From Scratch Adventures!!

It's time... And the time has been comin for a while. I've been hiding from the inevitable... But it's finally time to embrace this calling in my heart.

From Scratch Cooking!

New segment on the blog... Each month I will tackle 5 new from scratch items and share them with you. I'm taking this slowly so that I can stick with the things I learn to make. 

I'm also getting the whole family involved!  So this will be super fun! 

This month's list: (processed things I desperately want out of my home...)

Jambalaya

Crescent Rolls/Pizza Dough

Ramen Noodles

Peanut butter

Spaghetti Sauce

As I make em... I will share the recipes and reviews with you!! Im so excited!! 

Wish me luck!! <3 

Life of Fred

Ok who doesn't like Life of Fred?? lol! We love Fred around here. In fact, Life of Fred (LOF) did something neat for my oldest son... when he started reading Fred... it was like a lightbulb turned on in his brain and all avenues for learning and exploring were opened. <3 It's hard to explain but when you are a homeschool parent and a light bulb goes off... it's a magical thing, isn't it? 

Why I like Life of Fred: Because it's funny! Come on, have you read a Fred book to your kids lately? It's so entertaining!! It's soooo much better to be *forced* to read LOF to my kids than some of the other things they bring me sometimes...  And the amount of knowledge my kids get from these books is astounding! It's unreal how much my sons retain after a read. They will even take a long while to digest some concepts and start exploring them on their own! Like the time my seven year old got his tape measurer out and started measuring everything in the house! Even my small 3 year old will remember and learn things!! LOF is a series I will be saving for my grand kids someday. Also... LOF is inexpensive for the value it holds in my family.

Why my sons like Life of Fred: Seriously they love it! Fred doesn't even look like a "curriculum" to them. To them it's just a book! We read Fred at their leisure and enjoy it very much. My older son, in particular, has been completely influenced by the style of writing inside the Life of Fred books. He has started writing his own stories because of Fred and he has started READING on his OWN because of Fred. :) I waited and waited for that spark... and when he connected with Fred, it happened! :) Like I said above, magical! I know that some families out there get real serious with LOF and will do the chapters on schedule and things like that but we do not. For my kids, Fred is like a friend they can visit with whenever they want and play with for however long or short they want to. 

I highly highly highly recommend LOF and although you may see reviews on my site sometimes that I may do for incentives, this is not one of those cases. We simply love Life of Fred and I wanted to share it with you. :)

Life of Fred

Christmas on Apple Ridge: A Review

I am a big fan of Amish fiction and so this review will most likely reflect that fact. Christmas in Apple Ridge is a compilation of three books in which the characters lives intertwine. In the first book we meet Beth. This book is my favorite of the three stories, hands down. 

Book one is entitled The Sound of Sleigh Bells and it's story has the most intriguing conflict for the main character. My heart connected with this one better than the others. I truly understood Beth's struggle with love and why she lives the way she does. I cheered for her when she finally let herself love the man who's art broke through the wall she had created after the tragedy she had been through. 

My guess is, your heart will connect with one of these stories too.

In the second book we meet Mattie, who is so sweet. She, like Beth, has also been burned by love. We get to read as her heart heals and she finds a happy ending as well. And finally, in the third book, we meet Sadie who is the spunkiest of all the women in these stories.

I loved that as I read each book I was able to continue to peek into the lives of the women I had previously met throughout the books. It kept me interested until the very end. I also really liked how independent these women are among the Amish faith. They stand on their own feet and involve themselves in their own destinies, listening to God all the way.

If you are looking for a light read through the Christmas season that is both heartwarming and wholesome then this is your book.

Click Here to download chapter one of this sweet story! 

Click Here to buy this wonderful book through the publisher! 

Click Here to find it on Amazon! 



http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9780307730992




Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. 

Math Mammoth-Blue Series

We love Math Mammoth around here! So much that my son wants a stuffed mammoth for Christmas this year.. So much that he likes to color Mathy the Mammoth pictures all the time. (You can download a picture of Mathy on the Math Mammoth website. :) 

Why I like Math Mammoth - Blue Series: 

I like it because before I found it... I was lost. Math-wise lol. I looked up so, so many lists of standards and math subjects kid should learn and how and when to teach them.. my head was spinning. We tried to "school math" so much with too many curriculums. It was a math nightmare... Math almost did me in for homeschooling... I was ready to quit. Then I found this. Let me add really quickly, that Math Mammoth has grade level curriculums... but we do not use that. We use the blue series because it is by topic and skill level. Which is more important to us than grade level.  Anyway, I love this curriculum because it gives me confidence and a backbone behind my math guidance. ALSO this curriculum is so inexpensive!! It's truly a wonderful tool. At any time I can pull it out for a fresh perspective and I never feel bad when it's time to put it away for a while and do some math unschooling because it's cost does not keep me strapped. 

Why my sons like Math Mammoth - Blue Series: 

With this series of curriculum... my kids are in control of what they learn and when they learn it. If my son wants to learn about clocks today, we grab his clocks folder and go to town. We do some hands on activities with our big play clock and check the real clocks around the house for the time. Stuff like that. Then we do a few problems on whatever worksheet we are on until my son has had enough for the day. He is in control of it and this is how he wants to learn. It gives my older son the ability to compartmentalize his math. He likes that. It's comfortable for him. To him Math Mammoth is not a curriculum and it's not even mandatory. It's a tool for him. And he loves the way the author explains concepts to him while he's working. He has connected so well with this curriculum. I would say that before this curriculum appeared in our homeschool... he had zero math confidence. He spent a lot of Kindergarten in public school and then most of first grade de-schooling from that. So now in second grade, he is finding his learning feet and Math Mammoth has really helped him a lot. 

Math Mammoth - Blue Series

Have you used Math Mammoth in your homeschool? If so, I would love to hear about it! Math Mammoth is not the only math curriculum we use. We also love Life of Fred around these parts. :)

**Although I do sometimes receive incentives for my reviews... this was not one of those circumstances. :) We simply love Math Mammoth and I wanted to share. <3 

 

Easy Spooky Spiders

So I've been blogging some of the things I'm crafting to decorate my sons Halloween/Birthday party. <His idea entirely!! He has been planning this for like a year...>

Here is another super duper easy Halloween decoration you can do to give some special extra spooky details to your spider webs! 

Everyone has probably used those neon green or white spider webs as decor but I decided to add a kick and make some little pipe cleaner spiders to stick in the webs! 

What you need:
-Pipe Cleaners
-Scissors

That's IT! :) 

1) Start by deciding what color(s) you would like your spiders to be and then set those pipe cleaners aside.

2) Cut ALL THREE pipe cleaners in half. Take two of the halves and cut them in half again... so you should have 4 short little pipe cleaners and on big half left.

3) Arrange the four short little pipe cleaners in a star-like pattern so that you have eight points sticking out.

4) Take the pipe cleaner half you have left and wrap it around the middle to make the spider's body and ALSO to secure the legs to each other.

5) Bend the little legs slightly to create creepy legs! :)

Bravo!!




I then stuck mine in those cheap spider webs decorations. They made for an awesome addition to my son's birthday party decor!

If you make these and blog them! Post a link so we can see!!! 

Happy Crafting!! 

Homeschooling is: Freedom

Something I learn every single day with my boys about homeschooling is that freedom has many characteristics. Freedom is a beautiful word... full of exploration and discovery. Freedom means ability. Freedom means choice. And freedom means gain.

Freedom means having the ability to be with my children all day long... as much as I want and not being weird for wanting that. Having the ability to know them better than I ever could if we weren't together as much as we are. They have the ability to see me for what I am... just a person. A person just as they are who will fail and get back up again. I am not hidden from them in the business of days gone by. They know me right now. And we will always be closer because of this freedom.

Freedom means choice. WE get to choose what we do, how we do it, and when we do it. If we don't like something we can choose to change it. We can choose our daily lives for ourselves... set our own schedule. And in the bigger picture... my kiddos have been blessed with an amazing opportunity to CHOOSE their destinies for themselves in the safe environment of their loving family. They have the Freedom to follow God's plan for their lives and listen to His influence more so than outside sources. Their hearts have the Freedom to be shaped more so by the Holy Spirit than the world. 

Freedom means that I gain... daily. I gain so much being with my kids everyday. Sure it's a tough job. And we all have those days where we're like, "what was I thinking?!?" :) But the amount of blessing I gain far outweigh those stressful days. Freedom also means that my children gain... they gain knowledge. The true kind. The kind they sought to learn. They kind that will stick. The kind that will take them places... oh how wonderful it is to think about how much THEY gain by being homeschooled.

With Freedom come responsibility though. It is important to me that the Freedoms my family has in homeschooling be used responsibly and the best way I know how to do that is by consulting God every step of the way. <3 I am so glad I have the Freedom to do that... aren't you?

If homeschooling is freedom... what is freedom to you

Let the Nature Journaling Begin!

I got a new library book today!! I am so excited to dig into this book! I have already read the first chapter which inspired me to grab a sheet of paper right away and draw the little guys on my back porch. There are like 3 or 4 Leopard Geckos that live behind the light fixture. <3 I used to keep Leopard Geckos in a cage as a kid and so I love them a lot. Now, having them as neighbors is awesome.

I don't know if I will be drawing a lot in my nature journal... I may just take pictures. I'm not very good at drawing. When I was in 1st or 2nd grade as a kid I loved to color and draw! But I distinctly remember the crushing moment when all the love I had for art was bulldozed over by this teacher of mine. We don't need to get into the details... :) I'm over it and have decided to add art to my list of self education pursuits. :) I definitely have gaps in art appreciation and application that need filled. :)

Anyhow this book is amazing. HIGHLY recommend it!! The series is called the Amateur Science Series and so far I know of three books in the series. The Amateur Naturalist is the one I have now. I have read The Amateur Geologist (Which is also amazing!!) Next on my list to aquire is The Amateur Meteorologist.

The Amateur Geologist book does have an old world/evolution view point. (you know millions and millions of years...) The value in this book supersedes any bending I had to do around that aspect though. I'm not sure about the view point in either the one I am currently reading or the one I haven't read yet ... but so far, these books are amazing and worth it for anyone looking to journal these different genres of nature.

The authors in this series seems to absolutely love their area of expertise and it bleeds through the pages. Their words make you excited and they make you want to literally jump up right away and get started! I did with the geologist book and am finding myself doing it again with this one.

Some of the first exercises in this book include keeping a list of your non human neighbors -even if you don't know their names, so you can find out later, investigating bird feeding preferences (which is next on my to-do list), investigating ant lion diggings, investigating wooly bear caterpillar wanderings and so much more... just in the first chapter!!

See if your library has a copy of this book immediately... :) I promise you this book will pose questions in your heart that you just have to answer.  I would even go so far as to say this book might motivate a reluctant jr high or high school student to get up and love on some nature. :)

Let me know if you read it too! :)

Happy Reading!!