Tag Archives: stay home moms

Good Stewardship – Cheap Thrills

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On this page, we invite our readers to share their thrifty ideas with us and other readers.  It behooves the truly born-again Christian, to make proper use of whatever God gives.  I always like to think, that the more frugal I am, the more I will have to support missions, ministries, and to give to worthy causes – like the crisis pregnancy center.  Wastefulness has no place in the family of God, especially when we consider that every breath we draw is a gift from Him. 

John 6:12

 When they were filled, He said unto His disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.

Proverbs 18:9

He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.

I’ll get it started with some of my major thrifty stuff.  Please feel free to share your frugal fun with us in the comment section – and if I deem any of them to be superior – they will be edited into the post.

Cut down old flannel sheets, shirts, and anything else that is 100% cotton, into handkerchiefs.  Serge or overcast the edges, or pink if no sewing machine is available.  Wash with bleach or borax and hot water for sanitation, since it doesn’t matter what color they are as long as they are clean.  A good size is 10 x 10.  

Use plastic lids that have a deep lip as plant saucers to catch water run off.  For example – the lid to large Nesquick canisters are ample saucers for a 5″ pot. 

Use large clear “pretzel barrels” as mini cloches/greenhouses for your early tomato and  pepper plants.  They are the perfect size, and will protect tender plants from late frosts and torrential downpours.  A lot of snack foods  come in these barrels now.   And you can use the lids as plant saucers! 

Empty yogurt containers make ideal seed starting pots, with holes poked in the bottom for drainage.  Filled with cheap soilless planting media you can save oodles of money by starting your own plants from seeds.  Especially if you save seeds! 

  • 4-6 parts Sphagnum Peat Moss or Coir
    1 part Perlite
    1 part Vermiculite

Cat Mahm:

Keep the heat in at Christmas-time by lining the windows with “fake snow”. This could be cotton fluff from the inside of an old pillow, or I even sometimes use white dish clothes.

Keeping heat in can reduce the heating bill, so I line everything with towels or insulating materials. It especially helps around the bases of the windows!

Cat Mahm:

Yes it does.

Need to kill the weeds in the driveway? Don’t buy all of that expensive weed killer.

During the spring/summer/fall months, I get a tea kettle to boil. Shortly after it has boiled, I pour it on the dandelions or persistent grass growing up through concrete. I go out the next morning and the weeds have completely withered and are easy to pull up. My driveway is weed free all year long.

Cat Mahm:

I never go out to eat. I never do take out. It’s never healthier, it’s addictive, and it’s way more expensive.

I buy my ground beef in bulk and chop it up into individual pounds, and store them in the freezer. You can do this with so many things. I would love to get a chest freezer someday. Buy everything on sale, freeze it. So many things can go in a chest freezer.

Please share your thrifty secrets with us!

sage

Hints for Home Schoolers – Field Trip!

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The past three hints have been a rough idea on how to squeeze it all into your day without losing it! Our next topic is the ever popular field-trip, and some ideas for making the most of it. One of the great advantages a home-schooling family has, is the freedom to adjust schedules.

  • If you have a zoo within reasonable driving distance, consider purchasing an annual family pass. Our zoo included parking with our pass, as well as entry into other zoos around the country.
  • Science and history museums also offer annual passes, with similar reciprocal entry to related venues.
  • State parks offer an annual car pass, usually consisting of a vinyl, dated sticker for your windshield.

Our home school had a field trip every month. By watching the weather closely – we would cancel school for that day – and go to the zoo! By taking our field trips during the week, we were able to avoid large weekend crowds. On nicer field trip days – we visited an outdoor interest. During brutal winter weeks, we still took a field trip, but spent the day roaming around a museum. I will stress, that our field trip schedule was never scheduled. Sometimes, the kids would wake up, and while they were eating breakfast – I would announce it.

If you are following an accredited curriculum, the missed school day will need to be made up for. Our schedule from A Beka Academy allowed for a large block of vacation time during December. I would shave days from that block of time, and use it for field trips. I discovered that if we had too much time off in December, it was too hard to get back in the swing of things.

If we brought lunch from home (almost always) we would get a treat like ice cream, or something from the historic bakery at the museum. The scene above is from the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

Don’t overlook large outdoor museums, usually consisting of historic buildings. Often the employees and docents are well versed in the lore of times past, and will regale any children you have that are willing to listen!

The image above is from the Henry Ford Greenfield Village Museum in Michigan.

Important field-trip tips to remember:

  1. One field trip a month
  2. Watch the weather
  3. Watch the runny noses! No fun going anywhere unless everyone is feeling well.
  4. Spontaneity can add to the experience and reduce stress. If I told them ahead of time we were going – and something went wrong (ie: one waking up with a sore throat, severe weather) there would be disappointed faces all day.
  5. If you bring lunch from home, allowing the kids a treat from the venue will quiet any quests for the other stuff. It’s a kind of bribery, but heck – it works!! And can save a heap of money over buying lunch out. Especially teen and preteen boys can eat so much, you could regret taking them anywhere!!!
  6. By buying annual memberships to places you like to go, it will save money and the necessity of budgeting every month for the field trip. The annual passes are always a better deal over individual ticket prices.

In spring, we often opted for the metro-park, which had a farm.

Babies everywhere!

She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.

Proverbs 31: 26

sage

Hints for Home Schoolers – Pets

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Our home school has always had pets.  We actually had pets before any children came along – so from their infancy animals were a constant presence.  Children and pets – a match made in heaven. . .

Pets can be a valuable “spring-board” for many home school adventures!  In addition – kids can learn responsibility for another living creature.  Pets can help human beings, who come into this world as  completely self-centered selfish creatures, to grow into mature, dependable individuals.

  • A pet can be the basis of a writing project.  Any composition, book report or research paper will be enhanced by the child’s interest in their pet.
  • Pets (particularly dogs) will a be great ally in enforcing schedules.
  • Recalcitrant nappers can change into the most eager sleepers if allowed to nap with a pet.
  • Measuring food and counting treats are excellent for teaching basic math.
  • Developing and making home made dog biscuits is a great project.
  • Growing “cat grass” and sunflowers (for seeds) is a good botany/biology project.
  • Pets can reduce test time stress simply by being there.
  • Pets can console kids (and adults) that are feeling down.
  • When kids are home with pets all day – no one gets lonely – kids or pets.

My kids very often had a cat on their laps or desks, and a dog at their feet all day during school.

As they get older, the pet may stimulate the child to work at an animal shelter, or even pursue a career in human or animal sciences.  The benefits of home schooling with pets are too numerous to cover here, but every study shows that caring for and living with pets makes us better, healthier people all around.

What about outdoor pets?  Positioning a bird feeder outside the window where you have your home school, can be a constant source of delight – no matter what the kid’s ages are.  Keeping field guides and binoculars at the ready will spur kids to look for identifying marks, and triumphant cries of delight will be heard when the correct identification is made.

 

The feeder(s) can be an excellent exercise in record keeping and charting comparisons of most desirable seeds. Unsprayed lawns will have even more birds and critters, as well as insects to study.  Dandelions can be picked in heaps for pet guinea pigs to eat.

In cold winter areas – home made suet cakes are a good science project, and again – a good basis for experimentation.  Do downy woodpeckers like suet or peanut butter better?  Oilers or stripers? (sunflower seeds)  Writing it down and illustrating it involves all the areas of school – art, math, language skills, science, and history.  Bird calls have been used as the basis of some great classical music and poetry – such as ‘The Lark Ascending,’ by Ralph Vaughan Williams, which was inspired by a poem by George Meridith.

To A Skylark

O skylark! I see thee and call thee joy!
Thy wings bear thee up to the breast of the dawn;
I see thee no more, but thy song is still
The tongue of the heavens to me!

Thus are the days when I was a boy;
Sweet while I lived in them, dear now they’re gone:
I feel them no longer, but still, O still
They tell of the heavens to me.

–George Meredith–

2 Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto Him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.3 Sing unto Him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.4 For the Word of the Lord is right; and all His works are done in truth.5 He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. 

Psalm 33: 2-5

sage

Hints for Home Schoolers – Top Ten Reasons to Home School

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I thought it might be helpful to have a simple list of the reasons why home schooling is so worthwhile. When those discouraging days come along – it will be easy to pull up the list – or even have it printed off and placed in your lesson planner –  to reinforce your resolve and strengthen you for your important work.

  1. Academics – It is an established fact that home schooled children score better on achievement tests compared with government sponsored education. Go here for the stunning statistics.
  2. Economics – Home schooling is far less expensive than private school, and the cost comparison with Government school is vast. “In Strengths of Their Own, Dr. Ray found the average cost per homeschool student is $546 while the average cost per public school student is $5,325. Yet the homeschool children in this study averaged in 85th percentile while the public school students averaged in the 50th percentile on nationally standardized achievement tests. [ibid]
  3. Freedom from peer pressure – Peer pressure is no longer just the province of teenagers. Children as young as five report being pushed to conform to a dominant child’s manipulation. Peer pressure affects everything from drugs, dating, sexual activity, STD’s, driving, alcohol, bullying, criminal activity, and world-view. “A recent Time/Nickelodeon survey of 991 kids ages 9 to 14 revealed peer pressure is more intense and at younger ages. If you have any doubts about this as a troubling youth trend review these stats carefully: 36% feel peer pressure to smoke marijuana; 36% feel pressure to shoplift; and 40% feel pressure to drink; 7% of fourth graders, 8% fifth graders, 13% sixth graders drunk beer, liquor or wine coolers in the past year. “Dr. Michele Borba
  4. Freedom from Revisionist science and history curricula – Considering that as recent as the 1940’s, public schools began the day by saying the Pledge of Allegiance and Prayer, with Bible study – one could argue this is the most important reason to home school. Do not assume that private Christian schools do not teach evolution. The fact that we are shaping future voters is enough reason to home school in one sentence.
  5. Teaching kids to work independently – The children from home school families are known for their ability to work independently, and carry this skill through to adulthood. In general, a home schooled child will have more rounded life skills than their counterparts. See here.
  6. Kids actually reach adulthood – The recent OWS spectacle is a good snapshot of what is being produced by secular education. Home school young adults are so busy generally – they could not even begin to think about wasting their precious time in such a fashion.
  7. Civic involvement – “Only 4.2% of the homeschool graduates surveyed consider politics and government too complicated to understand, compared to 35% of U.S. adults. This may account for why homeschool graduates work for candidates, contribute to campaigns, and vote in much higher percentages than the general population of the United States. ” [hslda.org]
  8. Community involvement – “Homeschool graduates are active and involved in their communities. Seventy-one percent participate in an ongoing community service activity (e.g., coaching a sports team, volunteering at a school, or working with a church or neighborhood association), compared to 37% of U.S. adults of similar ages . Eighty-eight percent of the homeschool graduates surveyed were members of an organization (e.g., such as a community group, church or synagogue, union, homeschool group, or professional organization), compared to 50% of U.S. adults. [ibid]
  9. Family preservation -The blessings of being home with your children go beyond the wonderful comforts of home made cookies.  Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s work on stay home moms is superlative and personal.
  10. Obedience to God – Home school is the only way to obey this imperative from the Lord, which He gave to Israel after they had been given the Law. “18 Therefore shall ye lay up these My Words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: 21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.” Deuteronomy 11: 18-21

How can you teach your children about the Lord as described in verse 19, unless they are with you all day?

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My own recipe for whole -wheat your kids will eat! (for bread machine)

  • 1 – 2/3 c. water
  • 2 tbsp. powdered milk
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil (does not need to be extra virgin)
  • 2 tbsp. sugar
  • 1 – 1/2 t. kosher or sea salt
  • 2 – 1/4 c. white whole wheat flour **
  • 2 – 1/4 c. bread flour
  • 2 t. yeast ***

Place all ingredients in pan in order listed and set machine to “dough” setting. After cycle is complete, remove dough and form into rolls. Place in two cake pans sprayed with cooking spray. I always set these into a cold oven, (they will rise even more while the oven is preheating) and turn the oven to 350 degrees; 20 -25 minutes till golden brown and bottom sounds hollow when tapped.

This is a Saturday recipe at our house. Visiting children at our table have had one in each hand, and at my daughter’s wedding last spring – the guests devoured 100 of these rolls. There wasn’t even one left!

** Only use “white whole wheat” also known as Prairie Gold. It is identical in nutrients and fiber to regular whole wheat but less bitter. I prefer King Arthur, but Kroger offers a store brand which is adequate.

*** Depending on the freshness of your yeast.