My Best Advice for Blogging

Content is still king: No matter how the winds blow or the tides change the most important factor in writing is content. You must put out quality content to gain and keep readers. What is quality content? Content that effects a reader. Does your content encourage, enlighten, or engage? Are you teaching something, informing, or making your readers laugh? Readers are probably not interested in your last trip to the grocery store unless you demonstrate extreme couponing or have some antidote that is worth mentioning a trip to the grocery story. A blog post is a gift to your readers. … Continue reading

Balancing Mulitple Ages in Your Homeschool

Homeschooling moms of multiple children face a unique challenge. These homeschooling moms need to manage multiple ages and stages of children under one homeschooling roof. Basically, she needs to learn the art of a one room schoolhouse or a juggling act. Each option comes with its own challenges yet each can be successful. A mom must decide for herself how she will balance her day and her children’s education. There is no right way but oddly enough there are plenty of wrong ways. For example, if your home is a source of stress or children falling behind in their studies … Continue reading

Why do I want to homeschool?

According to most reports, we live near a great school. My daughter may eventually attend that school, but I’m hoping to avoid it for a while. This has been a great topic of debate in our family, both immediate and extended. I come from a family of teachers and they value the school system. While many people think of homeschoolers as either hippies or devoutly religious, we do not really fit into either category. Why do I want to homeschool? I like spending time with my daughter and she likes spending time with me. She’s likely going to be my … Continue reading

Things Not To Say (Or Do) To Your Single Parent Partner

If you are dating or have ever dated a single parent it can be a little tricky in the area of courtesy and respect. There are, of course, certain things that should remain unsaid even though your brain is thinking it. If you care about this person, zip your lip, lest you lose your Love. There may come a time that you can bring the topic up, but it has to be done ever so gently and ever so carefully, cautiously and whatever else makes us “walk on eggs”. Here are just a few things not to say or do … 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

Money in Marriage

The concern for many today is ‘Money, money, money’ to quote the Abba song. Yes we saw Mamma Mia a few weeks back, can you tell? With the current economic situation the way it is a lot of people are worried about money, coping with day to day expenses and the prices of basic items rising all the time, banks looking shaky and the share market in a slump. As well as those struggling to support families, it also affects those with retirement funds and investments as they see what they thought was a retirement nest egg shrinking before their … Continue reading

Something is Better than Nothing

In light of the new recommendations just issued by the federal government regarding the amount of exercise Americans should be completing on a weekly basis I thought it would be interesting to note the results of a new recent study done by researchers at Louisiana State University as it might make you couch potatoes feel a bit better. Whereas the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says adults should be participating in at least 2.5 hours a week of moderate-intensity physical activity, researchers at LSU maintain that even 10 minutes of exercise a day can improve your health. Or … Continue reading

Frugal Living Month in Review: June 2008

What a happy month is June, filled with the renewal of spring and the promise of summer. In the last month, we have shared so many ideas for frugal living and saving money. This past month has seen some pretty big increases in food, gas and other items (look for an upcoming post about strawberries increasing more than 100 percent). Now more than ever, it is important to save money where we can. This is why I decided to do a month in review. June 2nd Frugal Living Review: May 26th Through June 1st Garage sale shopping has got to … Continue reading

Summer Reading Programs

Kids are out of school and getting them to read is a challenge every parent struggles with. Studies have shown that they can lose two months of knowledge over the summer if they don’t engage their brains in something other than fun. Parents don’t have to fight this battle alone. Several businesses and websites have stepped up to offer summer reading programs to kids where they can earn cool prizes and rewards. If you haven’t read Valorie Delp’s Blog, All About BookAdventure.org., you should check it out. She discusses the advantages of using this website to encourage homeschooled children to … Continue reading

SYTYCD – Las Vegas “Don’t Give Up”

The summer’s phenomenal dance show made it back to Las Vegas last night and covered a week’s worth of grueling auditions to trim 200 dancers to 20. The experience was mentally, physically and emotionally daunting for the contestants. To those who’ve always thought it would be easy to get that far in the dance world, take note – even those who made the cut were worn out and looking forward to the month long break before the contest starts. Luckily for viewers, the month long break started a month ago, so we will be seeing the Top 20 perform next … Continue reading