Category: books

When we lived in the same city as my in-laws we spent almost every Sunday together eating lunch after church. Sunday dinner was one of those meals where you didn’t count calories. It also meant making memories, because after the food was eaten and the dishes were moved back to the kitchen, it was game playing time…this was important, because it’s what lead to dessert .

Before we started homeschooling I really wondered if we could do it. It hasn’t always been easy, there have been plenty of days where we all have been ready to throw in the towel. But we’ve persevered through those challenges and we know coming out the other side that this journey has been worth it for our family.

If you’ve ever had the thought of homeschooling you’ll want to read, “You Can Do It Too! – 25 Homeschool Families Share Their Story” compiled by Lorilee Lippincott, to give you many different families’ perspectives on homeschooling.

As you can tell by most of the food products I review and recipes I make, we’re not obsessively concerned with fat and calories around our home. But quite honestly you can only eat that way so much, and I know I need to add more healthy recipes to my menu planning.

TurboCharged Recipes by sibling authors Dian Griesel, Ph.D. and Tom Griesel, is separated into categories which feature chapters with; beverages, dressings & dips, appetizers, soups & stews, salads, vegetarian, eggs, fish, meats, poultry and desserts.

A lot of cookbooks aren’t really made for kids’ palates or picky eaters. If you’re a mom like me, with a family that has less than varied tastes, you have a repertoire of meals that are the same old, same old that you make all.the.time.

Food Family Style by Leigh Oliver Vickery, has a lot of recipes that will be crowd pleasers with all ages.

Every singe recipe I made, my family was happy with. I think a few of them were inhaled without really even chewing.

Who doesn’t want a perfect body? And by perfect I mean perfect for you. Sure the title of this book by Venice A. Fulton, implies rail thing or model size, but really it means, don’t look at other people and say “I wish I looked like that,” but rather; do something about it.

This is no ordinary “diet” book. For one it uses plain English, so you get it. It tells you to forget about the tables, charts, percentages or BMI. Many ideas in this book will be new and controversial. You’ll be working up your body and mind to a new way of thinking.

One of the best perks of homeschooling is that you get to choose what you do to teach.  Amber LOVES art, and we encourage her to draw whenever she can.  She’s very talented and is looking into a career where she can use that skill, but this mom/teacher knows that for ‘art class’ we have to broaden our horizons to include more than just drawing.

So we are quite excited to be bringing ‘TATTOO A BANANA and Other Ways to Turn Anything and Everything into Art’ by PHIL HANSEN into our homeschool art class this year. 

The No. 1 New York Times bestseller, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, by Patricia Shultz is a great way to get tips and ideas for your next travel destination.

The New Full-Color Second Edition once again pushes the boundaries of the travel category, revealing why the book – though often imitated – remains the most comprehensive, inspiring, and trusted travel guide available with 200 new entries, 28 additional countries, 200 more pages, and more than 600 full-color photographs.  Offering a fresh new take on the world we live in now, it enables both armchair travelers and savvy globetrotters to get an inspiring taste of the world’s current riches and plan their next trip.

As summer vacation is here for some and is coming up quickly for others, we all know that the first couple of weeks are great for relaxing and unwinding, but as parents we hate to see the learning become stagnant until September rolls around again. That’s one of the reasons we decided to homeschool year round. Together parents and their high school children can avoid the “academic summer slide” by keeping their kids’ brains active by picking up some books on rainy days or during travel, that provide brain-challenging fun!

Simon & Schuster.net is offering a FREE MICHAEL VEY eBook for teachers!

It’s the teacher’s edition with curriculum guide.

Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 is now available for download, and the curriculum can be also be printed for classroom use.

When we think back over the past our memories are usually attached to special events and moments; recitals, vacations, birthday parties. You know the ones where you break the camera out and hope you catch a “Hallmark” moment to share with future generations.

There are two kinds of people, those who take a gazillion pictures, and those that forget their camera at home. I’m guilty of being the second one. Truthfully because I’ve never really felt like I’ve taken good pictures, so I don’t usually walk around with camera in hand to take photos of the ‘everyday’ stuff.