Works for Me Wednesday

This week I want to share with you a little trick we have implemented to cut down our electric bill each month. This is a simple thing that many of you may already do, but it has been a proven tactic for us to bring down another bill in our budget. So I had to share it.

We have started using our clothes line on a daily basis! And, in order for our clothes to get that fluffy smell and feel, we do put them into the dryer for about 10 minutes with a dryer sheet. We have noticed a $40 drop in our electric bill from this change in our routine.

Now, I can justify why we have mostly relied on our dryer to do most of the drying over the years. But we are trying to make conscious decisions to reduce out monthly cash outlay. And this was an area that we could tweak our system.

With a family of 8, we do between 2 to 4 loads per day. On bedding day, we can do as many as 7 loads. So we do a significant amount of laundry. When you switch from using your dryer for 50 minutes to dry a load to 10 minutes, you can see that we are saving quite a bit on our energy use.

Of course, we use the dryer as needed on rainy days. But, fortunately, we have had a lot of warm, sunny days.

What are you doing to save money these days?

Taking care of mom

Welcome!

Let’s talk about taking care of the teacher today, shall we? Many homeschool moms whom I come into contact with are very family-focused. I think it comes in the job description of a homeschool mom.

What do you to take care of yourself? I know that I am so good at putting my husband, children, and others before myself that I neglect my needs. So I am purposing to do better for myself and my health.

What are the key items that I need to do to be healthy spiritually and physically?

- Read my Bible daily and pray without ceasing
- Get an adequate amount of sleep at night
- Drink plenty of water daily
- Exercise
- Eat a balanced diet
- Take my daily medications and vitamins

Now, I can tell you that I fail miserably a lot of days, but it is my goal to accomplish these things on a daily basis. This also models good choices for my children, too.

Frugal Friday

Today is Frugal Friday on Crystal’s blog. And my tip for the week is on saving money on my grocery bill. (Even though I have TRIPLE coupons at my grocery store today, I have a different tip.)

My husband grew up without a lot of material things. His family had to stretch their grocery dollar each and every week just like many of us do now. One thing he decided was that he would never do without soft drinks when he was an adult. Needless to say, he changed his mind a few years ago, and he only drinks water except for meal times when he drinks tea or milk. This enabled me to change my grocery shopping to not include any soft drinks except for birthday parties and special events. I estimate that I am saving $10-15 per week on groceries by not buying soft drinks. (My husband could drink a 2-liter soft drink by himself in one day.)

We have substituted soft drinks with water. We use a filtering system on our refrigerator and kitchen sink. We live in rural NC, and we have a lot of iron in our water, so it is not good to drink it straight from the tap. We drink juice with breakfast. And we drink Kool-aid on occasion for lunch. At dinner, we drink milk. In between meals, everyone drinks water.

Good for our bodies and good for our budget!!!!!

What is your tip for the day?

Don’t have the money for a field trip to Hawaii…..

If you don’t have the money to travel to Hawaii or Chile, I have a great new product for you! A Christian publisher has created a series of DVD’s called, “The Nature of God in Nature.” His first two installments in the series contain footage from two beautiful places in the world. The first DVD that I watched was the one on Hawaii. And the second one was on the Lake District in Chile. These are two places that I would like to visit some day in person, but, for now, I enjoyed his travelogues.
I have an introductory special for the DVD’s. You can purchase them for $12.95. That is $2.00 off the regular retail price. You can also watch a sample video on his website at http://www.onemustardseed.com/.
Have a blessed day!
EDITING to add a link to the Trailer of “The Lake District”

Works for Me Wednesday

There are several things that I could list today for my “Works for Me Wednesday” post, but the one that is most important to me is a verse that I have been praying as I pray for our upcoming Presidential election:

Proverbs 29:2. “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but
when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.”

Since we, as Christians know, that prayer works. I thought this was my best tip of the week!
Have a blessed day!

Works for Me Wednesday

This week’s Works forMe Wednesday comes from my weekly newsletter………

Can we talk about handwriting? I have seen numerous customers in my store lately who have questions about handwriting for their children.

A popular homeschool curriculum introduces cursive handwriting in K4. That is preschool, folks!

My personal thought is that a child needs time to develop their manuscript handwiting before he/she moves on to cursive. Let me explain why.

As an adult in a computer-age, I do not use my cursive handwriting like my mother or grandparents. Our children are not going to use cursive handwriting like their grandparents either.

Of course, they need to learn cursive, and they need to have a legible way to communicate. But, what if they never fully master manuscript?

What do you do when you fill out a paper at the doctor’s office or bank? When you fill out a job application, do you print or write in cursive? (Well, some people use computers to apply for a job.)

Cursive is faster to do, of course. But most “official” forms ask you to please print neatly. Our children need to learn how to master the printed word, and then they can move on to cursive handwriting.

I recommend one handwriting program above all others. And it is actually a product line that I do not make but pennies on the dollar. But I believe in it. I was introduced to Handwriting Without Tears by our occupational therapist back in 2000. And it has been the program for my children ever since. It works, and it works well. I have even had older children use the Can-Do Print and Can-Do Cursive books even without using the previous books. They are designed to fine tune handwriting in children in grade 5 and up.

That’s my two cent’s worth on the whole handwriting scope and sequence.

Any thoughts?

If you have any questions or comments, I welcome them at orders@dhss.com.

Have a blessed day!

Are you studying the Electoral Process this year?

We are going to tackle this topic this fall. I hope to get us started next week, as a matter of fact. We studied it 4 years ago, but my boys were younger then, so it is time for a review. It also works as part of a high school student’s government and civics credit.

You are probably aware that I use the unit study KONOS to tie my school day together. The election unit is no different. I am going to be using the book, “Electing America’s Leaders.” And this year I am able to offer this book on my website. (I love being able to sell products that I believe in!) And I am going to go a step further and sign up for the online tutorial at www.homeschoolmentor.com. For $30, Jessica Hulcy will give me the training and background I need to do a bang up job this year! I am a lillte short on time to research and dig deep, so why don’t I pay Jessica to tell me what I need to know! So for a paltry $45.00, I will be able to teach my children about the electoral process. Sounds like a GREAT deal to me!

I am also going to use a resource I found from Time Magazine for Kids to have a brief biography and picture of each of our Presidents. It’s aptly named, Presidents of the United States. Another cool resource is a Fandex of the United States Presidents. I got one at Barnes and Noble during the last election, so I am going to use it as well.

Hope this helps you in your quest this year!