Homeschool Field Trip: Peachy Keen

Summer is the perfect time to take advantage of Mother Nature’s bounty and look beyond the walls of your home for some fantastic homeschool lessons. For clans with students of varying ages, a field trip to a u-pick farm can be a real treat.  Most states feature fields, orchards and sprawling acreage designed to give city folk a taste of country life.  These green spaces are bursting with seasonal produce including corn, strawberries, tomatoes and my daughter’s favorite—peaches. Picking sweet, juicy, tree-ripened peaches lends itself to a slew of hands-on lessons.  For starters, a field trip to a peach orchard … Continue reading

Free Heat 2

Do you know all of the places to find free heat? From taking advantage of normal household tasks to building your own free heat machines, there are many ways to grab some free heat when you need it. If you missed the first post on this topic, click here: Free Heat Our home is zoned into two zones for heat. Because of this, I usually keep the upstairs heat turned on only enough to keep the pipes from freezing during the day. It gets very cold up there. However, when I iron I am soon pretty warm, The ambient heat … Continue reading

Home Week in Review: March 17 – 23

Easter is this week, and we hope each of you has a wonderful day, however you celebrate it. For some it is a momentous, wondrous occasion, which it is for me, the day my Savior rose from the grave. For others it is a whimsical day filled with candy and fun. Others may simply enjoy a day off. Our best to everyone. We started and ended this week talking about Easter, beginning with A Few Last Minute Easter Ideas and ending with Easter Bunny Questions. In between, we covered several other topics, from decorating to disaster relief. The Art of … Continue reading

File Formats For Digital Scrapbooking Layouts (1)

File formats are important to understand when you are working with anything digitally on your computer, whether it is photographs or digital scrapbooking layouts or something else. For the purposes of this two part article, we will primarily be discussing digital scrapbooking layouts and the file formats that coordinate with them. There are seven standard file formats that a typical digital scrapbooker uses, or is familiar with. This is a brief summary of what they are and what they do. If you need more in depth information on file formats, you might wish to check out the Computing Blog here … Continue reading

Education Week in Review: December 8 – December 14

This has been another exciting week in education here at Families.com. Several topics have been discussed this week. However the ones talked about the most have been the decisions about having twins together or separate in the classroom. There are many points of views out there when it comes to multiples in the classroom. Check out below for all of this week’s topics. Monday, December 10 Experience Makes a Difference A recent research study in education found that the teacher’s experience had more of an effect on student performance than the teacher’s education level. Teaching experience is a great value … Continue reading

Perks of Public Education: V = Vocational Courses

My perk for public education today begins with the letter V. V for me is for vocational courses. Many high schools now offer vocational courses for students. Elementary school and middle school students usually do not have the opportunity to participate in vocational courses. However for those students in high school, vocational courses are a big perk. Most high school schedules are set up so that students have the opportunity to take elective courses in addition to the required courses. A variety of vocational courses are usually offered. Vocational courses are not required but can they can help students make … Continue reading

A “Green” Way To Get Rid Of Garden Pests

It was a balmy 73 degrees today. (Seventy-three degrees in March in Wisconsin—that’s something to brag about.) Our family took advantage of the beautiful weather by visiting a local wildlife sanctuary. After I got a good look at the critters there I came home and surveyed our yard and garden. Lo and behold, not five minutes into my inspection, a big fat fly landed on my arm. (Ah, the welcoming committee doesn’t miss a beat.) With the spring thaw in progress it won’t be long before I am battling bugs and other garden-loving pests. In previous blogs I’ve written about … Continue reading

Let’s Talk About Interviewing a Homebirth Midwife

Apart from fees and insurance inquiries, there are many questions to consider when seeking midwifery care. Consider asking the following questions when interviewing a homebirth midwife: 1) How many births have you attended, and how many were successful homebirths? What is your rate of transfer? Do you transfer if the mom desires pain relief, or only in emergencies? 2) Do you have references that I can contact? (It is always a good idea to call a few of the references provided.) 3) What are your expectations of clients during pregnancy? (This will probably be included in the provided reading material. … Continue reading

Read the Instructions!

Let me start this blog by saying I am both a nerd and a convert. Oh, yes, and a readaholic. When you add those three together, you get someone who did an amazing amount of research into the church both before and after joining. I’d like to take a great resource that you may have overlooked – your manuals. The church has provided an amazing number of resources throughout the year. My first calling in the church was as the ward librarian, and I was amazed at the number of books available. (I’m one of those people who has to … Continue reading

Help For Women Who Want Children Later In Life

In a previous blog I addressed the topic of conception and how “Procreation Vacations” are becoming increasingly popular with couples struggling to conceive a baby. Well, this blog highlights another segment of the population that also wants to conceive, but wants to do so on their own schedule… even if it means waiting until after the prime years for childbirth. Women who want children, but want to put off pregnancy until they are ready have a new option these days. A process called egg freezing allows women to put their biological clocks on hold. Doctors say that women in their … Continue reading