ideas – Pollywog's Place Blog

Making Memories: A Simple Winnie the Pooh Themed Baby Shower with Recipe Links and Printable Games

Published on August 18, 2025October 5, 2025 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog3 Comments

Whew… what a crazy month July was. We were rushing to get our house remodeled. It seems we always have some big project before a big event. Everything turned out great though and we were blessed to have so many family and friends come to help us celebrate the new arrival… he should be here ANY DAY NOW!

It’s starting to feel like home….

This past week, we got the house back in order and got all of the decorations packed away until the next event… we did make a rule that baby showers/weddings need to happen before May 31st or after September 1st… it’s just too darn HOT here! Our poor ACs can’t keep up with the heat, especially when the doors are constantly opening/shutting, but we survived so it’s all OK. What isn’t Ok is last month’s electric bill!!! That was crazy and the company keeps going up and adding charges on top of regular charges… it is just completely ridiculous!

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Delicious Homemade Treats to Gift This Holiday

Published on December 17, 2024December 10, 2025 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog1 Comment

Do you have a limited budget? Or maybe you want to give gifts, but you aren’t sure what to give?

We love gifting foods for Christmas as everyone loves food… some are special treats that we only make this time of year so that makes them extra nice to give. We made several treats for our 2024 Polar Express Party and many of them were made as gifts to take home and enjoy… they are always a HIT!

Here are some of our favorite gifts to give (and receive):

Fudge – so many varieties
Chocolate candies – flavors for everyone!
Chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks
Christmas Breads
Homemade cookies (some of these recipes could be adapted to a ‘gift in a jar’ type recipe.)
Hot cocoa mix (you can find several cute ways to gift it on Pinterest)
Sourdough Bread
Sourdough Boules (the varieties are endless but our recipe has some of our favorite variations)
Sourdough Stars and Knots (you can use any type of filling you desire… we love using Nutella, Rosella jam, or Chocolate)
Sourdough cinnamon rolls… so good!
Smoky Walnuts

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Solar Eclipse Party Ideas

Published on April 3, 2024September 15, 2025 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog3 Comments

Whoa! It feels like this year is flying by!

I’ve been working so hard on this new garden space and planning out some changes for our home and property that April just kinda snuck up on me. I was sitting down to do my monthly orders and I saw that I had some Solar Eclipse viewing glasses in my Amazon cart… had to get them ordered so we could safely view the eclipse next week. Then I remembered that I had started to plan a little party for that day (April 8th) as well… the keyword is ‘started’… it didn’t get very far.

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Little House In The Big Woods Adventure Weekly Lesson Plan Links & Guide

Published on August 25, 2018January 16, 2019 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog18 Comments

**Although I try to provide as many FREE resources as possible this post may contain affiliate links alt no extra cost to you. We may earn a small commission, if a purchase is made through these links, which helps to support our blog and our family. Thank you!

Click Here for Little House In The Big Woods Adventure Weekly Lesson Plan Links Only

How we use these lesson plans:

Our school week is usually completed in 4 days. We use a Loop Schedule where we work for a designated amount of time on each subject before moving on to the next. After their work is completed for the day the kids are allowed to have independent studies were they can study whatever their little hearts desired.

Our 5th day is an optional day that we use to complete unfinished work or for other activities as we choose.

Please click HERE for a list of resources that we have purchased from Amazon and other suppliers.

Click on the links below for the series you would like to view/use. I will update these links as we get them finished.

Tip: If you want to go to a certain week/chapter or topic simply push the ‘ctrl’ and the ‘F’ button down together and a small bar will pop up. Type in the week number or chapter number you want and it will take you to it.

1. Little House In The Big Woods Adventure Week 1 Lesson Plans

Language Arts:
- Read Chapters 1 & 2
- Discussion
- McGuffey Primer Lesson
- Vocabulary
- Writing Activities
- These week we learn about fiction vs. nonfiction
- Make a Pioneer Journal
- Mother Goose Phonics: Pat A Cake
Math:
- Group Activity
- Ray’s Arithmetic Books
- Fractions
- Learning Your numbers 1-10
Geography and History:
- State Study: Wisconsin
- Research Pioneer Life
Science:
- Learn about Bears
- Learn about Panthers
- Research Microbes and Bacteria
- Learn about Density
- Bonus: Why does fire burn different colors?
Life Skills:
- Research Pioneer Chores
- Making our bed
- Interrupting
- Memory Work
- Fun activities: Make Butter
- Bonus Skills: Memorizing the books of the Bible, Archery, and/or Baking
PE, Health & Safety:
- Stranger Danger
- Play Little Brown Bear
Music, Arts, and Crafts:
- Crafts: Hog’s Bladder Balloons, Corn Cob/Husk Dolls, Snowflakes, and Paper Dolls
- Art: Bulldogs, Jack Frost
- Music: Yankee Doodle Dandy, Butter Churning Song

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Aviation Day

Published on August 12, 2018August 23, 2018 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

*This post contains affiliate links which help to support our blog and our family.

Aviation Day is celebrated on the August 19th in honor of Orville Wright’s birthday. Click here to learn more about this holiday. This would be a great day to plan a trip to a local aviation museum.

Do you have an aviation enthusiast in your house? Here are some great ideas for them.

Below are some of the activities I found to celebrate this day:

(Use at your own discretion.)