Homeschooling has been a part of my life for around 26 years. It is hard to believe that in another year I will graduate my last child from our homeschool. I have loved every minute of it — the time being home with my kids, the search for curriculum, new books coming in the mail, the joy of seeing my kids learn new things — I have loved all of it.

But as I get ready to enter my last year of homeschooling, I wanted to share some books that have been an encouragement to me. No matter where you are on your homeschooling journey, these books will be a blessing to you. Even though my homeschooling years are coming to a close, I will continue to be a mom and a wife, and these books are filled with encouragement for me.

Michael’s Gentle Wife by Karen Andreola – I recently had this book recommended to me, so I bought it and have started reading it. Wow! I am about 8 chapters in and am loving it. Even though I am no longer in the “baby” stage, this book has been such an encouragement to me! Karen has written a novel about a Christian homeschool family, who through the trials of joys of life, show their love for Jesus and each other in a way that inspires me to live the same. It is a hefty book, but is filled with such encouragement! Highly recommended!

Mother Culture by Karen Andreola – Yes, this is another Karen Andreola book! I love Karen’s writing and she has been a mentor to new and veteran homeschool moms. This book is not only for homeschool moms, but encourages moms as they care for their home and their family. Love this book!

Teaching from Rest by Sarah MacKenzie – This is a book I read years ago and it really encouragement me to take all my fears to the Lord. Back then my fears were different than they are now (being about done homeschooling), but the encouragement still applies. This is one you will read and re-read many times!

The Unhurried Homeschooler by Durenda Wilson – This book I read a few years ago and is another one that will encourage you to cherish the moments you have with your kids. It will encourage you to focus on what really matters. Durenda is a mentor figure to many and this book will not disappoint.

Unhurried Grace for a Mom’s Heart by Durenda Wilson – Since I loved Durenda’s other book, The Unhurried Homeschooler, I thought I would read this one as well. Wow! This one is more of a devotional book for moms, but each devotional is filled with wisdom from a mom who’s been there. The homeschool life can be filled with ups and downs. These devotions will help you to slow down and seek the Lord to see what He is trying to teach you through it all. Highly recommended!

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While these books are not the only good ones out there, these are a few that have been especially encouraging to me. I hope you find a book or two to add to your summer reading list! Happy reading!

We are living in a day when it is so hard to find solid Bible preaching pastors. I am so thankful for our own pastor who faithfully week in and week out preaches God’s Word. I am learning so much and coming to a better understanding of how very important it is to KNOW what the Bible says and how to apply it to my life.

I have been blessed in the past year to meet some friends online who are also feeling this urgency to “know the Bible”, to read it, study it, and implement it in our lives. One friend is Leslie, who has been doing a Bible Reading Challenge every year. I have so enjoyed this challenge this year! Well, Leslie’s brother is a pastor who is also passionate about God’s Word and feels the urgency to do all he can to make sure that Christians KNOW what the Bible teaches so they are not led astray and deceived — being “carried about by every wind of doctrine.”

In this post I want to share a series that Pastor Dean Good (pastor at Grace Church North Olmsted) is going to be working through this summer in their Sunday School hour. This past Sunday was the first lesson, so each week I will add the new video here for you to view. Be sure to bookmark this post so you can find it again!

Pastor Good also prepared notes for the series which you can download below. Happy studying!

Lesson 1: Introduction to Systematic Theology

Lesson 2: Doctrine of Scripture (Bibliology)

Lesson 3: Doctrine of God, Part 1 (Theology Proper)

Lesson 4: Doctrine of God, Part 2 (Theology Proper)

Lesson 5: Doctrine of Christ (Christology)

Lesson 6: Doctrine of the Holy Spirit (Pneumatology)

Lesson 7: Doctrine of Angels (Angelology)

Lesson 8: Doctrines of Man (Anthropology) and Sin (Hamartiology)

Lesson 9: Doctrines of Salvation (Soteriology)

Lesson 10: Doctrine of the Church (Ecclesiology)

Lesson 11: Doctrine of Israel (Israelology)
Lesson 12: Doctrine of Last Things (Eschatology)

About a month ago, I was helping out in the nursery at church. I was talking to a new friend about Trim Healthy Mama and she was telling me about a recent podcast they did on milk kefir. So I went and found the podcast, listened to it, and decided I was going to give making milk kefir a try.

Now I have bought kefir in the store before and have added it to my smoothies, but after listening to the podcast I realized how much better the make-it-yourself version is. So I set off on a new adventure.

I want to encourage you to not be afraid to give this a try. It’s so easy to make and the health benefits are amazing. Even if you have some issues with dairy, you may be able to handle kefir because of what happens during the culturing process! Yeah! Ok, now I will get into the nitty gritty and share links to what I am using to make milk kefir.

Where I Got My Grains

I got my grains from Poseymom on Amazon. She has a website with detailed instructions that you can follow once you get the grains. I was a little unprepared for what they would look like. The grains were in a double bagged bag inside a little box. In the bag was a milky liquid which I assume was some milk to ship it in. But I didn’t really see any grains. If they were there, they were small. But I went ahead and followed the instructions.

I had to let my jar sit on the counter for 24 hours and then I would strain it and put the “grains” or what I thought was the grains, back in the jar and add more milk for another batch. I would say the first 5 days or so there was a curd like stuff that formed on the top but the stuff underneath just looked like milk. I wasn’t sure it was working right. But I didn’t give up. I had read that when grains are shipped, it may take a few days for them to get going again.

Another thing I did after the first 5 days or so, was to add using a warming mat. Our house isn’t really warm, and I wondered if that would help things.

The Warming Mat I Am Using

I actually got these warming mats to use when I was making Kombucha. So I took one of them, rolled it up so it makes a circle that I could set my jar down in. I used a clothes pin to hold it together. I didn’t make it tight against the jar because I didn’t want the jar getting too warm. You can see in the picture above to see what I mean. So far it is working perfectly! My kefir is now culturing (getting somewhat firm and starting to separate from the whey) in about 12 hours. That means that I can make 2 quarts of kefir a day!

What amazes me is how few grains it takes to culture a quart of milk! I can tell that the grains are getting bigger. They are supposed to over time get bigger and multiply. Once I have more than I need, I have two friends who would like some so they can start making kefir too.

What Milk to Use

According to the Trim Healthy Mama sisters, you don’t have to use expensive milk to make milk kefir. It is totally fine to use cheap milk. I prefer to use milk that for sure does not use hormones, but I am using the cheap 2% milk from our local grocery store and it works fine. I guess when the milk cultures, the grains eat up all the stuff in the milk that may not be good for us. Interesting for sure!

The Process – Including Doing a Second Ferment

The process to make kefir is fairly simple:

1. Place your kefir grains in a glass quart jar
2. Fill jar with milk, leaving about an inch at the top
3. Put a paper towel or coffee filter over the top of the jar and keep in place with a ring (this keeps bugs out)
4. Place the jar on your counter or put in a warming mat like I did
5. Let sit for 12 hours
6. It is ready when you see the milk clumping together and the liquid whey starting to separate from the milk.
7. Using a clean jar, a funnel, and small strainer, pour your kefir through to strain out the kefir grains. You may have to use a wooden spoon or spatula to move the grains around and force the kefir through.
8. Put the strained kefir grains back in the original jar that you just emptied, fill again with milk, cover, and place on counter or in warming mat for another 12 hours to start the process all over again.
9. NOW TO SECOND FERMENT the kefir you just strained. Add a handful of fruit to the jar (so far I have done peaches and strawberries), stir, and cover with a lid. Set on counter for a few hours to second ferment. The sugars in the fruit will feed the kefir and allow it to ferment more, exploding the health benefits of the kefir. After 2-3 hours, you should notice the kefir starting to harden up again and maybe separate from the whey again. Not it’s time to put it in the fridge to slow the culturing process.
10. HOW TO FIX IT TO DRINK – If I have time I will go ahead and after the second ferment get the kefir ready to drink. (If I don’t have time, I will just put the jar in the fridge and do this later.) I dump the jar of kefir in my blender, add some more fruit (again, I have used peaches and strawberries), and some stevia to sweeten. I blend it all up and then pour back into the jar (you’ll probably need more than one jar because adding the fruit and blending makes it more in volume), put a lid on it, and store in the refrigerator. It is ready to drink! In the picture above, you can see my two jars – one with peach and one with strawberry kefir. That is what it looks like when it is ready to drink. It is a little thick (kind of like buttermilk but not as thick), and creamy and oh so good!

* You can use fresh or frozen fruit when doing the second ferment.

Besides just drinking kefir by the glass, you can add it to smoothies as well. There are lots of recipes online for things you can make with kefir — from dips, to salad dressings, to using it when making pancakes. So far for us, we are just drinking it straight and putting it in smoothies. It tastes SO good!

The Benefits of Kefir

You can find lots of information online about the benefits of kefir, but I thought this article did a good job of covering some of the basics.

From our own experience so far, after just drinking kefir now for about a week, we have noticed some interesting health benefits. I was excited for my kids to start drinking kefir, especially my son who was diagnosed with Crohn’s about four years ago and has pretty much healed from that. But I was curious if he would be able to drink it and how it would make him feel. He said that when he drinks it it makes him feel good. He said that he feels more calm and less anxious. He said in the past when he got anxious, his heart would race, and not he has noticed that it doesn’t do that much any more.

It may be just coincidence, but maybe not the more I read about the benefits of kefir. I read that it is great for getting rid of Candida, which a lot of people have and don’t realize it. It is just so good for your gut health and I am excited to see what other benefits we notice in the days ahead.

How about you? Will you give kefir a try? I’d love to know if you make kefir and if so, what health benefits have you experienced?

Teaching our kids about how to live a healthy lifestyle is probably something we ALL have on our “to do” list, but realistically rarely get around to. Sure our kids learn through real life and watching what we do, but when we want to teach them more or we personally want to learn more as well, it is nice to have good resources to use. That is why I wanted to share with you some great resources you can use with your kids!

We are living in a time where it has never been more important to be taking care of our health. With threats of more pandemics, constant pollutants bombarding our bodies every day, and food sources that continue to deteriorate, we need to do all we can to build our immune systems, to put our body in a state of health instead of a state of disease.

One thing that I have learned over the past year is that I need to focus more on creating good healthy habits and less on trying to avoid disease. As I make healthy changes to my lifestyle, and as my body gets stronger, I won’t have to worry so much about what is happening in my environment and what I am exposed to. There are so many spiritual applications to this too, but I won’t get into that here (maybe later in future blog posts).

The most important area of our lives is our personal relationship with Jesus. How is our spiritual health? Then after that comes our physical health. How can we share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others if we are unhealthy, sick, and tired? While Jesus does not promise us good health, I do believe that Jesus wants us to take care of the temples He has given us to the best of our ability. I want to write more on this in the days ahead. But for now, I encourage you to start thinking about what you can do to strengthen your walk with Jesus and also strengthen your physical health. Maybe some of the following resources will help you get started down the path focusing on your physical health!

RESOURCES FROM EARTHLEY

Before I get into sharing these amazing resources from Earthley, I wanted to let you know that they are running a sale on the below items and more. The sale runs from July 22nd-25th, 2022, you can get 20% off the following products when you use code: HERBALISM at checkout! Click here if you want to see ALL the products that are on sale now.

Intro to Herbalism – Have you ever wanted to learn more about herbalism…but didn’t know where to start? This brand new, 40-page guide by Earthley is just what you need! It’s just the basics…what you really need to know now to get started using basic herbs in your home. Learn about the herbs in your backyard, basic preparation methods, herbal safety, and try one (or all!) of the 5 included recipes.

This guide includes discussion questions and suggestions for further research, and can be used as a homeschool curriculum for middle or high school students.

Herb Garden Unit Study – This digital book will teach young students the ‘how’ of gardening: all those nitty-gritty details about when to plant, how and when to fertilize, companion plants to avoid bugs, and more. It will also encourage them to investigate gardening even further on their own through questions and little experiments.

Good for ages 6 – 8 to 13. (Must be able to read to do it independently.) Younger kids may enjoy parts of it with help, and older kids new to gardening may also like it.

Spring Garden Unit Study – The beginning of health is diet…and there’s no better place to create a healthy diet than in your own garden! Earthley’s new Spring Garden Unit Study helps connect health, gardening, and education by teaching kids about 5 popular backyard garden plants, encouraging them to research further, and showing them how to successfully plant their own gardens. Grab this 40-page guide and enjoy hands-on learning!

Good for ages 6 – 8 to 13. (Must be able to read to do it independently.) Younger kids may enjoy parts of it with help, and older kids new to gardening may also like it.

Real Food Real Nutrition – Kids need to know where their food comes from – and why real, unprocessed food matters to their long-term health. Real Nutrition, Real Food is a homeschool health curriculum on exactly that. It is a 94 page ebook and it covers:

• GMOs
• Real vs. processed foods
• The sugar industry
• Antibiotics in farm animals
• Why choose organic
• Pesticides and herbicides in farming
• Benefits of healthy foods (several categories)
• …and more!

The chapters begin with a short story that relates to the topic, making it relatable for kids. It’s followed by short sections of the history or science behind the issue, as well as discussion questions, suggestions for further research, and videos to watch. It’s an all-in-one health and nutrition curriculum from an all-natural perspective!

Herbal Flashcards – Begin to study herbalism yourself with Earthley’s Herbal Flash Cards! These flash cards are designed to teach herbal basics to people of all ages. They are as versatile as possible, accommodating several different learning styles. Earthley’s Herbal Flashcards can benefit you if you are studying herbs for leisure or adding them to your homeschooling curriculum.

There are four sets of cards to ensure the flash cards can be used for independent or group learning as well as playing games — they’ve included several game suggestions in this packet. Additionally, these flashcards come with an Herbal Flash Card Cheat Sheet, which has all the cards and answers beautifully illustrated to make studying independently easier by folding the page in half. You can even use the cheat sheet when quizzing your kids.

Learn:

• How to identify 36 popular herbs
• Common and Latin names
• Key benefits of each herb
• Best uses for each herb

Learn to Homestead: Wild Berries – Kids need life skills that matter — how to take care of themselves no matter what happens in the world. That’s why I am so excited about this new series by Earthley! Learn to Homestead: Wild Berries is just the first unit study in their new Learn to Homestead Unit Study series. Every book will have its own theme, and within that theme, they’ll teach five projects:

• Growing or foraging
• Cooking
• Preserving
• Sewing
• Medicine-making

Each section is developed to be able to accommodate many ages and skill levels. In addition to 5 hands-on projects, you’ll find suggestions for further research, discussion questions, writing prompts, art projects, and more. This is a multi-disciplinary approach to life skills, making it a nearly complete curriculum.

TRIM HEALTHY MAMA RESOURCE

Trim Healthy You is a health and nutrition curriculum created by Trim Healthy Mama to teach children and teens the skills to help them become the healthiest they can be now and for the rest of their lives. Providing scientific information, Biblical references and practical how to’s in a fun and approachable way, students will be empowered with knowledge to help make their own choices when it comes to better nutrition. Each level includes exclusive recipes and age appropriate exercise ideas, along with hands on activities to appeal to every type of learner. The Trim Healthy You mission is for each child to have vibrant health for life!

OTHER RESOURCES

Strategies for Health – This isn’t really a curriculum or a book geared toward children, but it is such a good resource I wanted to mention it here. At the very least, this is a great resource for you to read through and then share things with your kids as you learn yourself. It is a HUGE book full of great information to help you look at health in a different way. I highly recommend it!

As we look forward to celebrating Independence Day this weekend, and the freedoms that were fought for and won by those that have gone before us, I want to encourage you to spend some time contemplating what freedom truly is.

• What is truth?
• What is freedom?
• Are there different kinds of freedom?
• Is there a freedom that is of utmost importance?

I want to look at John 8:31-32 and see what we can learn about freedom.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 ESV

Let’s look at some words and phrases used in these verses and see what we can learn and apply to our lives.

“Abide in my word”

Abide – what does it mean to abide? Here is how the Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines abide:

ABIDE

to be, or exist, to continue; to dwell, rest, continue, stand firm, or be stationary for anytime indefinitely.

1. To rest, or dwell. Genesis 29:19.

2. To tarry or stay for a short time. Genesis 24:55.

3. To continue permanently or in the same state; to be firm and immovable. Psalms 119:90.

4. To remain, to continue. Acts 27:31. Ecclesiastes 8:15.

Now that we know what “abide” means, what “word” is Jesus talking about? He is referring to the written word of God, the Bible. Jesus Himself is also referred to as the “Word”. So from these verses we can learn that we are to “abide in His word”. We are to rest, to dwell, to be firm and immovable, to remain, to continue, in the Bible and in Jesus (the Word).

How do we do that?

First, we cannot abide in Jesus unless we have repented and accepted Jesus’ sacrifice for our sin, making him the Lord of our life.

We are also to abide in His Word – the written Word, the Bible. The Bible is the story of redemption – God’s instruction manual for our life. The more we “abide” in the Bible, the more we learn about Jesus. The more we learn about Jesus, the more we love Him, are drawn to worship and obey Him, and become more like Him. We abide in the Bible by setting aside time to read it, study it, dwell on it, memorize it.

“Truly”

This verse says that only those that believe in Him and abide in His Word are “truly” His disciples. That gives the impression that if you do not do these things then you are not truly His disciple.

Let’s look at the definition of the word “truly”, again in the Webster’s 1828 Dictionary:

TRULY, In fact; in deed; in reality.

1. According to truth; in agreement with fact; as, to see things truly; the facts are truly represented.

2. Sincerely; honestly; really; faithfully; as, to be truly attached to a lover. The citizens are truly loyal to their prince or their country.

3. Exactly; justly; as, to estimate truly the weight of evidence.

So “truly” is according to truth, in agreement with fact. So what is truth? Let’s look at that next.

“Truth”

People often express their opinions on various matters and after they have said what they want to say, they end with these words; “And that’s my truth.” Since it is their truth, they have the right to live by their truth regardless of other people’s truth. But there is a problem with that. It isn’t Biblical at all!

Let’s look at the definition of “truth” in the Webster’s 1828 Dictionary:

TRUTH

1. Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be. The truth of history constitutes its whole value. We rely on the truth of the scriptural prophecies.

My mouth shall speak truth  Proverbs 8:7.
Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth  John 17:17.

2. Conformity of words to thoughts, which is called moral truth

Shall truth fail to keep her word?

3. Jesus Christ is called the truth John 14.

Truth is not based on opinions. Our feelings do not establish truth. All of us have our opinions, but opinions are not truth. We may know lots of facts, but there is a difference between facts and truth. Facts are what we know now — they are temporary. On the other hand, truth is what was known in the past, remains true today, and will be true in the future. Truth is eternal and immutable. Truth does not change.

Jesus said that He is the truth. He is eternal. He does not change and His words do not change. Jesus IS the truth. People are not the truth – we are temporary. However, Jesus said that we can know the truth and knowing the truth will make us free. When we know Jesus, we trust and depend on His words. If we know the truth we will be free. There is only one truth and Jesus is that truth. Get to know Jesus. Then you will have the truth. Your truth will be THE truth which is Jesus Christ.

“Free”

Above we learned what the word Truth is referring to, so now it is important to understand that it is the Truth that will set us free! Nothing else will give us the freedom that these verses talk about. What kind of freedom is that? The freedom Jesus offers is a spiritual freedom from the bondage of sin, its penalty, and its power over us.

Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6). Knowing the Truth will set you free — free from sin, free from condemnation, and free from death (Romans 6:22; 8:1–2). Jesus came to proclaim freedom to the captives (Luke 4:18). He came to set people free!

How to Apply This to My Life

You would be blind and deaf if you did not see and hear the cries ringing out in our country and in countries around the world for “FREEDOM!”. Our God-given rights are being threatened and in some cases violated. People hungry for power are acting as tyrants — following hard after their own sinful desires. Which causes the people to rise up to protest and fight for their freedoms.

While fighting to keep our God-given freedoms is the right thing to do, over the past several months I have wrestled with the Lord on how this “activism” fits into His plan.

How does “fighting for our freedoms” rank in importance to the need for people to experience true freedom that only Jesus can bring?

So much energy and money has gone into fighting to keep our freedoms — freedoms that the government not only thinks it can, but does take away sometimes. Is the only true freedom that Jesus can give being lost in the shuffle?

• True freedom is found in repentance of sin and acceptance of Jesus’ free gift of salvation.
• True freedom is not something that anyone can take away!
• True freedom is not something we have to fight to keep.
• True freedom can not be “won” by anything that we do.

We are headed into election season and many of us are spending time doing our part in fighting to retain our freedoms. But I want to challenge each of us to consider these things:

• What am I doing to help those around me experience the true freedom that only Jesus can give?
• Do I have the same passion to share the Gospel with others so they can have true freedom?
• Do I use my money, time, and talents to advance the Gospel through my personal life, my local church and other Christian ministries?
• Do I have the same grief over lost souls as I do over lost “freedoms”?
• Do I need to recalibrate my life to find balance in this area?

Please understand that I am not putting down the important battle for our freedoms. The reason that we, in the United States, are able to share the Gospel freely is because of the freedoms that we have.

But I challenge you to consider the things I have shared today and ask Jesus to help you have the same passion for sharing the Gospel with others, so they can experience the only true freedom that will never be taken away.

Do you have kids that love to draw or want to learn to draw? Check out this amazing Youtube channel – How 2 Draw Animals!

They have all sorts of videos to choose from. I will share a few of the playlists below so you can see what there is.

This playlist is for beginners:

This playlist has all kinds of videos on how to draw horses:

This playlist has videos on drawing animals with colored pencils:

They even have a playlist with more advanced drawing tutorials:

This is just a sampling of the many videos available on this Youtube channel. If you or your children like to draw, this may be a fun resource for you to use.

Disclaimer: Just a word of warning for parents – please be careful about allowing your child to be on Youtube unsupervised. Please watch these with your children so you can monitor what they are viewing.

I found this recipe in a cookbook I have and adapted it a little.  It is different than my other granola bar recipe, but we like it.  My kids love having snacks around and I try to keep some healthy things made up.  You can make several batches of these and freeze individually in baggies for a quick and yummy treat!  Enjoy!

Chewy Granola Bars

• 4 ½ cups rolled oats
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• ½ cup honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking soda, brown sugar, butter, honey, and vanilla.  Stir in the chocolate chips and raisins.

Lightly press into prepared pan.  Bake at 325 for 18-22 minutes or until lightly golden brown.  Let cool for 10 minutes, then cut into bars.

Gluten-free: To make gluten-free, use gluten-free certified oats and gluten-free flour.

Do you want your kids to learn more about children in other countries? Does your family want to make a difference in a child’s life? Do you want the opportunity to pray for, write letters to, and share Christ with a child in another country?

Become a Compassion Sponsor!

Our family has been sponsoring three children through Compassion for years. It is always a highlight of our day when we get letters from our sponsored children. We pray for them every day and write letters as often as we can. We know that we are making a difference in their lives.

Want to see our Compassion kids? Let me introduce them to you.

Sonia was one of our first Compassion kids we sponsored way back in 2010. It has been a joy to watch her grow up and mature in the Lord. We sponsored Marvin in 2013 and Jorge in 2017. We have a few others that we have sponsored and left the program for various reasons. But we still pray for all six of them every day. Yes it is a financial commitment but something that has been so good for our family.

If you are interested in looking into this, just go to the Compassion website and read all about sponsoring a child.

The Compassion Explorer Magazine

One of the neat benefits that you get when you sponsor a child, is the ability to sign up for a free print subscription to the Compassion Explorer Magazine. This is an amazing monthly magazine that is filled with stories, games, activities, recipes, etc., about children from all over the world.

You can view a sampling of the Compassion Explorer Magazine online here.

I snapped some pictures of the most recent magazine I got in the mail so you can see what it looks like inside.

That’s just a few of the pages. Isn’t that amazing? If you decide to sponsor a child through Compassion, then be sure to go to this page and sign up for a free subscription to Compassion Explorer Magazine.

Consider sponsoring a child through Compassion today and make a difference in a child’s life!

The Truth Matters Conference took place May 18-20, 2022 at the Ark Encounter facilities. This is a conference that takes place every few years organized by Pastor John McArthur and the Grace To You ministries.

In a day where many claim there is no absolute truth, this is a message that is needed today. Truth does matter.

I have watched Day 1 and part of Day 2 so far and it is excellent. Please take the time to watch and absorb what is being shared. Our world, and even the church at large, has so far strayed from the Truth in the Bible. It isn’t popular. It isn’t politically correct. But it is God’s Word. It is Truth that points us to Jesus.

Please watch!

Day 1

• General Session #1 – John MacArthur
• General Session #2 – Ken Ham
• General Session #3 – Q&A w/ John MacArthur, Ken Ham, and Mike Riccardi
• General Session #4 – Don Green

Day 2

• General Session #5 – Phil Johnson
• General Session #6 – Jeff Williams
• General Session #7 – Q&A w/ John MacArthur, Owen Strachan, and Darrell Harrison
• General Session #8 – Mike Riccardi

Day 3

• General Session #9 – Owen Strachan
• General Session #10 – Justin Peters
• General Session #11 – Q&A w/ John MacArthur, Don Green, and Justin Peters
• General Session #12 – John MacArthur

It was quite a few years ago that I remember hearing about the Rocketbook product. It was a brand new product that was using crowdfunding to get their product funded and started. The original product was a notebook that you had to use a special pen to write in. Once you were done writing in the notebook and scanning the pages, then to “erase” the pages you put the whole notebook in the microwave.

At the time I thought the concept was interesting, but not something that I thought was very practical for me to use. What if I just wanted to erase one page? Also the fact that it took a special pen was a downer for me. So I did not jump in at the time to support the crowdfunding and totally forgot about it.

Then recently I was on a zoom call with another blogger and she was talking about her reMarkable tablet where she could write on it and it would convert it to text or files and save to specific places like Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. It sounded interesting so I looked it up online. Once I saw the pricetag ($600+), I knew it was beyond my budget!

Whenever I research something like this, I like to go to Youtube and view any reviews or tutorials to learn about the product. As I was scrolling through videos on reMarkable, I found one that had a comparison of reMarkable vs. Rocketbook. I was intrigued. So I started researching Rocketbook, finding out what it was, what the options were, how much it was, etc. I found out that it was much cheaper ($30 range). I liked what I saw in the tutorials, so I decided to give it a try. Boy am I glad I did! I absolutely LOVE my Rocketbook planner and am excited to share all about it.

Before I get started talking about how you can use the Rocketbook, watch this short video briefly explaining what the Rocketbook is and how it works.

Isn’t that cool? Now that you kind of understand how it works, let’s dig into how you can use it!

Using the Rocketbook for Home Planning

I am just getting started really using the Rocketbook, but have already found so many uses for it!

• Weekly schedule
• To do lists
• Sermon notes
• Journal
• Gratitude journal
• Bible study notes
• Exercise or food journal
• Grocery lists
• Track habits
• Book lists
• Anything I want to write down!

Here is a short video from Rocketbook showing the Everyday Planner that I have.

This is the weekly spread where I write out my to do lists for each day and any appointments that I have. The Everyday Planner has 3 weeks worth of pages so that way I can have the previous week’s pages as I plan for the next week to make sure that I carry over any items I did not get done. Once I get my new week written out on clean pages, I wipe clean the old pages so they are ready for another week.

This is a sampling of the list pages. I have a lot of different things I am making to do lists for. I love having them all in one place!

Related Post: Why Keeping a To Do List is So Important + How To Get Started

I created this chart to use for my Revelation study! This way I can check off as I complete each item.

Using the Rocketbook for Homeschool

Since we are at the end of our homeschool year, I haven’t had a lot of time to really consider how I want to use the Rocketbook for our homeschool. But here are some ideas that I thought of:

• Homeschool schedule
• Writing assignments
• Spelling practice
• Gratitude journal
• Journal
• Class notes
• Projects
• To do lists
• Sermon notes
• Track habits
• Penmanship practice
• Book lists

Since we are talking homeschooling, the Academic Planner may be another good option if you want a little more focus on homeschool planning or just want a planner that is dedicated to homeschool. This short video gives a walkthrough of this planner so you can see what it looks like.

I used one of the weekly spreads in the Everyday Planner to plot out some homeschool curriculum notes for next year. I put the subjects at the top and then used the boxes below each to write out what I am considering using and some more specifics about how I will implement it into our homeschool schedule. See how versatile this can be? You can use the pages as intended or come up with other ways to use them. Love it!

Related Post: How to Set Up Your Homeschool Schedule (4-Part Series)

If you like to keep more of a journal of your homeschool days (writing out at the end of the day all that you and the kids did that day), then the Rocketbook would be amazing for that! You could use any of the formatted pages or just the lined pages, put the date at the top in the title box (then when you scan and save the file it will pick up the date as the file name), and write out what was accomplished that day.

Then maybe once a week you can scan and save all the pages and they will be saved with the date as the file names in the specific location you chose. I would set up a folder in Dropbox or Google Drive labeled for that homeschool year and save all the files there. Once that is done and you have checked to make sure they saved correctly, then you can erase the pages and you are ready for another week.

What I Love About the Rocketbook

If you can’t tell, I am really enjoying using the Rocketbook. Below I want to go into a bit more detail about the different aspects that I love to give you a more rounded picture of the amazing features of this product.

I can write without worrying about it being in the right place, or writing it somewhere that I will forget where I wrote it. I love writing and I love notebooks. But my problem is that when I want to write something down, it is a pain to figure out where to write it so I can find it again. I don’t want to write it in my planner because then it will mess up my pages. I don’t want to write it down on a piece of paper because I might misplace it. With my Rocketbook, I can just find a blank page and write it down, knowing that I can save it to a folder in Dropbox that will help me find it again when I need it, AND I don’t have to worry about messing up my pages in my planner because I can simply erase it once I am done saving it.

I can use and re-use the planning pages. I have always loved having a planner of some kind that I write out my weekly schedule and to do lists in. I love having before me each day what I need to accomplish, then checking things off as I get them done. So I love that I can use and re-use the weekly planner pages over and over. I don’t even worry about scanning and saving them like I do other pages in my planner. It’s nice knowing that I can always have a clean slate to write on again and again.

I can save the pages as images, PDF files, or text. The above is an image file created from one of my sermon notes pages. I have the settings set so that my Sermon Notes save as a PDF file to a Sermon Notes folder in Dropbox.

Easily set up destinations to save to. When you are setting up the “destinations” in the Rocketbook app, you can specify what file type you want it to save as. So if you want a PDF file for certain types of pages you can do that, or if you want the pages to save as image files you can do that. Once you have it set up, then every time you save to each destination, it will save it as the file type you specified. Easy!

I set up Dropbox folders to save to, then every so often I will download and save the files to my hard drive. I created one place where all my Rocketbook files will be saved on my hard drive, then I created subfolders for each of the topics. This makes it easy to download from Dropbox and save to the folders I want. I then delete the files from Dropbox. I don’t like having content “in the cloud” that is not backed up on my own personal computer. So Dropbox is just the go-between to store my content until I download it to my computer to save permanently.

You can use a Sharpie pen to make permanent templates to use over and over. I have not done this yet because I am still figuring out how I want to use the Rocketbook. But if you have certain types of pages that you use a lot, and you do some more customizing on the page (adding lines, titles, boxes, text, etc.) that stay the same all the time, you can use a Sharpie black pen to permanently make your own templates. I heard someone suggest that once you are done using the Sharpie pen to customize your page(s), to leave the planner open and let it dry and set really well for a couple days. Then test a small area with water to make sure it is set. If it looks good, then you are ready to start writing with your Pilot Frixion pens in the planner page templates you made. Now when you “erase” the pages, the new template will remain and you won’t have to recreate it each time. Tip: I would suggest that you use the planner for a while first and learn what types of pages you use a lot and on what pages making a more permanent template would be helpful. Once you mark pages up with a Sharpie, it will be hard to erase that if you change your mind!

Use the Rocketbook phone app to scan pages and save. You will probably not want or need to save every page in your Rocketbook planner, but the Rocketbook app makes it so easy to quickly scan and save any page you wish.

Use the Rocketbook app to search your scanned pages! In the Rocketbook app, you can search for words and it will find those words if they were used in the title or content of your scanned pages. This may come in handy if you are looking for something and want a quick and easy way to look for it on your phone.

Easily erase used and scanned pages with a damp rag. When you are done with a page, you can either use a damp cloth or a small spray bottle to wet the page and then wipe it clean. Each Rocketbook comes with a small microfiber cloth to use. Once you have wiped the page clean, use a dry cloth or napkin to dry.

Uses Pilot Frixion pens that can be bought online or at major office stores. The original Rocketbook used a special pen that you couldn’t just buy in stores. I love that the new Rocketbook line uses the Pilot Firxion pens that you can buy in any major store. I only have black right now, but you can buy these pens in different colors. The only thing I am not sure about is how well the colors scan, so if you want to use color that is something you will want to test out beforehand.

The cover is sturdy so I can stick the Rocketbook in my purse and take it with me. I love that the cover is a very sturdy plastic so that it makes it easier to write in even if it is not sitting on a flat surface.

There are many styles and sizes to choose from! While I have the Everyday Planner, there are many different styles and sizes to choose from at the Amazon Rocketbook store! I have the Executive size of the Everyday Planner, but they have this planner in the larger letter size as well (8.5×11-inch). I would suggest going and looking through the different options that are available and then deciding on which one would best fit your needs.

One Word of Warning

The only thing that I have found so far that I need to warn you about is that if the planner is left in a hot car or somewhere that gets above 140 degrees F, then the ink may disappear on the pages. I heard that if this happens, it is possible that you could get the ink to reappear by putting the whole planner in the freezer for a while. I have not tested this nor do I want to, but it is important that you keep this in mind when taking it out and about with you.

Give the Rocketbook a try today!

Listen to the Podcast:

I have been working on making more cultured drinks and food to eat. I read so much about the health benefits of things like kefir, kombucha, and fermented or cultured fruits and veggies. Well, here is what I have been making/doing:

Kombucha

I am making 1/2 gallon kombucha every week. I drink this in the evening to help me detox and sleep good. I put 8 oz. kombucha in a big glass, add a bit of cranberry grape juice, then top with ice and water. Yum!

Reasons to drink Kombucha:

• Kombucha assists the liver in detoxifying and will help get rid of excess hormones, helping your hormones to be more balanced
• It’s good for the kidneys and helps prevent kidney stones
• It boosts the immune system and is good to drink if you are sick
• Kombucha is packed with glucosamine which helps prevent joint damage by supporting the preservation of collagen. So it reduces joint pain and inflammation

Milk Kefir

I am drinking milk kefir once a day. I either mix 8 oz. of kefir into 1/2 cup of rolled oats, then add fruit and stevia. I mix it all up and let it sit for a bit to absorb, then eat. It tastes so good! If I have something else for breakfast, then some time during the day I will put 8 oz. in a cup, mix in some stevia and vanilla and drink. Yum!

Reasons to drink Kefir:

• Lowers blood pressure
• Lowers blood sugar
• restores balance to your gut and prevents acid reflux
• Boosts the immune system
• helps the body detox

Cultured Foods

I made some cultured salsa. It is SO good! The first batch I made, made 1 quart and 1 pint of salsa. It is almost gone! I love to use this as a dressing on my salad at lunch time. The kids even like it! I used the recipe out of Cultured Foods in a Jar book.

I made some cultured dill pickles. I like to just throw a few slices on my salad or on my plate at a meal. I love pickles!

This week I made some cultured apple sauce. It was so easy! I washed, cored and sliced 6 apples and put them in my Vitamix blender with a little bit of water. I blended them up pretty smooth. Then I added 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. pink salt, and 1/4 cup kombucha. Blended it up again and then transferred to a quart jar (actually it wouldn’t fit, so I have a quart jar and part of a quart jar). I put my special fermenting lids that I bought on then and they will have to sit on the counter for a couple days before I can try it. Can’t wait! I am trying to find some different cultured foods that my kids will eat too. Not many of them are fond of pickles.

Reasons to eat cultured foods:

• helps with allergies
• adds tons of vitamins and minerals to the food
• helps to kill the bad bacteria in your gut and strengthens the good bacteria
• removes pesticides

Eating Legumes

This isn’t cultured, but I am also making a point to try to eat legumes (1/2 cup three times a day). I will eat 1/2 cup beans with my eggs for breakfast, 1/2 cup over my salad at lunch, and then 1/2 cup on the side for dinner. I don’t always get all three times, but I am trying. Someone on my newsletter list sent me a link to a Nutritionist in Wisconsin that has been helping people heal from all kinds of things including IBS, Crohn’s, arthritis, and more, using nutrition. One of the main things she talks about is the consumption of beans (red beans, kidney beans, black beans, lentils, great northern beans, etc.). It is something like the toxins in our bile attaches to the fiber and then it is eliminated through our bowel. It is kind of interesting if you want to do some reading on it. I bought her book (And They Said It Wasn’t Possible) and read it all. It is filled with very good explanations about what our body does, how immune system works, and all the systems in our body. How stress and toxins play a part, etc. Very interesting. If you want to check out her site in the Resources section below.

I think I have shared before that my hormones have been all out of wack. I was taking the Maca powder for a while and actually stopped that a couple weeks ago. I don’t know if my body just was not needing it or what, but I decided to stop for a while and see how my body did without it. But since I have been adding in the cultured drinks and food listed above, my achy joints have been so much better! My knees feel stronger and don’t hurt to bend them. My hips are feeling better. My overall fatigue is so much better.

I don’t know if it is the cultured foods or the added beans, but I am going to keep at it!

Resources:

• Cultured Foods Books & Supplies
• How to Make Kombucha
• How to Make Milk Kefir
• My post on making Kefir
• Karen Hurd Website
• Cultured Food Life Website

Listen to the Podcast:

Why do we even need to focus on toxins when we are talking about gut health. Toxins that we are exposed to put a load on our system and prevents our bodies from being able to heal. It affects our immune system’s ability to fight. So when we reduce the toxins in the foods we eat and what we put on our skin, we give our body an extra boost towards wellness. While we cannot totally remove ALL toxins from our lives, we can take baby steps to begin removing as much as we can.

#1 – Eat organic as much as possible

One small way that I have been trying to reduce toxins in the foods we eat is to buy organic produce as much as possible. Organic foods are grown without all the nasty pesticides that can cause problems in our bodies. I am actually surprised that buying organic is not really that much more expensive than the regular produce. If you really can’t afford organic or can’t find what you need in organic, you can always make a homemade fruit & veggie wash and wash your produce good before eating. 

Here is a great post that explains how to properly wash your fruit and veggies: https://wellnessmama.com/28/fruit-vegetable-wash/

#2 – Start replacing cleaning products with non-toxic ones 

Over the years, I have done some work in this area, but I’m trying to move forward by replacing even more of our cleaning products.

Household cleaners – You can find many recipes online for non-toxic household cleaners. My ebook, Natural Cleaners for the Home is full of recipes you can try too. Start small and replace one thing at a time. Start by making a basic household cleaner that you can use in the kitchen and bathroom. Then move from there to replacing glass/mirror spray, toilet cleaner, floor cleaners and more.  

Dish Soap – Watkins Lemon Dish Soap

Homemade Lysol – I love this recipe and it is so easy to make! Give it a try!

Laundry Products – Recently I have made some more changes in our laundry products. Years ago I tried making my own homemade laundry soap, but it was a lot of work and never seemed to get our clothes clean. We have pretty hard water here, so that doesn’t help. A couple months ago I was introduced to My Green Fills. We are giving their products a try and so far we are loving it! We have replaced our laundry soap with the My Green Fills Laundry Wash. We have replaced dryer sheets with the My Green Fills Dryer Angel and 6 wool dryer balls we bought at Walmart. So far it is working really well! It is even getting my husband’s very dirty construction clothes clean! If you want to give My Green Fills a try, you can get 50 free loads of Laundry Wash when you purchase any of their other products.

#3 Start replacing personal care products with non-toxic ones 

Shampoo — Renpure Shampoo and Conditioner (This link is to Amazon, but I found this shampoo and conditioner at Wal-mart a lot cheaper!

Body Soap – Kirk’s Castile Soap

Face Wash – Oil Cleansing Method – I have been using this oil cleaner for years now and I still love it. It is the only thing I use to clean my face. One addition is that recently I started adding some Lavender Essential Oil to the cleaner and it makes my skin so soft.

Body Lotion – Watkins Lavender Lotion

Trim Healthy Naturals Products – I love the THM products and use their lotions on my face. They also have some great natural, non-toxic deodorant as well.

Joy Essential Oil Blend – When you buy through my link, you can get $10 off a $50 purchase. To find the Joy blend, just click on “Blends” at the top and scroll down until you find it. You can use “as is” by putting a couple drops on your wrists or behind your ears, or put some in a roller bottle diluted with some fractionated coconut oil. Enjoy!

Resources:

• My Green Fills Laundry Supplies
• Here is a great post that explains how to properly wash your fruit and veggies: https://wellnessmama.com/28/fruit-vegetable-wash/
• Natural Cleaners for the Home ebook 
• Homemade Lysol
• Non-toxic cleaners and personal care products I love 
• Oil Cleansing Method – Face Wash 
• Trim Healthy Naturals Body Care Products
• Joy Essential Oil Blend – Get $10 off a $50 order!

Listen to the Podcast:

When dealing with gut issues, whether that is IBS, Crohn’s, or UC, there are usually things that can be done nutritionally to help your body heal without drugs. 

Your regular doctor will most likely not know anything about nutrition to be able to help you, but will only recommend drugs. Don’t be afraid to tell them that you want to seek out another opinion before deciding on treatment.

Find a good functional doctor that is willing to work with you. A doctor that will look at diet and see if there are things that can be changed there to help your body heal. A doctor that will do the types of tests to get to the root of the problem and not just put a band-aid on the symptoms.

Resources:

• The Paleo Mom – AIP Diet
• Karen Hurd (healing through nutrition)
• Karen Hurd Articles/Books
• Karen Hurd Audios
• And They Said It Wasn’t Possible by Karen Hurd  
• My Favorite Health Books on Amazon

Yes, it’s been a while, but I am excited to start up the podcast again with a series I will be doing on gut health and how that relates to better health overall. In this first episode, I will be sharing my son, Jonathan’s, story about his diagnosis of Crohn’s disease and how focusing on gut health has brought healing.

Please note: I am not a doctor and cannot diagnose or treat any illness. I am simply sharing our family’s story of healing. If you are struggling with gut health, I would encourage you to seek out a functional doctor for a treatment plan.

Listen to the Podcast:

Notes:

1. Eliminate gluten (and dairy and sugar as much as you can) 
2. Reduce toxins – Eat organic as much as possible 
3. Reduce toxins – Start replacing cleaning products with non-toxic ones
4. Reduce toxins – Start replacing personal care products with non-toxic ones 
5. Start making kombucha/kefir
6. Start making fermented veggies
7. Take a good probiotic
8. Eat a diet full of color – lots of fruits and vegetables, seeds, and nuts, and good protein

Over my 20+ years of homeschooling, I have used many different methods of homeschool planning. From forms I created myself and kept in a notebook, to my Intentional Monthly or Weekly Planners, to typing it out in Evernote. But I can’t wait to share with you this amazing resources in my Homeschool Planet review.

While I still love putting pen to paper, being able to automate some of my homeschool planning has been a real blessing. I will get into that more in my review below, but for now let’s just say that Homeschool Planet has been a real life-saver!

What is Homeschool Planet?

Homeschool Planet is a full-featured online planner that doesn’t require hours to learn how to use. You simply open Homeschool Planet, click on the calendar, and start adding your classes, assignments, and appointments.

I will go into full detail below exactly what you can use Homeschool Planet for, what I like about it, and how I plan on using it in my more relaxed homeschool. Ready? Let’s go!

What can I use Homeschool Planet for?

Wow, where do I even start! Homeschool Planet is meant to be your go to planner for not just homeschooling, but for your home! Here are some of the amazing features:

• A Calendar View that lets you see anybody’s or everybody’s calendars at once
• A Planner View with a simple list of everything you need to do and when
• A Resource View that shows you all the books, DVDs, websites and more that you are using for your lessons
• Separate logins for kids to view their assignments and check them off when completed (you can decide if you want to use this feature or not)
• Daily Digest emails to everyone in your family with their own schedule, assignments, and chores for the day
• Email and text message reminders to help everyone stay on schedule (some limits apply)
• Lesson plans with assignments, grading, and transcript creation (this is awesome for high school!)
• Easy attendance tracking, grading and transcript creation
• Shopping lists (one each for Target, Safeway, etc.) that you can text to your spouse or have sent to your smartphone when on the go
• Widgets you can use to do research, plan meals, send text messages, and more
• Mobile Version gives you the ability to view and edit your calendar (with some limitations) on smartphones or tablets
• Calendar sharing which allows you to view the contents of a Google Calendar inside of Homeschool Planet and vice versa! This also works with Apple iCal and other online calendars.
• Lesson Copying which allows you to copy any lesson for use at a later time by another student.

As you can see, Homeschool Planet is a control panel for your life! You can keep track of all areas of your life in one place!

What I like about Homeschool Planet

To be honest, I never thought I would like a digital planner. I have tried ones before, and while I loved being able to map out our whole school year and plan out in detail what we needed to do each day/week, if something came up like sickness or a family issue or we just needed a day off, then my whole plans were messed up.

One of features that I love about Homeschool Planet is that it allows you to easily reschedule and adjust your whole schedule if needed.

Let me give you an example. Let’s say that we all came down with the flu and missed a couple of days of school. When I logged into my Homeschool Planet after we were all better and ready to start school back up again, it would pop up a windows alerting me that there were assignments that didn’t get completed.

It would allow me to choose for each of the assignments whether I wanted to delete them, mark them as complete, do nothing, move the assignments to the current day and adjust the remainder of the schedule, or it would even give me the option to double up on assignments some days if we had a set time we needed to have them completed by.

Also, it works the same if you get ahead and mark assignments completed that were scheduled for future dates. It pops up a window asking you what you want to do — mark it complete and leave the rest of the schedule unchanged, mark it complete and move it to today but leave the rest of the schedule unchanged, or mark it complete and move it to today and move the remaining assignments forward.

It may sound complicated, but once you get the hang of it, it just takes seconds to adjust things and you are done. No more erasing and rewriting in a paper planner!

I also love that I can import my Google Calendar!

While I will still use my Google Calendar for our family calendar, it is really nice to see if we have any appointments coming up that may affect our homeschooling schedule. Being able to see that easily in my Homeschool Planet calendar helps me to make sure that I shift things around if needed.

I love the Widgets that I can use alongside the planner!

There are so many options here for what you can use the widgets for. Here is how I plan on using them:

• Bible Verse – I have this one at the top in the sidebar of the planner because I love having a new verse pop up each day to encourage me!

• To Do – I am actually going to use this widget to write out my menu plans, as well as any to do lists that I want to keep track of. I created a To Do list called “Weekly Menu Plans” and write out my list of what we will have for dinner each day.

• Reading Lists – I am going to use this to keep track of books that I want to read, books we are going to be reading aloud together, as well as keep lists of books each of my kids have read.

• Shopping Lists – You can also keep shopping lists in a widget, where you have a list for each store. Then you can email or text the list to anyone you want. I know this is a really nice feature, but probably not one that I will be using personally.

I love that I can easily access Homeschool Planet on my tablet.

When we are in the midst of doing school, it is really nice to just grab my tablet, open up my planner in Homeschool Planet, and check off things as we get them done. I don’t have to go in the other room where our desktop computer is and enter stuff. I can do it all on the go. Love that!

I love that you can buy lesson plans for some of the big curriculum companies.

Homeschool Planet offers a Lesson Plans Marketplace where you can buy already made lesson plans that integrate into the planner in just a few clicks! Yes, it really is that easy!

In the Marketplace, you will find lesson plans for companies like:

• BJU Press
• Horizons
• Rod and Staff
• How Great Thou Art
• Veritas Press
• Memoria Press
• Rosetta Stone
• Story of the World
• The Good & the Beautiful
• Modern Curriculum Press
• The Mystery of History
• IEW
• Brave Writer
• Essentials in Writing
• Writeshop
• Analytical Grammar
• Easy Grammar
• A Reason for Handwriting
• All About Reading
• All About Spelling
• A Reason for Spelling
• Spelling Workout
• Worldly Wise
• Math Mammoth
• Math-U-See
• RightStart Math
• Shiller Math
• Life of Fred
• Notgrass History
• Apologia Science
• Supercharged eScience
• and many more!

Once you purchase the lesson plans, they appear under your “Lesson Plans” tab as shown above. Then you simply click the “Apply the lesson plan” link to the right of each lesson to apply it to your lesson plans! Easy!

I love that I can plan without time schedules.

What I am talking about here is that I can schedule out our lessons without having to assign a specific time of day to each lesson. This is where my more relaxed homeschooler comes out! I will explain more below how I am using Homeschool Planet even though I like to be more relaxed in my planning.

How I am using Homeschool Planet for our Relaxed Homeschool

Before I close out this post, I wanted to explain how I am using Homeschool Planet for my more relaxed homeschool.

I recorded this video to actually show you what Homeschool Planet looks like inside the planner, and to explain in more detail how I am using it.

I am still learning the ropes, but as you can see, Homeschool Planet is an amazing tool that you may want to consider using in your home and homeschool.

Give Homeschool Planet a try for free!

Guess what! You don’t have to take my word for it! You can give Homeschool Planet a try completely free for 30 days. You don’t even have to put any credit card information in either!

So why not give it a try! Sign up for the free 30 days and give Homeschool Planet a trial run. See if this planner will be a blessing to you as you plan out your homeschool and home life.

I especially enjoy working on small projects that are useful and don’t take a lot of time to make. Being able to complete a project in a short amount of time gives me a sense of satisfaction (of having completed something!) and joy.

Crocheting is probably one of the easier needle-working crafts to learn too! I have included some free patterns for small crochet projects here on my site and thought it would be very helpful to also include a post with basic instructions for those wanting to learn to crochet.

What You Need to Get Started

• Crochet Hooks – You can get these crochet hooks with nice cushioned handles OR just a plain set like this one.
• Yarn – If you are crocheting kitchen or bath items, you will want to buy 100% cotton like this (find in many different colors!). To make items for baby (sweater, booties, blankets, etc.) you will want to use an acrylic yarn like this one (again, can be found in many colors).
• Scissors – I like to keep a pair of small scissors like this one in my crochet bag.

Learn to Crochet Videos

Here is a round-up type post over at Morning Chores with a bunch more “learn to crochet” videos and links to check out!

• Learn How to Crochet

This is a series of instructional videos I found on Youtube and have included here on my site. There are 16 videos in the playlist. Just click on the little lines in the top right corner so you can scroll through all of them!

I hope you learn to enjoy crocheting as much as I do! Have fun learning!

The summer months are going to be upon us soon, and if you are like me, you will be looking for some ideas to keep the kids learning!

Whether you homeschool or not, summer is a great time to do some of those activities with your kids that you just don’t have time to do during the school year. Or maybe there are subjects that your kids just LOVE and you want to dig deeper with them.

While this is definitely not an exhaustive list of learning ideas, I wanted to take a few minutes to share five with you. My hope is that these ideas will give you something to start with and you and your kids can add more learning fun as you think of them!

#1 – Read-Aloud Time

Yes, Read-Aloud Time! This one thing has been a constant in our homeschool from the very beginning.

But even though we homeschool and do lots of reading during the school year, I always seem to have some books that I never have time to get to. Summer is the perfect time to pull those out!

Read-Aloud Time is simply setting aside some time during the day to gather everyone together and read a book out loud. If you need some help getting started, I wrote this guide that has tons of resources to help!

I also put together these wonderful Read-Aloud Treasury Kindle books filled with classic books to read aloud!

So this summer, plan to set aside some time each day to read a good book together! You and your kids will love it and you just might decide to continue on with it after school starts in the fall!

#2 – Join Epic!

Screen time is always somewhat of a concern for parents over the summer. Our kids are off school or, if you homeschool, you are taking a break for a while over the summer, and the kids tend to gravitate to screens for entertainment.

Well, while limiting screen time is a great idea, why not use that time for learning! With Epic! you get instant access to an amazing digital library of over 35,000 of the best books, learning videos, quizzes, and more.

When you sign up for an account, you can create profiles for 4 children so they can select the books they want to read. The parent account allows you to track what each of your kids are reading as well as create personalized reading lists for each child! And you won’t have to worry about any ads or pop-ups on Epic!

Epic! is available on any device so the kids can read outside, in the car, or wherever. The mobile apps even have a “read offline” feature so you won’t even have to be connected to the internet!

Epic! might be just what you are looking for to keep your kids learning (and reading) this summer! Sign up now and get the first month free!

#3 – Play Educational Games

The summer days seem to fly by for me and I want to add some activities into our days that slow them down!

There are so many excellent educational games available now, so there is no excuse to not buy a few (or pull out the ones you already have)!

Gather everyone around the table and spend an hour or so each day just having fun playing together. Not only will the kids continue to learn through the games, but your relationships will be strengthened as you laugh and enjoy just being together.

Here are some favorite educational games to choose from:

• Passport to Culture
• GeoBingo USA
• 4 Way Countdown
• Sequence Numbers
• Professor Noggin’s History of the United States
• See more here!

So go ahead and do an inventory of games that you currently have and add a couple new ones to the stack. Then plan on spending some time each day having fun playing games together!

#4 – Join Learn Our History

Learn Our History is America’s favorite way to learn about US History. Each month you will get access to 4 videos, printables, and quizzes, that teach US History in a fun and engaging way.

You can choose to just get the streaming option or pay a bit more to get the actual DVDs in the mail as well. We have all of the Learn Our History DVDs and we love them! My kids have learned so much US History just by watching these videos over and over.

Not only is Learn Our History a great way over the summer to keep your kids learning, but you will be accumulating CollegeSave credits that can be applied towards college tuition (see graphic above for details). It is a win-win for both you and your kids!

#5 – Educational Subscription Boxes

Subscription boxes are all the rage right now, but many are finding they love the convenience of having a product delivered to their door each month.

Did you know there are a ton of great educational subscription boxes for kids? Each month, your kids will get a box in the mail filled with all sorts of learning fun. And there are boxes for all kinds of interests — from crafts, to cooking, to science projects, to books….

Below are a few different sites that have subscription boxes you can choose from.

Kiwi Crate has a bunch of different subscription boxes to choose from for all ages, from 1-104! They have a variety of crates to choose from, based on age and interest.

My son would love the Tinker Crate. It has more engineering type projects it looks like and that is totally his thing! My older son who is more artistic would love the Doodle Crate.

Each month you will get a box in the mail that will inspire your kids to have fun learning. You can pause or cancel your subscription at any time.

Go take a look at all the crates they have available and see if there isn’t something your kids would love learning about!

Groovy Lab in a Box – This is another really neat science-related subscription box product. Each month through the Groovy Lab in a Box subscription service, young STEMists will receive fun, hands-on projects and an engineering design challenge – all focused on that month’s STEM topic.

Groovy Lab in a Box, the award-winning educational kits about science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is presented in partnership with POPULAR MECHANICS for KIDS. Their STEM subscription box is interactive, hands-on and incorporates scientific inquiry and the engineering design process. Science Made Fun for Kids ages 8+.

Each month, they send out a themed box filled with investigations that are fun and hands on. The investigations culminate into an Engineering Design Challenge, where your STEMists must apply what they’ve learned from the investigations (and use their critical thinking skills) to complete the challenge. The boxes contain everything you need to complete all of the activities, including a groovy retro-themed lab notebook.

The box activities are supplemented with their Beyond…in a Box web portal where your children will find videos, interactive and additional activities. Head over to Groovy Lab in a Box’s website to learn more about this great service!

Plus, right now they are running a special promotion to win a one-year subscription! Go check out Groovy Lab in a Box today!

Cratejoy – This one is a little different, as this is an actual marketplace for tons of different subscription boxes. So you will find boxes for everyone here!

But if you are looking for your kids, go to the Family & Kids or Books section and look for educational boxes that your kids would be interested in.

You can also use the search bar at the very top to type in an area of interest and see what subscription boxes are available.

Here are a few to give you an idea:

• Kake Mail – A subscription box for anyone who loves to bake or decorate. Rather it’s cakes, cookies or treats KAKE MAIL contains a little something for everyone. Each month you’ll receive a box filled with a variety of different tools, supplies, and edibles. Each box has 10+ items that will allow you to create 2-3 different treats.
• KidArtLit – Art kit meets story time — hardback children’s books & themed projects!
• My Garden Box – Creative and crafty garden collections. Includes live plants and everything else you need.
• Knit-Wise – Knit and crochet projects for all skill levels, delivered monthly.

As you can see, there is quite a variety of boxes to choose from. So head on over to Cratejoy and see if you can’t find a box your kids (or you) would enjoy!

I write all about being intentional here on my blog, and I want you to have a summer filled with fun memories, exciting learning experiences, and growing relationships.

Get a plan in place today and decide if any of these ideas are things you want to include in your intentional summer! Happy learning!

A week or so ago someone shared this Singing Canary dry mix online, but I was confused how the instructions stated to make it. So I revised the instructions and made the drink how I like it best!

I have been drinking the Singing Canary drink more often these days because it is so easy to mix up! I love it! Below you will find the directions for making the dry mix, as well as directions on how to quickly mix up a quart of drink. Enjoy!

Singing Canary Dry Mix

• 1/4 cup Vitamin C Crystals
• 1/4 cup Turmeric
• 1/2 cup Whey Protein Powder
• 2 1/4 teaspoons Sea Salt
• 2 teaspoons Stevia Powder

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl with lid. Store in the refrigerator.

To Make 1 Quart of Singing Canary Drink

• 2 heaping teaspoons Singing Canary Dry Mix
• 3 Tablespoons lemon juice (from fresh lemons or bottled juice)
• 1/2 teaspoon MCT Oil
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add the above 4 ingredients to a quart jar. Add enough water to mix it well, then finish filling the jar with water and ice.

First are some fun activities you can do with your kids….

Make Resurrection Cookies with your kids
https://www.annieshomepage.com/resurrectioncookies.html

Make Your Own Easter Story Eggs or Resurrection eggs
https://www.annieshomepage.com/eastereggs.html

Make Resurrection Rolls
https://homegrownmom.com/creating-family-times/resurrection-rolls-an-easy-easter-treat/1689

Plan a Sedar Meal as a family
https://www.littlethingscount.com/lentseder.htm

Make an Easter Garden
https://www.sherigraham.com/making-easter-memorable

Finally, I would like to share a brand new short movie done by Eric & Leslie Ludy called, The Gospel.  It is excellent!  You can watch it below {or click here to watch it as their website}.

I pray each of you have a wonderful and memorable Easter!

I’m sure everyone has heard of Pinterest by now.  I love using it to bookmark recipes I want to try, books I want to read, homeschool resources, crafts I want to make, free printables, etc.  It is so nice to be able to quickly “Pin” something to one of my boards and then go back later to look at it.  Today I want to talk about how you can use Pinterest to plan your homeschool curriculum.

5 Easy Steps for Using Pinterest to Plan Your Homeschool Curriculum:

1.  Create Your Board(s):  Create a board or boards to “Pin” curriculum ideas to that you are considering for the new homeschool year.  You can do this in a number of ways.  You can just have one board where you pin curriculum ideas for each child and each subject, you can create a board for each child, or create boards for each subject.  Another idea is to create boards for each school year or each grade so you can really plan ahead!  You can also choose to make this board private or public.  Pinterest gives you 3 private boards, so you can use those for that if you wish…or make them public boards.

2.  Start “Pinning”:  As you are researching curriculum ideas, “Pin” websites, articles, product pages, etc., of items that you want to look closer at.  Be sure to pin the site where you can purchase the curriculum the most reasonably.  This will help later when you are ready to make your purchase!

3.  Narrow It Down:  When it is time to make your decision on your curriculum plans for the new year, go back to your board(s) and research each pin.  Weed out and delete those pins that you have decided not to further consider.

4.  Buy Your Curriculum:  Once you have narrowed down your choices and decided on your curriculum, it is time to make your purchases!  Because you have pinned each of the products that you want to purchase, you can now easily go to your board(s), click on the pins, and go to the websites where you can purchase the curriculum.

5.  Update Board Information:  Once you have made your purchases, you can then go in and change the names of your boards to reflect your curriculum choices for that year.  For example, if you have a board for language arts, change the name of the board to “Language Arts – 2012-2013”.  Another example, if you have a board for one of your children, change the name of the board to “[name of child] – Grade 1”.  That way you will have a record of what you used for each child for each year.  It will also provide a neat resource for any of your Pinterest followers to give them curriculum ideas for each grade, subject, etc.

Happy Pinning!