Easy Summer Snack Recipe For Children to Make

My girls love to be in the kitchen.  The other day they wanted to make a snack and whipped up this easy recipe for Jell-O Pudding Pops.  It's such an easy recipe for children to make on their own, and it is inexpensive.

Ingredients for 6 pops (we double this)

1 box instant pudding
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup of cool whip
popsicle sticks
paper or plastic cups


Add pudding mix to 2 cups of milk and whisk for 2 minutes.

Stir in cool whip until combined.

Spoon into cups and add popsicle stick.

Freeze 6 hours or until firm.  To remove from cup run side of cup under hot water for a minute or two and pull pop out.

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Review: Kiss the Bride Three Summer Love Stories

Book Description "Meet the people who make it all happen—the planners, the photographers, the musicians who have helped orchestrate the perfect day for countless couples—as they find their own happy endings in the second Year of Weddings novella collection.

 Picture Perfect Love: A June Wedding Story by Melissa McClone When image becomes everything, it’s up to love to refocus the heart. Photographer Jenna Harrison wants every bride and groom to look picture perfect on their special day. But her own heart is still broken, the unworn wedding dress hanging in her closet a reminder that relationships aren’t always as perfect as they look through her camera lens. Attorney Ashton Vance is the one that got away, but he wrongly blamed Jenna for ruining his political aspirations. Even if Jenna can forgive him, dare he hope for a second chance at her love?

 I Hope You Dance: A July Wedding Story by Robin Lee Hatcher Can two left feet lead to one perfect romance? Grant Nichols is a genius in the kitchen and a klutz on the dance floor. But his friend’s wedding is shaping up to be a shindig the likes of which Kings Meadow has never seen—including dancing. Lots of dancing. Former rodeo queen Skye Foster is offering dance lessons for the wedding party. Grant and Skye are no match on paper. But when they step onto the dance floor, they create a melody all their own. 

Love on a Deadline: An August Wedding Story by Kathryn Springer MacKenzie “Mac” Davis returns to her hometown of Red Leaf, Wisconsin, and takes a job at the weekly newspaper writing about social events. When Hollis Channing, Mac’s high school nemesis, returns to Red Leaf to marry her celebrity fiancé, the editor asks Mac to cover all the festivities for the newspaper. The last thing Mac wants to do is reconnect with the person who made her life miserable when she was a teenager . . . unless it’s spending time with Ethan Channing, the bride’s older brother—and Mac’s first crush.

I just love these Year of Weddings novella collections.  Who doesn't love a great wedding story? I think the second year has been even better then the first.  I love the perspective of those who usually work behind the scenes in the weddings being the ones getting married.

Those novellas in these books are not connected in any way.  If you have read other books by the author you may see some familiar characters.  I have read a book out of Robin Lee Hatcher's Kings Meadow series (and honestly after reading this it reminded me I need to read the others) and another story by Kathryn Springer that took place in Red Leaf Wisconsin.  Both of these stories has familiar characters in them, but you do not have to read the other books in order to understand and enjoy the story.  I loved each one of these novellas . Great, light, happy-ever-after summer reading that all carry a message with them. I can't wait for the next one to come out!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC regulations.

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Schoolhouse Crew Review: LearnBop

Our latest review has been a subscription to  LearnBop for Families  from LearnBop. 
LearnBop is a complete, online, self paced math curriculum for grades 3-12.  They also have subject content in areas such as: geometry, measurement and data, the number system, statistics, and more for grades 1-8. They offer a single student plan, or a family plan.  The family plan is for up to 4 students. You can choose to subscribe month to month or pay for the entire year.  
To start the program, first you choose a learning roadmap for your child by grade level (3-8) or Algebra 1, Algebra 2, or Geometry.  The program then checks what the student knows by giving them a warm up and personalizes their roadmap based on the answers.  There are instructional videos for each lesson to show the concepts they will be learning.  They then answer questions.  Once they achieve mastery in a subject area they move on to the next concept.  If they have trouble with any of the questions they are explained step by step.  
Each student has a dashboard that shows what area they are working in, how many videos they have watched, how many bops (questions in a certain area) they have completed, how long they have spent on the program, achievements that have been awarded, the percentage of the unit that has been completed, and more.  
The parent account shows all of this information for all of the children on the account so you can see at a glance how your child is doing in the program.  You have the ability to switch your child's roadmap at any time.  If for instance you start them in the 3rd grade level and it is too easy you can switch them to 4th grade.  You also do not have to follow the units in order, you can skip forward or backwards.
My review was for the family plan.  I had one child working through the 3rd grade, one in the 4th grade, and I was working though the Algebra 1 level.  
I really liked the video lessons and the ability to see each problem worked out step by step if you happened to get it wrong.  You also could ask for a hint if you needed help.  I loved the dashboard and the ability as a parent to see exactly where you child is at and how they have done.  I like that you can switch you child to different areas whenever you want to.   This program really customizes each child's learning experience.
I did run into several issues in the Algebra 1 program that were very frustrating.  Answers that were correct were marked incorrect.  Going through the step by step part of the solution showed the correct answers that I had already chosen, but going back through the problem again marked it incorrect.  I had to hit show answer to get through the problem but that did not give me credit and the exact same problem was given to me  the next day when I tried to complete the section and I had the same issue. I also had issues with numbers that were in tables in the question were different in the step by step solution causing me to get the answer incorrect.  You can send a report if there is an issue with the problem but I never received any email from the company in regards to any of the problems I reported.  It did send an email to the parent account showing me that my student encountered a problem but I do not know whether or not the issues were resolved.  We did not have any problems with the 3rd or 4th grade sections that we worked through.

To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

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Our Week in Review (June 13th-18th)

We were supposed to be tent camping this weekend.  But, it is HOT here in Arkansas!  I can handle tent camping at around 90 degrees but when the weather forecast started calling for temps around 100 we decided to stay home!


Last week Saturday my van was trying to break down.  We were able to get it home and Art found the problem and had it fixed on Sunday.

Monday night Alex and I had to go to a 4 H meeting.  Actually 2 meetings combined.  The first was a "camp shakedown" which gives the rules and schedule for the county camp. All 4hers who are going to camp have to attend.  Afterwards I had leader training.  I am required to attend 4 hours of training per year to be a volunteer leader.  The information was good and it was beneficial for Alex to participate as well.

Tuesday was the 4 H District O' Rama.  Alex was competing.  He gave an entomology talk on grasshoppers.  Anthony, Nick, and Alex were getting trophies for their record books, so I decided we all would go.  It was a LONG day.  W had to leave just before 8 for the hour drive.  Then we had to wait an hour for it to start.  After that, there was a 30 minute assembly.  After the assembly it was time for the children to compete and we had to go into a classroom.  I told the children they had to be completely silent and stay in their chairs until all of the talks were over.  I had brought coloring books for the girls and Christian and Anthony had books to read but they listened to the presentations instead.  There were only 4 talks given in our room and they were finished by 11.  Then we had to wait in the hall for the judges to tally the scores and decided the winners.  Then back in the room for the ribbons.  By 11:30 we were finished and headed to the cafeteria where we had to hang out until 2:00.  At 2:00 we had to go back to the auditorium for the trophies to be handed out.  It was over at 2:45 and then we had to make the hour drive home.  My children were so well behaved!  I was so proud of the girls for sitting and being still that long ( I knew the boys would be fine.)  I was very proud of Alex for giving his talk.  He did a great job!  And also proud of their work in 4 H to earn the trophies. We got ice cream on the way home :)

I allowed them to play on Kindles while we waited for lunch

Wednesday we had to drop Alex off to go to camp.


Friday we had to do some grocery shopping, library, and pick Alex up from camp.

We did a little school this week Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

They did 3 lessons in Veritas Bible.

We did one day of P.E. (that was really for me because they have been swimming and riding bikes every day.)

When we were at the O' Rama Thursday, they heard 4 different entomology talks.  I printed off some insect pages from notebookingpages.com for the boys and they drew a picture of the insect and wrote something that they learned while listening to the talk.  I printed some ABC pages for Emmie and Lily wanted some ABC animal pages so I did some of those for her.  We also worked in our Latin Reader.

We also did a lot of work in the garden.  We did a lot of weeding in the mornings before it got too hot. We picked some squash and beans.

As part of a 4 H project we have been working on photography. Christian took a lot of pictures out in the garden one day this week and Anthony took one.

Anthony took this one

These are some of the ones Christian took. 

I bought some beads that can be made into different shapes and melted.  They were quite creative and made a turtle, spiderman, hearts, a minecraft guy, a bee, a house,and some swirly designs.

My girls have been struggling this week.  While a relaxed summer schedule can be great (in theory) for mom, the different routine is not always great for children.  The boys have been doing fine so far, but the girls have argued every day that we were home.  If it continues into this coming week, I am going to have to make some changes.

I hope you had a great week!

Happy Homeschooling!

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7 Reasons Why I Love All About Reading

*this post contains affiliate links

I have been using All About Reading for years, right after the first edition of Level One came out.  It has been a well loved program in our house.  I have had the opportunity to use and review a LOT Of reading programs, but I have never found one that I think is better then All About Reading,  I highly recommend it!

 I wanted to share with you 7 Reasons Why I Love All About Reading.

• It is multi sensory and appeals to children with a variety of learning styles. There is something about the process of building, writing, and saying the words that helps the program make sense to young readers. 

• After the initial set up that involves punching out word cards and putting magnets on tiles, you do not need to do any kind of preparation for the lessons.  This is a huge plus for the busy homeschool mom!  The lessons are scripted and tells you exactly what to say and do.  All you have to do is follow along!

• It is complete.  You do not need to hunt down or spend extra money on different components. All you have to do is buy your package .  If you have never used All About Reading before, you will have to buy a Reading Interactive Kit but this is used over again through all the levels. A magnetic white board and some dry erase markers come in very handy with this program.

• It is completely customizable.  You can work at your child's pace.  I have had children that have gone very slowly though the program and some that have flown through it.  A lesson can be completed in a day or spread out over a week.  There is a ton of review built in to the lessons so your children will not forget what they have learned.  

• You can use it with multiple children!  As a mom of many this is a huge plus for me!  The readers, cards, tiles, and Teacher Manual can be used over and over again, and I have to say mine have held up great over the years.  The readers are beautiful hard cover books and are still in wonderful condition even after being read over and over and over again. The activity books for each level are consumable.  I wrote this post on using the same level of AAR with both of my boys at the same time. 

• It's fun!  My children love the activities in the activity book.  They love the stories and the illustrations.  They enjoy using this curriculum every day!

• And the most important reason....It works!  All About Reading's systematic, multi sensory approach with plenty of fluency exercises and built in review will work.  I have had three struggling readers.  With my first struggling reader I thought he would never read.  He is mildly dyslexic. I tried everything I could think of and then discovered AAR.  He is now 12 and reads everything in sight.  For my next two reading did not come easy, but I knew this approach would work.  We have moved slowly through the levels, but my now 9 and 10 year olds will be using Level 4 this year and they are reading independently.  They have done so well!!!  My daughter has had an easy time learning to read and finished all of Level One and half of Level 2 in first grade.  The program will work.  If your child is struggling, move slowly, keep the lessons short, and stick with it!

*links in this post are my affiliate links.  I only form affiliate relationships with companies whose products I actually use and can recommend!!!!

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Review: VeggieTales Puppies and Guppies From FishFlix.com

FishFlix.com sells Christian DVDs to educate, inspire, and entertain. On their site you will find a wide variety of faith based movies and TV shows to watch and enjoy with your family, use in a Bible study, or for educational purposes in your home or homeschool.  I was recently given an opportunity to review VeggieTales: Puppies and Guppies DVD.

VeggieTales: Puppies and Guppies features 8 different stories to teach children about responsibility and kindness.  The DVD is 88 minutes long and can be purchased for $7.99.
In Puppies and Guppies, Larry the Cucumber and Laura the Carrot see a cute little puppy and of course want to have one too!  But to prove they are responsible, Pa Grape gives them a little test, taking care of his guppies.
Episode 2 is called Junior Gets a Pet.  In this episode, Junior Asparagus makes friends with an unlikely pet: a buffalorange.  When it seems that Ichabeezer wants it too, Junior learns an important lesson about obedience.
The third episode is called The Guppy Whisperer.  Jimmy and Jerry bring home a new pet, but do not know how to make him stop crying.  Laura has learned from taking care of Pa Grape's guppies and shares her knowledge to help Jimmy and Jerry. 
Episode four is Cool as a Cucumber.  Larry gets a lesson about how we can't let the idea of being popular take over being who God wants us to be.
Laura at Bat is the sixth episode.  Laura Carrot wants to be a home run batter, but will she put in the effort required to succeed?
The seventh episode is called Popcorntastrophe.  What is that horrid smell?  Larry, Bob, and Madame Blueberry discover the culprit, burned popcorn.  This story is a lesson on forgiveness.  
The last episode, Larry's Cardboard Thumb, Larry talks Petunia into giving him a chance to work on Larry's Cardboard Thumb. This episode is a lesson on honesty.
The DVD also has 4 Sing along songs:
Puppy Friends Forever God Sees Our Full Potential Do the Right Things For Your Pets VeggieTales in the House
It has been quite awhile since we watched VeggieTales.  I turned Puppies and Guppies on for my 5 and 7 year old daughters and they loved it!  They were glued to the TV and have asked to watch it over and over again. The stories are sweet and teach a good message that children can understand and relate to.  My girls especially loved the pet episodes.  The music is cute. This DVD would be great for homes with young children, daycares, or preschool Sunday School classes.
FishFlix.com has a huge selection of faith based DVDs to choose from.  They are offering a $5 off coupon if you join their email list.  Join by visiting www.fishflix.com/5gift or text 5-GIFT to 44222. They are also offering free shipping on orders of $40 or more.  
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this DVD for the purpose of writing a fair and honest review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance to the FTC regulations.

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Favorite Recipes: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I love to make muffins for the children to eat for breakfast.  My children are not big breakfast eaters and they all get up at different times.  If we have muffins ready they can grab breakfast as soon as they are hungry.  Banana Muffins are a favorite.  I have been using a new recipe and it has become one of our favorites.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (makes 24 muffins)

1 cup butter melted
6 ripe bananas (2 cups) If I am a little short on bananas, I use applesauce to make up the rest
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tsp salt
5 teaspoons baking powder
4 cups flour
2 cups chocolate chips


Mash your bananas.  Mix together all wet ingredients in one bowl.  Mix all dry ingredients in another bowl.  Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients then stir in chocolate chips.

In a greased or lined muffin pan, fill cups 2/3 of the way full.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Enjoy!

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