The Blessing that is the Teach Them Diligently Convention

by MomLaur83 on May 20, 2013

This past weekend we spent together at the Teach Them Diligently Convention in Nashville, TN. This was our first EVER homeschool conference as a family, and am I ever glad we saved up the experience for this!

There aren’t enough words to tell you just how much of a heart-talking, life-changing, soul-encouraging weekend this was. Yes, it was busy, tiring, and included a LOT of walking (through the beautiful Opryland Hotel where the conference was held! OH MY!), but the blessing far out-weighed the efforts.

Opryland Hotel

We arrived Thursday afternoon in Nashville, me to the blogger meet-up, and my hubby to our hotel with the kids. I was stressed and strained, anxious to get upstairs and meet everyone, and annoyed that I had forgotten my blog cards at home! After an even more stressful 45 minutes wandering the hotel trying to find where I was going (the Opryland Hotel is GIGANTIC! 14 miles of walking path!) I landed at my destination in tears. Greeted at the door by dear friends I haven’t seen in so long, they immediately gathered me and Miss E into their arms and loved on me so I could get myself straightened out.

Rebecca and Miss EI entered the room as quietly as I could to hear Sally Clarkson impart some wisdom and laughter into our souls before the weekend began. It was so great to meet friends I’ve only known online, and to see others again from Allume.

new friends - Sams Noggin

Ok, so, before I go any farther, I have a confession to make. My attitude on Thursday STUNK to high heaven. I think God was trying to get my attention, to warn me that what I had planned was not necessarily in his plan for me. I had circled and high lighted all these speakers I wanted to hear, but God knew that if I was kept that busy I wouldn’t be hearing the messages that he had for me. My attitude carried over into my children and my husband, and I nearly ruined our weekend there! But the Lord was gracious and showed me where I needed to release to him, and by Friday morning I’d had a huge change of heart, and was ready to let him lead.

The kids were registered in the Battle for Truth program for Friday and Saturday, and though they were slightly hesitant at the huge room and all new faces, they quickly felt right at home, thanks to the great leaders heading up the program. They were EXHAUSTED at the end of each day, but filled with the truth of God’s word, and we knew they were well-cared for.

As I mentioned, I had grandiose plans of hearing so many speakers, but there just wasn’t enough time in the day to do so! Heidi St. John, Crystal Paine, Sally Clarkson, Rachael Carmen, Mark Spence, Mark Hamby, Ken Ham, and this was just scraping the surface! Miss E was FANTASTIC the whole weekend, very happy go lucky – but she’s also a 5 month old baby, so she can be loud, and sometimes she was just plain tired of hearing voices over speakers, and she made it known, so we had to make a lot of quick exits (sorry Heidi :D). As a couple The Man and I took in only a handful or so of sessions together, but I didn’t stress over having to miss them, because there’s audio available for every single one!

Just in case you were curious, here’s the audio line-up for the sessions I caught only part of or wasn’t able to attend that I would recommend getting if you can (they’re not available yet, but I’ll post links when they are!):

ANY of the sessions by Mark Spence

Any session by Mark Hamby – ESPECIALLY the one talking about encouraging our children and not crushing their spirits – this one spoke the most to me out of the whole weekend!

All of the sessions from Hal and Melanie Young (Raising Real Men) – all about boys, especially their purity one!

Heidi St. John‘s sessions on managing your day and romance for the busy homeschool mom (she also has books on these!), notebooking and multi-level teaching (oh, and she’s HILARIOUS!)

Rachael Carmen – Teaching your children to B.L.E.S.S. and 7 Simple Steps to Sanity

Todd Friel‘s whole series on parenting and marriage – I’ve never heard him before but everyone kept saying how he just nailed it!

Denise Eide from Logic of English on teaching kinesthetic learners

Amy Roberts – Creating the Perfect Schedule (lots of wisdom here from a mom of 7!)

Sally Clarkson‘s – great encouragement and experience – she’s been through it all my friends!

Sonya Shafer - Living Books

Norm Wakefield – Homeschool Vision

The vendor hall was stunning. So many great companies come together with solid, biblical resources available to help you in your walk as a Christian and homeschool family.

Sight and Sound Theater

Teach Them Diligently Marketplace, Apologia, MasterBooks, WriteShop, Sight and Sound Theater (where we are headed to next!), The Busy Homeschool Mom, Vision Forum, Mission Imperative, Doorposts, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

writeshop

You can find next years’ curriculum and so much more at these tables. Visit and chat with the vendors, they’re eager to answer questions and help you find what you’re looking for!

On top of all this, I had an amazing opportunity to be a part of a live webcast with Rachael Carman and some other homeschool bloggers. I’m still reeling in shock that I was on LIVE with Rachael and Amy (from Raising Arrows) as she asked us questions about what God has been teaching us in our homeschool and ourselves. Obviously God wanted me to hear loud and clear what I had already been feeling he was speaking to me through the few sessions I had attended. If you want you can watch it here!

The best part about this weekend? The Man enjoyed it. And he was just as encouraged and blessed as I was! This is what it’s all about – getting the husband and wife together on the same page, encouraging them to DISCIPLE their families, enabling the husbands to LEAD. This whole conference isn’t just about homeschooling, it’s about discipling, equipping, teaching Christian parents how to honour the Lord in their homes.

There’s still one more opportunity to attend in Omaha, NE – May 30 – June 1, 2013 And if you’re unable to make it then, there are 9 locations across the US where there will be a Teach Them Diligently Marketplace - a retreat weekend with a mini-marketplace – check it out!

 

 

 

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Stella & Dot – Fabulous Accessories for All!

by MomLaur83 on May 3, 2013

I am so excited to introduce you to my good friend, wardrobe assistant, and Stella & Dot stylist, Kitty!

Kitty

She is one of my favourite fashionistas with a super sense of style. She knows just what to put together to make some gorgeous outfits! With her stylish advice she has gotten me out of a rut more than a few times.

The other night we sat down together to talk fashion and beauty and accessories, and she gave me some great info, encouragement and tips to share with you.

What is it about beauty and fashion that you enjoy?

I always had a lot of acne as a teenager and was very self conscious about my skin, so I was into skin care. I would try to find the perfect makeup for acne scars and learning that those things are just a cover up, and true beauty comes from God. For fashion, trying to adorn yourself to boost self esteem is just external. As I matured, I understood that beauty and fashion can help people with their professional image and give a boost in confidence as well, to look polished, put together.

Bring It Jewelry roll

It’s also about finding your own style, and pieces that would help you to do every day, whether you’re a mom, student, working professional, just finding your own style . What’s comfy, effortless, yet looks nice. Dressing nicely should not be a chore. That’s a very important thing, because a lot of times it seems like dressing presentably is a chore and not fun.

What advice would you give to others in regards to building an effortless wardrobe?

Finding what works for them. TAKE THE TIME TO TRY THINGS ON! If you don’t try it on you never know! Or you might really like a piece but it doesn’t look good on you. If the cut of the shirt is wrong for you, it won’t look nice on! Ask other people. Ask your husband, boyfriend, best friend, because they will know what looks good on you as well. Look for what gives you confidence. Sometimes you just need to go out of your box – out of the baggy sweat shirts and pants, try that fitted shirt and see if it works!

neutrals and brights

For jewelry, find some pieces that are basic. Determine what looks best on your skin tone (gold, silver, or other metals). You can buy a lot of pieces, but if they’re not  cute or a lot of effort to pair with an outfit you’re not going to wear them.

Try mixing and matching some accessory pieces together to see how they work together. Layering works for jewelry as well as clothing!

Do you have any tips for styling for the upcoming summer season? 

So this season it’s about a lot of bright colours. Traditionally you would only layer brights on white or dark, but now it’s layering brights on bright. So don’t be afraid to layer your neon yellow with oranges, hot pink, or green! A pop of colour is a great way to spice up your wardrobe, whether you do it in a beautiful mixed print scarf or turquoise earrings.

brightly coloured scarvesColoured jeans are also hot right now – try mint green or lavender purple for some beautiful colours.

You can also tone down your outfit with neutrals. Layering again! Get pieces you can wear separately or together for an arm party.

arm partyRemember – its ok to layer and mix metals. Jewelry can really make or break an outfit. You can be wearing no jewelry and when you put a piece on it totally changes the look.

Tell me a little bit about what got you interested in Stella & Dot?

Stella & Dot

Right away the jewelry caught my eye, and I do love jewelry! Then I found out from my friend, who is a Stella & Dot stylist, that working with them is a great part or full time job opportunity. It offers women flexibility and chances to style their lives. It’s super easy to start up and maintain and its fun because you get to meet other women, earn some extra cash – every little bit helps! You also get to help people find styles that would help them to pull together an effortless look.

Getaway bag

And the jewelry is super cute! They have also recently started carrying some really cool bags – and who doesn’t love a great bag as an accessory!

What happens at a Stella & Dot Trunk Show?

First, gather your girlfriends. I’ll bring my jewelry, scarves, bags and other accessories, and we’ll have a fun “ultimate personal styling experience”.  Stella & Dot has something for everyone!

Stella & Dot

You’ll have an opportunity to touch and feel the pieces, try them on, and your stylist will help you find the look that flatters you, ones that you can wear everyday, or for special occasions.  SEEING how one piece of jewelry can give you a different look, or be worn different ways, begins to open up whole new possibilities.

When you host a trunk show, you will have access to some pretty sweet exclusive offers, products and discounts. At Stella & Dot we love to spoil our hostesses! You can also earn free and half-off accessrories for hosting a trunk show.

portable jewelry pouch

Now for the bonus – a giveaway! Tell me a little bit about this great bag.

How Does She Do It red Ikat bag

This bag is called “How Does She Do It”. It is one of my favourite bags from Stella & Dot! It is very versatile and comes in a few different styles. Whether you use it as a carryall, or snapped down into a satchel, it is great for every day use or traveling.

satchel size

 

It can also be worn different ways, and it’s the perfect size for a laptop or to use as a diaper bag. There are also a lot of fun little extra details – charm detailing, beautiful liners, leather straps. And of course who doesn’t love the internal water bottle pocket!

How Does She Do It

Kitty, thanks so much for sharing some great tips, ideas and products with us – not to mention this fabulous bag for the giveaway! In closing, how important is quality to you when choosing accessories?

Very! I would definitely choose quality over quantity.  Quality is very important because a lot of the time it affects the way it falls on you.  Or, if you buy a cheap bag, if you use it every day, it will break in a few weeks. The lining will start to fade, the edges will fray. But a good quality bag used every day will last you a long time.

Enter to win the How Does She Do It bag from Stella & Dot!

 *Giveaway open only to residents of the Greater Toronto Area*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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A Quick, Safe and Effective Way to Get Rid of Ants

by MomLaur83 on May 1, 2013

 

ant removal

The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah. Or more like BOO-NO! And they never, EVER march in just groups of 1, or 2, or 3. More like entire COLONIES that always seem to make their way into your house on the 2nd week you haven’t vacuumed and there’s a proverbial smorgasbord of delicious goodies all over the floor for them to avail themselves of….

ants go marching

We always seem to get a general infestation of ants as soon as we get a few consistent days of warmth and sunshine. And with kids around it can be very difficult to safely eliminate the problem. Ant poison traps are always in danger of ending up in little hands, spraying is just nasty (not to mention super toxic!) and I’ve never found a safe “natural” solution that works well.

more ants

I’d often do a happy dance on the rain days when the torrents would come down, thinking with glee that the ants were getting drowned and washed away. Not so, as we learned in our Apologia studies last year. Ants have the ability to hold their breath. For a long time. Which means no ants were getting drowned on our back patio. (Great defense mechanism, bad elimination tactic).

So in desperation, I devised my own completely safe, highly effective (and let’s face it, fun :D) way to get rid of ants.

All you need is some water, a kettle, broom, vacuum and mop, and a pile of ants.

Step 1. Sweep or vacuum the area where your ants are coming in. Wipe the floor down or mop to remove as much of their scent as possible.

kettle

Step 2. Boil your kettle full of water.

Step 3. Pour boiling water over the ants and ant hills.

boil them ants

Step 4. Repeat

boiled ants

Bonus feature – This is also a really great way to get a clean patio or a big mud puddle for your kids to play in too :D

clean patio

I’m DEAD serious (hee hee). This works. And it works well! You may have to repeat a couple of times, and reboil the kettle depending on how many ant hills you have in the back yard. But once we do this a couple times (and keep floors swept clean and mopped!) you’ll stop seeing the ants coming in.

dead antsWe do this a couple of times (maybe) over the summer and that’s all the ants we have to deal with!

Let me know if you try it how it works for you!

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W is for Weather – With The Big Book of Earth and Sky!

by MomLaur83 on April 29, 2013

*I received a copy of The Big Book of Earth and Sky to review*

As much as possible in our preschool letter of the week lessons with Keekers,, I try to draw our older boys in with a unit study. This helps me to spread my already stretched time just a little bit further :D

Last week we were working on the letter W, and I had chosen weather, wind and water to be our unit study focus. It worked out so conveniently because at the very same time I received The Big Book of Earth and Sky from MasterBooks to review! A couple years ago we won a copy of The Big Book of History, and it is FANTASTIC, so I knew this book would be the same.

Big Book of Earth and Sky

How we are using The Big Book of Earth and Sky

learning about clouds

We spent some time outdoors examining the sky and learning a bit about types of clouds. There are more than just cumulus, cirrus, and stratus! There are actually many combinations of clouds, and if you get familiar with them, you can get pretty good at predicting the weather :D

Types of clouds

Speaking of weather, it almost always involves water in some way – we studied up on the water cycle, to understand how it is that water gets from the ocean, to the sky, to the earth, and back to the sky again.

Big Book of Earth and Sky

Check out our fun experiment to see how much water evaporates! This level went down over a couple of days’ time.

evaporation

The Big Book of Earth and Sky has a ton of fantastic information about weather, right there in the fold-outs! All 15 feet of them!

What’s Inside The Folds

15 feet of fun

This book is huge, jam-packed with creation-based, biblically accurate information about the earth and the sky God created. It covers everything from the earth’s atmosphere and solar system to who broke the record for the highest sky dive, types of rocks, ocean creatures, and everything in between! The kids will literally spend HOURS with it on the floor, examining each image, reading the information, coming running into the kitchen to share some new fact discovered, excited and more than entertained – they’re learning!

 

How to get a copy of The Big Book of Earth and Sky

Master Books and New Leaf Publishing are generously offering a copy of The Big Book of Earth and Sky to one of my readers! Enter below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you can’t wait, you can buy a copy from New Leaf Publishing for $19.99!

You’re also going to want to check out the Master Books Book and a Bite Facebook Party tomorrow night (Tuesday, April 30th) at 8-9 pm central (9-10 pm eastern). This is a great opportunity to learn more about Master Books, engage with other families, AND win some great prizes :D See you there!

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Homeschool Convention for Someone Who’s Never Been Before

by MomLaur83 on April 26, 2013

I’ll admit it. I grew up homeschooled, we decided to homeschool, and have now been doing it for 6 years without ever having once attended a homeschool convention. Yup, not a one. It’s not for lack of events occurring in my area – every year there are 2 major homeschool conventions that occur within a 2 hour drive of us. It’s not for lack of desire to be encouraged and receive practical tips and angles for everything you could possibly imagine facing during your homeschooling journey. I suppose it has mostly been a combination of things – fear of being overwhelmed, and as I typically do, to the point of not actually applying anything we learn. But something else has also held me back from attending these conventions, and I think I’ve finally pin-pointed what it is.

The head of the family is the father. He leads, sets the tone and focus, encourages, disciplines, and is mom’s biggest cheerleader, encourager, and support. His role in the homeschool is just as important as his role in the family, and I feel as though the challenge for dad’s to step up in this area has been lacking. Homeschool convention workshops are typically geared toward the mom, keeping in mind dad’s will be attending – but nothing has really been focused on encouraging, equipping and loving on the dads steering the ship.

But then I heard about Teach Them Diligently. And I knew instantly that something was different. Maybe it was hearing stories of the Men’s Breakfast, where the dads are poured into by some pretty cool homeschooling fathers and encouragers. Maybe it was seeing the session topics focusing less on “How to Homeschool” and more on how to reach the heart of and disciple your children. And then there’s the childrens’ program. I’ve never heard of a homeschool convention with a discipleship training program for your children to attend while their parents are being discipled.

Banner4Truth

Going once, going twice, SOLD!

And so, in a few weeks’ time, we’ll be making the long drive down to attend our very first homeschool convention ever. Am I nervous? Only slightly! Because I know that the women I’ve been connecting with online will be there to welcome us, and that these families are all coming together for the same reasons – learning how to let God lead in our homes, school and hearts. Plus, what better place is there to gather to hear some amazing testimonies, share stories, laughter and tears? Oh, AND there will be a TON of my favourite homeschool companies there, in the vendor hall. And there will be deals, oh yes, there will be deals! :D

If you’ve never attended a homeschool convention before, this is one you don’t want to miss! It’s worth the drive to Nashville, Omaha or Spartanburg. We’re even turning it into an amazing family adventure – we’ll be visiting the Creation Museum (did I MENTION Ken Ham is a speaker?!) on our way down, stopping to stay with some beloved friends, and making a trip over to the Sight and Sound Theater to see “Noah” on our way home.

Have you ever attended a homeschool convention? What was the best thing you took away from it? Are you going to Teach Them Diligently?

If you aren’t able to make it to the convention locations in May, then you must try to make it to one of the 9 Marketplace locations happening across the US over the summer! Mini retreat, convention and marketplace, all rolled into one!

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I Am An Undercover Mama

by MomLaur83 on April 26, 2013

There’s been a whole lot of talk going on everywhere lately about wardrobes – not the Narnian kind you walk through, but rather the often confusing and frustrating mass of clothing we have shoved into our drawers or hanging askew in our closets. As a mom with young kids and a baby who is up at night, I often have to think HARD about what I’m going to wear in the morning – and I’m more often than not the last one dressed out of the bunch :D Don’t get me wrong – I do so LOVE dressing for the day and choosing outfits which are fun and fit comfortably. But too often I’ve found myself stuck with limited options because of a nursing baby.

When I discovered Undercover Mama nursing tops, I nearly jumped up and down with glee! This isn’t just your average nursing top. Yes, there are tank tops out there that you can wear to nurse discreetly, but I’ve always found them to be poor quality, boring colours, lacking in length, or too low cut.

Undercover Mama nursing top

Undercover Mama is the exception, and here are the things I love best about them!

Discreet nursing

With 4 kids I don’t have much choice in deciding where and when I am going to nurse the baby if we are out and about. I used to whole up in a room so I could save everyone the flash of white belly while trying to nurse my little one. While I still like to be discreet and use a nursing cover, these tops have made feeding the baby while out and about so much more comfortable and less stressful! No more exposed back!

Single un-clip


Many nursing tank tops have a separate strap and clip from your bras. That means you have to unclip and re-clip twice. This is very awkward when you often only have have 1 hand to do it with! Undercover Mama has a convenient rubber ring which slips on to the bra flap and allows you to un-clip both at the same time. It also comes with a hook you can slide onto the strap or flap of your nursing bra.

Longer length

A pet peeve of mine are tops that shrink and hike up, especially the ones we use for layering under our normal shirts. The Undercover Mama top has an extra long length to it, so whether you have a short or long torso, it’s got your back (covered that is! :D). They do seem to run a bit on the larger side, so if you’re normally a medium, go with a small. When in doubt, there is a great size guide!

Multiple Colours

Undercover Mama colour options

Most nursing tank tops I’ve seen come in two c0lours – black and white. Not so in this case! With Undercover Mama you have over 10 colours to pick from. This definitely makes coordinating with your current wardrobe a lot easier.

AMAZING Customer Service

These guys stand behind their products! Plus, it was developed by a mom, so you KNOW it’s been put through all the tests. And if there are ever any issues with your tops, customer service is on it like a bee on honey. I had an issue with the lace on one of my tops separating from the bottom seam, and they very quickly sent a replacement top.

 

Want to win one of your own? Use the rafflecopter entry form below and win your choice of colour and size in an Undercover Mama! (Not including Blueberry, Emerald or Orange). Giveaway will be open until Friday, May 3rd.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

*Disclosure* I received one free Undercover Mama nursing top for the review. All opinions and other tops are my own :D

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Stay Organized and On Track with Homeschool Minder

by MomLaur83 on April 24, 2013

I am a list-maker by default. If something needs to get done, it isn’t getting anywhere near completion without a detailed list in front of me where I can see tangible progress! It is the same whether it’s chores, blog posts, groceries, projects for myself or the kids, and most importantly, our homeschool.

I’ve written before about the importance of using a schedule to keep yourself on track, and accountable to your daily lessons. Believe me when I tell you that if we don’t have a schedule, we are wasting most of our time either trying to figure out what is coming next (that goes for both the kids AND mom :D) and trying to rally everyone together for a group lesson or chore time. As much as I know it is important to keep us organized, focused and on track, I still struggle so much with the actual putting together of a schedule. Once we have the framework in place though, it’s literally a BREEZE and I feel like we save hours in our day!

Though I tend toward using pen and paper for making up our schedules, when I heard about the Homeschool Minder program, I knew it was some new territory I wanted to venture into. I’ve heard a lot about scheduling and record keeping software, and frankly, it all makes my head spin! But I went into this with no expectations, curious to see how all the different parts work together. Below is a breakdown of how we used the web-based program and what the benefits were.

 

How to Lesson Plan with Homeschool Minder

Homeschool Minder detailed lesson plans

This is the heart and soul of the whole program. Homeschool Minder conveniently allows you to set up separate students with their subjects under “make your own” categories – so you’re not restricted to pre-made areas of study, and you can easily change/rename them. If you have more than one student using the same subject – for example, both my boys participate in our Apologia Swimming Creatures study – you can create the lesson once, and copy it from one student to the next! I love me a good copy and paste :0)

Any number of subjects can be added to your student, along with resources, activities (and chores!).

Homeschool Minder resources

 

If you know what your daily schedule is going to look like, you can add a start and finish time to the subject. This is extremely helpful because when you print out the schedule, everything is already given a time slot and your child can work through the schedule, checking off things as they go.

You can be as detailed with the planning, or go as simple as you want. To each subject you can add a lesson. To each lesson you can add instructions, as well as assignments. Here is where you would also add which resources you are using – this is perfect for future years when your younger students are doing the same subject and you can’t remember which books you used!

Grading and Keeping Records with Homeschool Minder

If keeping track of grades is important to you, or you need to keep a record of them, then you will love the gradebook. When you add an assignment, you can determine how much the finished work is worth - either a certain number of points, or a pass/fail.

Screen Shot 2013-04-24 at 3.34.37 PM

When the assignment is complete, simply add in the score. The fun part is how cool and professional the printed report looks!

Screen Shot 2013-04-24 at 3.38.46 PM

 

I am a visual person, so I love seeing improvement. This got me excited because, even though we don’t necessarily need to use it now, I can get really accurate reports on progress and see where we would need to apply more review and teaching. Once we get into high school and needing to keep daily records and grades for a transcript, this is a feature I can see using a lot more.

Outside of the grading, you can generate over 16 different kinds of reports and save them as a .pdf  for quick viewing or your own records. As I mentioned, you can set up each student separately. To the usual activities and subjects, you can also add standardized test scores, chores, volunteer work and reading lists. Bring on those dreaded high school transcripts, Homeschool Minder keeps it all in one place for you to quickly and easily get the report done!

 

Homeschool Minder Calendar Feature

The calendar view is really nice – you can choose whether you view a month or a week – individual students’ schedules, and what subjects or activities are scheduled on each day. If you want to keep it simple, you can just check off the day of school completed and not show anything else.

Homeschool Minder calendar view

Miss a subject? Quickly and easily drag it to the next day or slot on the calendar.

Need to change the time you scheduled a subject for? Click on it in calendar view and change the time slot for that day. Everything is editable from the calendar, which makes it very easy to change things without having to go digging for them!

From the calendar you can also print a report of your activities – what field trips you have planned, how many days of school were completed, the assignments due, etc.

 

Accessing the Online Record Keeping Application

Homeschool Minder is a web-based planning program. This is great because you can access it anywhere. If your computer dies, you don’t have to worry about not being able to get in and make or change lesson plans – just jump on another computer! If you’re out of town and you forgot to add something to your students’ schedule, you can do it right where you are. Homeschool Minder is also working on the possibility of setting each child up with their own login so they can see their schedules online.

Homeschool Minder report - sample

If you are interested, you can try Homeschool Minder with a FREE 30 DAY TRIAL. A tip for you – use the tutorials! This is a detailed-oriented program, so you need to learn at the start where things are to make the process go quickly after the setup.

If you want to sign up, it’s only $5.99 a month for an unlimited number of students!

And the first 50 people who sign up with this link will receive a 20% discount off their subscription.

For more information, check out Homeschool Minder on Twitter and Facebook.

*Disclosure – I was compensated for this review. All opinions are my own!*

Read more from these other great reviews!

Keeping Homeschool Records with Homeschool Minder

The Ultimate Homeschool Documentation Tool

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It’s Ok to Give Up (or the day my head nearly exploded from my over-crowded inbox and I felt like quitting)

by MomLaur83 on April 18, 2013

Yesterday was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. For the past few weeks, things have been getting more and more wrangy around our house. I can blame the weather, I can blame the kids getting sick again, I can blame us keeping too many long hours, I can blame too busy weekends. But if I peel back each of these layers of blame, I think I can see what the root problem is.

We are weary. The winter has been long. The spring has been wet, dreary, filled with illness. Our days have been non-stop, our attitudes and nerves worn to the core. Our time in the word – piddly at best. Oh, we still have our daily devotions as a family, but I’ve slacked off in keeping up with our bible studies during our school day, starting off on the wrong note of tension and frustration. Though I’m reading daily on #SheReadsTruth, and leading my Hello Mornings group,  I haven’t been to small group in a month, maybe two. I’ve caught one full church service in 4 weeks.

I’ve been feeling like I have to keep it all together. Have to keep the house tidy. Have to keep the meals healthy (oh boy, did I maybe start this change in lifestyle at the wrong time?!). Have to put everything away at the end of the day. Have to do all our normal schoolwork. Have to fit in all the extras too. (Remember my series about that?)

Finally, I’d had enough. Yesterday I sent out an S.O.S. to some dear momma friends who have been or currently are in the exact same trenches I am wallowing in right now. I laid it all out there – the crying, the yelling, the collapsing in despair, the mess, the distress, the 3-day unwashed hair. And what I heard back was soothing, ointment for my soul.

balloons

They told me I am not alone. Even those who look all kept together all over the blogosphere, you don’t know that the same day they’re battling deep. That you don’t do it all when you have a 4 month-old and 3 others that you’re homeschooling. Over and over I heard that on the best days you snuggle on the couch and read, and on the worst you just pray and try to smile. Mackenzie showed me pictures of mismatched socks and told me how she’s still trying to figure it out with a baby, 9 months later. Cindy told me to suck it up when I don’t feel like spending time with my kids because they’re acting like aliens from some planet other than earth (love ya girl!).

They were real with me in the struggles they’re experiencing, showing me THIS.IS.NORMAL, and no, I’m not crazy or delusional, I’m just sleep-deprived and trying to DO.TOO.MUCH. They showed me it’s ok to not have it all together, and in fact, cheered me on into making the decisions to let things go.

They told me to give up. Not everything. But to find some things I could give up that were causing me stress. My hubby helped me to realize that I needed to turn those darn Facebook group e-mails off and just check the notifications in-app (Can I just tell you how FREEING that is?!?!). Jodi told me to unsubscribe from some blogs (sorry!) because though they are encouraging and lovely, they are sucking time I don’t have, and have the potential to make me jealous of their food :D and I would be constantly comparing myself to them (not knowing what else they’re going through).

Sweet Rebecca told me to give myself time on here. That just because others were writing, didn’t mean I needed to. Christin wrote yesterday about the ground being dry, forgetting to pray, praise, and needing to let some distractions go.

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My time is so limited, so precious, and I need to be better prioritizing it. I’m going to pare down our school days to the absolute MUSTS (math and reading), and if anything else beyond that gets done, it will be a mighty victory! I’m going to let go the need to have everything tidied every day and leave those messes for the moments of fun I have been missing. I’m unsubscribing from blogs and putting them in my Feedly, disabling my Facebook notifications and checking less. Spending more time in the word, soaking in the strength and wisdom that can get me from surviving to thriving again.

Things are going to be pretty slow on here for a while. I still want to be connected, but what good am I to encouraging and uplifting others if I can’t even keep a joyful spirit and a happy face before my own children?  While I’m not giving this up, I’m stepping back so I can get my head on straight. I need a reset! I have some obligations still to fill, but after that I’ll be assessing what and where my time is best spent.

I am so grateful for this space here, and for those who read and leave such encouraging comments. My encouragement to you is if you feel like you’re drowning, you can’t get it all done, it’s ok! Take to heart some of the words of the wise women above and see pray about where you need to make some changes.

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Whole 30, Paleo, Primal…ish

by MomLaur83 on April 15, 2013

Things have been pretty quiet here lately on the blog – not that things haven’t been going a mile a minute in our lives! After the fantastic birthday week of giveaways, celebrations, and Easter (HE IS RISEN!), the girls got hammered with the flu :0( The boys were fine, though they’d had some chest congestion and coughing for a few weeks before. Today we thought we were out of the woods, however The Boy woke up with a fever and headache. Here we go again! I’m buried under laundry and party planning (my sister’s getting married, woo hoo!), homeschool scheduling, teaching, and researching.

For a while now I’ve been wanting to start running. A few years ago you couldn’t pay me to run, and I had zero desire to. While I was at Capernwray New Zealand, in the adventure program, we HAD to run. I chugged, huffed, puffed and cramped my way along, liking the adrenaline rush at the end, but hating the general process. Over the past year I’ve been reading Erin’s blog where she’s talked a lot about getting into running. I’ve watched a lot of my friends take it up, and end up loving it. Their testimonies are so inspiring I’ve decided to tackle it! I even got my brother to get my Vibram 5 Fingers for my Christmas present, because I’m convinced barefoot running is the way to go to avoid the strain that running can put on your body. I’ve done my reading (Run Like a Mother is PHENOMENAL, very funny, practical and inspiring!), read up on how to stride, land, breathe, etc, bought some comfortable running gear, and downloaded the tracking apps to my phone. I’m planning on using Couch to 5K and Another Mother Runner’s 5K Finish It plan. After one more week of consistent walking, I think I’ll be ready to go! I’ll try to chronicle my experiences here on the blog, let you know what I learn and how I progress. If any of you have tips or encouragement for beginning runners, I’m all ears!

The other project I’ve been working on is looking into Whole 30, Paleo, clean eating, the whole shebang. I’ve been toying with the idea of Whole 30 for a while, but after a lot of research, I don’t think it’s a good fit for us. A, I’m still Miss E’s source of food, and I’ve read that milk supply can decrease a lot while on Whole 30 (though there are things you can do to combat it). B, neither my hubby nor I have any major health issues or concerns, reasons for doing an extreme elimination diet – other than needing to cut back on unhealthy grains and exposure to sugars. So, after a ton of research and going back and forth, today we are starting something of a Paleo/Primal, whole/clean -ish eating plan.

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Our goals? Cutting back on sugar is one – SUGAR IS EVERYWHERE! YIKE! Even where you wouldn’t expect it to be. Like in bacon. No joke. I’d also like to limit and change our wheat/gluten products. I am convinced that if we followed all the rules of every idea of healthy eating out there, we’d not be able to eat anything. For Paleo, grains are totally out – and there are some good reasons to avoid them if you have issues with your stomach. But I really do not like the idea of cutting them out totally, at least not forever, but rather modifying what we’re eating and how we’re preparing them. There’s so much to learn about our food and diets, health, etc. It’s totally overwhelming! Ill be sharing some of what I’m learning along the way, hopefully sharing some recipes and meal plans.

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I signed up with e-meals a few weeks ago when they had a Groupon deal going, and they have Paleo meal plans! They also have clean eating, gluten free, etc. and you can change up the plans every term. Without these plans I don’t think I could do it, they save me so much time and energy, though I’m still doing a lot of research for breakfast and snack ideas so we don’t end up cheating!

I don’t know that this will be a long term diet for us, but hopefully a healthy change in lifestyle and reading more labels, making better food choices for the whole family.

I’ll keep you posted along the way and I’d love to hear from you your favourite healthy recipes and how you maintain a healthy lifestyle.
TheBetterMom.com

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Chicken Tikka Masala

by MomLaur83 on April 10, 2013

My husband and I love Indian food. There are a couple of good places around where we live that we like to eat at – and when you get good Indian food, oh man is it EVER good! If you’ve never had Indian before, I suggest you start off easy with a nice butter chicken. If you’re not sure about the places near you (because you can definitely get bad Indian :p) then buy one of the jars of butter chicken sauce from Costco, or try making your own butter chicken with this recipe from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry (it’s not hard!).
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Papad has been a recent discovery for us – it’s these flat bread crackers that you dip into sauces and is often served as a precursor to your meal. We like it with mango chutney, so delish! We had tried finding them at our grocery store in the ethnic section, but were unsuccessful. But because of where we live, there are a lot of Indian grocers around, so that was the big duh moment! The Man was able to find them no problem! There are different flavours of papad, we like the caraway ones, but could only find the plain ones. They’re easy to prepare – just put a little (VERY LITTLE!) oil in a frying pan, add the papad, press down and turn with a spatula, flipping frequently so as not to over cook it. Then remove to a paper towel. It will harden as it cools, but during the cooking process is quite soft.
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Another favourite dish of ours is Chicken Tikka Masala. This is a super flavourful, spicy dish, full of cumin, coriander and a special blend of spices called garam masala.

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You should be able to find this in an ethnic section of your grocery store (we found it at No Frills in Ontario), but if you are unable, you can also make the blend yourself.

1 tablespoon coriander; ground
1 tablespoon cumin; ground
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper; ground
1 tablespoon fennel seeds; ground
1 tablespoon ginger; ground
1 tablespoon cardamom; ground
1 tablespoon nutmeg; ground
1 TEASPOON cloves; ground

I have tried a couple different chicken tikka masala recipes, trying to find one that tasted at least somewhat close to what you would get at our favourite Indian restaurant. My first attempt was an utter failure. It didn’t taste anything like it was supposed to (just chicken in a tomato sauce, boring!) though our friends, Chris and Kitty, whom we served it to, were probably relieved since they’re not big fans of Indian/spicy food ;0)

My second attempt was very much like butter chicken. While we love butter chicken, it just did not have the right blend of spices, and the flavour was too mild. I gave up and decided it was too difficult.

Until hubby brought home the papad. Suddenly I started researching recipes again and settled on a couple to compare and try. The result was a SMASHING success! The Man even brought home a jar of the sauce from the store for us to compare to, did a blind taste test, and chose mine over it!

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Points!

So here’s the recipe we settled on. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! If you like it spicier, you can add in chile peppers – but just so you know, between the chili powder on the chicken and the garam masala mix, it does have a nice little bite to it. Not a fire, fire fire! bite, but enough to get your taste buds jumping :0) Enjoy!

Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken and Spice Rub:

  • 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon coriander
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or chili powder)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup plain yogurt (the more fat the better!)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2-4 garlic cloves, minced (better flavour if you mince it vs. pressing it through a garlic press)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger

Mix spices together and rub over both sides of the chicken breast, pressing in. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour. Mix together yogurt, oil, garlic and ginger.
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Dredge the chicken through the yogurt mixture, making sure to coat it well.

Preheat oven on the broiler and line a cookie sheet with foil. If you don’t have an uncoated cooling rack (mine is covered in a plastic), just place the chicken right on the oven’s metal shelves, about 6 inches from the element, with the cookie sheet underneath to catch any drips. Broil about 5-7 minutes per side, or until cooked (they won’t be cooked past this point, so make sure they’re cooked through!). They should be slightly blackened, but not charred.
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Chicken Tikka Masala Sauce

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2-4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1-3 tablespoons garam masala (depending on how flavourful and spicy you want it – I used 3 tablespoons, a little spicy for the kids though!)
  • 1/2 can (14 ounces total) crushed tomatoes
  • 1/2 can (14 ounces total) diced tomatoes (make sure both the tomatoes are plain, no spices added!)
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 tablespoon salt
  • 1/2 – 1 cup cream (heavy or half and half is fine – the amount varies depending on how creamy you want your sauce to be)
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Heat a frying pan and add the oil. Saute onions until soft and slightly golden, about 5-8 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, tomato paste and garam masala, cooking until fragrant (about 2-3 minutes). Stir frequently so it doesn’t burn! This is where you want to add any more garam masala to the dish because the “fragrancing” is where all the flavours come out!

Add tomatoes, sugar and salt and bring to a boil.
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Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes (stir occasionally). Stir in cream and return to a simmer. Remove pan from the heat and keep warm.

Cut up the chicken into chunks and add to the sauce – you do not want to heat the chicken up in the sauce, so make sure it is cooked through and still hot when you add it. Stir in the cilantro or garnish on top.
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Serve with hot basmati rice, garlic naan and papad.

 

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