Purex - Bright Washes Bright Wishes

Laundry is fun!  Wait, don't leave!!  Ok, so maybe it's not fun to all.  It's really not fun to me either.  It's mundane and never ending but there is the blessing of actually having laundry to do!  So, perspective can be a great thing!

To make laundry even better, Purex will pay $.05 per bottle to Make-A-Wish for the first 4 million bottles of 75oz+ liquid detergent sold from February 1st - February 28th, 2014 and will increase the payment amount to $.10 for every bottle above 4 million, with a minimum guarantee of $200,000 and a maximum of $300,000.    

Purex brand will also pay $.08 per bottle to Make-A-Wish for the first 620,000 bottles of Classic and Ultra Lines in Mountain Breeze and Sweet Lavendar fabric softeners sold from February 1st-February 28th, 2014 and will increase the payment to $.10 for every bottle above 620,000, with a minimum guarantee of $50,000 up to a maximum of $100,000.

So, now laundry can include giving!  How awesome and fun (see told ya :)!  If you are not familiar with Make-A-Wish, they grant wishes to children with life threatening medical conditions.  We have several families in our area who have received Make-A-Wish wishes.  It is such a uplifting and strengthening time for families to be able to share in the joy of of a child they've watched be so sick and brave.

I have more great news!  Thanks for reading this far.  I will be giving away 2 coupons here on my blog to 2 subscribers!  The coupon entitles you to a free bottle of Purex Mountain Breeze detergent!  Just fill out the rafflecopter details below for your chance to win!  Contest starts at midnight on 2/1/14 and ends at midnight on 2/8/14!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can learn more about the Purex Bright Wishes, Bright Washes campaign here.

*Disclaimer:  Purex Laundry Detergent provided me with Purex coupons in exchange for sharing the Purex Make-A-Wish campaign.  However, all opinions expressed here are my own!

eMeals Groupon Deal - save 50%

*post contains affiliate links

If you've been wanting to try eMeals, now is a great time! You can save 50% on Groupon right now! See here for details!

You can also check out our review of eMeals!

eMeals Review

*This post does contain affiliate links!  The opinions here are my own!


Meal Planning saves money and eMeals saves you time and money - double whammy!  I recently received the opportunity to give eMeals a try in exchange for a review.

If you haven't checked out eMeals in a while, you will find that they are constantly adding new menu plans to their selection of menu planning choices.  

We are trying out the Portion Control plan right now because it gives you the total of points per serving making it so easy to plan healthy meals!

Here is the most recent meal we tried called Taco Pie and it received a thumbs up from everyone.  

eMeals makes the shopping so easy too! It comes complete with a shopping list broken down by meals so if we want to skip a meal in the plan it is so easy to tweak.  I love that!

Current subscription prices available are:

3 months for $30 ($10 per month)
6 months for $48 ($8 per month)
12 months for $58 ($5 per month)

You can try sample menus of all the meal plans too! eMeals really does make menu planning quick and simple!

Weekly Wrap Up - Week 18

*There are affiliate links in this post.  Thank you so much for helping our homeschool family when you decide to purchase something!  

The weeks are going by so fast!!

In my life this week…

We had a hard time this week trying to keep up with our normal routine.  We went out of town last weekend for a dance conference and it seemed we struggled all week to keep afloat but we did make it through!

It also snowed for the first time this year for us so talk about distracted!!!

In our homeschool this week…

We finished up Twice Freed which I highly recommend as a read aloud if you've never read it!

We began How to Play Chess and started with a beginner's set.  This was perfect timing as Stephen celebrated a birthday this week and LOVES  to play.  None of us really knew much about it so it has been fun to play and learn.  We are still in the learning stages but having fun!

Changes we're making...
We are not making any changes to our curriculum.  I am adding the Motivated Moms Chore Planner and eMeals back into our daily/weekly routine.  Keep watching for reviews of those to come!

I’m cooking…

Here is a video of our dinners for the week.

I’m grateful for…

An introduction to a Christian dance studio.  My children have been dancing for Jesus for almost 4 years now and I'm so grateful for our studio!

A photo to share...

Happy 13th Birthday Stephen!

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

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials - Simple and Quick Lunches

This week I will be sharing with you our 5 days of Homeschooling Essentials. 

In case you missed it, here are Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4.

Our fifth Homeschooling Essential is Simple and Quick Lunches.

Most of the time, we eat lunch around 11:30 because my husband usually leaves for work at 12:00.  Simple and Quick lunches work well for us!  

Here are some simple and quick lunch ideas.  I'd love to hear any ideas you may have as well!

Lunch staples that I always try to have on hand include mayo, mustard, cheese, eggs, popcorn, chips or pretzels, bananas, apples, carrots, celery, fruit cups, applesauce, and cucumbers.

• Leftovers - usually not enough for all of us
• Sandwiches of any sort  - lunch meat, egg, grilled cheese, chicken salad, egg salad, tuna salad, etc.
• quesadillas
• English muffin pizzas
• varieties of soups
• varieties of Chef boyardee 
• lentils over tortilla chips
• tacos
• salads
• hot dogs
• rice cakes with peanut butter and raisins (believe it or not it is really tasty!)
• eggs - hard boiled, sandwiches, salad, fried, omelets 

Another idea is to have the same thing for lunch every week or rotate 2 weeks of lunch items.  For instance:

Monday:  Omelets with ham and veggies 

Tuesday: Hot Dogs, chips, fruit

Wednesday:  tacos with fixings

Thursday: Deli Sandwiches, soup

Friday:  English Muffin Pizzas, cut veggies, fruit

or maybe...

Monday:  Egg day

Tuesday:  Sandwich Day

Wednesday:  Soup Day

Thursday: Chef Boyardee Day :)

Friday:  Pizza Day

The main thing that I try to do is keep our lunch staples on hand and then we can pick and choose what we would like for the day.  I definitely go with the KISS (keep it simple silly :) method when it comes to lunches!

A quick pinterest search will bring up many more ideas for you as well!

I know it sounds minimal but having lunch ideas ready and on hand can be a big time saver especially when you need to get back to school work after lunch!

I hope you have enjoyed our 5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials Series.  I have tried to think of things that have kept me sane during our homeschooling journey!

Don't forget to check out what my fellow crew members' Homeschooling Essentials are too!  Here are just a few to get you started.  Click on the banner below to see them all!

Marcy @ Ben and Me
Lisa @ Golden Grasses
Tess @ Circling Through This Life
Victoria @ Homemaking with Heart
Kayla @ The Arrowood Zoo
Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
Deanna @ His Treasure Seekers
Beth @ Ozark Ramblings
Rebecca @ Raventhreads

5 Days of Homeschooling Essential - Supplies

This week I will be sharing with you our 5 days of Homeschooling Essentials. 

In case you missed it, here are Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3.

Our fourth Homeschooling Essential is Supplies.  There are endless number of supplies that can be called my essentials because I admittedly state that I am a homeschool supply addict!  I have always loved school supplies since I was a little girl!

I'm just going to limit my supply list to my top 10.

1. Bible - I like for each child to have their own Bible so they can follow along while I really the daily scripture passage to them.  
2. Laptop/Computer - I prefer a laptop just for school use.  If we could have 2 or one for each child that would be even better but at least 1 laptop is an essential for us. Our Math and Foreign Language curriculum are done by DVD and my children type out their writing stories as well.  It is also how the majority of our research is done.
3. Printer - A great printer is definitely an essential for us.  It also needs to include a copier and scanner.  I would suggest researching before hand the cost of the ink to supply your printer because ink for us can be a real budget buster!
4. Lots of pens and pencils - My children prefer lead pencils and I do too because then I don't have to worry about the sharpener drowning me out while I'm trying to teach.  :) My favorite all time pens are the Pilot Frixion pens which I first saw used by Sam over at Sam's Noggin.  I love that they are erasable.  I use the red one for checking papers and checking things off my checklist.  I use the black or blue one to fill in our weekly planning sheets.
5. Laminator - I laminate everything.  I find that I don't use it quite as much now as I did when my children were smaller but I still love having it here when I need it.
6. Label Maker - I love to use my label maker for labeling binders tabs, supply drawers, book shelves, books that I loan out, binders, and anything else that I think needs a label.
7. Composition Notebooks - I usually try to stock up on these when they go on sale before school starts.  Wal-mart has often had them for 8 cents each.  My children use these daily and I cannot believe it but I let my stock pile run out and we currently have no extras!!!!!
8. Dividers and Tabs - I am a binder gal so I go through a lot of these.  Each of my children also have their own binders with dividers and tabs as well.  I use tabs to separate the weeks in my teacher's manuals as well.
9. Books - I love having series of books on our shelves for my children to just pick out and start reading if they wish. I also like to stock our shelves with great books for read alouds.  Our curriculum gives read aloud book suggestions and they are always great!  I always have to have tissues close by too so that's needs to be an essential included in this group!  
• Some of our family favorites are:
• The Bronze Bow, any book by Patricia St. John, The Witch At Blackbird Pond, The Magic Tree House Series, Ms. Piggle Wiggle, and Charlotte's Web.
• You can find a list of great read aloud books here as well.
• Lastly, a great place to find these books is the library but I also like to have my fair share (or more :) on hand at home.
10. Bookshelves - With all the curriculum and books on hand, you need a place to store them. We store ours on 2 bookshelves and in the attic for those not needed at the time.

Of course "my brain" is also a supply essential that I need as well as all the other necessities such as paper (notebook, printer, construction, card stock, etc), tape, rulers, scissors, stapler, etc.  All the essentials you would normally need in a school environment.

As I said before, this list could go on and on but I tried to include items here that we use daily or close to it!

Don't forget to check out what my fellow crew members' Homeschooling Essentials are too!  Here are just a few to get you started.  Click on the banner below to see them all!

Marcy @ Ben and Me
Lisa @ Golden Grasses
Tess @ Circling Through This Life
Victoria @ Homemaking with Heart
Kayla @ The Arrowood Zoo
Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
Deanna @ His Treasure Seekers
Beth @ Ozark Ramblings
Rebecca @ Raventhreads

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials - A Plan

This week I will be sharing with you our 5 days of Homeschooling Essentials. 

In case you missed it, here are Day 1, and Day 2.

Our third Homeschooling Essential is - A Plan.  This will look very different in each homeschool - some planning will seem extremely minimal and some will seem over the top to you.  Pick what works for you!  

This works for me.  "My Brain" is what I call my homeschool binder/planner.  It holds all my homeschool planning essentials.  I have shared before about my brain here and even videoed how I use it here.  My brain is like our homeschool - constantly changing, constantly evolving.  As my children get older, "my brain" reflects those changes.

Here is the inside of "my brain" and it's contents at this time. This has changed since we began school this year even!  As I see a need for something to be added or discarded, I change it.  Just like any good organization system, it stays organized by maintaining it.  You can't just do it once and let it go!

Here is "my brain".  To the left is where I keep my pens, scissors, ruler, and extra tabs.  The first pages that you see on the right are our Lesson Plans for the week.

The next section is my 2014 Blog Planner.  I just added this in December when I joined back up with the Schoolhouse Review Crew.  Here I keep up with my blog post schedule as well as my review schedule. 

Next is our calendar at a glance for the school year. 

I love using these pocket dividers to stick things in like this supply list for the year. 

Attendance for each child taken from the Well Planned Day Planner. 

Grade sheets for my high schooler are next.  These are included with our curriculum and somebody is behind on filling them in!  I usually do that as I file the papers and ahem - no filing has been done for several months now!!  So, even an organizer can have her down times! 

My next section for the next 90 days includes lesson plans and syllabus for Dave Ramsey's Foundations Curriculum that my high schooler has just begun.

Last I include questions that I have printed from ABC Teach for the books my children are currently reading.

Hope you have enjoyed this current peak into "my brain".  :)


Don't forget to check out what my fellow crew members' Homeschooling Essentials are too!  Here are just a few to get you started.  Click on the banner below to see them all!

Marcy @ Ben and Me
Lisa @ Golden Grasses
Tess @ Circling Through This Life
Victoria @ Homemaking with Heart
Kayla @ The Arrowood Zoo
Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
Deanna @ His Treasure Seekers
Beth @ Ozark Ramblings
Rebecca @ Raventhreads

5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials - Curriculum

This week I will be sharing with you our 5 days of Homeschooling Essentials. 

In case you missed it, here is Day 1.

Our second Homeschooling Essential is Curriculum.  Of course, you have to have something to teach and oh my there is an unbelievable amount of homeschool curriculum to choose from these days.  

You can put together your own curriculum by piecing together your favorite choices from each subject.  You can buy boxed curriculum that has everything for every subject already put together for you.  Finally, you can do a little of both which is what we do in our homeschool.

I am the type that NEEDS a plan! (hint planning will be tomorrow's essential)  I like to be told what to do and have it all planned out for me BUT I also like the flexibility to easily change the plan if I want to.

So, that is why we are huge fans of My Father's World.  The plan is there and laid out but you can add to or subtract from easily.  For instance, an art plan is included but I don't really care for it so I've taken that out and implemented our own art plan.  They have suggestions for language arts, science, math, etc but you have the choice of choosing something else you love in those subjects if you wish.  

Choosing the right curriculum for your family can be difficult. We have gone through many trying to find the one that fits and are still finding our way in some areas.  

Here are some areas for consideration when choosing your homeschool curriculum:

• What is your family's purpose - do you have a biblical worldview or a secular worldview? 
• Do you like schedules and function by checklist or are you more of a go with the flow personality?  
• What is your budget? There are some free homeschool curriculum choices out there.  Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool is one that comes to mind.
• Do you want to mimic the school system or have more flexibility in your homeschool?
• How many children do you have and what kind of time do you have to teach them all?  Can you combine subjects to save time?
• What is your homeschool law?  Are there specific instructions on hours per day? days per year? subjects that have to be taught?

Last, I would like to leave you with a few of the most popular Homeschool Methods.  Deciding your method can help you to choose the right curriculum for your family.

• Charlotte Mason
• Classical Education
• The Principle Approach
• Traditional
• Unit Studies

Focus on the family has a great article on each of these methods and other ideas to help you choose your homeschool curriculum here.  They also have a great breakdown of homeschool curriculum choices per method here.

If you like to see reviews of homeschool curriculum used by real homeschooling families, you can always check out the Schoolhouse Review Crew curriculum reviews.

Don't forget to check out what my fellow crew members' Homeschooling Essentials are too!  Here are just a few to get you started.  Click on the banner below to see them all!

Marcy @ Ben and Me
Lisa @ Golden Grasses
Tess @ Circling Through This Life
Victoria @ Homemaking with Heart
Kayla @ The Arrowood Zoo
Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
Deanna @ His Treasure Seekers
Beth @ Ozark Ramblings
Rebecca @ Raventhreads