I nature journal and I love it. It is so relaxing and really makes me happy. Plus I have learned a ton about nature and I notice so much more than I used to. How I do it is pretty simple. Here are some things that have been helpful to me: - Materials: Buy the best materials you can afford. This makes such a difference. Dick Blick and Cheap Joes are good places to find quality materials for cheaper. They also have coupons. I started with colored pencils and have recently been doing drybrush with watercolor. For drawing with pencils here is what I use (my older kids are allowed to use these as well): - A nice drawing pencil set- I have this set of twelve - Prismacolor Colored Pencil set- I purchased the set of 48 with a coupon - Two Prismacolor illustration pens in black for outlining my stuff- I like the 005 and 01 - A drawing book with nice paper- I can't seem to find the ones I purchased first. My kids still use them and really like them as they are a small square size but I switched to a Moleskine watercolor book because I ended up hating the spiral bound. ETA: Found them - Subjects: So, as a busy mother of five I don't always have uninterrupted time. So, when I find something I want to put in my notebook I take a picture of it first. Then, if I am interrupted or something i can go back and finish later. My favorite is sketching the real thing but I don't always get to finish if I do that. I tend to just draw a flower or bird or whatever and not really whole landscapes. - Text: When I first started out I would just draw the thing and then write the name down. I mostly still do the same thing but now I try to write down extra things if there are any- like the time we saw a sparrow "swim" across a canal as he had a hurt wing and just flapped his wings in the water and paddled himself across the canal. I drew the sparrow and wrote the little story beside it. I have also begun adding dates or at least months because it has been interesting to see how the timing of things (wildflowers for example) is different each year. I don't get too complicated because I just don't have that much time. - Lists- I also keep lists in the back of my book- what birds I have seen, what wildflowers, etc. - Reading- Sometimes if I have read something interesting that pertains to something I have drawn I will go back and make a note for myself on that page of the quote or information or whatever. - Collections- I like to try and draw collections of items. Earlier this year, I did a whole page on early spring wildflowers and it was so much fun. Last fall, I did a collection of various mushrooms. I think that this is all for now. I would just say to go ahead and start. Don't worry about any rules but just start somewhere and start from there. Happy nature journaling!

We purchased three of the Serta Perfect Sleeper blow up mattresses last summer when my in-laws and their six teenage/adult kids came to visit. They are not small people and the mattresses were fine for the whole two weeks they were here. Additionally, they were really easy to clean when they left which was a plus since they are not tidy people either. We had another house guest come after my in-laws and she remarked how comfortable and nice the mattress was. I found them at my local Sam's club.

Sure you could. They are in color but I don't think it would make a difference if you copied them in black and white. For me, however, it would cost me more to have them printed at Staples or something than to just buy the workbooks. But I don't have a good printer. Rainbow Resources has the set of them (all 6 workbooks) for $48 and I have found a few used. And to be honest, my kids don't do well with loose papers (they would get lost instantly) so I would have to comb bind them or something. But if the paper and ink would be cheaper for you, go for it. For MEP math, I have Staples print them out and comb bind them (and I use coupons too) for me so I know how much it costs to have it done and buying the Miquon books is cheaper.

We have these and really like them: https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Wonder-Boy-Opal-Wheeler/dp/0974650536/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496666017&sr=8-1&keywords=wheeler+mozart https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Reba-Paeff-Mirsky/dp/B0007E07J8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1496666134&sr=1-1&keywords=mozart+mirsky

Tania, I found a Patricia Nash Cauchy wallet about a year and a half ago at TJMaxx for a good price. It is gorgeous Italian leather that is of the highest quality and I love it so very much. It still looks brand new after all the use and still smells lovely like leather. This is the one I have except mine is a different pretty floral pattern: https://www.macys.com/shop/featured/patricia-nash-cauchy-wallet?EFCKEY={%22EXPERIMENT%22:[%222412%22,%222489%22,%222554%22,%222242%22,%222419%22]}&SEED=-2077529349746716185 I looked for the one I have on eBay and there are a lot there but not the pattern I have. But there are lots of pretty ones.

We don't have TVs or smart phones (well my husband has one for work) but we do have two laptops that the kids can watch movies on. There is no set plan. They just ask to watch a movie whenever but they don't really ask too often. Maybe once a week? Generally, I prefer to encourage them to do other things first and they do. If we are sick or something, we watch a lot more movies. I think I am becoming more and more of a Luddite. As so many of my friends have gotten Smart phones or iphones, our friendship has suffered. It is like their brain chemistry has changed and all they can think of is doing something on the phone. We don't have really great discussions anymore. It makes me really sad to see that and I don't want that for my kids. My in-laws and their kids came and visited for two weeks last summer and they all have smart phones. Mostly, it was just all of them sitting on my couch doing their smart phones while my kids played by themselves. It was really interesting to see a whole different family culture. After they left, we really worked on trimming our screen time even more, especially my husband and I. I am not on Facebook anymore and I LOVE that. I thought I would miss it but I don't at all and I actually am less worried about stuff. Our family culture has a lot of outdoorsy-ness, discussions about all sorts of stuff, board game playing, etc. I think we bored my in-laws and their kids but it really re-affirmed how much we all like our own family culture. I don't think my in-laws regulate much at all so that could be why it seemed so all-consuming. Anyway, my point is that, for our family, low technology is really nice. My kids aren't teens yet so that might all change too. We know other families who manage this well. But, I love having a life based in real, tangible things.

- When I was getting married to my husband, my MIL said that her sister was a MaryKay expert and was going to do my makeup for the wedding. Since it was such a big deal, I said sure. She lived out of state so I had never met her. So, when I met her the morning of our wedding and she was doing my makeup she said that my husband was such a wonderful guy and that she always wanted her daughter (his cousin) to marry him and was sad it didn't work out that way. I didn't know what to say. It was so odd hearing that she wanted him to marry his cousin the day I was marrying him. (She ended up being super nice but it was WEIRD). - When I was eight months pregnant with my fourth, I had just had a long day of grocery shopping with my other three kids in tow. We were at our last stop and the receipt checker at Sam's loudly exclaimed when I got there "Wow, you look like an elephant!" It really shocked me and hurt my feeling. I started crying right there as I was so tired. I also burst into tears when I got home and my husband asked how it went.

I do like this one and I like many of his other ones. There are a few I don't care for. As for the discussion about seeing art in person, I just had the privilege this week to go to the Chicago Art Institute and see a few Van Goghs as well as many other amazing paintings (La Grand Jatte, Monet, and others). The colors of a famous Renoir painting really stood out to me. I had seen this picture before but seeing it in person was amazing. And there was a Mary Cassatt that I fell in love with even more. I enjoyed the whole day so very, very much and my children and husband did as well.

Oh I do. Cereal (the boxed sugary stuff) and other convenience foods are so much more expensive and my kids are hungry again like half and hour later and ravenous and cranky by lunch time. I make all sorts of nice things: - Oatmeal, Baked Oatmeal with fruit, grits, cream of wheat, cornmeal mush, etc. - Eggs- scrambled, fried, with potatoes, breakfast casseroles, fritattas, etc. - Baked goods- muffins, scones, coffee cake, quick breads, etc. - Other- pancakes, french toast, yogurt and homemade granola, etc. - Special occasions- danish, cinnamon rolls, donuts, eggs benedict, etc. On Saturday mornings we have a really nice breakfast- usually some baked good with eggs, fruit, bacon or sausage, and orange juice. It starts the day off with really nice pretty breakfast and leisurely enjoying each other and talking. On weekdays I usually make just one thing and I try (doesn't always happen) to have a side of fruit with it. And then on special occasions and holidays I go all out. I just plan these out with my menu plan each week. We have the hot grain cereals (oatmeal and the like) the most as they are the fastest and cheapest.

This... I used to be really into organic until my husband and I bought a 40 acre fruit farm in CA. Our fruit was really and truly organic in that we used nothing but we were not certified. There were lots and lots of small farmers like us that we met who also were not organic but had the best produce ever. And we lived close to a big industrial "organic" farm and learned a ton. Organic does not mean free from pesticides, it just means that the pesticides used have to meet certain standards- like be plant based and such like. The thing is that those plant based pesticides, although they sound nice, do a lot more damage to the environment than the chemical ones. Plus some of them are more systemic than the chemical ones which means the plant uptakes them and it is in the fruit. No amount of rinsing is going to help there. However, some of the plant based ones are better than the chemical ones. Sigh...the best is if you can buy from a farmer who you can talk to and see his work/farm in action. Usually the small guys are best. But, I am not too keen now on buying "organic" when I know it is basically the same and maybe even worse than non-organic.

Some really nice flowers, like from here: https://farmgirlflowers.com/ and perhaps some food item they might enjoy that is more unique but "healthier" since they don't eat out much- like a coffee subscription or wine of the month or something.

This past year I had my oldest read "The Living Year" by Richard Headstrom as the New England flora and fauna he discusses are the same or similar to our region in Indiana. We did our nature study and journaling to go along with it as well as writing down our own observations. My son loved the book and it was one of his favorite parts of the year. Now, because of my husband's job, it looks like we will be moving to Northern California this summer. I was wondering if anyone could suggest a book that is similar to the Living Year but with flora and fauna that are more native to northern CA. I wanted to try and do the same again of nature study and journaling through a book like we did last year. He can read up to college level so I would appreciate any suggestions. But, I am not sure this exists. Suggestions?

I grew up in a home that was rarely ever cleaned and my husband also grew up in a home that was/is never cleaned. So, when I got married I really had no clue how to keep a home, decorate, clean, or even cook. I feel like the past twelve years or so has been a long but interesting journey in learning all this stuff. I so wish my mom had taught me some of this stuff as it would have saved me a lot of time. Anyway, I don't know if any of this will help you but I feel like I have FINALLY figured out how to have a clean and sparkling home. (Plus, currently our house is on the market so I need to keep it sparkling. And, boy, do I love having a clean house so very much.) I have read a ton of books on this and I have found that I really just have to find something that works for me. I mean I learned SO much from other people but when I tried to do their system in my home with my kids I just ended up feeling frustrated. Anyway, here are some things that helped me: - First of all, get rid of any clutter or things you aren't using. It is hard to clean if you have too much stuff or piles of stuff around. I used to keep so much stuff out of guilt, because someone gave it to me, or because "I might need it one day". I still do keep stuff that "I might need one day" but it is stuff that I have been brutal with myself and realized I will actually use it as opposed to "I think I might use it" or "I wish that I might have the time someday to use this". Although this is personal- I have a TON of books which some people might see as clutter. I also had a whole bunch of kitchen gadgets that people have given me and I never used. So, I kept all the books and got rid of all the kitchen stuff. The point is to not have stuff you aren't using taking up the space that the stuff you actually use needs to go. I really like this 3 - Have some sort of daily, weekly, monthly, biennial plan- The secret to making cleaning easy is to do it often. That way you are just wiping up any mess from the last time you wiped instead of trying to chisel crud off because you haven't cleaned it recently (some time this century or ever). My in-laws house is like this- they all dread cleaning because when they do it is a huge massive project to scrape or scrub whatever because it has been left so long. Even something as simple as dusting takes forever because they have like a quarter inch of dust built up (things look taller!) and they have to wipe and wipe and wipe until it all is gone as it makes mud with the first few wipes. In contrast, my dusting is a simple wipe or brush with my duster once a week. It takes just a few minutes to dust my whole house. When I vacuum every other week I get the brush and quickly go over my baseboards and they are always nice and clean. The Home Comforts book talks about this and it is so helpful. Make a list or routine for yourself that you do daily, weekly, monthly, and twice a year. It helped me to "tie" these things onto routines or habits I already have. So, daily I have things like laundry, dishes, make beds, daily pickup, etc. My daily items are just the routine I need to do everyday. For weekly work, I have broken my house into groups for each day. Monday I clean bedrooms, Tuesdays I clean bathrooms, Wednesdays I clean the main living areas, Thursdays I clean the kitchen, Fridays is Misc. day where I have a specific list I do like clean out the van, wash windows, or declutter an area or whatever needs work. I don't have anything scheduled for Saturdays or Sundays. So, for the weekly work I have about a half hour in the middle of the day when the littles are napping, the olders are working on their independent school stuff, and I can do my weekly work for that day. My monthly and biennial stuff I will schedule for specific days. That is part of the reason I left Fridays more open is that I can schedule a big project like tidying the basement or moving the fridge and oven to clean behind. I made a list of monthly projects and a list of biennial projects and I go down the list and schedule them for when I can. - It really helps if you establish a routine for yourself because after a while it becomes so easy because you just automatically do it instead of having to think about it or decide or plan something (decision fatigue). So, for example, I have a morning routine which includes getting myself ready, Bible/prayer, making my bed, and a very quick tidy of my bedroom. Then I have "tied" a lot of my daily chores to meals because I always have to make meals. So, right after or while breakfast is cooking I unload the dishwasher and start a load of laundry. I do the same with lunch and dinner- laundry and dishes are tied to cooking. Our quick tidy of the house is also tied to dinner. When I start cooking (usually around 4 or 4:30) the kids start to be picking up the house. After breakfast the kids make their beds and do a quick tidy of their rooms. "Hanging" our daily chores to something we already have set in stone (meals) really helped me to stick with it and get things done. I also try to clean as I cook which helps with kitchen tidying. I run a little soap and hot water in the sink so that as I am cooking I can just plop in the dirty dishes and then just throw them into the dishwasher after a meal. No rinsing required. - Invest in good quality tools- cleaning/taking care of your home is part of your job so treat it like one and try to find good quality tools that help you or make it more pleasurable for you. For example, I had a cheap broom that I used daily for sweeping my wood floors. The floors never seemed to be clean and I realized my cheap broom was causing the problems by leaving dirt behind. I asked for a beautiful horse hair German one for Christmas one year and it has made sweeping such a pleasure and it picks up the finest dust. Plus, I have had it for five years now and it is still brand new looking and I used to go through two cheap brooms per year. I also love the smell of Mrs. Meyers (the concentrate that you dilute lasts forever- I use one capful per regular spray bottle and it cleans wonderfully) and homemade orange/vinegar cleaner (can't use this on some surfaces due to the acid). Cleaning with those is so very pleasant because they smell so nice. Anyway, find nice good quality tools that work for you. I mean you don't want to have a million cleaning gadgets but finding a few good quality (whether purchased or homemade) products that work for you will make a ton of difference. - Make sure everything has a specific spot where it goes and then always put it back when you are done. I found that I was the worse offender in my house because I get busy or distracted with something else and then I forget. (Mom, can you help me? Mom- the baby is drawing on the walls! :) ) The best is if you can get every single space organized in your house. I just did this a few months ago because we were putting our house on the market and WOW it is so very, very nice. Tidying up is so much easier and I just LOVE having everything be so pretty and tidy. I want to live like this all the time. - Use tiny bits of time. Get yourself into the mindset to always be picking things up or wiping something when you notice it. Walking by a door and notice dirty smudge marks?- wipe it right that second. Go into the bathroom and notice TP on the floor?- pick it up right then. It takes just seconds but it makes such a difference. Now, when I am talking on the phone I walk around my house and do all these little details. Whenever you are going to another room, pick up something in the room you just left to be put away. Also, have an area where you put all the stuff to go upstairs/downstairs and then take it with you when you go. The area that was the worst for me was our van. By the time I got the kids home and unloaded plus any groceries and kid stuff, I was always so exhausted and would leave any bits of trash or cracker or whatever. Pretty soon my van was a crummy pile of trash and gunk. So gross. Then I realized if I just took those ten or so second to quickly pick up any bit of trash the van stayed relatively clean and nice. And cleaning it out on Fridays was not such a huge chore and I stopped dreading it. - Notice trouble areas and figure out a way to make it more organized or work better for you. Clutter begets more clutter. If you notice pile build-ups, figure out what is causing that and devise a solution to make it. I just noticed this with my van and need some sort of organization in there. I hope this helps some. I feel like I have a lot more to say but I need to go do some of my cleaning and school stuff. P.S. I recently found Clutterbug on YouTube and have been enjoying her videos.

I love ironing. I love the peacefulness of it- the swishy noise of the steam and and the beautiful clean laundry smell. It makes me happy. If I had more time I would probably iron a lot more. For now, I regularly iron my husband's work shirts, a few of my shirts or dresses, the napkins for our Sunday dinner, and various other things when needed. I love the crispness of our cloth napkins. It just makes me feel so special with our Sunday dinner. I don't really have time to iron them for everyday. I do have a nice iron that my Grandma gave me before she died- it works wonderfully and reminds me of her. I don't regularly iron our sheets but just take them warm out of the dryer and put them right on our bed. They are crisp and wrinkle free and so very nice. I bought super high quality ones so that helps too. :)

Sure, I can do that with both cooking and baking. But, I think I can now because I have cooked and baked so much. I kind of have the ratios for baking and the flavor combinations we like for cooking in my head due to all the cooking and experimenting I have done over the past twelve years of being married to my DH. I really love to cook so it is fun for me to make up new combinations and try new things. Some of my best recipes have come from that. My newest favorite is making "dirty" (as in adding coffee) Gingersnap cookies. I got the idea from a dirty Chai tea I ordered. I added some pepper, instant espresso, and cardamon to my favorite gingersnap recipe and boy is it good.

I have vegetarians/vegans be really grumpy about how I am not a vegetarian. Two were younger and two were older at the time. But I have also had an even greater amount of people get grumpy about gluten. "How could you possibly feed your children that horrible homemade artisan bread that you make by hand? Don't you know that there are super gluten molecules in there that will kill your children?" Sigh...relatives are the worst at this. I know many people have genuine allergies or convictions and I feel for them and am happy to accommodate when they come over or are at group events. Easy peasy. I love to cook and make everything from scratch with really good ingredients. But it always amazes me when people get grumpy and want to convert me to whatever the current fad diet is and are now try to dictate what we eat in our family. "If you were a good mother, you would not feed your kids _____"

I found some like the Sur La Table ones at TJMaxx and they have been wonderful. The big weave on them makes them super absorbant. Mine don't really ever get stains. But, I use these for drying my hands, water on the counter, and clean dishes. My kids do occasionally wipe their dirty faces or hands on them but it comes out in the wash. For messy things, I just use washcloths that I get at TJMaxx. They get stained but I don't care as they are for wiping and cleaning. For really messy stuff or stuff that will stain horribly, I have a rag basket and I use those.

I like the Blue Sky Planners you can find on Target and Amazon.

I have never researched duck tape but packing and regular tape are so much cheaper on Amazon. So is specialty tape.

My three boys were posterior babies with hard back labor and very, very long difficult labors. I tried EVERYTHING- spinning, manual rotation, different labor positions, exercises, the doctor manually turning, herbs, red raspberry leaf tea, etc. My OB was really skilled at getting babies to move but she just knows that I have really difficult labors. She says it is just me and is always amazed at my hard labors. My first daughter was also posterior but after a week of regular labor, 12 hours of hard intense labor, and 3 hours of pushing she was not turning or moving. She was stuck with her head sideways and rotated a weird way. I ended up having to have a C-section as she was starting to have troubles. My last little girl was born via C-section because my doctor didn't think it was a good idea to try VBAC with my really difficult labors. I am due to have Baby #6 in October and that will also be a C-section.

Thank you all so much for your ideas and recommendations. They are incredibly helpful and I really appreciate it.

This would be so nice but my library only has two resources- French on the Move for Kids and Business French. To be honest, I hardly ever go to the library because they don't have much.

Could you please suggest some French resources and/or curriculum that you loved and your kids seemed to retain? This past year we worked with a program that my kids remember nothing from and I felt like it was a huge waste of time. When I added in poems, songs, and games they remembered much more. I am looking for something for my kids that is not online (I use Duolingo for myself) and has an audio component so we can have correct pronunciation. I would appreciate any advice because I feel overwhelmed trying to figure it out.

My oldest finished Miquon a while ago, my middle son is on the last book, and my smallest son just started the first book. I love Miquon so very much as it allowed my sons to have such an in-depth grasp of math and how you can use it mentally to solve more complex problems. We used only Miquon as a spine but did add in a few fun things like Zacarro and other fun puzzle type books. For my oldest, we moved to MEP and Beast Academy after that. To be honest, I purchased some Singapore books but was not really impressed with those. He finished a few years of MEP and all of Beast that was out and now he is in AOPS Pre-A. I am pretty sure my middle son will finish Miquon this term and next year we will start on MEP and possibly Beast for him too. I would really encourage you to stay with it, especially if your son loves it. I think Miquon really sets a child up mentally for success no matter what you choose after. I really wish Miquon was longer than the three years.