Tuesday Treasure {25} - Things we wish we'd known

 Welcome to Tuesdays Treasures.  I started these posts as a way of sharing great books in honour of my friend in New Zealand who would arrive with the treasures she had unearthed at her weekly trip to the library!

There are so many wonderful books out there hiding on shelves so I invite you to blog about a book on your shelf, one you're reading or one you found at the library and add your post to Learning All the Time Favourite Resource Link Up. 

This week ...

Today's resource is one for the mothers, it's a compilation of letters by 50 veteran homeschoolers all sharing what the one thing is they wish they had known when they started home educating. Q: Who do parents turn to with questions aout homeschooling, whether they're novices, long-timers, or just testing the waters? A: Experienced homeschoolers. Who better to answer the questions arising from any serious endeavor than those who have been there, done that, and found a better way?

50 Veteran Homeschoolers share ...

Things we wish we'd known

• Format: Paperback
• Number of Pages: 232
• Vendor:  Publishers YWAM USA
• Publication Date: 2001
• ISBN: 1-883002-42-7
• Author Compiled & Edited by Bill & Diana Waring
  
• Illustrator: N/A

This book is worth it's weight in gold and I recommend it to any homeschooler whether they are new to homeschooling or been on the journey for fifteen years this is a gold mine of encouragement and insight in one book.

The book is divided into 6 parts

• The Basics - Keeping the fun in it
• The Concepts - Redefining the 3 R's, Curriculum: tool or tyrant?
• The Priorities - You can't do it all and don't have to
• God's Involvement - Home educating for eternity
• Character and Academics - Developing the worker and the tools
• The Blessings - Homeschooling pieces our hearts together, and much, much more

Blessings

The book is available for purchase from:

• YWAM USA
• Book Depository USA
• Book Depository UK
• Amazon
• Fishpond

** These are NOT affiliate links

GRADUATION DAY

Miss J was awarded her Cert III in Children's Services ** by Carrick Education today. 

Dear Jane 

We are so proud of you our precious daughter.  We love watching you grow into the woman God has made you to be.  May His hand of blessing rest upon you daily. May you continue to know Him and hear His voice directing you. May He bless you with His perfect will for you.  May He clearly give you a vision and hope for your future. We pray He will bless you with favour.  May He bless the work of your hands.  We pray He will draw you ever closer to Himself.  May His mantle of joy and peace be upon your shoulders.


All our love

Dad and Mom

** In Australia a Cert II is the equivalant of Year 12/13 (Matric) school.  Cert III is first year post school study and one year before a Diploma level. Jane achieved two Cert III certificates at the age of 16

Homeschool Mothers Journal {11} - Pinning it Down.

The Home school Mother’s Journal began as a single post on a Friday morning over at The Homeschool Chick, and turned into a link-up for homeschool mothers across the blog-O-sphere to share a piece of their journey with one another each week. The link party is open from Friday to Monday so join me in The Homeschool Journal and lets encourage one another on our homeschool journey.

In my life this week…

 
In our homeschool this week…

• Completed two Pinning it DOWN challenges. We made peg frogs and Firefighter Fingers.
• Started Abeka math again.  It amazes me how much they forget if you go on holiday ....  so we are working on re - remembering.
• Did a week of holiday swim program at Paul Saddler swim land.
• Made snow globes.
• Celebrated Australia Day by blogging .....

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

•  My Biggest Homeschooling Mistake: Over-thinking Methods & Philosophies by Sarah over at Amongst lovely things.
• A reason Credentials shouldn't Concern Homeschoolers by Luke Holzmann from Sonlight

I am inspired by…

• The one Habit more Important than Quiet Time over at A Holy Experience. 
• We watched The Secrets of Johnathan Sperry this is an excellent family movie that will encourage and impact you and your children for the Lord. Best of all it is based on a TRUE story and at the end of the movie you find out what happened to all the characters in the story.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

• We had lunch with the ladies from the Art co-op we are a part of.
• The first CHEF (Christian Home Educating Families) meeting for the year started this week. It was great fellowship.
• Counting down the months, weeks and days

My favorite thing this week was…

• Watching Sir N remember the skills he had attained in swimming before the holidays during his week of swimming lessons at Paul Sadler Swimland and being awarded his Pink Certificate today!

Miss J was awarded her Cert III in Children's Services today!

What’s working/not working for us…

• Trying to do my One Year Through The Word bible reading / blogging during the day. I have come to the conclusion I need to be up an hour before the rest of the household if I am going to have the time and more importantly quiet uninterrupted time to do it. I now have a few days I need to catch up.  Who said you need 21 days to form a new habit ? It's not true !!

Questions/thoughts I have…

• How do you keep track of the memory work of your children ?
• Writing them on the Doorposts: Scripture in our Home by over at The Purposeful Mom. I love this idea and think I will try it with our memory work with Sir N.

Things I’m working on…

• Thanks to Erin I discovered: Pinning it DOWN!  Love this idea!  Do you have a Pinterest ?  If so you NEED have to join Sarah and Pam who have started a Pinning it DOWN! challenge this year. The challenge is to take one of the ideas from Pinterest and DO IT, blog it and join in the linky!  ♥♥♥♥ it. I Pinned it DOWN this week.
• A couple of Food posts, and a few DIY  blog photo tutorials. (making scrolling button widgets, Favicon ??, Make your own grab my button, Working with HTML code)

I’m reading…

•  How to Sabotage Your Blog (and your life) by Amy over at Blogging with Amy.  This post was so not what I was expecting.
• Freedomship Education: Notes & Thoughts by Sarah over at Amongst Lovely Things These are Sarah's notes from Andrew Pudewa's talk on Freedomship Education.  Rather thought provoking.
• A (rather long) Homemaking Post by Sarah over at Amongst Lovely Things.
• The results of some interesting research conducted on students using Facebook: Friends Happy Pictures make you sad ?
• Do Other Blogs make you Jealous ? by KM Logan from Lessons from Ivy over at Raising Mighty Arrows. This spoke volumes to my heart:  

"Envy, jealousy, coveting; whatever you want to call it, is sin and it will cripple your ministry.  Besides, God doesn't just bless a blog through numbers…they only tell half the story."

I’m cooking…

• Snapper wrapped in bacon. 
• Collecting Watermelon rind to make another batch of Watermelon Jam.
• Tuna Bake.
• Brown Onion Soup Potatoes

I’m grateful for…

• Good wholesome DVDs that we can watch together as a family and that are appropriate for Sir N to watch with us.  DVDs like:  The Secrets of Johnathan Sperry,  Original Heidi , The Way Home,  The Prince and the Pauper, Pollyanna , Old Yeller, Little House on the Prairie series and The Book of Ruth.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next - Abraham Lincoln

Blessings

This post is linking to:
Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and The Homeschool Chick pop on over to read what other homeschool Moms are doing.

Watermelon Jam (Waatlemoenkonfyt)

Ever wondered what to do with the left over rind from your watermelon fruit snacks?  I have just the solution for you.
Growing up in South Africa this is one of the jams we had and is my favourite.  My children have been enjoying watermelon So I took a recipe from my Mom and one from my Mother in law combined them and made my own. It tastes just like the store bought variety.

Ingredients:

• 1 Kg peeled and diced rind
• 3 Tablespoons Bicarbonate of Soda
• 3 Litres of water
• 6 cups of sugar (1.5 kg)
• 2 Litres water
• 3 teaspoons of dry ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon of dry ground cinnamon
• 20 ml lemon juice (4 teaspoons)

Method

• Take the peel of a ripe watermelon. Peel off the green outer rind and remove most of the pink flesh inside. Discard the green skin and pink flesh.
• Prick each piece in several places with a fork and cut into desired shapes.
• Combine Bicarb and 3 litre water and rind and leave to soak for 12-18 hours.  This ensures that the preserve is tender yet crisp.
• Rinse. Now soak in fresh water for 2 hours.
• Rinse and put in a pot covered with hot water. Bring to the boil and boil, uncovered, until just tender. Test by piercing the peel. 
• Drain rind. (Do this a moment before you are ready to add to the syrup)
• In a separate pot prepare the syrup. Combine the sugar, 2 Litres water, lemon juice, ginger and cinnamon.  Put pot on low heat and stir till all sugar is dissolved.
• Bring mixture to the boil and add hot rind.
• Boil rapidly until the pieces are tender and translucent and the syrup is thick. (1 - 1 1/2 hours)
• Pack the peel into hot, dry sterilised bottles, fill with the syrup and seal immediately.

This should fill 5 300 gram bottles. The mistake I made was to put too much peel in each bottle.  It would be better to fill the jar 3/4 fill of peel and the balance syrup.

Enjoy on a fresh slice of bread or toast. What's your favourite home made jam ?

Blessings

For more information:

• Fun Facts and FAQ
• Health and Nutrition.
• Carving & Entertainment.
• Recipes
• Preserves The Traditional South African Way.
• Watermelon Jam or Preserve on Group Recipes.

This post is linking to:

Making your Home Sing Monday over at Moms The Word, Feasting in Fellowship Link Up over at Comfy in the Kitchen, Teach Me Tuesdays over at Growing Home, Natural Living Link Up over at Little Natural Cottage, Food Friday over at The Singing Sparrow.

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Pinning it Down {1} Peg frogs & Finger Firefighters

Welcome to the third Pinning it Down Tuesday! Do you find yourself pinning projects to Pinterest, but rarely getting around to doing them? Do you need a bit of encouragement to make some of those projects come to life? Join Pam and Sarah every Tuesday for the Pinning it Down link-up, where we're making a Pinterest project happen in our homes every week. 


Sir N and I chose two pins to Pin down this week:

This is our first Pin:

Source: flickr.com via Chareen on Pinterest

Our first Pin is this one from a flicker album by Molas & Co .

We had a look through the different ideas and then settled on The Frog and The Sea Inside pegs to try.


We had loads of fun trying this one.
This one was a little more tricky because there was no tutorial and if you look carefully at the photo's they are made of wood.  So I improvised.

• Sir N painted our pegs.
• I took a screen shot of the peg we wanted to do.
• Put it into a word document and printed them off.
• Next we cut the pieces out and lamenated them.
• Cut them out and then glued them onto the pegs.
• Loads of fun and we can't wait to show Paul tonight.

The Second Pin we did is :

Source: tippytoecrafts.blogspot.com via Chareen on Pinterest

This Pin is from Tippytoe Crafts: Five Little Firefighters.

This one was super easy and quick to do.
The tutorial on Tippytoe Crafts was excellent.

• We painted Sir N's hand, made a hand print,
• Next I drew around some 10 cent coins to get the round heads.
• To make the hats I drew around the 10c coin and cut the base straight.
• Next Sir N glued the bits on and used texta to draw the rest !

What will you be trying from Pinterest this week ?

Blessings

Photo Collages done with the FREE software Photoscape . Tutorial over at Great Fun 4 Kids.

Are you ready to play along? Here's how our link-up works:
1. Choose a project from one of your Pinterest pinboards and make it happen. Blog a little about it. Remember, it doesn't have to be elaborate- we just want to see what you've been up to!

2. Make sure you link back here somewhere in your post so others can find us and play along. Feel free to grab our Pinning it Down graphic if you'd like to add it to your post. Also, don't forget proper pinning etiquette and try to include a link back the original idea whenever possible. We want to be sure that cool idea credit is given to the proper person.

3. Link up over at Sarah's . Make sure you're sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address. You can add your link all the way through Friday, so if you haven't gotten a chance to work on any of your pins yet this week, you're not too late.

Tuesdays Treasures {24} - A Port Through Time

 Welcome to Tuesdays Treasures.  I started these posts as a way of sharing great books in honour of my friend in New Zealand who would arrive with the treasures she had unearthed at her weekly trip to the library!
There are so many wonderful books out there hiding on shelves so I invite you to blog about a book on your shelf, one you're reading or one you found at the library and add your post to Learning All the Time Favourite Resource Link Up. 



This week ...

A Port Through Time

A 10,000 year journey from trading post to modern seaport

 

• Format: Hardback
• Number of Pages: 32
• Vendor: DK Publishers
• Publication Date: 2006
• ISBN: 00-7566-2221-2
  
• Author Dr Anne Millard
• Illustrator: Steve Noon

I love the Through Time book series.  They are beautifully illustrated and lots of fun to look through. You could spend days on each page and still not see everything there is to see.  Each book picks one location and shows you how it develops from nothing to present day.  Some pages contain "cut away" images. The book finishes off with a brief historical look at shipping through the ages and world trade.

Other books available in the series are: A Farm through Time, A City through Time and A Street through Time.

What's your favourite history resource?

Blessings

Homeschool Mothers Journal {10}

The Home school Mother’s Journal began as a single post on a Friday morning over at The Homeschool Chick, and turned into a link-up for homeschool mothers across the blog-O-sphere to share a piece of their journey with one another each week. The link party is open from Friday to Monday so join me in The Homeschool Journal and lets encourage one another on our homeschool journey.

In my life this week…

 
In our homeschool this week…

• Rock Candy !! I am so excited. I have been looking for a tutorial on how to do this. I was over at Julie's blog The Homeschool Balancing Act reading her HSMJ and she shared the link Education.com Activities. I decided to take a look and low and behold on the first page was the add. I just hope it is warm enough for our candy to form as we have had some wintry weather sneak in in the middle of summer!
• We watched The Prince and the Pauper.  I know this story well but only realized this week that it was written by Mark Twain. I highly recommend this version to watch it is excellent.
• We joined the Summer Reading Challenge at our local library. I discovered some Fitzroy Readers at our library that Sir N could read. First books we have brought home from the library that he could read to me.
• We read The Light at Tern Rockand One Hundred Dresses. Both excellent reads with deep life lessons.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

• Be your students dictionary. When your children are writing and ask you how to spell something spell it for them. It is better for them to write it correctly than to improvise and learn the wrong spelling of the word which you then have to spend the next six months helping them "un learn". 
• If you are looking for easy crafts to do with your children head on over to All Kids Network and have a look around.  There are summer, autumn, winter and spring sections as well as holiday crafts, Animal crafts and general crafts. Worksheets and colouring in pages. Great site to have in your favourites bar. 
• Tips for dealing with Homework hassels by Connie over at Women Living Well while this post discusses homework it has some really great tips to equip homeschool moms in teaching their children.

I am inspired by…

• Courtney's week 2 of The Gentleness Challenge over at Women Living Well. I find it incredibly difficult to be gentle with my tongue / tone when I am frustrated or tired.  This post is so encouraging.  I feel equipped to grow in the fruit of a gentle tongue after reading this.
• Prayer is a Necessity over at Six Yates Wanderings. These words are so true:  " I so desire to do EVERYTHING that I want to do and in the end MY schedule ruins everyone else’s attitude" 
• The Way Home based on the inspirational True Story. My heart was in my throat quite a bit as I watch this DVD and I am happy to say it has a very happy ending. I have been so encouraged watching this DVD and think you will be too.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

• Cousin Day was fantastic.  We all got too much sun but the fun we had was memorable.  Little boys rolling down grass hills, testing how brave they were by walking into deeper water out in the tidal pool and seeing just how fast they could run down a steep hill! Lovely Memories Thank you Miss M for such a lovely idea lets do it again !
• Our Art Co op started again today and we made snow globes.  I really struggled to find glycerin to purchase and just found out you can use corn syrup as a substitute over at Snow Globe Craft.
• Today our split system air conditioner was finally replaced just in time for the next heat wave this coming week.  I am so grateful.
• Counting down the months, weeks and days

My favorite thing this week was…

• Sitting on the chair with Sir N and reading out loud.  
• Listening to Sir N read the first three  Fitzroy Readers out loud to me.
• Purchasing my second Kindle book! I was over at Little Homeschool on the Prairie and saw this post: Blessings at the Door and couldn't help myself.  This is Jennifer's first published book. I am so excited for her. It is available for purchase on Amazon in Paperback, Hardcover and Kindle. I just couldn't wait for the paperback to come in the mail so now it's on my kindle. I love what I have read so far.

What’s working/not working for us…

• Too many late nights.  It's summer and the sun does not set till after 9 pm.  We end up being up far too late and I am exhausted.

Questions/thoughts I have…

• I would love to be a part of a once a fortnight blog hop based on The Charlotte Mason Companion.  How would I start this ??  I would love to read other peoples insights on the different topics in Karen Andreola's book.

Things I’m working on…

• I am learning to use Artisteer.  I love building websites but get frustrated with dealing in code because I do not use it regularly enough to know it well.  This software seems to be a WYSIWYG which is great.  I think I might try and redisgn my blog since I can't find a rose background that works for me. I found a tutorial on Youtube to make custom backgrounds for blogger.  I am keen to watch and learn when things quieten down around here.
• Thanks to Jo over at Princess Warrior Lessons I found out that Blogger now supports threaded commenting, which means that it is now much easier to differentiate between whether someone is making a general comment on the thread, or responding to another comment on the thread. There are two little boxes to set on your blog settings and you are set to go!  So Easy.
  

I’m reading…

•  The distracted Mom learns to listen over at Finding Joy.I can really identify with this post. I love to learn to read and being a mom but sometimes I just get so carried away that I am missing life.  Great post.
• Introducing the Gentleness Challenge by Courtney over at Women Living Well.
• I have been poking around Whole Intentions.
• Rebuilding a Healthy Schedule by Joe Thorn over at joethorn.net
• Gentle Mothering Part 2 by Laurie over at No Place like Home
• Struggles by Nicole over at I'm staying home with my Mom
• Professional Homemaking by Latisha over at Confessions of a "Martha"

I’m cooking…

•  Watermelon Jam (Tutorial to come it's a two day process and today is day two!)

I’m grateful for…

•  New mercies each morning.
• The new split system inverter air conditioner that was installed today.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

•  Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. -Eleanor Roosevelt

I was blessed by this short movie this week.  I was amazed by the hand of the Lord and how He blessed so many people.  My heart was touched for all the families in this Vimeo movie.

How an Abortion Saved the Lives of Many from Rebecca Keliher on Vimeo.

Blessings












This post is linking to:
Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and The Homeschool Chick pop on over to read what other homeschool Moms are doing. (Will update these links as soon as the linky is up later today)

East African Chicken

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East African Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 small chicken
• 2 teaspoons mixed herbs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Water
• 1 cup of Basmati rice (or white rice)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 Onion finally chopped
• 1 red capsicum chopped
• 1 green capsicum chopped
• 4 tablespoons of peanut butter
• Optional (cream) 
• Optional 1 punnet Mushrooms sliced.

Method

• Put mixed herbs, salt, chicken in a pot cover with water and boil gently till chicken is well cooked.
• Keep chicken stock to one side.
• De bone chicken and cut up chicken, set aside.
• Put rice and 1/2 the chicken stock in a pot and cook.  Add more hot water if needed.
• In another pot add butter, onion and capsicum. Stir on low heat till onions are soft and tender.
• Add in the peanut butter and thoroughly mix in.
• Add in the chicken stock (and some cream for a more creamy flavour)
• Add in the chicken. Simmer for 15 min for flavours to seep together.
• Optional add in mushrooms and cook for 10 min.
• Mix cornflour in some cold water and add to chicken mix to thicken

Serve on a bed of rice with a green salad.

I do not like peanut butter but I love this recipe.

Blessings

This post is linking with Growing Home Teach Me Tuesdays, Our Simple Country Life 3 Year Birthday Bash, Comfy in the Kitchen Featured Post Top 3 Link Up, Little Natural Cottage Natural Living Link Up, The Singing Sparrow Food Friday

This recipe contains peanuts.

Tuesdays Treasures {23} Vintage Novels

 Welcome to Tuesdays Treasures.  I started these posts as a way of sharing great books in honour of my friend in New Zealand who would arrive with the treasures she had unearthed at her weekly trip to the library!

There are so many wonderful books out there hiding on shelves so I invite you to blog about a book on your shelf, one you're reading or one you found at the library and add your post in the comments section. 

This week ...

Today I discovered a new blog I would like to share with you ...

In Which I read Vintage Novels

This blog is hosted by Suzannah who in her words says:

Today we see an ever-widening gap between “Christian” and “secular” fiction. Yet for many years that distinction did not exist: Many if not most stories combined the high artistic excellence that today seems the realm of secular fiction with the high Christian standards that are becoming harder to find.
I believe that a steady diet of good stories is essential to teach, inspire, and refresh both young and old. I hope this blog will help you select great reading—great alternatives

So if you are wanting to know more about a particular vintage novel pop on over to Suzannah's pad and look up your author of choice or find someone new to read.

Blessings
Chareen

This post is linking to Learning All The Time Favourite Resources.

Homeschool Mothers Journal {9}

The Home school Mother’s Journal began as a single post on a Friday morning over at The Homeschool Chick, and turned into a link-up for homeschool mothers across the blog-O-sphere to share a piece of their journey with one another each week. The link party is open from Friday to Monday so join me in The Homeschool Journal and lets encourage one another on our homeschool journey.

In my life this week…

 
In our homeschool this week…

• Worked along side Dad and helped him to erect the car port in our driveway.  We learned all about safety with tools.
• Played with the iron filings and a magnet.
• Did swimming lessons every day at a holiday program.
• Started watching the Original Heidi series. Paul has just finished reading the unabridged trilogy to Sir N. Heidi, Heidi Grows Up and Heidi's Children.
• Listened to our first audio book:  Charlotte's Web written and Performed by E.B. White. 

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

•  No pearls of wisdom this week :)

I am inspired by…

•  Erica over at Confessions of a Homeschooler and her Family Mission Statement.
• 10 Great ideas from Pinterest over at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

• We went to the local outdoor pool where Sir N attended the Vic Swim week.  It was good to see him grow in his confidence.
• To the L family to celebrate a fourth birthday.
• We went to the zoo and went for a bus trip around the Safari area.   
• Looking forward to our ten year family reunion ...  

My favorite thing this week was…

• Discovering a Look-Alikes book I have spent the last 10 years searching for at the library!
• Watching Sir N play with a magnet and iron filings.

What’s working/not working for us…

• Waking up too late in the mornings.  I find that I am feeling frustrated as I am not able to complete the things I set out to do as I constantly feel behind!

Questions/thoughts I have…

• Years ago at a book sale I picked up two little books by Jim Arnosky.  I am really keen to get started on a Nature Notebook.  I ♥ his nature Notebooks and recently discovered that he has published the following book: Field Trips: Bug Hunting, Animal Tracking, Bird Watching and Shore Walking (Hardback) I wonder if I should invest in this book ?
• I am thinking about a word that can help be stay on track with my Goals for 2012. I am leaning towards: COMMITMENT without commitment I will never attain my goals.
• I want to make some water lemon rind jam and I have no idea where to buy slaked lime from in Australia.  Any ideas ??

Things I’m working on…

• Planning to get walking fit to do an 8 km fun walk to raise funds for the Royal Children's Hospital in February.
• Cover to Cover.  I am learning so much and am feeling so encouraged by His word.  It feels so good to be back in the word of God. Two of the things I enjoyed learning about this week are: The story of Melchizedek and Job and his framework for righteous living.
• A Label drop down Tutorial.
• Putting all the Christmas decorations away and finding better ways of storing / packing these items.  This year my favourite thing to use was cable ties.  They have helped keep my Christmas lights in order and the branches of my Christmas tree in neat orderly piles.
• Callanetics.  Boy do I sleep well after a session of this!

I’m reading…

•  About Josephs arrival over at Every Season. This blog post touched a soft spot in my heart.  
• Wheat Free and Gluten Free Recipes over at Paleo Bread Recipes.
• What's holding you back from Excellence over at Princess Warrior Lessons.
•  Putting your family first as a mom and Family Mission Statement over at the Better Mom.
• Mothering from the heart over at the Better Mom.
• Facebook by Linda over at Pillars of Pine. Linda makes some interesting points.
• Happy New Year by Erin over at Seven Little Australians and Counting. I enjoyed Erins focused simplicity.
• Fully Present in Every Moment by Susan over at Kerugma. I especially enjoyed the Amish Proverb: Enjoy Today, it wont come back.

I’m cooking…

• East African Chicken.  (Recipe to come)
• Kransky Potato Bake.

I’m grateful for…

•  A husband who is a handy man and saves us hundreds of dollars each year by fixing / building what ever needs to be done here at home.  This past week he erected a kit set car port and saved us over $1 000 on installation. 

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…  

"Wis­dom is the right use of knowl­edge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a know­ing fool. But to know how to use knowl­edge is to have wisdom." ― Charles H. Spur­geon

Blessings

This post is linking to:
Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and The Homeschool Chick pop on over to read what other homeschool Moms are doing.

BLOG DIY - Label drop down box

When I first started blogging and using labels  I quickly realised that my list of labels would be longer than my posts on each page! I love using labels because they help me find my way around my posts. I have recently started a new blog and the label list has been growing so I took some screen shots of the process I used to convert my label list to a drop down list.

I found a very easy add in for blogger on Blogger Sentral.  Here is a photo tutorial of the process described on Bogger Sentral to convert your label list to a drop down list.

Tutorial

• Open your blog dash board
• Make sure you have the Label widget installed on your blog before you begin. (Do this through Layout / Add a widget. )
• Click on Template
• Click on Edit HTML (You are doing this to back up your blog template in case something goes wrong.)

• Click Proceed.

• Tick the Expand Widget Templates box 

• Click anywhere in the code and press Ctrl+A on your keyboard to highlight all (or use your mouse)

• Press Ctrl+c on your keyboard to copy all the code.

• Open Notepad and paste.  Now save and keep code.

Now you are ready to begin.

• Open a new tab on your internet browser 
• Go to Blogger Sentral : Create Drop Down Menu's for Labels
• Click on the get code button < >

• Highlight and copy the code.
• Return back to your blog HTML page.
• NB - Uncheck the Expand Widget Templates box 
• Scroll to the bottom of the Edit HTML box
  
• Look for the following code line    <b:widget id='Label1' locked='false' title='Labels' type='Label'/>

• Replace that line of code with the code you have copied from Blogger Sentral by highlighting the line and clicking Ctrl + V on your keyboard OR  Right click paste after high lighting.

• Click Preview before saving to check that the code is working.

• Click Save.

• Well done.  You have now accomplished the following change and added more space in your right hand column.

Happy Blogging and enjoy your new space!

Blessings

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Tueaday's Treasure {Look-Alikes}

 Welcome to Tuesdays Treasures.  I started these posts as a way of sharing great books in honour of my friend in New Zealand who would arrive with the treasures she had unearthed at her weekly trip to the library!

There are so many wonderful books out there hiding on shelves so I invite you to blog about a book on your shelf, one you're reading or one you found at the library. 



This week ...
I am thrilled beyond measure to have rediscovered this book.  I have spent the last six years searching for it by sight because I could not remember it's title or author !  Most people have heard of or seen Walter Wick's Can You See What I See ? and I Spy books.  Well these are an eye spy with a twist !

Look-Alikes {Around the World}

Can you see the four recorders ? Onions ? Brussel Sprouts ? 5 shoes ?

 From the back of the book: Using every day objects in ingenious ways, artist Joan Steiner has created three dimensional scenes of more than 40 famous landmarks and familiar vacation locales. .... There are more than 500 look-alikes to search for.

• Format: Hardback
•  Number of Pages: 34
•  Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
•  Publication Date: 2007
•  ISBN: 0-316-81172-6
  ISBN-13: 978-0-316-81172-9
• Author: Joan Steiner

This is the first Look-Alikes book we borrowed from our library.

Here is another picture to whet your appetite for these books I found on the web:

The General Store

What types of books do you look at for fun ?

Homeschool Mothers Journal

The Home school Mother’s Journal began as a single post on a Friday morning over at The Homeschool Chick, and turned into a link-up for homeschool mothers across the blog-O-sphere to share a piece of their journey with one another each week. The link party is open from Friday to Monday so join me in The Homeschool Journal and lets encourage one another on our homeschool journey.

In my life this week…

 
In our homeschool this week…

• We were still on break ... back to school on Monday 9th of January.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

•  "Do not let the endless succession of small things crowd great ideals out of sight and out of mind."- Charlotte Msson

I am inspired by…

• The Word of God. I have been amazed by the things I have learned this week as I have started my journey of reading the bible from Cover to Cover chronologically. I have been so blessed by my Mothers insights.
• Charlotte Mason.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

• Our friends the L Family who have six children who blessed us with dinner and fellowship.
• To pick up the new car port we purchased.
• Bunnings to purchase the extra bits we needed to erect the car port.
• My parents for lunch.
• On Monday it was 40'C (104 F) and our air conditioner has died. I really struggle with such high temperatures. God was good and He helped my brother in law to source one for an excellent price including installation.
• My brother in law and his children came over for dinner with us while my sister was at work.
• My sister came up with a novel idea for family gatherings.  She called it Cousin Day.  She chose a few locations and dates for us to get together.  Sent out invitations.  We have to discover the location using our map books.  She has left us the clue in the invite.  She used the page number and grid location.  It's so much fun and I am so looking forward to our time out today ...

My favorite thing this week was…

• Watching Sir N learn to use a hammer and nail.  He was so brave when he missed the nail and hit his thumb instead.

What’s working/not working for us…

• We have a new basket to store the library books in. Sir N is being a trooper and keeping the books together in it. 

Questions/thoughts I have…

• The design of my blog.  The paper does not match my title.  I am searching for a new back ground theme.  I found one that I have tried on my practice blog.  What are your thoughts ?  Do you know where I can find some new paper for my blog ? I also want a narrower header as I feel this one is far to wide and takes up much to much space at the top of my blog. Sigh, my scrapbook software wont work with Windows 7 grrrr.  Do you know of any FREE software I could try to make a background and header with ?  I really like the book and pen on  Coffee Desk and my heart is totally in love with White Fence Rose on Shabby Lane but it is too small for my space here.
• I have been pondering the question of: Who are the sons of God that the old testament talks about in Genesis and Job ?  Whenever I have thought about God I think about a Son (Jesus) now I read plural sons.

Things I’m working on…

• Finding a way to organise my day / week to accomplish my goals for 2012.  It is a lot harder than I thought it would be.
• Reba Bowman just posted a great read link about Keeping Your Resolutions on Facebook (Dare for More Ministries).  Excellent short blog post with a multitude of links worth reading.
• Daily bible readings and my new blog over at One Year Through the Word.  I am really enjoying my mothers insights. (She is blogging with me :-D ) Our aim is to read the entire bible chronologically in one year together.  I would love your insights and inspirations.

I’m reading…

• The Ten Second Rule as part of my 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.I feel as though I am reading about myself.  You know all those secret things we struggle with as Christians but never ever speak about in case others think badly about us.
• About health and well being (excellent cooking) great health and fitness tips over at The Wellness Mama.
• The effects of wheat on our bodies over at Wheat Belly.
• Heather over at  Raising Mighty Arrows this month is running a series on all things blogging.
• Live Life with your Kids has a great list of online reading: On Line Reading List for the week with titles like: Three areas of mental clutter that sabotage Homeschooling, Put the phone down and be a Mother, Four minimum requirements for vibrant Living and Humble Hospitality.

I’m cooking…

•  The same old recipe's I really need to find something new to cook that is cheap quick and easy.  Any recommendations ?

I’m grateful for…

• Friends who so generously share of themselves on the internet. I would like to recommend that you pop on over to Walking by the Way and see the wonderful list of FREE Kindle classics for Children list. There are some wonderful treasures on this list.
• Ten Ways to Love.  I am pleased I found this list.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

• We should always have something worthwhile to think about, that we may not let our minds dwell upon unworthy matters (p21- Ourselves) - Charlotte Mason

Don't forget to visit other Homeschool Mothers who are Journaling this week.

Blessings

Chareen

This post is linking to: The Homeschool Mothers Journal and Weird, Unsocialised Homeschoolers.