I think it’s been a little while since we’ve posted any life updates and quite a bit has happened over the past few months so I thought I’d give a quick summary of what we’ve been up to.
Life Updates – October 2023
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Hubby Approved Surprise Salted Caramel Cupcakes
I’ve made this recipe several times now, the first time being at Sweet Shyanne’s 2nd birthday party, and people have not stopped talking about them!
Mr. Awesome has jumped on the keto/THM bandwagon and has been asking for these again and again… the kids beg for them as well so I guess I just need to start making a double batch of them. The first time I saw these cupcakes mentioned was in the Trim Healthy Table cookbook and I thought some silly thoughts about the ‘surprise’ ingredient but I’m so glad I decided to give them a try and I think you will be too!
Quick and Easy Life Skills Summer Camp (At Home)
This time of year gets crazy around here, and sometimes I feel like I can’t sign up for one. more. thing! I did however just sign up for these workshops. I can fit them into our school schedule, as we are schooling year-round, to help keep things fun and interesting.
I’m all about the quick and easy. I also think that it might come in handy to have the kids be a little more independent around the house as I am scheduled to be out of commission for a bit toward the end of summer… more on that later.
That’s why I’m loving these 3 video workshops from #LifeSkillsNow summer camp.
- They’re available right NOW!
- I don’t have to wait for anything on my calendar
- They’re super short, about 10 minutes each
- I don’t have to go anywhere!
- Kids ages 5-18 are ALL covered! (When is the last time you saw something online that was a good fit for teens??)
Our 2023-2024 Homeschool Curriculum, Schedule Plans, Resource Links, and Daily Routine
It’s that time of year again for us… time to get the next school year planned out. We finished up our 2022-2023 school year back in April and I’ve been busy gathering supplies and making schedules as I coordinate with everyone for vacations, holidays, and special trips that we have planned.
Last year was a bit of a whirlwind as everyone got readjusted to life at home. We also had another little one join us mid-year and that made things very interesting and kept me on my toes… he will be with us again this year so we can’t wait to see what the year will hold for everyone.
It is SO TEMPTING to take a few months off to just focus on this house but I know from past experience that this doesn’t go well and that it takes FOREVER to get a couple of the kids back into the school routine. You can read more about last year’s curriculum and routines HERE.
We had switched to Living Education Books from Master Books for our Language Arts and Math and we absolutely loved them but I decided to go back to some of our oldies but goodies books that we already had on hand for this year. We still have the Living Books and I may decide to switch back but I really wanted to try to simplify things just a bit. I also found some great workbooks to go along with these older books so I’m curious to see how they work out. If you want to see how we liked our curriculum from last year then check out this post HERE.
One of the biggest changes will be that little Ma’am will be joining us at the table for some of the lessons that she can participate in… she loves school and we try to include her as much as we can. I also have another post with activities that we use for little miss last year.
I’m also super excited to be using more of a Charlotte Mason-style approach this year. It’ll be interesting to see how everything plays out and how the kids react to this new method of learning. You can look up Simply Charlotte Mason on YouTube for lots of helpful information or check out their site for TONS of FREE resources and helpful tips! I’ve recently some more wonderful FREE resources at DonPotter.net.
Note: I’ve had to recently update this post to include this wonderful FREE site of Charlotte Mason-style curriculum lesson plans for grades K-5… go check it out HERE!
We have a wonderful all-in-one printer that we use to make copies of the work so that we can use/reuse the books/materials multiple times which helps to cut down on the cost of books every year. Our old one lasted for several years so we just bought an updated one to replace it. We also try to stock up on school supplies when they go on sale and/or on school tax holidays to help save money. Check out this post for essential supplies.
Please note that it is not necessary to purchase any of these materials to give your child/children a good education. We happen to have a lot of them on hand already and many of these we have been able to find for FREE or discounted prices online or on our local FB groups. You can also find lots of used books on eBay, thrift books, and Amazon. Your local library often has many books on various subjects that you can use for lessons too!
Continue reading “Our 2023-2024 Homeschool Curriculum, Schedule Plans, Resource Links, and Daily Routine”Favorite Gifts from 2022
I had to laugh because I found this post in my ‘DRAFTS’ and I don’t think I ever published it or if I did I guess it didn’t go through… these have been some of our favorites throughout the year and may give you some gift ideas for this year.
It’s been a few weeks since Christmas and I thought I’d ask everyone about what their favorite gifts from Christmas were… this can help give me a better idea for future gifts and also let me know which things they may not have cared for at all. This past Christmas we were able to scale back quite a bit… the increased prices on everything helped with that as well!
We found that by putting together a Wish List on Amazon we were able to help get the items they have been asking for and it helped others buy what the kiddos really wanted… this truly made the gift buying a little easier. We have decided that all of our family members should create a wish list of some sort so we can access it for birthdays, anniversaries, special holidays, Christmas, or ‘just because’ gifts… the lists help to narrow down what everyone really wants or needs so that we aren’t just throwing money away on something they can’t or won’t use.
Here are a few of the answers I received:
- Life ** The kids had been relentless in asking for this game
- Lego Klutz sets ** What is there not to love about Legos? — maybe stepping on them but other than that they are always a hit with everyone
- Clue Jr and the Clue Disney Villains ** We got the Clue Jr for our home and big sister got the Villains but we played while she was here
- Battleship ** The older kids loved this game and they bought it for their younger siblings who now love it just as much!
- Cash Flow Game ** One of the older kids bought this and it has been a bit tricky to learn but everyone loves it — the junior version may be easier to start with and there is an online version as well
- Ticket to Ride ** We have seen this on several different videos and the kids really wanted to try it out, it was one that was a little tricky to learn but it does have expansion packs but we haven’t quite figured out how they work yet
Can you tell that they really love board games? Some of these were games that we had never heard of so the learning curve has been a bit hectic but they love playing them all!
Everyone also loved their new blanket throws that they got from Granny!
Continue reading “Favorite Gifts from 2022”
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