This week at The Homeschool Village we are discussing art.  There are several posts that I have done over the past two years on what we have done for art. Click here to see them.  We have been blessed in that my kids were able to take art from another homeschool mom for two years.  She did some awesome stuff with the boys...things that I would have never done because they were too complicated or too messy.  Here are a few photos of some of our art over the years...  

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Labels: Art

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Labels: Bible, Bible in 90 Days

Life has been so crazy these past few weeks! Normally every week I am ahead on blog posts have them written and I just schedule them to publish.  Not so this week!  Here is a PARTIAL list of what has been going on...

*Said good-bye to grandma and grandpa
*We are currently dog sitting a retriever/lab mix.  She is such a doll!
*We have had our friends' children over here for about 6 days while they went down to a memorial service in California. So we are a family of six!
*We have been out blueberry picking about four times and have about 35 cups of blueberries!  This is the most we have ever picked.
*We picked four lbs of raspberries last night.
*Noah has been in swim lessons almost every day this summer.  His strokes are really improving! If I had to be honest he is a better swimmer than I!
*Noah's swim lessons has allowed me about an hour of reading time each day.  I have been using the time to try to read the Bible in 90 Days.  So far I am ahead of schedule.  I just started Nehemiah.
*I am working on getting the boys school schedules set for the year.
*I am trying to set up my Spanish lesson schedule also. (I teach private and small group lessons in the afternoons after I homeschool the boys.)
*I need to start making jam...going to start that process this week.  I think I am going to make...
  triple berry (strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry), blueberry, cranberry and banana, and raspberry jams this year.

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Labels: Family

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Labels: Multitude Mondays

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Labels: Bible in 90 Days

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Labels: History, Homeschooling, Language Arts, Math, Science, Weekly Wrap-up

This week at The Homeschool Village we are sharing photos of our kids doing fitness activities...here are a few of ours...

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Labels: Homeschooling

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Labels: Book Sneeze

1) Add a link and note of thanks to the person giving the award
2) Pass the award on to the bloggers whose blogs you love (15 tops)
3) Share 7 things about yourself

Seven Things about Myself
1. I live in Alaska.
2. I am originally from New Underwood, South Dakota....find that on the map!
3. I love gardening, reading, scrapbooking and stamping.
4. I am a former high school Spanish teacher who now gives private lessons in her home.
5. I love dark chocolate and hate red meat!
6. I love being the mom of two boys that are complete opposites.
7. I am tall and shrinking!  I used to be close to 5'10", but I am now 5'9"...the wonders of getting older! (I will be forty this year!)

Blogs I Love

Candace at His Mercy is New  I would have to say that even though Candace is younger than me she has been a mentor and guide for me over the years.  She was my TOS Crew leader and now is my mentor for the Bible in 90 Days.  She has helped me with my blog more times than I can count.  Like me, she has struggled with depression.  She has such a heart for God!  I love visiting her blog for inspiration!

Michele at My Blessings from Above  I love Michele's blog!  She loves to cook and is on a mission to be frugal.  I am the same way and love to find out tips from reading what she has to say.  She is the one that encouraged me to get into Swagbucks...I am so thankful that she did!  Now I can order from Amazon with less guilt!

Cheryl at Adventures of a Somewhat Crunchy Mama  I recently found Cheryl's blog...I love her wit and humor and tips! I loved her series...Somewhat Crunchy You.

Kendra at The Pumpkin Patch  Kendra has awesome ideas...for homeschooling and cooking.  Her home looks so fun!  Look at these great posts....Independence Day and Zebra Cake!

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Labels: Bloggy Fun

 Sheri over at The Shades of Pink is having a book giveaway!  Check it out!

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Labels: Books

Gratitude has changed my life...focusing on the positive has helped me avoid those negative thought patterns.  Here are more things that I am thankful for...

725. Getting to watch a momma moose and her son at a pond...

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Labels: Multitude Mondays

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Labels: Bible in 90 Days

This digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox So my wrap-up for this week is in the form of a slideshow.  This past week we went camping with friends for a few days and then with family (Grandma and Grandpa).  We had an awesome time!  We even got to watch some moose eat at the pond we were camping at! Check out more Weekly Wrap-ups at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

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Labels: Weekly Wrap-up

This week at the Homeschool Village we are discussing self-evaluation in homeschooling.

Here are some of the  questions that we could answer...


* What have you learned about yourself because of homeschooling? Did you realize you have a special gift, talent, or passion you hadn't realized before? For me, I realized that I have such a love of books and reading.  I have always enjoyed reading, but by becoming a homeschool mom I have had the opportunity to read more since I am reading to my kids a lot.  One area that I have loved is history...it has become more alive to me since becoming a homeschool teacher. I have enjoyed the read alouds that I have done with the kids over the years...the straight history and the historical fiction.


* What area(s) do you feel you need the most improvement for the upcoming school year? What steps will you take to make those improvements? For me the area of improvement for the upcoming school year is the same one that I struggle with year after year: patience!  Patience enough to slow down and enjoy the lessons.  Patience to watch my boys struggle through their work. Patience to deal with my oldest who is on a different time schedule than I am.  I am going to try to focus on stepping back and giving it to God more. I have learned over the past 7 months that prayer can help in this area tremendously.  Now I know that they say never to pray for patience because then you will get circumstances where you will have to exercise it, but I am focusing more on giving my anxieties to God through prayer.  When I do that I notice that my patience with the boys and our schedule for the day increases.

If you want to see what other homeschool moms are saying about self-evaluation...check out the Homeschool Village.

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Labels: Homeschooling, Word of the Year

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Labels: Gardening

I recently came across a substitute for those little pizza pockets that my kids sometimes get for lunch.  These are super easy to make!  You can make them in bulk and then freeze them to pull out later for a quick lunch.  There are other possibilities too...such as ham and cheese instead of the pepperoni and mozzarella.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

3/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup whole milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1 cup)
4 ounces pepperoni, cut into small cubes (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup pizza sauce
2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil



Preheat oven to 375o. Grease a 24-cup mini muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder; whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes.

Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

Microwave the pizza sauce until warmed through, then stir in 1 Tablespoon basil. Sprinkle the puffs with the remaining 1 Tablespoon basil. Serve the puffs with the pizza sauce for dipping.

Here is where the original recipe came from.

Posted by Debbie at 5:06 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Recipes

714. Great swim lesson experience for Noah.
715. Blooms on my flowers in the garden!
716. Being able to have time to read...I am currently reading the Bible through in 90 days.
717. Getting some deep cleaning done around the house.
718. Setting up my Spanish lesson schedule for the year.
719. Playing math games with the boys.
720. Birds singing in the morning.
721. Cool breezes.
722. Building relationships with godly women.
723. The ability to rise above circumstances.
724. That God makes all things beautiful in their time.

Posted by Debbie at 5:01 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Multitude Mondays