos x 2
taco soup x 2
chicken and rice
rotisserie chicken
chicken pastry
loaded potato and chicken casserole
creamy chicken chili
meatloaf
cowboy casserole
veggie beef soup x 3
beefaroni
buffalo chicken
taco ring
cheesy chicken and broccoli over rice
salisbury steak

This is not a list of 30 meals because I knew Thanksgiving was in this month and I host it but we all pitch in with the food.  I also leave room for leftovers.  You can also see that I don't really make a plan for breakfast, lunch, or side items usually.  There are a list of staple items that I always have on hand for those keeping our menu plan even simpler. 

Weekly Grocery Haul Videos.

Missing Weekly Updates - Catching Up!

I've been so slack in updating here!!  Yikes, the weeks just keep going and going and I forget to update and say I'll wait until next week and then full circle again!

So, here we are just wrapping up Week 10 and about to head into Holiday mode!  So without further ado - let's jump back in!  


In my life this week…

Well of course the big thing that sticks out is Halloween! We had fun putting together a costume for Sarah and the boys went digging for their costumes as well. The boys just had a social with friends and Sarah attended our church's trunk or treat.

In our homeschool this week…

Plugging along on Week 9 of MFW-RTR, Week 10 of MFW-WHL, Week 7 of CC and week 10 of school!  Phew, so thankful for Lesson Plans to keep up!

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

High School Service Projects for Teens

• help out at church - my children have filled the pews with new envelopes and sharpened pencils, cut grass for the elderly, helped out with VBS and other younger youth events
• Help in the community - our local theatre was in need of ushers during their school performance - homeschoolers fill that need!
• cutting grass or yard work for elderly neighbors
• We have a teen club in our support group who does projects such as cleaning the local pregnancy center, small repairs, sorting donations for a local shelter, filling backpacks for local schools

I’m cooking…

I didn't cook this meal this week but it was so good!  You can check out my video here for all the details.

I'm hoping to add a new recipe a week to our repertoire and share it here too!

I’m grateful for…

Fall and the beautiful fall foilage!

A photo that needs no words…

Linking up with The Homeschool Mother's Journal and Weekly Wrap-Up!.

Field Trip - Family Camping Trip

Fun and education can coincide!

Video

Weekly Wrap - Week 5

The weeks are flying by!  Here's a sneak peak of some of our week last week.

Video

Women Living Well - Pre-Order - You don't want to miss this!

I'm only on chapter 3 so far but I can already tell you that this is one book that you are going to want to add to your shelf if you are interested in....Walking with The King in all areas of your life.  So far, I've seen great and realistic advice on marriage, parenting, and homemaking.  

  

Courtney is offering her readers a chance to pre-order this new book before it comes out on October 1st and if you do you will also get a 10 ebook download as well from some other great authors.  To find out more and pre-order yours today go here!