Foods 
The end of the summer gardening season is coming soon. Come September, I'll be looking to see if my garden was wildly successful—or whether I'll be chalking this year up to a learning experience. It’s hard when you’ve invested as much time and energy into a garden to get it going as it takes, and then somewhere along the way, it all goes down the tubes. For us this year, we didn’t even get a lot of the plants in the ground that we usually do. Of the 4 trays of tomato plants I planted, we had only 5 plants germinate. As frustrating as that was, God is still in control and He still blesses us unexpectedly. We were ...Read More
Homeschooling 5 Clever Ways to Sneak in Handwriting Practice
It's funny how different kids can be. Take school subjects, for instance. My oldest loves history, literature, and theology. My next oldest loves math, art... ...and handwriting. Who in the world likes handwriting? My child, that's who. I get that a log of kids dislike handwriting. I don't particularly desire to practice my penmanship either. For those of you who have kids who don't particularly like handwriting, here are some fun ways to sneak handwriting practice into your child’s life. If you do it correctly, they won’t even know that you’re actually teaching them. These handwriting ideas are for ...Read More
Bible Journaling for Kids: 5 great ideas to get them started!
I was amazed. My ten-year-old son's notes during the Wednesday night Bible study rivaled my own. I didn't have to force him, or even cajole him. He simply held out his hand to receive the study materials offered by our pastor, and got to work. His spelling wasn't great, and his sentence structure was lacking. But in this situation—who cares? He was taking the initiative to hear, ponder, and record spiritual truth, and I couldn't have been more thrilled with this son of mine. My son—who is working hard to overcome attention-deficit hyperactive behaviors. My son—who usually struggles to sit through the Sunday ...Read More
What Is Copywork? And why it’s the missing piece in your homeschool day!
My oldest is 14 now, and his handwriting still looks like it was scribbled out by a chimpanzee (sorry to all you chimps out there). Watching him write reminds me of what young Zorro must have looked like in school, slashing his pen across the paper. If it weren't so sad, it would be comical. We weren't nearly as rigorous about handwriting skills when he was younger—and it definitely shows. Thankfully, we learned we needed to be more disciplined with his younger brothers and their penmanship is quite good. It all started when we combined copywork with our Bible memory goals. Copywork, put simply, is copying by ...Read More
Low-Carb Lemon Blueberry Scones (paleo option)
I've found the longer (and more consistently) I keep my carbs low, the less of a sweet tooth I have. But sometimes, it's nice to sit down with a cup of coffee (or hot tea in my case) and a tasty little treat and feel...normal. And these low-carb lemon blueberry scones really fill that void. Looking for gluten-free recipes and resources? This Everything Gluten Free page is a library of everything gluten free we’ve worked on. The scones aren't too sweet. Along with the blueberries, I use just a touch of a monk-fruit based sweetener—just enough to make these slightly-sweet, but oh-so delicious. Not familiar with ...Read More
5 Tips to Help Your Left-Handed Child with Handwriting
I'm right-handed. So is my husband. This was why we weren't sure what to do when our second born decided to make our life difficult and be a left-handed child. And to make matters more complicated, our identical twins don't write with the same hand either: one is left-handed and the other is right-handed. So, in this article I'm going to give a dummy's right-handed parent's guide to helping your left-handed child learn how to write. If your lefty is learning to write, this will save both of you a number of headaches later on. Did you know babies can begin to show a hand preference around 7 months old? ...Read More
9 Frequently Asked Questions About Essential Oils
One of the things I love most about Google is not so much answers it provides but the insight about the questions people ask—and in this case the questions about essential oils people are asking. I compiled the most often asked questions about essential oils Google users are asking —and some of the most frequent questions I'm getting via email. Ready? Let's check out the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about essential oils... Learn more about my favorite essential oils in this post. If you’re just getting started with essential oils, you should read A Skeptics Guide to Essential Oils. I ...Read More
Essential Oils for Dogs – What You Need to Know
If you use and love essential oils and you love your pooch, you may have wondered whether you can use essential oils for dogs. The answer is a qualified yes—but there are some things you need to know first. Since dogs metabolize essential oils differently than we human folk do, we have to be cautious. But with a few safety guidelines and some quick tips, you'll be on your way to oiling up your pups in no time! Learn more about my favorite essential oils in this post. There are a number of essential oils that are safe for dogs, and there are some essential oils that are very bad for dogs. In this post we'll ...Read More
