More Freebies

I found another cool website with lots of ideas to learn things for free online. There's even some things for the grown-up like language courses. Check it out.

FreelyEducate

Look What I Did

I started with these:

I was able to buy 40 lbs. of Ginger Gold apples for $16.50.

I decided to try something new.

So, I did this:

Then this :

Which turned into this:

Then I mashed them up, put them in jars, placed them in my brand new :

Water Bath Canner:

This is what they looked like when they were finished:

And here was the very first bowl of homemade applesauce. Which was very quickly gobbled up by my applesauce loving son, who at least for the moment thinks I am the greatest Mom ever!

This was my first attempt at using apples to can. I have made strawberry jam for the freezer and canned and have canned salsa with a friend, but this was the very first time that I ever canned anything on my own. I definitely did it the good old-fashioned hard way. I do not have an apple pealer or a sieve. So, I peeled the apples with a knife (my hubby helped a little) and after they cooked I mashed them with a potato masher. It's more like chunky applesauce, but that's good here, because most of the picky people around here are picky about texture and prefer it this way. I also don't have a big stock pot, so each of my batches only yielded 4 jars. I think I will borrow my Mom's stock pot next time.

My next project is apple butter!

Neat Links

Thanks to Laurie, I recently found Biblical Womanhood's website.

She has made a really neat list of all her favorite links and I thought some of you might find them interesting as well.

http://www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/links.htm

Multiplication Help

Does anyone have any tips on memorizing the multiplication tables? Have you used anything in particular that you found to be particularly helpful? I would love to know what worked for you.

Homeschool Freebies

Laurie, one of my favorite bloggers, posted some really neat freebies. So, I thought I would share them here, too.

Homeschoolshare has lots of neat freebies. Unit Studies, Lapbooks, etc.

BBC offers free foreign language courses online.

Looks like some pretty neat stuff. Thanks for sharing Laurie!

The Latest

Well, my friend Jordan tagged me, but I am either too dumb or too uninteresting to come up with any good answers. So, I guess I'll wait on my brain to kick in before I do the tag.

We've been schooling hot and heavy. We did a good bit of school over the summer, but we are working on a routine right now. I've also been assigning them more work. We're just being more structured than we were during the summer. That means we are a lot busier around here. Co-op starts in 3 weeks and dance starts in 4, so things are really gonna pick up around here soon.

The kids are doing really well with their schooling for the most part (due to many things we are hurriedly playing catch-up, but that's the beauty of homeschooling, we actually can catch up without any ill effects in the future). We are still having our meltdowns at least a couple of times a week. Although, as she gets older they are becoming milder.

Well, that's the best I can do for the moment. Have lots to do today. The kids are going to stay with my brother and sister-in-law overnight. That means Patrick and I are getting a much needed night out together. Woo-Hoo!!!!

In His Steps

I just finished reading "In His Steps" by Charles Sheldon. It was an amazing book. Inspiring and Convicting. I HIGHLY Recommend it!

You can check out a review HERE .

You can also read the book online HERE.

I think this author must have coined the phrase "What Would Jesus Do?". The book is written about a Pastor who challenges his church to spend a year making decisions and acting only after asking the question "What would Jesus Do?". This is a very old book, but it is very, very good. You will love it!