Time In The Sun

I’ll be honest. We don’t get nearly enough time in the sun. The girls’ extra-curricular activities are indoors. Their exercise is indoors. It is difficult for them to do schoolwork outdoors when they have to spread out quite a bit with books, notebooks, pens, pencils, and more. So, outdoors is just not as common a place for us to spend time.

We recently took advantage of the spring break for dance and headed to The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden for a field trip. (Yes, even high schoolers get field trips!) It is springtime so the tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths were in full bloom. The tulips were the big draw for me and they were beautiful! We also saw some cherry trees in bloom and several other flowers. There were some gorgeous topiaries in the shapes of peacocks with the tails done in blooms. We saw plenty of water features and enjoyed the sunshine. It was a lovely few hours of sunshine, walking, and family time.

It was a joy to spend this time with the whole family and the girls really enjoyed it, too. And that’s not just their mom speaking hopefully. They said it over and over. They were glad we spent the time and money to do this outing, even if we were all tired at the end of the day.

Time in the sun. Time together.

Blessings,
Lori, At Home.

5 Days of Tips: Lookout for Freebies ( & don’t miss the ones here!)

I am constantly on the lookout for things that will benefit our education. These look different but are often digital products. I have a huge file of things on the computer that may or may not get used. But I keep saving things just in case. Remember the 4th tip I posted about following rabbit trails? Well, if you do that often enough, you might just have accidentally saved something that will help with one of those rabbit trails one of these days.

So, today, I am sharing some freebies for you from The Old Schoolhouse.

 

Have you ever looked at their magazine? No? Really? It’s free and chock full of academic, homeschooling articles that will encourage you. Just head over to the TOS website and read all about it. You can download their free app or you can purchase their annual big book.

 

 

 

 

 

Paul and Gena Suarez are the publishers and they are so amazingly generous. They let me go shopping in the TOS store. For Free! And, I get to offer you the products I chose. For Free! Here is what I have chosen:

Spiritual Growth Bundle – http://www.theoldschoolhouse.com/product/spiritual-growth-bundle/

This bundle includes three e-books: Home Improvement, Homeschooling: A Prayerful Journey, and Don’t Rush God.

Keeping the Garden – http://www.theoldschoolhouse.com/product/keeping-the-garden/

An e-book for the gardener, the gardener wanna-be, or the dreamer.

God Made Them All Wonder Bundle – http://www.theoldschoolhouse.com/product/god-made-them-all-wonder-bundle/

A set of five WeE-books about alpacas, bugs, hummingbirds, and butterflies.

You will need to create an account in order to check-out. At check-out, use the code LHCREW16 to get these three items for free. This code is good through April 30, 2016, but go use it now so you don’t forget!!

And be on the lookout from other bloggers from TOS Review Crew. I have heard from a little birdie that there are some other freebies out there.

Freebies, whether you need them now or not, are worth the gathering because they can enhance your learning when you least expect it. Or, they might just take one of those hard days where you want to throw it all out the window and rescue it with something new and interesting that helps the students focus. So don’t pass something up just because you don’t see a need for it now.

And, definitely go check out all that The Old Schoolhouse has to offer. Their products are worth the cost, even if you don’t have a coupon code to use. Also, head over to the Review Crew Facebook page and give them a “like” if you don’t mind. You’ll get lots of great encouragement from that page.

At Home.

Previous Posts in this series:
Structure vs Flexibility
Make Time
Change is Good?
Follow the Rabbit Trail

This is the final day of the blog hop with 5 Days of Tips for Homeschool Parents. I hope you have gained a lot of good tips over the week. Please visit my previous posts if you haven’t yet and please visit some of my friends from the Review Crew.

Annette @ A Net In Time
Brandy @ Kingdom Academy Homeschool
Brenda @ Counting Pinecones
Carol @ Home Sweet Life
Cassandra @ A Glimpse of Normal
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses
Cristi @ Through the Calm and Through the Storm
Crystal @ Crystal Starr
DaLynn @ Biblical Womanhood
Danielle @ Sensible Whimsy

Food, Family Fun, & Garden – July Blogging Challenge

I know how bad I have been about trying to keep up with the July Blogging Challenge. I thought I would hit three of them all at once. I’ll at least be slightly participating that way.

Favorite Food –

If you have been following me for very long, you know that anything distinctly New Mexican is my favorite. I adore anything with green chili, posole, sopapillas, and enchiladas. Fresh bell peppers, cucumbers, and avocados – more of my favorites. My mom’s chicken noodle soup or her tomato salad. My mother-in-law’s chicken paprikash or pimento cheese. Fresh peach ice cream (which I made tonight) would be a perfect end to most dinners. I know I just ate a bit ago, but this is making my mouth water!

Family Fun –

We love to do puzzles and play board games. We enjoy reading aloud together. We have fun going out to eat together. We even have fun shopping together – well, most of the time. Last Friday we took a fun, spontaneous trip together that was a blast! We headed up to Frisco and attended a Rough Riders baseball game. It was hot and sweaty and more expensive than we would have wished, though cheaper than a Rangers game by far. But, just the same, there were plenty of smiles and fun times throughout the game and it was lots of fun to just sit and chat and watch the game and cheer.

Garden –

I refuse to show you our gardens. Sorry! They look terrible. The grass decided to be strong and vigorous this year and I am having a terrible time keeping it out of the gardens, whether the flower garden or the veggies. The early, extended rains and milder-than-normal temps have really made our lawn look nice without any work but the gardens, not so much. We’ll try again in the fall and see what we can do but, for the most part, our summer gardens were a bust. We got a dinner of corn and one side dish or green beans, a few pretty flowers are still blooming, and that is all. We’re waiting for fall now.

At Home.

Linking up at A Glimpse of Our Life and This Day Has Great Potential for the July Blogging Challenge.