Frugal Friday 360

 Happy Frugal Friday!

Here is how we saved money/spent money wisely/made extra money this week:

- Last Thursday we have our homeschool group over for outdoor play for the first time in nearly six months. It was wonderful to all be back together again!

- Friday afternoon our air conditioning went out. We called a local repair place and scheduled a service call for Monday. We have ceiling fans in most rooms and felt we could hold out and save the extra $70 that a weekend service call would have been. A friend mentioned that particular place was very expensive and tended to overcharge. She suggested somoene else. He came out Sunday evening, no extra charge, and got the fan up and running on the AC while we waited for a part to come in. We've been very comfortable (between 75 and 78) with our ceiling fans and the fan running this week. We are thankful to save money by using this person vs the expensive company. He is coming Saturday to finish the job.

- We enjoyed a Rootbeer Float Party with some friends. They invited us over and the kids and I enjoyed playing with friends outdoors.

- We had Sunday lunch with Mark's family. L&C brought over a fun sprinkler for the kids and they loved splashing with their cousin. We took along veggies and meat from our freezer to add to the family's freezers. We purchased half a pig late last year and had some cuts that we weren't going to eat. I wanted to make sure we shared before it got forgotten about in our deep freeze. 

- Monday night while Annabeth was at dance I ran to a secondhand shop. I was able to get two pairs of baseball pants for Owen, a shirt for him, shorts for Annabeth, and two shirts for me for FREE thanks to a coupon and giftcard.

- Tuesday night was Owen's last t-ball game for the season. It was really kind of sad. We have LOVED this t-ball season and made some great new friends. We were really blessed with some great families on the team as well as the sweetest coach and family! Coach and his family took all of the kids out for Dirt&Worms at Ritter's after the game. We can't wait to schedule playdates with our t-ball friends soon.

Owen was so proud to earn this t-ball trophy!

                                                       Every game should end with ice cream!

- I updated a wreath I had made a few years ago. It was looking a bit sad and I've been wanting a UofL wreath. I took off the winter decor and added some red and white ribbons and a football (all for under $5 from Walmart) and made a very cute "new" wreath for our door. 

- I ordered a food item for our pantry from Amazon. It was $7 cheaper than buying it at our local groceries and with Prime it shipped free. 

- I took advantage of free Shutterfly gifts. I made several items that I will keep back for Christmas gifts. I love photo gifts and love the great deals at Shutterfly!

- I think maybe one of the BEST things I've been doing is I've restructured my morning routine. Now when I wake up and take Oscar out, I take a few minutes to enjoy the sunrise and then I spend 5-15 minutes stretching. Nothing formal but just some good stretching to start my day. I used to check my e-mail during that time but it often caused me to feel stressed before the day really began. This stretching outside leaves me feeling calm and ready to start the day. In just a few weeks, I've already noticed an increase in my flexibility. 

We had a nice, slow week as Oscar had a hernia repair this week and needed lots of quiet time to recover. We are looking forward to a slow weekend with one, very fun baby shower in the middle! I cannot wait to celebrate this particular Mama-and-Baby!

Happy Savings to All! 

Why I Don't...

 As more friends and readers have turned to homeschooling, I've been getting more and more messages with questions, suggestions, and requests. In those, I have gotten many questions/requests that I'm just not comfortable adding to my blog. Here's why...

I don't share lesson plans or unit studies.

I based 95% of my lesson plans off the curriculum we buy (Abeka and Alpha and Omega Publications for the most part) That means that I would be posting someone else's work as I do not create my own lessons from scratch. If someone wanted their lesson plans they would need to purchase them for their own classroom. I have never had the desire to develop my own curriculum for mass consumption and therefore I don't. There are also an insane amount of free resources out there - I LOVE using those. I just don't create my own to share. 

I don't share the kids' homework, test scores, or report cards.

I had the tremendous blessing of growing up in a pre-social-media world. My mom and dad never had a means, and probably never a desire, to share my grades with the world. In fact, the only time I remember talking about it outside of our house was at the ice cream place that gave out free scoops based on your report card. I want my kids to have that same privacy in regards to their work. Whether they are succeeding or struggling that is simply the business of our family. 

**If you are a member of my Usborne Books & More VIP Group, you have heard me share about a book set that helped Annabeth learn to love reading. She has given her consent for me to share her reading struggles and how that set changed her course of learning. I would never have shared that without her permission. 

I don't share a lot of day-to-day pictures.

I don't share a lot of day-to-day homeschool pictures here on the blog or on Facebook but if you're interested I do tend to share more content about what we are reading and adventures we are having on my Instagram. You can also search #rileyfamilyschool and #whywehomeschool to see posts specific to our homeschool adventures. I really like that quick platform to share a couple of pictures and short caption so most of our homeschool photos end up there.

I'm not "completely open" about our beliefs.

I was recently accused of this in a rather lengthy message from a reader. I was told that it was hard to follow our homeschool journey without knowing exactly what we believe and that other bloggers/vloggers are more open about their beliefs. That may be true. I very much hope that our belief in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior has been apparent over the years. I hope friends and readers know that above all else we love God and His people. 

Our main goal in raising up our children is that they would come to know the Lord and to believe in the gift of salvation. I have often stated that we use Abeka and Alpha and Omega Publications as the base of our book work - they are both Christian book companies. We believe that the Bible is the inherent Word of God and is completely true. We believe it was applicable 2,000 years ago and that it's meant to be directly applied to our lives today. 

Beyond that, if there is still questions about what we believe, I encourage you to ask me privately about a certain subject that is of concern to you. We teach our children to love God and to love and respect all people. We believe that every person is created on purpose by God with a purpose to serve a purpose. We don't need to agree with someone to love them.

In short, I love sharing our lives and I pray that we are an encouragement to others. I pray that some small part of what we share here makes someone else's day better or easier. If anything good comes from anything we do - may all the Glory be God's. 

Frugal Friday 359

 Happy Frugal Friday!

Here is how we saved money/spent money wisely/made extra money this week:

- We splurged and took Owen out on a special date to Bucca Di Beppo. He was thrilled to have a whole room to ourselves and loved the giant spaghetti and meatball dinner. He was so excited he cheered when he came which made the waitstaff happy! We save money lots of places so we can spend money on special things when we want them.

"That's HUGE!"

- On Friday, Owen and I stopped and hiked for about four miles at Southwestway Park. We had a great time identifying trees, plants, flowers, and animal prints. Owen also enjoyed climbing the Spider Web at the playground.

- Saturday Mark, Owen, and I spent a few hours hiking along the river in Sunset Park. Owen had been with my sister before and loved being our guide. He enjoyed stomping in the creek, finding shells, and looking at raccoon prints. 

Gorgeous River Views

- I worked on entering all of our items as well as my first two consigners' items for the Here We Grow Again Sale. I entered over 500 items into the system this week. I also was able to buy hangers from a friend for just $.07 a hanger. That's $.02 less than the best deal online plus no shipping fees!

- I saw that our library is ending their partnership with My Library Rewards. I cashed out some of our points for an Amazon gift card. Thank you to our library for this program - we've loved earning gift cards just by checking out books and other library materials. 

- We had lunch at Mark's parents house. They sent us home with leftovers that fed us dinner and lunch the next day. Thank you!

- Annabeth came back after spending over a week in Evansville. She made a ton of great memories with my family and especially loved eating sushi by candlelight, spending the night at Momaw's, making lots of crafts, and just spending time with each member of the family. She has decided that a week wasn't long enough and needs to spend two weeks there next summer. I am not sure we can share her that long - we missed her!

- Our friend Jeanette brought over a loaf of zucchini bread as well as a bag of tomatoes from her garden. Thank you for sharing! We spent a good couple of hours yesterday playing outside with our homeschool group and it was such a joy to be back together in the sunshine! 

We had a great school week and are looking forward to an empty weekend on the calendar. I cannot wait to see what fun we have all four back together. 

Happy Savings to All!

Frugal Friday 358

 Happy Frugal Friday!

Here is how we saved money/spent money wisely/made extra money this week:

- Saturday morning we went to a surprise brunch at Mark's parents house. We were excited to see family in from St. Louis. We took along two boxes of donuts to share and ate the leftovers for several more breakfasts.

- On the way home from their house, Owen and I stopped at a sunflower field. He had the best time running around and touching all of the different textures of the stems, leaves, and flowers. I love exploring with the kids even if it's just 20 minutes in nature on a busy day.

In a world full of roses

be a sunflower. 

- Saturday night was FINALLY Annabeth's dance recital! We usually have it in mid-June but had changes to the date and venue due to COVID restrictions. Our dance studio staff is INCREDIBLE and made a complete recital happen with awards and senior performances! Thank you all for an incredible three hour show! 

- Since the show was about half an hour from our house, we invited all of the family back to our house for dinner following the show. Due to the heat, most left early and had dinner. Annabeth, Mama, and I got home around 9 PM ate a quick sandwich and then we all had ice cream cake to celebrate. Thank you to everyone for coming!

So proud of our Tiny Dancer!

- Sunday after lunch, Annabeth headed back to Evansville with my parents for her first ever week with them. We've stayed many times as a family over the years but she's never stayed alone. She has been looking forward to this all summer!

- Monday afternoon Owen enjoyed a homeschool art class. He painted a project at uPaint pottery and I appreciated that it was just $12. We had a great time together on our paint date.

- I posted on Facebook asking friends about good deals on end-of-the-season baseball equipment. We weren't sure what Owen would think of tball, or if he'd even get to play this year, so we only invested in a glove, bat, and $1 baseball pants. He loves it and is already talking about next season so I had planned to snag some end-of-season deals to give him at Christmas. A friend commented that they had a bat, helmet, and bag that no one was using. Thank you to the Lunsford family for the bag and bat for Owen. The helmet was too small so we donated it to the Franklin Little League. 

- I sold one item on Facebook. Made: $5

- I bought Annabeth's 3rd grade and Dance photo books. I ordered one with a free shipping deal and one with a free photo book deal. I was able to get BOTH books shipped for $25 which is less than the price of one book! 

- Wednesday Owen and I had a date in Louisville. We toured the Louisville Slugger Museum (did you know kids 5 and under are free?!) and had a > $20 lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory. On the way home we surprised our best friends and took back books we had borrowed from them/loaned them some of ours. I also dropped off, instead of shipping, a Lion Cub Scout gift. It was GLORIOUS to spend an hour on my best friend's back porch while the boys all ran. 

- Last night, we stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home from tball. Owen had a coupon for a free ice cream cone from the Summer Reading Program. Thank you JCPL :) 

We have missed our girl this week but also treasured the time with just Owen. 

We are looking forward to some more fun with him this weekend and having her come home at the end of the weekend!

Happy Savings to All! 

Frugal Friday 357

Happy Frugal Friday!

Here is how we saved money/spent money wisely/made extra money this week:

- Last Friday after school the kids and I drove down to Lutheran Lake to spend the afternoon with the Ottes. We had a great time swimming and playing. We shared dinner together - they provided pizza and we provided fruit and dessert. I SO love spending time with a friend where I can just BE. I also scored a $5 pair of Adidas pants from Katie's online garage sale and she gifted us some yellow squash. Thank you for the great evening away Katie!

- Last week I hosted a Matilda Jane with my friend Danielle. It went really well and I saved $258 getting 9 items for around $125 shipped! WOW! Three items are for myself, two are for Annabeth, and three are gifts. We also earned a free cooler with our party rewards. Thank you Danielle for all of your hard work and for making our fall Matilda Jane wishes come true! Do you need a Trunk Keeper? Find Danielle on Facebook or shop her site here

- Mark spent Saturday serving at Trinity Lutheran Church Indianapolis. They added two semis worth of mulch to the school's playground and did other things to ready the grounds for back-to-school. His scouts also provided lunch for the volunteers.

- Sunday we went back to church for the FIRST TIME since mid-March. Our church is still only meeting virtually but I have deeply felt the desire to worship in person. Thankfully a like-minded church in town has reopened for services and we were able to worship in person, sing in church, and take communion. 

- I sold an item on Facebook. Made: $20

- I won a contest in my Usborne Books & More Leader's group. I earned a $10 Starbucks card! 

- Our friend Dave gave us over 2lbs of fresh green beans. Thank you Dave!

- We made our first grocery trip in three weeks. We spent $125 which included two toiletry items and a special lunch item for each child. (We do get produce each week from Imperfect and buy most of our meat 1x/quarter from local farmers) We had several breakfast choices for the week already at home so we didn't add anything for that and for lunches the kids and I eat sandwiches, fresh fruit/veggies, and/or leftovers. People often ask about our meals since our grocery budget is low. Here were our dinners this week:

Saturday: BLT Sandwiches, Fresh Fruit, Pringles Chips, Macaroni Salad, and Potato Salad

Sunday (Lunch): Lunchmeat Sandwiches and all of the leftovers from Saturday Dinner

Sunday: Pigs in a blanket, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, and fresh fruit

Monday: Chicken and Wild Rice Soup, French Bread, and fresh fruit

Tuesday: Donut Muffins, Eggs, Bacon, Fresh Fruit 

Wednesday: Chicken Strips, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Squash, Fresh Fruit

Thursday: Homemade Pepperoni Pizza, Zucchini, and Fresh Fruit

- We enjoyed two more t-ball games. Owen also plays tonight. We're so thankful that this season was able to happen. We look forward to many more games this month.

The cutest Rockies fans/player I know! :) 

We are looking forward to a busy weekend with family in town for Annabeth's dance recital. 

Happy Savings to All! 

My Do's and Don't of Homeschooling

8 Years In - Here are my Do's and Don't of Homeschooling

DO give yourself grace

Whether it's your first year or tenth year, first day or 180th day - you will need to give yourself (and your kids) grace. Not everything will get done everyday. People will get sick, you'll end up spending thirty minutes looking at a turtle on your nature walk, you will read four chapters instead of one because the read-aloud is so good. Allow yourself the space and time to make changes and to adjust

DON'T be married to your lesson plans

I get it, I am a planner. I LOVE schedules, lists, and plans. Charts make my heart fill with joy! Show me a graph and I'll cheer! It took me YEARS into our homeschool journey to allow myself to deviate from my plans. It's okay to adjust. It's okay to take a day to do an outdoor field trip because it's 65 and sunny in February. It's okay to say "I am sorry, we're behind on bookwork we're going to have to postpone our playdate" It's okay to change your plans. 

DO choose to be thankful

Maybe your kids are home for school this year because you didn't like their schools options for in person or online learning. Maybe you've always wanted to homeschool and this strange year gave you the push to try. Maybe you've homeschooled 15 years and you're still loving it. No matter why you're in this season - remember to be thankful for it! God has given you these sweet, long days to savor with your children little and at home. Especially those in Indiana, we have such a strong pro-homeschool state government and that makes homeschooling here a true right and privileged.

DON'T listen/react to others opinions on your homeschool

Friends. People are going to have opinions and most likely you're going to hear them. They may be thinly veield as "concerns" but they'll be there. People will wonder if you're qualified to teach your children. They will worry that your children will be unsocialized or weird. People will comment that it cannot be what's best for you. People will tell that you are lucky to be able to stay home and do nothing. (I've heard these all from friend and foe over the years) Just don't listen. Try not to react. Know that you've made a decision that you think is best for your children.

DO what you think is best

Maybe it's your first time teaching ever. Maybe you feel like you really need a box curriculum with a clear lesson plan for every day. GREAT! Maybe you feel like your children should run wild, barefoot in the woods and to do math with wild deer. AWESOME! Maybe you want your kids to spend five hours a day on the computer working on coding skills. PERFECT! Whatever you think is best probably is! You know your kids - create a school environment that is perfect for them. 

DON'T compare

Don't compare your homeschool space to others. Don't compare your teaching style to others. Don't compare your kids to other kids. Just enjoy right where you are right now. My friend Lana often says, "Comparison is the thief of joy" (T. Roosevelt) and it's 100% true. Comparing what you're doing and how you're doing it with others can do two dangerous things; it can make you feel inferior or superior to others. Your way isn't better or worse - it's just yours.

In short - enjoy every precious moment with the people you have when you have them!