Truly the easiest way I have found to feed my family of seven is to put the slow cooker to work for me. Whether I am out for the day or busy with homeschooling our age range, I can serve up slow cooker deliciosity.

My slow cooker history will prove my love. My regular Saturday series, Fast Food for Slow Sundays is celebrated along with $5 Dinners Slow Cooker week. I shared a list of my favorite slow cooker recipes there.

Flax seed egg substitute

You allergy-friendly living folks might also be interested in our favorite egg substitute recipes. I shared them at Food Allergies on a Budget.

• For more Sunday lunch ideas – that can be enjoyed any day of the week, see the other recipes posted here in the Fast Food for Slow Sundays category or Fast Food for Slow Sundays at Habits for a Happy Home.
• More slow cooker recipes on my Slow Cooker Love Pinterest board.
• More ideas on my Allergy-Friendly Pinterest board as well.

Many years ago we needed some art work for the family room. There was a big, empty spot over the mantel that needed just the perfect, happy, family-friendly piece. The flag was Nana’s suggestion.

Back when we it was just the older three children, they all joined in the process. We got out a long piece of paper from our newspaper roll and the three children went to work. First born made the stripes. Second born painted the navy rectangle. And the baby stamped the stars. Can’t remember who added the glittery sparkles.

It all happened in a matter of minutes but the process captured that memory for always. The art work is perfect for over our fireplace. Just big enough. And I love how the red paintbrush strokes give the flag motion – like it’s waving in the breeze. Family members like it so much that we did several more as Christmas presents that year.

A simple, fun solution to a large, empty space over the fireplace. And it goes to show you that you don’t have to have special or high-dollar supplies to make something wonderful. See? We still proudly display the first place ribbon from the state fair.

Here’s a shot of the flag over our mantle this week, along with our selection of Tapestry of Grace books. Still love that flag! Continuing the homeschool makeover series.

In other homeschool news, I returned from a fabulous time at the BEECH conference. (I shared about getting to be with all those blogging ladies at Vero Beach in my BEECH recap). Hodgepodgedad had taken some time off work and we celebrated his birthday early in the week. Last week’s sickness stretched into this week. Middle Girl, who was hit the hardest, was able to spend some time with the New Millennium Girls creative writing bundle. We are so excited about this set for tweens – complete with book, creative writing workbook and paper doll craft set. Review coming soon at The Curriculum Choice!

Eldest boy was putting into action Hodgepodgedad’s words. “The best way to find out how something works is to take it apart.” Which he did. And he got it all back together in working order!

We are very much enjoying our Tapestry readings. We are just starting into Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children but are continuing to love all the books on the artists we are studying – the World’s Famous Artists series, Da Vinci for Kids, The Story of Painting and more. We thought it was fun to read another book by a like-named author – Margaret Hodges!

I also turned to my Tapestry of Grace teacher’s notes for movies! We are thoroughly steeped in the Renaissance, just starting into Shakespeare. In addition to watching the World’s Greatest Artists – Michelango again, we looked back and ahead and put the following movies in the Netflix cue. Keep in mind some of them will just be for us to view with the older two children:

• The Agony and the Ecstasy (starring Charlton Heston)
• Much Ado About Nothing (starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson)
• Martin Luther (starring Niall McGinnis)
• The Taming of the Shrew (starring Elizabeth Taylor)

Plus we re-watched scads of Cyberchase. Fun math examples.

Here’s the rest of the Hodgepodge week in photo collage form:

1. Visiting with my Great-Aunt Dot on the way back from BEECH conference | 2. Hodgepodgedad helps make an electroscope with @AiG Science Heat & Energy | 3. Hodgepodgedad fixes the screaming dishwasher – on his birthday – what a super guy! | 4. Swangin’ in the sunshine | 5. Homemade cookie cake for Hodgepodgedad’s birthday | 6. Slow and Steady Get Me Ready alphabet activities with 4yo | 7. Train time | 8. Practicing handwriting | 9. A few under the weather around here – ug | 10. Signs of spring on a spring-like day with temps in the 70s | 11. FIAR – Papa Piccolo set in Italy – compliments our Tapestry of Grace studies | 12. Listening to the Farewell symphony – studying Haydn with Harmony Fine Arts plans

More fun this week: Shades of Blue Pastel free art lesson matches our Go Fish Sea Creatures Game + Giveaway. Hodgepodge is teaming up with nine great sites in giving away these high-quality educational games. You can enter to win at each site!

Learning and resting! It’s these kind of weeks that I’m thankful for a load of books on the mantle and the comfort of home. Thankful for homeschooling!

Thanks to our Friday hostesses: Camera Phone Friday hostess Dawn Camp @ My Home Sweet Home,Weekly Wrap-Up hostess Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and Mary at Home Grown Learners

We managed to make it this long well. Have y’all escaped the sickness? Or, do you display your children’s artwork in a prominent place?

Don’t miss the giveaway following this review! You also have nine more chances to win at the sites we are teaming up with…
Ready for a fun afternoon playing go fish? We are – just ask any time! See, you may know that my youngest daughter has quite a big love for sea creatures. Particularly sharks. Imagine her delight when she found out you can collect schools of sharks! Playing Go Fish for Wildlife is like reading a field guide on each sea creature – for 36 sea creatures!

Now this Go Fish isn’t just any old Go Fish. “There are nine sets of sea creatures in the game. The name of the set and the four sea creatures in it are listed on each card, in both English and Spanish. The object of the game is to collect as many complete sets of 4 cards as you can.”

Enjoy four card games, a matching game plus Say it in Spanish:

• Go Fish (2-3 players)
• Pair Them Up (a matching game for very young players)
• Crazy Sharks (2-3 players)
• Wildlife Rummy – played like “Gin Rummy” (2 players)
• Sea Creatures Snap (2-4 players with an advanced option)
• Bonus: learn names of sea creatures in Spanish as you play

With all these variations, Go Fish for Sea Creatures will never grow old in our house. And, psst, even the adults enjoy it! (And have learned a thing or two.)

How about a set of headless creatures?

Go Fish for Wildlife Sea Creatures:

• is available from Birdcage Press for $9.95 here.
• can be viewed here.
• is for ages 5+ but younger children can enjoy a simple matching game with the beautiful, high-quality cards
• earned the Parents’ Choice Approved Award
• earned the Creative Child Preferred Choice Award
• Fosters learning skills, including: bilingual learning, animal classification, strategic thinking, rapid visual processing

You can also discover more amazing animals in the series of Go Fish from Birdcage Press. Also available: Reptiles, Amphibians and Mammals. Birdcage Press is a one-stop place for wonderful learning tools and gifts.

• Find Go Fish Sea Creatures and many more wonderful educational products via the Birdcage Press website.
• Join the Birdcage Press mailing list for future promotions.
• Birdcage Press also has digital products. We particularly enjoy the My Bird World app!
• You can follow Birdcage Press on Facebook.

*Special shipping discount code on all orders: IN12 is good until 3/31/12

Please note: I received this game in exchange for a review. I always give my honest opinion and love to share our family’s experiences when reviewing a product.

Now for the giveaway! The giveaway will only run through Sunday, February 26th. The winner will be announced Monday, the 27th. Birdcage Press is kindly offering one (1) Go Fish for Wildlife Sea Creatures to one of our readers.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

More Chances to Win! Hodgepodge is joining with these wonderful sites in reviewing Birdcage Press products. Be sure to visit each blog to find out about more of these great resources. Plus enter to win a different game or productat each site

Spell Outloud — Choice of Egyptian Art Cards or Battle Cards-Military Jets

Finding Joy — Choice of Wild Cards – North American Birds or Art Ditto Game.

Jimmie’s Collage –Choice of Impressionist or Renaissance Art Game

Mama’s Learning Corner — Renaissance Art Game

Handbook of Nature Study — Wild Cards-Backyard Birds

Harmony Art Mom — Choice of Go Fish for Art or Art Close-Up Cards

The Curriculum Choice — Art Ditto Memory Game

The Traveling Praters — Choice of Go Fish for Van Gogh and Friends or 52 Amazing Places-National Parks
Get Along Home — Choice of Wild Cards, Backyard Birds or Renaissance Art Game

Stay tuned tomorrow for a really fun giveaway involving sea creatures!

Nana has been excited about sharing a different type of chalk pastel. A lesson all one color – shades of blue!

First, we all looked at the many shades of blue and chose colors.

We listened to instructions.

And we began with the top of the water (Nana helped Lil’ Buddy with his). Remember to leave room for blue clouds in the sky!

Lil’ Buddy stayed at the table with us almost five minutes this time. A new record!

Now, you can make this scene your very own. Just be sure to turn your pastel stick on its side and ‘skumble’ in the water color. Blend it with your fist so that it is colorful. Think about how the water is darkest at the bottom because of the depth.

Add details in other shades of blue. Rocks. Your favorite creatures!

Grasses. Starfish. Whatever you think of. Just try to vary your shades of blue.

Add some clouds. These will be full clouds – ready for an afternoon thunderstorm.

Make your underwater details the way you’d like them.

And, when you are finished, you might want to do another pastel picture – all in another color.

Enjoy!

• Print this lesson: Just click the green, ‘print-friendly’ button at the top, left of this post. You can choose to print the lesson with or without photos. By clicking the ‘remove photos’ box, you may print the text directions only.
• A note on chalk pastels: Pastels are an easy, forgiving medium. Fun for children and adults alike! Details on the pastels and paper we use, how and where to purchase, and links to all of Nana’s other pastel lessons (over 35 lessons now) are all contained in the post Pastels plus links to tutorials. A simple set is very affordable.
• The practical aspects of a mess: Pastels are blessedly messy. We always have baby wipes close by to wipe hands. We wear something we don’t mind getting stained or don a smock.

I’ve said it over and over again since the weekend. My head is full of ideas. My heart is full of friendship. Full. Yes. I enjoyed a weekend full of the blessings of the friendships I found with these like-minded Christian, homeschool, blogging women.

photo credit ~ Jenn

Last Thursday, I got in the car and drove 10 hours to Vero Beach, Florida. I jokingly told a few people that it was the first time I’d been anywhere by myself – except the grocery store – in years. I had a wonderfully relaxing drive listening to an iPod full of music my husband had loaded for me. Especially all the favorite hymns by our church choir.

I went to Florida because I was invited to a trial run of the BEECH mini-conference. A retreat for women. Every one of us women are at various stages of raising children, homeschooling and blogging experience.

BEECH: Blogging to Encourage and Equip Christian Homeschoolers

1. Jenn @ Daze of Adventure prepping for Twitter party. Hostess grits gift from me | 2. Gathered around for Twitter party – Maureen @ Spell Outloud, Daniele @ Domestic Serenity, Suzanne and Jamerrill @ Holy Spirit Led Homeschooling | 3. Jolanthe @ Homeschool Creations and Jimmie @ Jimmie’s Collage | 4. Jimmie leading Is Your Blog Wearing Mommy Jeans? session | 5. BEECH notebook and Bright Ideas chocolate | 6. One last, early-morning photo with Maureen at the airport Sunday.

E is for Encouragement

The weekend started off with the E in BEECH. After supper Thursday night, we soaked up encouragement from homeschool leader and mentor, Maggie Hogan of Bright Ideas Press. She charged us to take courage from the Lord in our homeschool and in our blogging lives. Immediately following Maggie’s session, our time ramped up with the fast-paced and fun #BEECHcon Twitter party. {insert chocolate and coffee}

photo credit ~ Jolanthe

B is for Blogging

A big part of the weekend we spent together in sessions learning organizational skills, specifics of building an online presence and community, plus ways to be better bloggers. All from these ladies, above: Jimmie, Maureen, Jolanthe and Jenn. {insert chocolate and coffee}

A place where homeschool moms can retreat and build relationships while learning the ins and outs of blogging.

And, of course we took pictures!

E is for Equip

Following each session, we then had a built in hands-on time to ask questions and see the practical application of a topic. So, all those notes I took? I could then ask a specific question, open my laptop and point to what I was curious about. We discussed plug ins, time management techniques and even the ‘how do you balance it all?’ question. Plus so much more. {insert chocolate and coffee}

Part of the weekend we made it to the beach!

CH is for Christian Homeschoolers

Any time Christian women gather, hearts are knitted together in Him. “He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; he who cherishes understanding prospers.” Proverbs 19:8. Plus, we all shared the common bond of homeschooling. So there were times we chatted about our educational journeys too. It was a truly remarkable weekend. I’m still pinching myself.

Photo credit ~ Jimmie

Was I actually there with all of those incredible, Christian, homeschooling ladies? Did I really get to spend time with Suzanne Broadhurst? Suzanne, the Homeschool Enrichment Magazine author? Yes! I shared with her how, with my new Homeschool Enrichment magazine in hand, I would flip to the very back of the magazine and read her Homeschool Humor article first.

Jamerrill of Holy Spirit Led Homeschooling

I think we can all say we had a huge amount of fun. We laughed with and at each other. And we came away encouraged to do our very best for the Lord – in all areas of my lives. If you’d like to hear other tales from BEECH, be sure to visit these friends. I’m sure thankful for each and every one of these ladies – for the time they invested in my life this past weekend! A special thank you to our hostess, Maggie Hogan, as well.

• Daze of Adventure
• Homeschool Creations
• Spell Outloud
• Jimmie’s Collage
• Holy Spirit Led Homeschooling
• Domestic Serenity
• Mommy Matters
• Donna Spann
• Layered Soul
• Finding Joy

I sure hope you can join us for BEECH next year. Because this weekend was also about paving the way for bigger, exciting things for the homeschool community in 2013. Remember to subscribe to the BEECH newsletter for all the latest updates.

I’m still enjoying looking at my painted toenails. Rarely are they this pretty in February!

“He calls me smart and big and tall!” ~ six-year-old

“He builds me a train track.” ~ four-year-old

A couple of weeks ago, when Doorposts shared Encouraging a Thankful Heart, we sat around the table at lunch time and listed what my husband does for our family. How he blesses us:

• Gets money for the family.
• Has two jobs.
• Fixes everything at home.
• Fixes computers.
• Got the pool key in the rain last year.
• Fixes the cars.
• Pays all the bills.
• Goes to the grocery store.
• Fixes the best macaroni and cheese.
• Goes on late night walks with Mama.
• Tells us funny stories.
• Tucks us in.

Watches over us. Keeps us safe.

• Fixes bowls of cereal.
• Builds awesome fires in the fireplace.
• Lets us play computer games.
• Lets us go with him to the store.
• Buys us things.
• Tells us jokes.
• Sings silly ‘Hush Little Baby’.
• Goes to IKEA.
• Helps with math.
• Writes window love letters for us.
• Mows the grass.
• Remembers his manners.
• Irons on Sunday mornings.
• Makes weekend afternoon coffee.
• Vacuums.
• Cleans carpets.
• Makes us laugh!!!

There’s so much my husband does for us daily. Making this list helped us all realize that!

Honor your father and mother so that you’ll live a long time in the land that God, your God, is giving you. Exodus 20:12

Counting gifts 2993 – 3025.

Few things in my stretching-the-budget and filling-tummies career have made as big a difference as biscuits. Do you remember how much the canned variety costs? Oh, I dearly love the convenience. But I don’t like paying for it. Especially when I have to get so many cans to feed the seven of us. And that’s where batch cooking homemade biscuits comes in. But here’s the trick. Don’t make a special effort.

When you double up your biscuits on another day of the week, then you have plenty as Fast Food for Slow Sundays. Join me at $5 Dinners for batch cooking biscuits…

• For more Sunday lunch ideas – that can be enjoyed any day of the week, see the other recipes posted here in the Fast Food for Slow Sundays category or Fast Food for Slow Sundays at Habits for a Happy Home.

If you are like us, a great deal of homeschooling takes place on the family room couch. Read alouds, math lessons, diagramming English sentences, literature and more. We’ve found more practical solutions in our continued homeschool makeover.

First off, the Pottery Barn book rack. This we’ve had for a decade. And it has served us so very well, right above our heads. The latest library books, magazines and even ever-present Mother Goose. We have another of these, upstairs on the wall, in between the children’s rooms. Easy for a quick stash of a book and to spark some reading interest.

But the most recent update are more of the IKEA expedit. Our dear end tables, beloved as they are, just weren’t doing the job. Don’t feel sorry for them though. They still have a place of honor, holding lamps on either side of the mantle.

Back to the newest members of the family, 4×4 expedits. One for either end of the couch. Their nice, wide tops are perfect for a coffee cup to perch early a.m. Plenty of space for a lamp. And the four baskets? Well, one expedit holds all of our quiet time necessities – Bibles, devotionals, journals and more!

The one on my side of the couch – is mostly just for me! Doorposts’ favorites to pull out, a hymnal, a few of my lists and, ahem, stacks (again). And one basket is even still mostly empty. Practical is perfect for me. For us. And it makes clean up so easy!

You might like to see the rest in our makeover series. Even more to come in future Friday weekly wraps:

• Workboxes update
• The Most Used Bookcase
• All Things Chalkboard (our school room)
• Red Wall School Room

Middle Girl researching the artist Velazques thanks to a free Harmony Fine Arts sample.

The rest of our week was a flurry of Valentines homeschool party, new Tapestry books from the library. 1. AiG Science Heat & Energy – a study of lightning and thunder | 2. A homemade party – with streamers, cardboard and kitchen towels | 3. Pancakes for supper from the Cook Box | 4. Go Fish Renaissance artists from Birdcage Press | 5. Valentine roses from Hodgepodgedad! | 6. Passing out Valentines at our homeschool group party | 7. Someone’s favorite Valentine | 8. Meds and Gatorade for Lil’ Buddy – he’s doing better now!

…and batching cooking for the family (pictured above Italian Stuffed Shells, homemade cookie dough balls, Southern Plate’s Rise and Shine biscuits and, not pictured – batches ground turkey). Plus I printed this peanut and nut free list from the SunButter site so that Nana and Hodgepodgedad would have snack ideas handy. You can find it in this post at the SunButter blog – sort of towards the bottom of the post.

(food for my favorite folks since I am in Florida for the BEECH Conference!!)

*One last bit of happy news – the Art for Homeschool Show results are in and we have a couple of winners! I encourage all homeschoolers to participate in this wonderful online art show.

Many thanks to our Friday hostesses…Camera Phone Friday hostess Dawn Camp @ My Home Sweet Home ,

Weekly Wrap-Up hostess Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and

Mary at Home Grown Learners

How was your week, friends?

“Let them once get in touch with Nature, and a habit it formed which will be a source of delight through life. We were all meant to be naturalists, each in his degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of the marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things.”
– Charlotte Mason

My family and I were privileged to enjoy this Easter study last year. We plan to enjoy parts of it again this Easter.

You can focus on the Easter story over the course of a week, a month or longer – using this ebook study in the way that best suits your family. Authors Cindy West and Melissa Leach say, “Our hope is that you will read a selection from the Bible…then get outside to find sweet signs of the Author.”

Join me at The Curriculum Choice for a review of this wonderful resource plus a giveaway of five copies!

Hands on geography is a super fun way to learn. Earlier in the school year we created an imaginary land, each child contributing to the map as we reviewed mountain ranges, peninsulas, tributaries and more.

As we got further into our Renaissance studies, one of our geography assignments was to make a salt dough map of Italy. The children had a great time forming the shape of the Italy boot with the salt dough recipe.

• Salt dough recipe (listed under unit 1)
• Cookie dough recipe (we might make next time – substituting the peanut butter for allergy friendly SunButter)

We then set aside our Italy map for a full week of drying. That day, though, we had leftover salt dough from our Italy map. We decided to just create. Saying yes to dough rolling and creating then snowballed into…

Sculpting like famous Renaissance artists. Middle Girl then sculpted some small pieces of art work in Michelangelo fashion. Small art pieces then led to an artist display board…

She taped the finished, painted product to a Famous Artists display board she created for an arts and activities assignment. That small display board I found at Walmart while shopping for groceries. I got a stack of them to be ready.

The self portrait was also a Tapestry assignment. We used these instructions found on Pinterest.

After a week, we got out the tempura paints and painted. Some painted the land…

Some painted the ocean…

Some painted in their own way. Do you see how this unit study approach involves the whole family? Gives everyone a chance to learn together? Leaves room for spontaneity?

Younger ones are joining in playing with dough, painting, looking at maps to shape Italy.

During this time of our Tapestry studies, our two eldest children read their literature and history books and worked on drafts of written book reports on artists. Over the course of a couple of weeks, they completed persuasive writing assignments and commentaries.

Here’s what is going on in the photo above:

• Draw Squad lesson (taught by older brother)
• Harmony Fine Arts plans – composer and artist study
• all complementary to our Tapestry studies

A hands on geography assignment that led to more layers and levels of unit studies. Hands on art and just plain fun.

We’ve been contemplating the Ws of winter nature study. These bits of nature study we enjoyed here and there over the last two weeks. Some spontaneous, some purposeful.

• Weather: a wide range of temps from spring-like to the arctic blast of this past weekend. We had lows in the teens!
• Walks: taken in our backyard and over across street to the park with friends.
• Wonder of weeds: wow, how quickly it seems weeds move into our garden over the winter.
• Wool: we enjoyed YouTube videos of how wool is made. Six-year-old sketched a sheep from the Draw, Write Now book. We also wore warm wool caps out in the winter wind 

One of our nature walks was a Friday afternoon treat with friends at the park. We went down a trail and got to see some horses. One horse was really big! Plus, this was the farthest Lil’ Buddy had walked in his four years. All the way from the house to the park, down the trail and back.

Going to the woods is going home ~ John Muir

Found in the backyard: weeds in our square foot garden, weeds underneath the birdfeeder, blossoms on the little maple tree, vinca blooming.

We made a valentine for our featured friends!

We’ve also noticed beetles and ants. The ants, we observed for a couple of days last month, the children even feeding them sugar cubes. Just yesterday, we noticed ants in the house after a really cold snap. I think they were finding shelter from arctic air.

We learned more by sketching, researching and thinking on what we’d seen. Seventh grader, above, using the advanced notebook pages from the More Nature Study with the Outdoor Hour Challenge ebook. He researched the difference between annuals, perennials and biennials – filling the whole page. We all talked about examples from our yard from each of those categories.

More sketching amongst the Valentines…

Hard to believe that this time last year we had snow! We’ve only seen a few flakes this year.

All our sketches and notebook pages. I love the variation. Each child chose something different. As I’ve mentioned before, the variety of notebook pages and nature prompts are perfect for our age range of children – from the youngest to the oldest.

We even made it outside one cold, wintry night just long enough to soak up the view of the big, beautiful moon.

Wonderful winter with plenty to notice through walks and wondering.

Dear friends on Twitter,

Please consider this your personal invitation to join the BEECH Twitter party! For fun and prizes:

• homeschool planners
• homeschool curriculum
• blogging guides
• a complete blog design package

I will be in Florida at the BEECH mini-conference later this week. I’ll be tweeting along with some wonderful ladies there. Won’t you join us digitally at the party Thursday night?

• Who? All homeschool bloggers
• What? BEECH Twitter party
• Where? Twitter hashtag #BEECHcon
• When? This Thursday night, February 16, 9:00- 10:00 EST
• Why?  To win some really great prizes (sponsors listed below).

Pre-party prize! But even before Thursday, you can win a pre-party prize by posting a picture of what encourages you in your homeschool journey on The BEECH Conference Facebook page wall:

You all know that homeschooling is a journey with plenty of ups and downs. Some days you feel confident, and other days you feel like you have no clue what you are doing or why you started this homeschool journey in the first place. That’s when you need encouragement! We’d like to see what encourages you in your homeschool adventure. Your encouragement might come from a person, an object, or a special place. Whatever it is, submit a picture of your source of encouragement on the #BEECHCon Facebook page for a pre-Twitter party prize entry – a $50 gift certificate to Hearts at Home.

*All entries must be submitted by 8:30p.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 16th. The winner will be selected at the start of the party, and you need to be there to claim your prize. So plan to join us on Thursday, Feb. 16th at 9:00p EST.

BEECH – Blogging to Encourage and Equip Christian Homeschoolers

Twitter Party Prizes sponsored by:

MomComm.com @MelACulbertson
Notebooking Fairy @jimmiescollage
Homeschool Creations @jolantheerb
Hearts at Home @homeschoolsale
Borsa Bella @borsabellabags
Honeycomb Design Studio @sunflowermommie
Home Educating Family @homeschoolconv
Founder’s Academy @FoundersAcademy
Bright Ideas Press @BrightIdeasTeam

and more! Plus, there will also be a grand prize of $100 gift card…

• Keep up with all The BEECH Conference news on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter. Don’t miss any of the BEECH!

Hope to ‘see’ you there!

Rest…

Writing practice…

Learning…

Play…

Helping hands…

Caring…

Gentleness…

and generations of hands…

Great-grandmother’s hands of love holding generations…

What do your hands say? Counting the gifts of all we can do with our hands…

• hugs, pats
• artwork and pictures made by little hands at church
• handmade Valentines showing lots of love

• love notes written by six-year-old hand
• a weekend of staying warm by the fire
• From Friday night: Knowing two girls are having the best time with friends, driving-around-town date night with my man, back to hear a boy say, “Mama, I’m gonna run as fast as I can!” Tucking in a girl singing, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.”
• Blessed. Indeed, I am.

…We lift our voices, we lift our hands. We lift our lives up to You, We are an offering. Lord use our voices, Lord use our hands. Lord use our lives..

Counting gifts 2979-2992.

Sometimes the simplest is the best and most filling for Sunday. Like spaghetti! Try some elbow macaroni to dress it up a bit. (This was Nana’s idea one Sunday). Add a side of garlic bread. Maybe a salad. Just boil your noodles up the day before. If you’ve cooked your ground turkey or ground beef in the slow cooker, just pull it out and microwave.

Add your favorite sauce. And enjoy!

For more Sunday lunch ideas – that can be enjoyed any day of the week, see the other recipes posted here in the Fast Food for Slow Sundays category or Fast Food for Slow Sundays at Habits for a Happy Home.

Former, wonderful, overflowing and overused bookcase in our most central location.

My husband and I have been blessed with hand-me-down furniture. There is just an abundance of pieces on my side of the family. And, in the almost seventeen years of our marriage, this furniture has served us well. However, never, in the past, has this furniture had to bear the abuse of five children – home most of the time, homeschooling

So, over a series of posts, I will share how we have replaced key pieces. Bit by bit in a frugal fashion, paying cash. (Yes, there have been many eat-from-the-pantry and beans and rice type meal plans around here!) We have replaced furniture mostly from my favorite store, IKEA.

(Yes, we’ve had date nights at that store, walking around and oooing and aaahing at organization. Plus it was nice to drive through Atlanta at night and take in the lights of the city).

Though we have a classroom, the kitchen table still sees much learning action. Lil’ Buddy can have his mid-morning snack there while I help Littlest Girl with her handwriting. We practice our ‘One More Thing After Lunch‘ helpful habit daily there. This bookcase is situated right next to our kitchen table and in the corner of our family room.

The family room is the spot my older two children like to complete the majority of their homeschooling. (See the former bookcase in the background?) So, this is indeed the most used bookcase. Now, meet the IKEA expedit.

The bookcase in this spot has housed:

• All nature-related items. Handbook of Nature Study, field guides, nature journals and notebooks
• Science texts
• English from the Roots Up

Now that we have replaced this bookcase and it has baskets, I have storage for:

• my binder of homeschool attendance and my, ahem, stacks
• field lenses, binoculars, stacks of papers yet to be filed
• the handy, dandy three hole punch – We can pull it out and punch right there at the kitchen table!

And, following cues from magazines, I arranged our resources by color. I think it has a soothing effect. Maybe? (Imagine the noise in the background from an age range of children from four to 14).

My husband put this new bookcase together, as is IKEA fashion. The former bookcase was re-purposed in a child’s room – complete with two of those fabric cubes for storage. In future weeks I’ll share more in a series of our frugal homeschool makeover. You might like to see last week’s workboxes update?

Now for highlights from this week:

Tapestry of Grace: Having been inspired by our reading of I, Juan Pareja, Middle Girl is working on another famous artists display board. All I have to do is keep her supplied with display boards! This is definitely the way she learns best – by doing, making and creating!

This middle school boy wrote more than he ever has during nature study. Thanks to those advanced student notebook pages. In other nature study news, we searched for winter weeds on a walk and shared a valentine with our backyard birds.

The two youngest children took turns being under the weather this week. Some virus has passed through all but one over the last two weeks. Big brother kept little sister company by completing his math on the family room couch.

The two drama troupe girls worked on their character sketches for The Jungle Book play they are participating in.

And, Kindergartener completed the famous measuring of colored water for math! Blue and yellow make green! (Plus you might notice that lost tooth – both girls, above lost a tooth on the same night).

And the Hodgepodge collage, telling the rest of the story:

1. A Valentine feeder for the birds! | 2. Mixed Media Heart Collage | 3. Sick boy taking a big nap | 4. Eighth grader was here | 5. Big batches of Italian Stuffed Shells tucked in the freezer for our Valentine supper | 6. Sketch Tuesday – Something in New York | 7. Living math and language with a bunch of games | 8. We finished our Tapestry reading – I, Juan Pareja | 9. Unexpected gift by 6yo | 10. Batches of homemade cookie dough balls | 11. Signs of spring | 12. A train race | 13. Measuring colored water for Saxon K Math | 14. This week’s FIAR selection – Madeline | 15. Two girls lost teeth the same night! | 16. An early Valentine to all of us from Hodgepodgedad – beating heart kit from Radio Shack | 17. Skyping Grandma and Grandpa | 18. Valentines in the mail from great-grandmother, Mama Ann! | 19. BEECH mini-conference and Twitter Party next week! | 20. Angles – 4th grader’s Teaching Textbooks | 21. Study of electricity – lightning with Answers in Genesis Science: Heat and Energy

Many thanks to our Friday hostesses…Camera Phone Friday hostess Dawn Camp @ My Home Sweet Home ,

Weekly Wrap-Up hostess Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and

Mary at Home Grown Learners

Be sure and check out the BEECH conference and join us for a Twitter party next Thursday, February 16 at 9pm EST, hashtag #BEECHcon.

(I’ll be tweeting from a mini-conference in Florida with some wonderful homeschool ladies next week.) More details here!

Somewhere I saw this idea. A simple, heart-shaped bird feeder. Of course, we must make it. And we must make it allergy friendly!

We gathered our supplies:

• cardboard from a cereal or other box
• lard or shortening
• SunButter (or peanut butter for those non-allergic types)
• bird seed
• string

We cut out the simple heart shape. I punched a hole with the scissors and Middle Girl added the string.

Then we spread the lard over our cardboard hearts. Spread the love!

Before hand I made sure we covered the kitchen counter with tin foil for easy clean up. So, rather than have to clean out a bowl, we mixed up the SunButter and birdseed right on the tin foil. We pretended we were at Cold Stone Creamery adding mix ins to ice cream. But we were mixing up treats for the birds.

We spread the SunButter mixture on top of the lard layer. Middle Girl used her hands but I was able to spread it nicely with a knife.

Then we found the perfect spot to hang our feeders.

We do love our birds!

I scanned my Pinterest boards but could not find the source of this heart-shaped feeder inspiration. Or maybe it was the Highlights magazine in the orthodontist’s office? I’d love to give credit if anyone knows of the source. Anyway, we’re grateful for the fun it inspired. And the birds are too.

Apologia Live is a specially designed weekend retreat. A refreshing time for the homeschool mother in the trenches! An Apologia Live retreat will help you find strength for the journey!

I have the privilege of attending (and counting down the days until the weekend!) in Atlanta, March 23 – 24. I will be tweeting live from the retreat for Heart of the Matter. A very special guest speaker at Apologia Live – Atlanta is Pam Tebow.

Hop on over to Heart of the Matter and enter to win a ticket to this special event! I hope to see you in March!

What a wonderful afternoon we had making heart collages! Nana was fresh from a class with Ann Cockerill of The Red Cockerill Gallery. So, she taught us how to make a heart in the same spirit. See, in her heart collage, how the acrylics emphasize the heart, the words and the border?

There are so many possibilities with this art work. Nana’s collage was made with pieces of copied sheets of music, red tissue paper, words and Valentines. For ours, we pulled from the craft supplies we had. We didn’t have any tissue paper on hand. But we did have new construction paper we’d just purchased for making Valentines. And, I found a big bag full of scrapbook paper cubes.

We really loved Nana’s Love Makes the Heart Sing. But we also thought Bible verses would work beautifully as well. So, I printed off 1 Corinthians 13 in the Message version.

For this project you will need:

• 5×7 canvas (this is what we used. You could also use card stock or a larger canvas, as Nana did)
• tissue paper, construction paper, scrapbook paper, copied sheets of music, Valentines etc.
• modgepodge (we made a homemade version of glue mixed with water – no certain amounts)
• acrylics (we used purple and blue)
• paintbrushes
• paper towels for blotting
• smocks to cover clothing (old kitchen hand towels work well too!)

We cut out a large heart and placed it in the center of our canvas.

So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

We trimmed the Bible verses and placed them about on our canvases. We tore sheets of construction paper.

To make the modgepodge, Nana mixed water with about two tablespoons of glue. No certain amounts. Mixing it in the center of a palette. We dipped our brushes and painted the homemade modgepodge over our patchwork.

Love never gives up.

We filled our canvases anyway we liked.

Then we let them dry.

Love…Trusts God always, always looks for the best.

About an hour and a half later, we mixed up some purple on our palettes, adding just a touch of water to make the acrylic more of a ‘wash.’

We painted around the border. We emphasized our large hearts. We painted around our Bible verses. We used the paper towel to dab at the acrylics when they were too dark.

By six-year-old and 14-year-old

By nine-year-old and my heart collage

Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

• A note on acrylics: Just like pastels, acrylics will wash off your hands easily. But if the paint gets on any fabric – it is permanent! We wear a smock and cover our painting surface.
  
• Supplies needed: All details on paint, brushes, canvases and palettes are listed in Acrylics Plus Links to Tutorials.
• Print this lesson: Just click the green, ‘print-friendly’ button at the top, left of this post. You can choose to print the lesson with or without photos. By clicking the ‘remove photos’ box, you may print the text directions only.
• Looking for more free art lessons? All of Nana’s tutorials are contained in Pastels Plus Links to Tutorials (over 35) and Acrylics Plus Links to Tutorials

A fun afternoon. 1 Corinthians 13. Love makes the heart sing!

Counting the gifts of love and creating Valentines 2967 – 2979.

Love extravagantly!

I thought that we could take a break from our wonderful pastel lessons and go explore a new medium…acrylic paint!  I have painted with acrylics for many years…using them to paint wall murals, tee-shirts…the paint is a very forgiving medium.  You can make a small investment at your local craft store and get enough basic, primary colors to mix any other color or hue that your heart desires!

Acrylic Paints: Our local store is Michael’s Arts and Crafts.  I had advised the Liquitex brand of paint, but after Christmas, Liquitex was not on sale.  The Michael’s store brand, Artist’s Loft was very reasonably priced, so I purchased 7 colors of paint in 4 1/2 oz. tubes for about $2.99 each.  I am a believer in buying a BIG tube or jar for myself, but for introducing acrylics to the grandchildren, these were the best buy.  I bought yellow, red, blue…then the secondary colors of green, orange, violet and raw umber.

Paint Brushes: Then I picked out at 25-piece set of all-purpose paint brushes…big, medium and small, and tiny brushes that could be abused by children without a big expense. This set was $10.99, I believe.

Paint Palettes: Because my personal paint palette is a plastic microwave plate, I thought that I would splurge and buy a stack of disposable plastic palettes.  These can be thrown away if you like, but being super frugal, I just rinse the paint off the palettes after each use…These were $10.99 also – for a stack of 20 palettes – and you could put them on the top shelf of your dishwasher.

Canvases: Next were the canvases, I picked up 2 packages of three 5×7 flat canvases for us to try out our newest art adventure! The canvases cost $3.99 for each package.   All of the supplies were Artist’s Loft brand, or Michael’s store brand.

That is it.  For about $50.00, you have the supplies to let your imagination run with it…just think….learning how to mix colors, how to use more water to make the paint thinner…the teaching goes on and on.  I am lucky because the children are super interested in art and usually make teaching a wonderful pleasure.  Not that we don’t have “melt-downs” if a picture does not suit the little artist, but most anything can be corrected with a dab or two of more paint!

A note on acrylics: Just like pastels, acrylics will wash off your hands easily. But if the paint gets on any fabric – it is permanent! We wear a smock and cover our painting surface – usually with newspaper.

Below are our acrylic tutorials. Enjoy!

•  Cupcake

• Heart Collage: Mixed Media Acrylic

Meatloaf can easily be baked on a Saturday then warmed when you walk in the door from church…

Often I need to modify a good, old, basic recipe due to the children’s allergies. Meatloaf is no exception. Now, I could add in egg substitute. But I’ve found that meatloaf is every bit as tasty, sans egg. How does the loaf not crumble, you ask?
The key to leaving out the egg is the bread crumbs. They help hold the meatloaf together. As does mixing the ingredients by hand.
Every once in a while we buy ground beef. Usually we stick to ground turkey but beef is a treat every few months. This being the month.

So, since I am faced with the blessing of five pounds of ground beef from the warehouse club, meatloaf went on the menu. As did meatballs.

If you are fortunate enough to have leftovers, have a meatloaf sandwich for lunch the next day. Just slather some mayonnaise on one piece of bread.

A manly meal to have on your pink birthday plate
For more Sunday lunch ideas – that can be enjoyed any day of the week, see the other recipes posted here in the Fast Food for Slow Sundays category or Fast Food for Slow Sundays at Habits for a Happy Home.

What’s your favorite way to fix meatloaf?

I thought it was about time for an update on the Hodgepodge workboxes! As with all aspects of homeschooling now and then, our workboxes needed a makeover. See, I was quite taken with workboxes about this time two years ago. I still, very much, appreciate their usefulness. When my friend Angie first introduced me to them, they were perfect for our Winter Olympics unit study. And, they worked so well for our Tapestry studies. (How Tapestry fit into workboxes here)

But, since that time we have fallen into a different happy routine with workboxes. The older two children, 7th and 8th grade, use a few workboxes for storage. Mostly, their books have found places on the shelves in our family room. The younger three do use workboxes. Here’s how:

For Kindergartener and four-year-old, our basic workboxes remain the same. We just rotate the order. The workboxes make a nice visual for each activity/subject I do with our youngest two. And, let’s face it, they are great storage. All of Saxon K in one spot. All the math manipulatives in one workbox.

Middle Girl just spent time this last week updating her workboxes. She rearranged all her subjects in the order she likes to complete them. She stacked her supplies in the order she needs them. She got rid of most of them. And she chose just a few.

Then she turned her largest workbox around so that she could see the spines of all her books through the clear plastic container. She also created a craft basket (her craft supplies tend to get scattered – to put it mildly). So far, she’s really liked the arrangement.

A few highlights from this week…the younger two had a wonderful time with and kept going back to Boggle Jr. I love the blur of those spinning hands. These are the happy times of homeschooling I just want to linger over.

We had a stellar handwriting week. So much so we had to create a Handwriting Hall of Fame!

We finished some Tapestry of Grace readings this week. History and literature. It’s always a bit sad when a good book is finished. But satisfying at the same time. We have so enjoyed learning about Renaissance artists. (and I like how the book cover sort of matches the chair )

We enjoyed a nature study of sheep with the Outdoor Hour Challenges plus had plenty of outdoor time. Hodgepodgedad and I are getting back into our routine of late evening walks in the neighborhood as well.

Here’s one giant collage to wrap up the rest of our week. Always a Hodgepodge…

1. The menu my two littlest girls created for supper one night | 2. No Stress Chess at the start of the day | 3. Just a closer walk with Thee, Grant it Jesus is my plea…| 4. Love the action in this illustration of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (reading this with the younger two as our FIAR selection) | 5. Studying sheep with Outdoor Hour Challenges – using Draw, Write Now | 6. Confusative Case – love what fun we have with Visual Latin | 7. Even I enjoyed some exercise with Club Penguin Dance Off | 8. Teddy Bear tea party | 9. Studying Haydn with Harmony Fine Arts Plans | 10. Groundhog Day fun!  | 11. Enjoying some swangin’ – Thanks Big Sis for the push! | 12. Slow Cooker Batch cooking ground turkey – it’s the Super Supper Saver

We also made little groundhog snacks with crushed Oreos and Nilla Wafers – aren’t they cute? (Thanks to Phyllis for that Pinterest find!) We took the opportunity to pull out our First Field Guide: Mammals and learn about groundhogs. We imagined what their whistle sounds like. Of course, there were plenty of children volunteering whistles…

Oh! And Nana brought us our first in a series of acrylic paint tutorials. Photos and narration by Middle Girl! Who can resist a cupcake?

Many thanks to our Friday hostesses…Camera Phone Friday hostess Dawn Camp @ My Home Sweet Home ,

Weekly Wrap-Up hostess Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and

Mary at Home Grown Learners

This lesson is narrated by Middle Girl. Both Nana and Middle Girl took the photos for this tutorial…
This is a little different from our usual chalk pastels!  Last weekend Nana surprised my younger sister and I with an acrylic paint lesson!  She spent a little time explaining to us about the paints, brushes and the importance of LISTENING!

We decided that we would paint a cupcake, and picked our colors of paint: white, purple, dark brown, red, yellow and orange.  Our brushes were medium-sized, not big brushes.  We had these neat plastic palettes with little sort of bowls for the paint and a space in the very middle for a bit of water. The canvas was a flat 5×7 size.

Nana drew the outline of the whole cupcake with a blue pastel.  Then we mixed a tiny bit of dark brown and white to make the cupcake paper liner.

Brush the paint on with an up and down motion until the cupcake liner area is covered.

~Please note: We rinsed the color off our brushes each time we used a new color~

We thought that we should show that the cupcake was in a paper liner by painting thin dark brown lines up and down the liner.

Then we mixed a tiny bit of red and white to the color of pink that we liked and painted yummy pink frosting on the top of the cupcake.  Be sure to let the frosting drip over the edge a little to make it look realistic!

Next came the candle…one slender red line on the top of the cupcake, then we brushed on a bit of orange on one side of the candle to show where the light is coming from.  An oval shaped flame painted on top of the candle with a tiny bit of orange to show the hot flame was all we needed to finish our treat!

You can paint a background if you like; I suggest a beautiful purple table to put your cupcake on, and the background behind the cupcake was painted orange.

You can’t have a cupcake without sprinkles, so we put red, orange, yellow, purple and dark brown sprinkles on top.

Nana suggested some white accents on the edges of our cupcake, and some shadow in purple paint behind the cupcake to make it stand out.  This lesson made us hungry to eat cupcakes and it was really great fun!!

• A note on acrylics: Just like pastels, acrylics will wash off your hands easily. But if the paint gets on any fabric – it is permanent! We wear a smock and cover our painting surface.
  
• Supplies needed: All details on paint, brushes, canvases and palettes are listed in Acrylics Plus Links to Tutorials.
• Print this lesson: Just click the green, ‘print-friendly’ button at the top, left of this post. You can choose to print the lesson with or without photos. By clicking the ‘remove photos’ box, you may print the text directions only.
• Looking for more free art lessons? All of Nana’s tutorials are contained in Pastels Plus Links to Tutorials (over 35) and Acrylics Plus Links to Tutorials

I hope you enjoyed our first acrylics tutorial!

~The middle child of the Hodgepodge, she’s the author of the Middle Moments blog.

I feel like Pinterest is a party. See, I can breeze by all this visual inspiration and plan. I can scan through my Google Reader and pin ideas from posts. But Pinterest is a party because Pinterest is fun! Here’s how I use this virtual bulletin board.

1. Party Planning. Pinterest sure makes it easy to get ready for a party. And I love simple, few ingredient recipes…

It’s a Pinterest Party at Habits for a Happy Home this week. Our authors are sharing some favorite finds. Plus links to all their boards. Join us for the fun!

The iPad has become a teaching tool. Educational apps abound, with an amazing variety of subjects available. In the geography category, we have Stack the States by Dan Russell-Pinson.

Stack the States is both fun and educational; a game that uses some of the best mobile features – interaction and manipulation. While learning about the 50 states by answering questions about them, this app requires critical thinking skills as well. Your brainpower is tested in your ability to stack your states successfully.

Stack the States is a well thought out game that our children have trouble putting down.  I never thought I’d hear myself say, “Put away your geography work and go to bed.” Join me at The Curriculum Choice…

“But we were all ready to go and…now…we’re doomed!” ~my daughter’s response when I told her Mama was sick.

There’s just something about January and February that guarantees them. Sick days. Maybe the sickness started with one then knocked you all out despite the diligent hand washing. It’s ok. Take a sick day.

But make the most of it. Yes, with sickness, it seems the weeping and weariness abounds. Why not turn that around?

Join me at Heart of the Matter today for a tea party…

Yes, we can make Valentines. Claps, squeals. Stickers, pink and red construction paper, sharpies all mix together and little hands churn out love notes.

Littlest concentrates. An eldest boy is not too shy to make a special sentiment for a teacher at church.

Stacks of valentines are pushed aside. Glue dries. Lunch is served and dishes piled in the sink. “Can we go outside now?” “Yes,” I answer. All but one run out to play. Now’s the time to work on those last 6th grade Math problems.

Two division down I scan the backyard through the window.

Where is he?

The youngest that heads to the deepest, prickliest part of the wood. I don’t see him. I open the back door and ask the rest that are deep into a play story.

“He’s in the woods.” I don’t see him. Still don’t see him. “He was near the compost pile.”

Sure enough. He also was deep into a play story. While I divided fractions, he piled on the grass clippings.

Time for a bath, happy boy.

You too, dirty knees.

And while I scrubbed a baby head more than once, girls played piano.

And asked to bake cookies…

I said yes.

Thinking there wasn’t a reason today couldn’t be a special day. And they piled icing on.

Red icing. And many red mouths matched. And I swept.

I swept the yes of the birdseed and the yes of a sunny day…

…piled up the discarded “Rapunzel hair, Mama. It’s my Rapunzel hair.”

And eldest son calmly asks as I turn from the trash. “Why?” He’s looking above my head now.

“Why, do we still have mistletoe hanging from Christmas?”

I don’t know, son. Maybe it’s all the messes because of the yeses.

And I grin.

And let us now be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9

~from the January 2010 archives.

Counting the gifts of yeses. And yes, even the messes. Plus…

• a restful weekend.
• leftovers.
• scarves to warm necks in winter breezes.
• socked feet.
• tater tot casserole.
• friends!
• sunshine.
• jonquils and crocuses peeking out.
• toasty by a warm fire.
• homemade biscuits.
• Saltine crackers and Gatorade for those under the weather.
• looking through these photos from two years ago.
• children’s races up and down the hall before bedtime. Crashes and giggles.

Counting gifts 2952 – 2966.

Sometimes when you come in from church, you just need something to munch on right away. Or you might need a good ol’ basic dip recipe for the upcoming Super Bowl. If you already know about Rotel Cheese dip, let this serve as your reminder of this tasty and simple snack.

Serve with chips!

Every bit as good as queso. And if you decide to only use half of the Velveeta for your dip, you just may have enough left to make some very special grilled cheese sandwiches.

For more Sunday lunch ideas – that can be enjoyed any day of the week, see the other recipes posted here in the Fast Food for Slow Sundays category or Fast Food for Slow Sundays at Habits for a Happy Home.

Favorite photo of the week – on our nature walk in the backyard.

We stayed close and really got to learning this week. You know, those afternoons when all of sudden it’s time to make supper? Yep. Whew! One highlight – the two older girls tried out for the spring Drama Troupe production of The Jungle Book. Auditions included performing both a monologue and singing a capella.

In Math – more Teaching Textbooks (using our chalkboard desk to work out math problems)

One More Thing After Lunch (a helpful habit for completing a few more subjects) Here’s a few examples: 1. Answers in Genesis Science: Heat & Energy – conduction and convection | 2. Nature – we enjoyed a twig study (found an ant hill) and shared last week’s winter bird study as well | 3. an afternoon Netflix selection: Incredible Creatures that Defy Evolution | 4. The first crocus! found on the way back in from piano lesson | 5. Monarch butterflies! a giveaway of Crowe’s Nest Media DVD | 6. English from the Roots Up | Not pictured: Science/Nature – Apologia mushrooms and more flash cards.

Misc: Art Ditto – 1. matching fun with famous pieces of art | 2. Spelling with Spell Down app | 3. Making the Italian flag in pasta

Kindergartener was very busy this week: 1. Reading nursery rhymes| 2. hodge podge lodge was in her Alphaphonics lesson! | 3. A beautiful letter R | 4. and reading nursery rhymes

Tapestry/Literature/ Fine Arts – artist and composer studies – da Vinci and Handel, more reading of I, Juan Pareja and the Second Mrs. Giaconda

Nana stopped by for a different kind of pastel tutorial I think you’ll really like!

Hodgepodgedad made the week by bringing glow sticks from a conference.

General Hodgepodge: 1. Reading Highlights magazines while waiting for big sis at the orthodontist | 2. working through workboxes | 3. Littlest Girl teaching Nana how to draw a crab step by step | 4. the spread after homeschool | 5. 4th grader working on handwriting and spelling

I shared a round up of Valentine ideas earlier in the week. It will be here before we know it! Today, on a quick trip to the store for Gatorade, we picked up boxes of Valentines to address to friends. Homeschool party soon!

Helpful habits: I shared a fun little habit we enjoy, The Power of Paint with Water at Habits for a Happy Home. Plus, we spent some refresher time on our Home Rules. An article posted at Passionate Purposeful Parenting earlier in the week reminded me to pull the home rules back out. You will enjoy it too: Teach Kids to Add Energy to Family Life

We were at the store because Lil’ Buddy is under the weather. He’s feeling some better this afternoon. I’m so very grateful for health. We made it through since October without sickness. Praise the Lord!

Many thanks to our Friday hostesses…Camera Phone Friday hostess Dawn Camp @ My Home Sweet Home ,

Weekly Wrap-Up hostess Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and

Mary at Home Grown Learners

Settling in for a getting better sort of weekend. How was your week?

I really love it when my slow cooker can do the work for me. January usually means a freezer and pantry challenge, including rice and beans. So, about once a month I batch cook some beans to tuck away in the freezer. Especially in the winter months, that means navy beans.

Join me at $5 Dinners. I’m putting the slow cooker to work!

Today’s chalk pastel tutorial is in honor of a wonderful, new resource! Our friends at Crowe’s Nest Media have produced an education and beautifully God-glorifying DVD. Your Backyard: The Life and Journey of the Amazing Monarch Butterfly.

You will want to click over to The Curriculum Choice for my review and enter to win a copy! Go do it now!

Then, come back and enjoy this butterfly pastel from Nana. We watched, first hand, the metamorphosis of a gulf fritillary caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. You can even follow the basic steps from Nana then tailor the markings to match the monarch!

From the August 2010 archives…

The gulf fritillary caterpillar has captured our attention for a week now. My Aunt Mary Ann brought it to us last week on a passion vine plant when we were visiting Mama Ann. We decided we’d invest in a butterfly habitat and watch the metamorphosis.

Such fun this has been to just watch that caterpillar munching – just like in The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Practically all the leaves were gone in the two short days our new pet sat prominently on the kitchen counter.

When we got up Monday morning…

By Tuesday, the camouflage was on. “Mama! The caterpillar looks like a dried up leaf!” We spent a bit of time looking up the life cycle on Google. We figured out we have until around the 21st until the beauty appears.

Nana said she’d be glad to lead us in a pastel lesson to help shorten the wait. We opened our Butterflies and Moths field guide to this orange beauty. We noticed the details of the black ‘skirt’  and the red ‘head’.

Nana sketched the basic shape for the children to go by and she passed out colors.

We decided we’d make the pastel pictures small this time.

Just one quarter of an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper.

Depending on what type of butterfly you are creating, you will add black highlights. Plus the spots to match the picture.

Since ours was a fritillary, we added black stripes as pictured in the field guide.

Here’s where Nana shared a new technique she called, “a painterly effect.” With your chosen color you gently fill in around your subject. Turn your pastel stick on its side and tuck in your color.

12-year-old’s butterfly

But leave some white space around your pastel area. You want the effect to be soft, out of focus – a painterly effect – rather than a sharp, in focus photograph.

11-year-old’s butterfly

by eight-year-old

by four-year-old

Thank you Nana! It was a fun fritillary afternoon.

Then, it was worth the wait!

A beautiful gulf fritillary butterfly.

Enjoy!

• Print this lesson: Just click the green, ‘print-friendly’ button at the top, left of this post. You can choose to print the lesson with or without photos. By clicking the ‘remove photos’ box, you may print the text directions only.
• A note on chalk pastels: Pastels are an easy, forgiving medium. Fun for children and adults alike! Details on the pastels and paper we use, how and where to purchase, and links to all of Nana’s other pastel lessons (over 30 lessons now) are all contained in the post Pastels plus links to tutorials. A simple set is very affordable.
• The practical aspects of a mess: Pastels are blessedly messy. We always have baby wipes close by to wipe hands. We wear something we don’t mind getting stained or don a smock.

dew on backyard maple

At daybreak, I’m switching the clothes from the washer to the dryer when she comes, all excited. “Mama, have you seen the fog? The dew is glistening on the birch tree. It’s beautiful!”

Nature study in the early morning. Right after breakfast. The two of us! We step outside into the soft, muddy backyard. Recent rains have left it soppy. And we marvel at all the jewels. We clip small twigs from two backyard trees. The birch and Middle Girl’s maple tree. Then, we step into the front yard and snip a red bud twig. Three for our study after lunch.

I mention tying a piece of yarn to one twig – for further study over the next months. Middle Girl darts back out to do just that.

After lunch, we clear the table, read our science lesson, then pull out notebook pages (from the Winter Book 2 – More Nature Study ebook) and pencils. Our three twigs have been the table’s centerpiece since the morning. I appreciate this part of nature study – the sketching – because it helps us notice even more.

We dissected some buds. We also found:

• some leaf scars
• the birch has tiny, tiny buds.
• The maple has beautiful, blooming pink buds.
• The red bud – nothing.

Then we went on a backyard walk. Eldest Girl sang the song from Milo and Otis:

We’re gonna take a walk outside today…Gonna see what we can find today…

We found a curly vine and enjoyed the sunshine.

One found a twig on the ground. After snapping it and smelling it, she declared, “it’s a pine.”

Another remembered that twigs are especially good for stirring mud puddles from recent rains.

Then, all stopped when we reached an ant hill.

It was a very active mound and made for fun observation. Especially when you add a few sugar cubes and a piece of bread.

And the report, Littlest Girl announces, as of 5:20 p.m. -  “the ants have mostly finished the three sugar cubes.”

Nature adventures starting at daybreak on a Tuesday. Many thanks to Handbook of Nature Study’s Outdoor Hour Challenges.

Last Thursday we enjoyed a wonderful study of chickadees and other backyard birds. However, I got a little side-tracked and never shared because of the incident with the wiffle ball. I love the variety of birds we see at our feeder each season. The woodpeckers stop by more frequently to eat the suet we share in winter. Or at least we notice them more.

Earlier in the day, I had enjoyed the section in The Handbook of Nature Study on chickadees, all by myself. I especially liked this illustration because it shows just how well chickadees can grasp anything and perch any which a way (like in the photo at top). Plus the illustration puts their sweet little call to note.

After lunch we pulled out the Backyard BirdSong Guide and listened to the chickadee’s call.

Having completed a chickadee chalk pastel another time, we enjoyed the chickadee coloring pages provided in the More Nature Study with Outdoor Hour Challenges Winter Book 2.

We also enjoyed a beautiful new app, from BirdCage Press and Cornell University, called My Bird World.

(while watching the feeder, the children noticed a squirrel was burying an acorn. It was fun to watch)

Right after lunch is the perfect time to watch our feeder. Because it’s the birds’ lunch time too. Here are some of the birds we saw in a 20 minute span of watching through the window:

White-breasted nuthatch (with a chickadee)

red-bellied woodpecker with a yellow warbler (we saw one of these but the photo was taken another day – notice the difference in the amount of suet).

brown-headed nuthatch

and a downy woodpecker (take on same day as the red-bellied woodpecker)

Now a post on bird watching would not be complete without a mention of my Aunt Mary Ann. She recently had an overwintering hummingbird visit her feeder. The feeder she keeps on a little heater to make sure the nectar doesn’t freeze. Hummingbird sightings are not common in our area in winter.

When the hummingbird was back, Aunt Mary Ann alerted the local bander, who rushed out. But the little hummer never came back that morning. My aunt and uncle also recently went to the Georgia Coast on a birding trip. If you love birds as much as we do, you might enjoy her Flickr set.

Beautiful backyard birds! Always much to learn.

I have kept paint with water books on hand since my eldest was in the high chair. It’s a simple project to pull out.

For the littlest ones up to adults. (I still love to sit and paint a picture.) Often, painting helps beat the mid-morning fussiness or the afternoon grouchiness.

Join me at Habits for a Happy Home today…

A recent example of love..
I hear myself let loose a long, exasperated sigh as I bend down to pick up the tiny scraps of paper that litter the floor. Across the room a small voice says, “I love you Mama.”

My littlest guy keyed into my tone and he turned it around. Love does that. I could do that too. I could see all those trains scattered all around as love. As the love of a boy. I turn and say, “I love you, sweet boy.”

It’s the little things. Those that don’t cost us anything but time, that mean the most. Like…

• Girls giggling.
• Cousins playing imaginative stories.
• Roast beef all tender from the slow cooker. Mashed potatoes with sour cream.
• Biscuits at Cracker Barrel.
• Rain, pattering softly.
• A warm throw tucked over both me and smiling girl.
• The wonderful feel of Eldest Son’s buzz haircut.
• Beautiful birds at the feeder.
• Art projects, drawing, reading for Tapestry of Grace studies.
• And most certainly, answered prayer.

And so, on this gratitude Monday, I am thinking of simple things to make to show love. Those listed below are from the archives. A little inspiration…
1 Corinthians paper chain – made for my cousin’s wedding shower would be perfect to celebrate Valentine’s Day as well. An anniversary…

A paper chain you can make in any color, for any occasion.

Love Birds pastel tutorial
I *heart* homemade Valentines – make a heart garland, a Valentine supper for your sweetie and more.

Easy Valentine fudge (microwave) – a three-ingredient recipe!

The Day the Sun Arrived – SunButter Pancakes

So many fun Valentine ideas from creative folks on my Pinterest board!
Counting gifts 2939 – 2951.

…but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

Another favorite recipe we enjoy from Hillbilly Housewife. We double the amounts for our family. Click over for the recipe.

For more Sunday lunch ideas – that can be enjoyed any day of the week, see the other recipes posted here in the Fast Food for Slow Sundays category or Fast Food for Slow Sundays at Habits for a Happy Home.

YUM!

Hold your hat – it’s a real Hodgepodge this week…

Why did this girl deserve an Oreo McFlurry? Another ER visit. All because of a whiffle ball. But you won’t believe it. So I have to tell you. It was deserving of a whole ‘nother post. And was the biggest lesson we learned all week: The Accident and the Amazing Answer.

The rest of our week…

We spent some time organizing but that’s also a whole ‘nother post to come…

Some homeschool highlights: We had a really, really productive week. Middle Girl helped Littlest Girl with a hammerhead shark display board.

We enjoyed a study of chickadees for our Outdoor Hour Challenge this week.

Painting – paint with water, painting our salt dough Italy map, painting with tempura paints. (those eyelashes – oh my!)

Complimentary apps for science. Apologia Biology flash cards.

Draw Squad fun. Big brother still teaching sister.

Plus, whiffle balls and an ER visit didn’t slow her down. Middle Girl shared a duct tape bracelet tutorial last night.

A couple Hodgepodge collages of the rest of the week: 1. a whole lotta socks. | 2. an animal house for stuffed animals | 3. making homemade cookies for homeschool moms meeting | 4. another batch of homemade laundry detergent | 5. pattern trains | 6. 10 lbs of SunButter arrives! | 7. Hearts and Trees kit | 8. practicing writing her name | 9. Painting Italy – Tapestry of Grace

Plus… 1. My Bird World App from BirdCage Press | 2. O for Owl with bookish look – ABC Bunny (FIAR) | 3. Practicing our phone number and 911 | 4. Hammerhead shark helps with Saxon Math | 5. Piano practice in early morning streaming light | 6. Waving bye to Daddy as he heads to work | 7. Brothers and lap warming cat | 8. Prints arrived from Worley Arts! | 9. The offending wiffle ball

Helpful Habit: Hodgepodgedad shares the Habit of Improving. I love the story of the bell hop!

Many thanks to our Friday hostesses…Camera Phone Friday hostess Dawn Camp @ My Home Sweet Home ,

Weekly Wrap-Up hostess Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and

Mary at Home Grown Learners

Grateful for lessons learned. What did you learn this week?

Above is a cartoon version of the amazing accident we experienced yesterday. It really was a crisis at the time. A traumatic Thursday. My motherhood and faith were tested in several ways. Here’s Middle Girl with her part of the story…

I was in little brother’s room playing with him after lunch. I was playing with a wiffle ball, tossing it around. And it landed on my left pinkie finger. Here’s where I made the mistake. I pushed the wiffle ball all the way on to my finger. I was scared when I realized it was stuck.

I went and showed my mama. She suggested getting some soap and trying to pull it off. That didn’t work. So, we texted a photo to my Daddy.

He suggested soaking the finger in ice cold water to make the swelling go down. We could turn the ball in place but we could not pull it off. My mama and I were both in tears!

…Hodgepodgemom here. It was at this moment that someone came in with mud all over. I knew this was happening because the others had gone out to play. I don’t mind mud now and then but the timing was a little much. Into the bath she went, while Middle Girl and I worked on her finger at the sink. Back to Middle Girl…

That’s when I said, “We should pray.” And so we did. We asked God to help show us a way to get the wiffle ball off my finger!

After trying and trying and some more – about an hour and a half now, my finger was really, really swollen and pink. We decided to go to the ER. We arrived to a full waiting room and stood in line behind four other people.

When we got up to the desk, we showed them the stuck wiffle ball. A man behind the counter said he could get it off. He must have been a trained emergency worker. My mom said he was the triage nurse. He asked us if we wanted to save the ball. We said “NO!” So he took some scissors. They were not sharp on the ends so he wouldn’t cut me.

He cut the ball all the way off down to where the plastic was a thin ring around my finger. Then he said, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” We waited for about five minutes. My finger was HUGE!

Then he came back with one of those really small, electric saws that they use to cut off casts. He showed me how it would not cut skin by rolling it on his hand. (All of this was happening on the desk at the front – right in the waiting room).

He keep sawing at the plastic ring. It cut me a little but I was so glad to be FREE!!! After it was thin enough, he snapped it and I was free. He said, “Now I’ve saved you the emergency room wait and the charge.” (it would have been like $400 – and remember the waiting room was packed.)

No telling how long we would have been there – and how long I would have had to have that wiffle ball on my finger!)

We thanked him over and over and asked him what we could do for him. He said nothing. So we asked his co-worker if we could write down his name and send a thank you note. His name was Abe.

We’ve been calling him Abe the Angel.

When I called my Daddy, he was SOOOO glad it was off and SOOOO glad we didn’t have to pay. Afterwards, I got an Oreo McFlurry from McDonald’s.

Hodgepodgemom here. We’ve been saying thank you and singing the Lord’s praises ever since. All the way home, we stood at the thank you desk. He answered our prayer, just as He always does.

My biggest challenges yesterday? The answers?

• My child was in pain, fearing she might lose a finger. I could not help her at all. God provided a medical worker with the tools needed. We almost went to another ER.
• My practical side was sick over the impending medical bills. We’ve just finished paying off ER visits from last year – both with allergies and accidents. I envisioned big bucks and a huge long wait from the emergency room visit. The Lord paved the way. We paid nothing but our gratitude and $3 for parking.

Silly to be thankful for a wiffle ball answer? I think not.

Those weeks you think you are teaching and the children are learning history lessons, art techniques, math skills… It just may be that the Lord steps in and teaches the whole family a huge lesson in provision and a whole heap of thankfulness.

Last October, the Human Resources department where I work scheduled a leadership conference. All of the managers and directors for the organization were required to attend.

Most of the people I work with thought this would be a colossal waste of time.  There was simply too much to do to spend two days away from the office at a conference…

• Join me at Habits for a Happy Home today…
• View all my posts on habits here.

Steve is the principal of the Hodgepodge homeschool. In his spare time, he works in the information security field.

Hello again. I’m back with another duct tape tutorial. This time a quick and easy bracelet!

You will need:

• colored or printed duct tape
• scissors

Here’s the duct tape bracelet tutorial (just 50 seconds!):

You can even find Duck tape brand tape in your favorite team colors. This bracelet I embellished a little with stripes. I also cut out the Georgia G and taped it to the bracelet. There are so many ways to make duct tape bracelets!

Here’s another way to personalize your bracelet. Also a close up showing how you just use a little piece of tape to close your bracelet.

Happy bracelet and bow making! I’ll be back with braided bracelets and more.

~The middle child of the Hodgepodge, she’s the author of the Middle Moments blog.

A cozy kind of art lesson from Nana! It has been most wintry in our southern part of the country these days. So we appreciated the toasty feel of this chalk pastel.

First, gather your supplies, along with your colors.

Nana sketched off the steps for us, as shown above.

We discussed the look of brick. How the colors blend just a bit like the brick wall Nana painted in our kitchen with a stencil.

Then we sketched the basic fireplace shape.

We blended carefully with a finger, to give the art a feel of home. (Especially the black behind the warm fire). Plus, each spent some time on the fire itself. Some adding blue flames, as Nana did, some stacking their logs a little differently. Make your fireplace as cozy as you like, with the details you enjoy.

Each added their own details to the mantle. Some a vase, a photo. Littlest Girl decided she’d make her fireplace more like ours. Just a white frame around the black. You might want to study your fireplace and add your favorite things. Even stockings!

Our orange marmalade kitty loves when we build a warm fire. So he was added to the hearth. (Notice how the glow of the fireplace is on his side closest to the fire. Just a touch of white).

The results! Top left – 14yo; Top right, 12yo; Bottom left, 9yo; Bottom right, 6yo

Bonus: Maybe another time, you might enjoy a Mug of Hot Chocolate pastel lesson for warm winter fun!

Enjoy!

• Print this lesson: Just click the green, ‘print-friendly’ button at the top, left of this post. You can choose to print the lesson with or without photos. By clicking the ‘remove photos’ box, you may print the text directions only.
• A note on chalk pastels: Pastels are an easy, forgiving medium. Fun for children and adults alike! Details on the pastels and paper we use, how and where to purchase, and links to all of Nana’s other pastel lessons (over 30 lessons now) are all contained in the post Pastels plus links to tutorials. A simple set is very affordable.
• The practical aspects of a mess: Pastels are blessedly messy. We always have baby wipes close by to wipe hands. We wear something we don’t mind getting stained or don a smock.

Four epipens go everywhere with the seven of us. We have two children allergic to nuts. One would go into anaphylactic shock if eggs touched his lips.

Yet, there is so much food my children can have. Can enjoy. Yes, this allergy-friendly living takes a bit more planning but any good thing does. Yes, foods that are safe for my children can sometimes be expensive but they don’t have to be.

We thrive in an allergy-friendly world. Not only because of pediatric allergists and parents on high alert but because of our choices and attitudes.

We’re sharing our story at Food Allergies on a Budget today! Won’t you join us over there?

On this gratitude Monday, I find myself grateful for health. Today I share the story of how we found out about the younger children’s allergies. A bit of our recent history – with food allergies in the last four years. See, just when we thought we knew what we were dealing with, we found ourselves right back at continuing education. Always learning. Isn’t that part of our job as parents? We knew about youngest boy’s egg and peanut allergies. But, we had no idea about youngest girl. The photo below, all smiles, was taken in the morning. I share what happened later that night, from the Hodgepodge archives…
This photo, from July 2009,  will always remind me of a huge event. Besides being our annual first day of school photo, what I remember most when I see this photo is the events of that evening. Forever I will be reminded of how, just in an instant, a child can be in a very dangerous condition.

The youngest girl, sitting there smiling by the blue hydrangea blossom, had a terrible reaction to her dessert treat – the brownie topped with walnuts. She plopped down at the restaurant table. She scraped the chocolate icing off the top. Always one to get the biggest scoop of icing – complete with walnuts.

Lil’ Buddy was letting everyone know he was ready to go. We all went into quick departure mode and loaded into the van. Hodgepodgedad said later that she had immediately started coughing when she put those walnuts in her mouth. As we got to the stop light just yards from the restaurant, youngest girl said her throat didn’t feel right. She had hives around her mouth.

On my friend Carol’s advice, I always carry the melt-away Benadryl strips. We were able to get part of the last strip we had in her mouth with a sip of peach milkshake. By the time we got home she was itching terribly and showing all the signs of anaphylaxis. A teaspoon of liquid Benadryl later and still she was not well. I was ready to administer baby brother’s epipen.

After one more teaspoon of Benadryl and a phone call to the pediatrician on call – we headed to the closest ER.

We already carried a set of epipens for younger brother. We found out about Lil’ Buddy’s allergies the year before. He had experienced terrible skin rashes in the spring of 2008. After blood testing, when he was less than six months old, we discovered he was allergic to eggs and peanuts.

On the way to the emergency room, she started singing and her hives had subsided a bit. When she saw the fire trucks and flashing lights outside the hospital, she decided, “this is fun!” The Benadryl was doing its job. The ER pediatrician said we did exactly what we should have giving her the melt-away strip and liquid Benadryl. He agreed that if we were not already educated because of little brother, it could have been much different.

After a few days on Benadryl and parents settling into more continuing education, all was cool with Littlest Girl.

However, at a follow up visit with the pediatric allergist, the doctor said that any sort of respiratory reaction, like our daughter had experienced after eating the walnuts, immediately calls for administering an epipen. We were carrying an epipen for younger brother but had no idea our daughter was also allergic to tree nuts.

Prescribed: Benadryl every six hours for three days. One two-pack of Epipen Jr. Avoid all tree nuts and peanuts. Full allergy food panel revealed allergy to walnuts.

Diagnosis for family: Forever grateful

You gave me life and showed me Your unfailing love. My life was preserved by Your care. Job 10:12

We chronicle the trials and triumphs of toting epipens in allergy-friendly living.

Counting gifts 2931 – 2938. Plus…

• my Eldest Girl, back from Disciple Now weekend with a renewed passion and excitement for the Lord.
• organization, baskets, and a place for things.
• Littlest Girl’s lost front tooth.

Later this week, we will share triumphs with allergy-friendly living at a new site launched by $5 Dinner Mom, Erin Chase. Look for us at Food Allergies on a Budget. Be sure to stop by and read Erin’s story and check out all the wonderful resources available at this new site! Even if you don’t deal with allergies in your family, I hope you’ll find our frugal ways helpful.

Tater Tot Casserole is a nice, filling meal for Sunday dinner. Just pull your cooked ground turkey or ground beef from the freezer. (The meat you already cooked in the slow cooker after your trip to the store). If you assemble the night before, wait to add the tater tots until right before you put it in the oven. This recipe is simple enough to put together as you walk in the door.

We adopted this recipe from the Duggar family. They say this is Jim Bob’s favorite meal. Perfect if you are feeding a crowd as it makes two 9×13 pans. If you are serving just your family, you can cut the recipe in half.

• Click over to the Duggar site for the recipe.

For more Sunday lunch ideas – that can be enjoyed any day of the week, see the other recipes posted here in the Fast Food for Slow Sundays category or Fast Food for Slow Sundays at Habits for a Happy Home.

Making a salt dough map of Italy as part of our Tapestry of Grace geography studies.

This was another one of those weeks when the layers and levels of unit studies were the highlight of our homeschool. There were many subjects that we enjoyed together – all ages. Plus several subjects that overlapped and complimented nicely. I love it when that happens – which is often with Tapestry of Grace. So, this week, I’ll share in that fashion.

Lately the older two children have been sitting side by side to complete their math lessons. Each helping each other with fractions and decimals.

Math: 1. K sorting. | 2. 4th Grade Teaching Textbooks. | 3. Ordinal position and telling time.

Nature: 1. The cool front moving in. | 2. Winter wonder and weather walk. | 3. I love it when nature/weather and Five in Row literature overlap. Reading Robert Frost’s Stopping By the Woods on a Snowy Evening. | 4. A new game! Go Fish Sea Creatures – beautiful!

Science: We all studied nuclear energy together in our AiG Heat & Energy. The two older children learned more about bacteria in Apologia Biology – specifically making cheese.

When we had leftover salt dough from our Italy map, we decided to just create. Middle Girl then sculpted some small pieces of art work in Michelangelo fashion. She taped the finished, painted product to a Famous Artists display board she created for an arts and activities assignment.

Tapestry of Grace and Harmony Fine Arts overlapped quite a bit this week. I love those layers and levels of unit study! In addition to listening to Handel, we…1. Made a salt dough map of Italy. |2. Famous Renaissance artists display board. | 3. Big brother taught Draw Squad. | 4. Sketch Tuesday – something with a bar code – SunButter | 5. Self portrait

Famous Artists display board – a mini board we found a Walmart. Designed and decorated by Middle Girl. A Tapestry of Grace arts and activities assignment after learning about da Vinci and Michelangelo. We also colored the Mona Lisa coloring page as part of our Harmony Fine Arts studies.

And it wouldn’t be complete without a hodgepodge: 1. Littlest asleep on a run to the library | 2. I like that party hat Zhu Zhu pet! | 3. Trains making several rounds early in the morning. | 4. My Bird World App – beautiful! | 5. Angry bird fruit snacks! | 6. Video tutorial of duct tape bows. | 7. Review of More Than Maple Syrup + a Giveaway of a copy | 8. lots of snowflakes for my 4yo choir

And today’s helpful habit is an answer to a friend’s question: When Do You Write?

Many thanks to our Friday hostesses…Camera Phone Friday hostess Dawn Camp @ My Home Sweet Home ,

Weekly Wrap-Up hostess Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and

Mary at Home Grown Learners

So, everybody has Italy on their kitchen counter, right?

In the shower.

While I’m driving.

Late at night.

At the crack of dawn.

During afternoon quiet time.

On a family walk.

In batches on a Saturday morning.

A Hodgepodge of writing? With a busy, homeschooling household there really are no long, quiet stretches of writing time. I have to carve them out. Or snatch them now and then. I have to make the time because it is something I enjoy. I do find it ironic that a post answering my friend’s question When do you write? was the hardest for me to find the time to write. But the basic answer is this: similar to my online time, I write in spurts.

I store all my lists in Evernote. And yes, my Skype is updating

Storing Ideas for Later: I have my most inspirational ideas in the shower and while driving. I promise. Because of that, I keep my phone handy. When I can get to it, I dump those ideas into my Evernote blog note – when I am safely to that piano lesson or drama troupe meeting. I can type in writing ideas right into Evernote. Hodgepodgedad shared a review of Evernote – how often we use it and how much we depend on it for grocery shopping and even the allergy-safe list for the Chickfila drive thru.

I have various notepads close by – on my bedside table, the end table beside the couch. No end table is complete without some favorite devotionals, books and a finger puppet hammerhead shark.

Quality writing time: is usually early in the morning, after quiet time and before children are awake. Sometimes half an hour is all I need. Same for late at night after children are tucked in. Though I’m more a morning person and do my best writing then. Occasionally, if everyone is truly occupied and settled into Afternoon Quiet Time, I can do a little writing then. I drafted this post during afternoon quiet time, added photos another evening and then edited one early morning. Early morning, afternoon quiet time and late evening are also good times for polishing and editing posts for the current week. Just a fresh eye and less than 10 minutes.

Batch writing: for the other sites I contribute to, I usually designate a Saturday morning to a batch writing session. Once again, I am up before everyone else and get a bit more time since everyone is usually sleeping in. Plus, Daddy is home and after breakfast I can get in a little more writing time. I settle down in our comfortable music room chair and I pull those ideas I had from my Evernote and build blog posts. I am within ear shot and can help younger children as needed.

Organizing photos for posts: It is one of my joys to photograph the regular parts of our days, the curriculum we are currently enjoying, the recipe we just made. So, as I pull those in to iPhoto, I put photos in the folder created for The Curriculum Choice, Habits for a Happy Home, $5 Dinners and Heart of the Matter. So, on those Saturday morning batch writing sessions, all I have to do is click and upload. No time wasted scrolling through to find photos.

Balancing: My husband and I enjoy our times together working on our sites. But we do make a point of some tech free time. And we are blessed with weekly date nights. Yes, Nana teaches pastels and gives us the gift of a date night.

Writing with children: Occasionally, the older three children share a blog post here. That is always some fun writing time together. And, often, it counts for learning time too!

I really enjoy writing, editing and photographing.

How about you? How do you keep track of ideas? Find the time for writing?

Winter wonder and weather walk. We were wet. I love alliteration. And we love nature study.

For this start to our winter nature studies, we discussed and filled in the answers to the Winter Wonder questions from the Handbook of Nature Study ebook. We did this on one printed sheet, as a family, during lunch. This was a fine ‘official’ start to our winter studies. List three questions about the winter challenges you would like to answer. We wondered:

• Can we get some pansies for our yard? Yes!
• What are the differences in the different, regional chickadees?
• Do sheep eat mayonnaise? (someone spotted the mayo on the table during lunch and was being silly)

Also, list three different activities you would like to do during the winter season:

• Play in the snow, have a snowball fight, build a snowman (we had a wonderful couple of southern snowstorms last year.)
• Roll down a mountain (!)
• Go to the park across the street, Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park and walk on the trails

On this afternoon we stayed right in our own backyard. With recent warm weather and several passing thunderstorms (yes, in January), we had plenty to explore out our back door. Two of the children went out ahead of the others for a silent walk. (Still some red leaves, as Eldest Girl found, above).

The rest chose the winter weather observation notebook pages. Isn’t it nice that this OHC More Nature Study – Winter Book 2 offers such a variety of suggestions and notebook pages to appeal to the age range?

There were spots of green, dandelions…

breezes that made us smile…(feel the wind on your face – suggestion from January Newsletter Study Grid)

…and, of course, the results of rain for trucks to explore…

Back inside, clothes soaking and shoes by the backdoor, we sketched our findings.

Our results. One used a dandelion as a Sketch Tuesday entry for ‘something yellow.’

I appreciate how nature study can easily be combined with other subjects, enriching and spreading to other areas of our studies. Earlier in the day we had enjoyed Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. We remembered the animals hidden in the illustrations in the woods. And we watched for maybe a sighting of a chipmunk in our backyard.

The next morning, six-year-old and I enjoyed a wonderful discussion while she colored the winter animals coloring page. She decided the page definitely needed a worm. Then she decided that God must have made worms pink so that girls would like them too.

A little time outdoors, an appreciation of weather and nature. Many thanks to Barb-Harmony Art Mom at Handbook of Nature Study.

Hello. Some of my mama’s friends on Facebook saw a picture of my big stack of duck tape. And they wondered what I did with all of it. So, today, I’m going to tell you what I do with it. And I’ll do it with a video tutorial.

I make everything with the duck tape brand duct tape. Scroll down to see the video.

You will need:

• printed duck tape – two different colors/prints
• scissors
• bobby pin

If you subscribe in a reader, you may need to click over to the site to view the video tutorial:

In future tutorials, I will show you how to make a duck tape bracelet and a braided duck tape bracelet. I’d love to see pictures of your finished bows. You can send them to me by clicking the little mail icon in the top right hand corner of our site – under ‘Find us Here…’ I will include your photos in a future post.

~The middle child of the Hodgepodge, she’s the author of the Middle Moments blog.

When there is someone with amazing talent in your midst, you can’t help but share. Maybe since I’ve grown up with her paintings, her artistic touches, I might have taken her gifts for granted.
These gifts she has. Being able to look at something and copy it with her artist’s eye. To see it and translate it to another piece of paper.
The ability to see something in real life. To capture it in your mind. To transfer that love and bring it to life in vivid color. She does it. Beautifully.
Elegantly.
Sweetly.

Not only have her paintings adorned elementary school walls and children’s hospital wings, they’ve been the spotlight of each of my nurseries. The extra touch in a grandchild’s room.
Now she captures a grandchild for always. Her medium is pastels.

Her treasures adorn my walls all around.
The Master is using this artist. He’s highlighting her gifts.

Through flowers and clouds.

I get to witness it all. Every day on my walls.

And I just can’t be quiet anymore. My mother is a Master Artist. The Master’s artist. The Master is tapping those talents He gave.

I get to soak up the beautiful painter’s palette. We get to learn from her as she shares her gifts in lessons. Thank you, Nana.

From the archives, in honor of Nana. Counting the gifts of a talented Mama plus…

• arts and crafts kits to keep Middle Girl busy and spark creativity
• Friday night date with hubby enjoying soup and a warm bread bowl
• time with cousins on a Saturday
• eating a pimento cheese sandwich with Mama Ann while watching birds at her feeder
• Aunt Mary Ann being led around by Lil’ Buddy
• rainy afternoon and cozy inside
• our church family
• texts from a friend across the country
• getting back into a regular routine
• giggling siblings
• big sister fixing younger sister’s hair
• stacks of duck tape
• stacks of clean, folded clothes
• library books on the mantle
• Nana’s squash casserole with Sunday lunch
• a foggy, evening walk

What talents and gifts are all around you?

This time of year always calls for a little comfort food. Slow cooker and easy is best!

—–> This recipe by $5 Dinners is called Slow Cooker Chicken and Cornbread Dumplings.

You can make it with refrigerator canned biscuits and it turns out like chicken pot pie. So simple for Sunday lunch. You might even have the ingredients on hand.

How about some some dessert with that, like Nana’s Old Fashioned Peach Cobbler?

For more Sunday lunch ideas – that can be enjoyed any day of the week, see the other recipes posted in the Fast Food for Slow Sundays category or click over to Fast Food for Slow Sundays at Habits for a Happy Home.

What’s simmering in your slow cooker?

Celebrated! Went places! 1. Counting down to the new year when we were back from a party with friends. | 2. New Year’s cake by Middle Girl | 3. Black-eyed peas and greens at Nana’s | 4. Headed to a cousin’s birthday party. There’s the golden capitol dome | 5. BD party at an inflatables place | 6. The replacement ‘You are Special Today’ plate. A Christmas gift from Nana
Got organized! Hodgepodgedad said he was going to the grocery store but sent me a message from here.

This was the week of back to school. We eased into it because Hodgepodgedad was still home with us on Monday. And because when you haven’t been doing a full schedule of school it wears a Mama out to jump right back in. Still, we managed a pretty good amount of learning.

Tapestry of Grace is lining up with our Harmony Fine Arts studies. We are heading into weeks rich in Renaissance artists and composers. We’ve been reading I, Juan de Pareja at bedtime. Our dialectic level students are reading the Second Mrs. Giaconda. Writing: Eldest Girl is learning how to write an editorial. Middle Girl was also excited to receive her first letter from her pen pal this week!

We had hoped to make a salt map of Italy but will look forward to that maybe next week. So…

Geography! this week was all about Stack the States.

Homeschool Lunch! Before we started our Answers in Genesis Heat and Energy studies we decided to celebrate completing our Human Body studies. We did this by making this really cute veggie skeleton I found on Pinterest. How’s that for a homeschool lunch? The eldest two children are continuing in their Apologia Biology studies, as well. This week they studied bacteria.

Math! Three of our children are right back into Teaching Textbooks. While one was scoring over 100 in Math, others needed a little help from Hodgepodgedad in the evenings.

Nana stopped by for a pastel lesson (toasty warm tutorial coming soon).

Art, Handicrafts, Nature! And Middle Girl had the best time with the new Hearts and Trees winter kit. “This is soooo cooool!” I heard over and over. The butterfly handicraft included was perfect to enjoy the day after we’d watched the new Crowe’s Nest Media DVD, Your Backyard: Monarch Butterflies.

The younger set stayed busy all around. Lil’ Buddy said, “Look Mama! I built Nana’s work! Her golden work!” Our field trip to visit Nana at the Georgia capitol (under the golden dome) made a big impression on him. Meanwhile, Littlest Girl got back into her Saxon Math K routine, practicing counting pennies with her math pocket.

Here’s the rest of the Hodgepodge week:

1. Someone needed a little sparkle in her scalp – still working on getting that out! | 2. the newest Your Backyard DVD! | 3. Building Nana’s work | 4. Putting together a package for a pen pal | 5. Note left on my coffee pot so Middle Girl could make Daddy some hot chocolate before work | 6. The wise man found behind the couch pillow on Epiphany Eve | 7. Now that’s the way to do homeschool English! | 8. Counting pennies and putting them in a paper pocket.

My favorite photo from this week. The best way to do homeschool English. Maggie Hogan said that she has a #COL policy: Can’t answer phone, Cat On Lap.

• Last week I shared the Top Ten Helpful Habits of 2011. We turned to these often this week as we got back into the routine.
• Oh! and I’m hosting a giveaway! Enter to win a copy of Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts!

Many thanks to our Friday hostesses…Camera Phone Friday hostess Dawn Camp @ My Home Sweet Home and…

Weekly Wrap-Up hostess Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

 Today, we’re getting ready for cousins to visit! How about you? Are you back to schooling?