Pollywogs Place Homeschool – Page 33

Getting organized a little at a time … January 5, 2023

Published on January 5, 2023January 7, 2023 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog1 Comment

So it’s been a busy time here and I’ve been very slow about getting things undecorated but we don’t usually take our tree down until after the 6th anyway so that’s ok. I’m sure the neighbors will be glad when we pick up our poor inflatables out of the yard though.

I haven’t really set any goals per se but I would like to get our house more organized. I had high hopes of getting it right last year but 2022 turned out to be pretty crazy and life had other plans for us.

We had lots of catching up to do from 2021 and lots of checkups but Shyanne’s one year post-chemo checkup went well and everything looks good. This means we don’t have to go to monthly oncology checkups now… they will be every two months now.

Continue reading →

A Year in Review: Top Posts from 2022

Published on December 30, 2022 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and we pray that you have a Happy New Year! Our house is full as we’ve had some older kiddos visiting but that makes our hearts full as well so we have a good balance going on.

It’s hard to believe that this year is almost finished and a new year is about to begin. It’s definitely been an interesting year in many ways… the past couple of years have been interesting and have brought lots of hardships and trials but they have also brought us lots of unexpected blessings.

I read something earlier about letting out tears from 2022 be the seeds for 2023 and that sounds like a good idea to me. I know that 2022 has been a year of major adjustments here in our household. After spending most of 2021 in the hospital with Shyanne and away from our family, it has been quite an adjustment for everyone. I’ve also been dealing with some health issues but hopefully, I am on the way to getting better. It’s been a tough year for sure and it’s definitely been a struggle to get this far but we survived and I have faith that next year will be even better!

Continue reading →

Starting the New Year Off Right with Bill Organization!

Published on December 26, 2022December 3, 2022 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog2 Comments

These are a couple of older posts but the information still holds true and I am still using those printables… last year I didn’t print off a new set and things got a little confusing as I was trying to just ‘reuse’ the old ones but I’ve already printed out my new ones for 2023 so I can get a head start.

I also went ahead and wrote down the balances on any accounts that I am working on paying off so I can keep track of my progress… it feels so good to pay something off! We are slowly climbing out of debt even though we’ve had a couple of rough years. We’ve been making repairs to the house whenever we get the cash saved for a project while trying not to go into debt for anything else.

Sometimes we have to go without something for a bit or we have to wait a bit longer than anticipated but the money we save in the long run is a great bonus. With the increased costs of EVERYTHING, we need to save money every place we can!

Having all of your bills organized so you aren’t forgetting about due dates and such can save you a lot of time and money because hopefully, you won’t have as many late fees. I keep a simple pocket folder in a desk drawer with a place for my printouts and any incoming bills for easy access. It truly does make paying bills an easier process although it can still be a bit painful on the wallet.

Here are the links to the posts and printables if you want to check them out yourself!

Keeping Up With The Bills

Keeping Up With The Bills Free Printable

This also works great as a worksheet to help teach kids about budgets!

Special Holiday Meals: New Year’s Menu

Published on December 22, 2022October 5, 2025 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog2 Comments

Have you gotten all the supplies you need for your New Year’s meal yet? If not, you better grab them quick before they are sold out!

Here are a few of our favorite recipes for our traditional New Year’s Meal:

New Year’s Meal:

Brown Sugar & Honey Glazed Ham

Black Eyed Peas,

Greens

Hoe Cakes

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

What are your family’s favorite recipes for the New Year? Do you have any special traditions?

Here is another post we found about the luck associated with the traditional New Year’s Meal.

Here is an older Menu Planning post for the first week of the year which has a lot of our favorite meals included!

New Year’s Meal Download

Polar Express 2022

Published on December 18, 2022November 28, 2023 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog13 Comments

Our Polar Express Party was a huge hit thanks to all the help from our amazing family and friends! I’m so glad that we decided to give it a go even though we don’t really have our house set up the way we want it yet… its better to work with what you have right now and not keep putting things off until everything is ‘ready’ or ‘just right’ because that day may never come!

The kids had a fun time and are already making plans for next year! I’ll share some photos of the setup.