Christian Homekeeping™

Poll: Is an iPad Worth Having for Homeschool?

2013-06-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

We are thinking of getting an iPad, but I don't want it to become another gaming or entertainment device, as we have way too many of those already. I'm wondering if it is worth it to use just for homeschooling purposes? We have a Kindle Fire that we LOVE and I use for reading books and my Bible on. I'm wondering if the iPad apps or even the larger screen would be benefit us greatly for

Building the Tabernacle

2013-06-18T00:06:00.000-07:00

The Bible is something that I want my children to know more than any other book, for in it is life! We have been studying all about the tabernacle and decided to build it to help visualize it more and make it come alive. That is my favorite part of homeschooling - you can use models and by including hands-on things, it really does stick in children's minds more. Well, the tabernacle is one of

This and That....

2013-06-17T23:03:00.000-07:00

My in-laws just visited and then went back home to NY tonight and we had a wonderful time while they were here! It felt SOOO good to get a break from feeding the baby and diapering and just let someone else do it for a while. However, reality hit me hard when they left as the baby was crying and there was no grandparent around to hand him to to feed - it is back to momma-work. I have to clean

Family Photos & Hair Update

2013-06-17T16:27:00.000-07:00

I don't share photos of our faces online, but hey - these are back shots, so not losing privacy here, plus, this doubles as a hair update. You can also see my daughter's hair, which has never been cut at all in her entire life - she also doesn't use heat, so her hair is silky smooth with no split ends, it is so beautiful! I don't have the color versions of these yet, my friend who did these

Garden - Broccoli, Spinach and Radishes

2013-06-15T00:41:00.004-07:00

Harvested some more broccoli and then cut off some spinach leaves for a salad. I had planted radishes because I thought I had never had them. I thought they didn't grow, but leaving them in there a week longer has helped them thicken. Upon trying one, I went back to my childhood and realized this was those THINGS that mom put in the salads - YUCK! I hated them and still do. Thankfully, my

Meet Karl....Our New Couch

2013-06-13T00:26:00.000-07:00

I guess Karl just fits since this corner sofa is named Karlstad, it kind of grows on you. It is bigger in our living room than I imagined, almost too big, but I love it! I didn't like the lime green pillows with it, but I do like the orange ones for some odd reason. It took a few hours (with breaks) for my husband and his dad (who is visiting) to put it together but it was well worth the wait.

Garden - 1st Harvest: Broccoli

2013-06-09T17:49:00.002-07:00

It normally doesn't get as warm as it has been the past month, so I think that is why my broccolis didn't get bigger before they started flowering slightly. I went ahead and cut them off, leaving the little side ones to see if they get any bigger. You may remember that I planted "premium" and then regular broccoli plants. The "premium" one did not do as good as the regular ones - so definitely

Karlstad Korndal Medium Blue Slipcover

2013-06-06T18:34:00.002-07:00

The slipcover got here before the couch, but I had to show you guys because it is even better in person then what I saw online! I love how rich the blue color is and the threading is a dark gray/black look, which gives it this modern look. I tried to envision it with my decor and it seems like it is going to look awesome with the red curtains and pillows! It also matches my blue lamp, almost

Frugal Recipes Inspiration

2013-06-05T17:31:00.001-07:00

I admit that since having my baby, I haven't been very frugal. I have needed to be because my son's special formula and then paying off all the medical bills is costing us a lot, but my energy to plan or time to prepare everything has been almost non-existent. It has caught up with us, so in order to pay off our medical bills in a year - we need to get frugal again. This will be hard for me

Garden Bed 1 - Plans Updated

2013-06-05T16:57:00.001-07:00

I didn't get to plant when I had planned 2 weeks ago because it just kept raining but today was the perfect day to go ahead and plant some more carrots and sugar snap peas. I decided to go ahead and fill up the first garden bed, so I added 2 more plots of 32 carrots and 2 more plots of 16 sugar snap peas. This will give us a continuous harvest of those through the end of July hopefully. I'm

The Old Reader - Google Reader Alternative

2013-06-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

As many of you already know, Google Reader is ending in July, so if you use it, you need to find an alternative soon! I've tried several and hated them all, until The Old Reader opened up membership to email. Before they only allowed you to login with Facebook or Twitter and I didn't want to use either, although I have a Twitter, I don't like using it as a login to 3rd-party services. So, they

4 Week Garden Update

2013-06-01T18:20:00.001-07:00

The garden is growing well and with all the rain we have had the past few weeks, I haven't had to water because God did it for me! ;-) I used Sluggo to get rid of the slugs and it seems to have worked. I plan on planting more carrots this week and trying to figure out what I want to plant in all the open squares.

Karl is Coming to Live With Us

2013-05-30T23:28:00.002-07:00

We will soon have a new visitor in our house, hopefully for years to come - Karl.....Karlstad that is, our new corner sofa! I had wanted this sofa for several years but couldn't afford it and then when I was halfway to affording it, they discontinued the color I wanted. Amazingly, a blessing came our way and we got the color I wanted - Korndal Medium Blue slipcover - and the corner sofa - Mr.

Trim Healthy Pan Bread

2013-05-25T22:28:00.001-07:00

We tried a new recipe tonight and it was surprisingly delicious! Hubby said it tastes like a wrap and he liked it and my daughter said it was good but there was some taste in there she didn't like but she will eat it. I thought it was great with the hamburger. You can find this recipe on page 266 of Trim Healthy Mama, it is made up of oats, egg whites and cottage cheese. These are considered

Bedroom = Exercise Room

2013-05-25T00:12:00.001-07:00

I moved my workout equipment to my bedroom because when I wanted to workout, I couldn't get to my DVD's or equipment because it was in my son's room and he was taking a nap or asleep. I found a way to fit it all in with our new bedroom furniture that seems to take up a lot of space. For years I was used to just a bed, but now we have the bed and 3 dressers and an armoire - but amazingly, the

Decluttering My Daughter's Room - The After

2013-05-22T18:44:00.000-07:00

You can read about why we did this and see the photos and video of the BEFORE here. Here is the AFTER of my daughter's room after removing 90% of her toys:

The Bond That Teaches Our Children - Love and Jesus

2013-05-22T11:52:00.002-07:00

Today I've been married to the most wonderful man on this earth, my husband, for 13 years. We were just 20 years old when we said "I do" and we still feel that same giddy, loving feeling that we did those many years ago. We don't hide our love, our affection and even our disagreements from our daughter because she needs to see what marriage is really like. Most importantly, she needs to see

Decluttering My Daughter's Room - The Before

2013-05-22T00:59:00.001-07:00

I decluttered my daughter's room on my mini-vacation while my husband took care of the baby. My daughter was our only child for 9 years and was the only grandchild AND only great-grandchild on BOTH sides of our families. So you can imagine she was never without - toys, clothes, etc. However, it got too much for her and me! Since this past Christmas when my parents came to visit and shared

2-3 Week Garden Update

2013-05-20T18:58:00.000-07:00

We have had lots of rain and the garden is growing well. Something is eating my radish leaves and one of the broccoli leaves and I think it is probably slugs, as we have an abundance of those here in Washington! I will have to get something soon to salvage the radishes for sure, maybe Sluggo or DE. Amazingly, the radishes sprouted on the 3rd day! That is the earliest that I've ever had

Prayer Request

2013-05-20T12:41:00.000-07:00

**UPDATE - no cancer!!! Thank you for the prayers! I have a lot to share about what I did on my "vacation" but first, I need prayer. I started having severe pain yesterday and after 3 hours it grew to where it hurt to even sit or stand so the doctor said go to the ER and we did. They found a mass on my cervix after doing ultrasound and CT scan. They want to do outpatient MRI study of the

Blog Break

2013-05-11T13:12:00.001-07:00

I'm taking a short blog break this week, so I won't be getting to comments until I return.

Why I Homeschool

2013-05-09T23:24:00.004-07:00

I'm not sure that I've actually ever answered this question with a list of the main reasons we homeschool, so I thought I would go ahead and do a post on why I homeschool. Besides the most obvious reasons of we prefer a God-centered education and will not put our child under false teaching, there are numerous other reasons we have chosen this route. Even if I didn't care about God or what my

What Our Table Means to Us

2013-05-08T00:26:00.001-07:00

Some people may wonder - what is so special about a table? However, to us and specifically to me - it means a whole lot. Growing up in my family we would eat together at the table and have that closeness as a family but when my parents bought a television, it became the table's demise. I was 9 years old when that television set came into our house and stole my family's bond, peacefulness and

2013 Garden Plans

2013-05-07T14:32:00.002-07:00

I have yet to figure out my 2nd garden bed, thus the empty spaces. We know that we want carrots continuously and they grow great here, so we have planned a lot of those and then going to stagger the crop every 2 weeks. The sugar snap peas and spinach do well only in May and June and then again in late July/early August. I can freeze the broccoli, so I went ahead and planted several and the