Two Chickens in Every Pot

I started homeschooling about ten years ago, so I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t work for our family. Everyone’s situation is different, but I’ve decided to share the following tips, which will hopefully give you some ideas to implement in your own homeschool. We have a large family and will have four students in the upcoming school year, but the following tips could apply to any sized homeschool: Stay Organized With Binders Each of my homeschooled children has his or her own binder. I select quality binders with built-in zip compartments for pencils, and the binders themselves zip for containing any loose books. Keeping just about everything in these binders makes it easy for the kids to take their work on the road when we travel or just have errands to run. It also allows me to check all of their work at once or quickly have someone move to another work station. I also have my own binder for myself as the teacher, and there is ...

For the last couple of weeks, I've been writing off and on throughout the day, but I really want to start limiting my content mill work to early mornings when the kids are still in bed. While I'm writing those content mill articles, I tend to feel agitated when interrupted. For one thing, the subjects I've had to write about lately aren't that fun. For another, I find myself checking the time while I do them and then working as fast as I can to prove I'm getting a decent hourly rate. Staying Present Most of my day is dedicated to quality time with my family, and of course, housework. That said, I don't mind doing a little bit of light work on the computer when I'm in the same room as my kids--like writing this blog post. Because right now, I'm present. I'm sitting in the living room with my four youngest children. I know that the bathtub is filling up for the first of three baths that need to ha...

       Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash Writing for a content mill is the quickest way to start earning a few bucks from home with your writing, but at 1.3 cents a word, it’s not very lucrative. If you’re a perfectionist like I am, you’ll find yourself going over an article again and again, which makes for a quality piece but decreases your hourly pay rate. Necessary Skills The good news is that you will gain experience as a writer, hopefully leading to landing better-paying gigs. Writing on your own blog is much different than writing in “AP Style” and to a client’s specifications, but those things are easier than they sound. Including the client’s requested “keywords” in a natural way is pretty much a no brainer that I was nailing from day one, so I won’t even go into that in this post. If you have good grammar and punctuation skills and a knack for wording things, you’ll probably just need to fine-tune a few weak areas. Comma Rules It was easy fo...

   Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash So I made a little over 19 bucks today, and I'm exhausted. The last piece I submitted this afternoon before breaking to make dinner seemed way more valuable than the eight bucks I got paid to write it. I don't mind selling content about mundane subjects like shipping methods or eyelash extensions. But that last post was about a subject I was actually interested in--writing guest blog posts. Now my baby will be out there in cyberspace with somebody else's name on it. It's been adopted by a less capable parent who won't fully appreciate it...Can you tell it's been a long day? Gaining Experience I'm not complaining, though- I'm thankful to be able to work from home, and I'm looking at this as a learning experience. I am using the feedback I am getting, both positive and negative, to help me grow as a writer. Much Needed Break I was feeling a little depressed holed up in my room a lot of the d...

    I haven't blogged in a while since I've been pursuing other hobbies lately--not to mention our recent major move back to our home state, but I'm back to writing again, and I'm praying that this time I'll be able to make a decent living at it. So I'm back to posting on this blog, which will be a place to discuss my writing adventures mixed in with the usual fun household stuff I like to write about.  I'm Writing for a Content Mill It has taken me several days of applying at various websites to figure out what pays and what doesn't, but I am now officially working from home as a freelance writer!  So far, I have found one "content mill" that had a pretty straightforward registration process and seems to have plenty of work. I won't post the company's name here because I don't need any competition at this point, but I may give out the information in the fut...

I recently set up a "coffee station" in the dining room. Having it in there saves precious counter space in my kitchen, and I think it looks welcoming to guests since my dining room is visible from the front door. Be prepared to be offered coffee! I set up our Keurig beverage system and also our espresso machine on a dresser beside the dining room table. There are drawers and a cabinet underneath for storing coffee accessories including our extensive collection of various k-cups. Don't drink coffee? Have no fear--we also have tea, hot cocoa, and lemonade. I read somewhere that buffet tables or sideboards used to be much more common in dining rooms in times past when families were larger and they needed more space for serving dishes. I will probably also use the extra surface area for that at Thanksgiving and Christmas when all of my kids are home and there are lots of side dishes, but we are ma...

Those of you that follow my blog regularly know that I have been jogging for the last few months. My new personal record for the longest time jogging without any walking breaks is 30 minutes which was one of my goals! I was jogging at a very slow pace of 15 and a half minute miles, but it was still a major accomplishment for me to hit 30 minutes. When I run just one mile, I do it in about 13 and a half minutes. I am still working on the goal of running a 5K and then maybe even eventually running it in 30 minutes. I am also going on a lot of long walks. It feels great to walk three and a half miles or so the day after a hard run. Brisk walking burns a lot of calories and is so relaxing. It also counts when I walk around the mall for a couple of hours. :-) My husband just bought me some good quality shoes to run in. I am very picky about athletic shoes since most of them make me feel claustrophobic. I don't like shoes that feel constricting on the top of my feet. Those kind of sh...