Blogging through the Alphabet with Hobbies: Eating, Eggs, and Experiments

For some reason the first thing that came to mind when I thought about the letter E was eating. While it is not really a hobby it can certainly feel like it some days. My little ‘hobbits’ like to eat three solid meals and multiple snacks throughout the day. Since I don’t really count eating as a hobby, today I’m going to talk to you about eggs and experiments.

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You may be wondering how eggs is a hobby, but I’m not talking about just eating eggs. My son raises backyard chickens and sells the eggs to family and friends. We have had chickens since my now thirteen-year-old was about three or four. At first, he would play with the chickens and watch me care for them, however, now he takes care of them each day and I only have to step in if there is an unusual problem. He handles feeding and watering, collecting eggs (with some help from the five-year-old) and making sure they have a clean and safe coop. He and his eleven-year-old sister have also started showing their chickens at various local shows as they learn how to properly handle the chickens to make them look their best. We have many different varieties and my son is learning about the pros and cons of each type of chicken. Some of them lay more consistently, some of them lay better in the winter, some of them have beautifully colored eggs, while some breeds have larger eggs.

I love this hobby because in addition to the many benefits of learning to care for animals, I get the freshest eggs around each morning. We mostly eat or sell the eggs, but my daughter also recently entered a decorated egg shell into our State Fair. We look forward to finding out how she fared.

Hands On Drill Project

Little brother wanted to try!

Finished product

Science experiments might seem more like a school subject than a hobby, but my children enjoy doing them in their spare time. There are so many great experiments and materials available to keep them learning while they play. Sometimes they come up with their own experiments using household objects, such as, what happens when I change this recipe, will this plant grow here, or do these things float? Other times, we use kits or books to help guide their explorations and experiments. By providing your children with some basic materials such as magnifying glasses, vinegar, baking soda, scissors, plants, water, and other household materials they can come up with many creative experiments to help them understand the world of science. If they need a little help getting started or being creative, a book of experiments or a science kit can help them begin to think about science in a new way. I will share some of our favorite products in the list below.

Do you raise backyard chickens or enjoy science experiments? What letter ‘E’ hobby is a favorite in your home? Share with me in the comments, I always look forward to hearing from you. Don’t forget to click the link below to check out all of the other wonderful letter ‘E’ blog posts from this week and come back next week for letter ‘F’.

Experiment Resources:

Everything Kids Science Experiment Book

Big Bag of Science

Science in Seconds at the Beach

Magic School Bus Chemistry Lab

Lego Chain Reactions

Snap Circuits

Magnet Science (a magnet kit is a great way to get kids thinking creatively about experiments)

Candy Experiments (my son just got this one but he is excited to start testing them out. )

Outdoor Science Lab (this one is on my want to buy list)

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When you sign up for the Schoolin’ Swag free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

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This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Deals and Freebies

Sally Clarkson just launched her newest book, a devotional for moms! You can purchase it at Amazon now .

We have been listening to Alice in Wonderland on audiobook to prepare to watch a live version of the play this week. I had forgotten just how ‘crazy’ the book feels. If you are interested in listening to it, it is only .66 on audio right now.

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls 5& 6 (Book Review)

What do you do when your daughter loves a series that she began last year, even though they are really below her grade level at this point? You agree to review them and let her read them, of course! I love to encourage reading for fun and delight and sometimes that means reading something that is an ‘easy read’ because you want to keep going in a series or because you want to know what happens next. Last year we had the opportunity to review books 3 and 4 in the Secret of the Hidden Scrolls series by WorthyKids Books . This time we had the pleasure of reviewing Secret of the Hidden Scrolls: The Shepherd’s Stone (Book 5) and Secret of the Hidden Scrolls: The Lion’s Roar (Book 6).

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Instead of just my opinion on the books, I thought you might enjoy hearing from my eleven-year-old daughter, Elizabeth.

Tell me about Secret of the Hidden Scrolls: The Shepherd’s Stone (Book 5):

Mary and her brother Peter travel through time back to Bible times and in this book they meet David (the one who fought Goliath) and go with him to the army camp and watch as David fights Goliath. While they are doing that they are trying to solve the mystery of the hidden scroll. This means they must figure out what words are on the scroll because it is in a different language. The message on the scroll in this book is “fear not God is stronger than any problem!” When they say the word it turns into the right word. You have to read to the end to find out if they solve the mystery in time.

Tell me about Secret of the Hidden Scrolls: The Lion’s Roar (Book 6):

The lions roar (which starts each new adventure) takes Mary and Peter back to the story of Daniel in Babylon. They watch as the high priest is trying to get rid of Daniel. They see that Daniel still disobeys the law and prays to God and how he knows God will protect him. Then he gets thrown into the lions den. Mary and Peter look for Daniel and then they get thrown into the den by the high priest who is looking for them because they would not bow down to a statue. Will they escape? You have to read the book to find out! The message in this book is” God is in control”.

What do you like about these books?
I like how they turn a Bible story into a book that is fun and interesting.
Who do you recommend them for?

If you are looking for a way to teach a younger child, ages 6-10, about the Bible and God.
Anything you don’t like about these books?

Not really, I really like them.

From a parent’s perspective, I felt like they did a good job of staying true to the Bible though there are obviously fictionalized components. The book begins in modern times with two siblings staying at their uncle’s house. Since this is not their first adventure they know when they find an old scroll that it is going to take them on a time traveling adventure. Each book takes them into a different Bible story with a new message to solve. At the end of the book there is a section which explains where in the Bible you can read the story and a little about the fictionalization of the story. I think that makes for some great discussions about being sure to understand what is in the Bible itself.

WorthyKids Books recommends this book for first through third grades. I think the story is great for an even wider range, maybe kindergarten through fifth grades read aloud. The independent reading level is probably closer to second or third grade, though a strong first grader may be able to read it. Check out the giveaway that is linked in the image above for a chance to win all seven books! Also, be sure to click on the graphic below to check out what the other Review Crew members thought about these books. Tell me in the comments what Bible story you think the author should turn into the next book in the series.

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Jehovah’s Mighty Acts: A Book Review

A while back I had the privilege of reviewing T is for Tree and later His Mercy Endureth Forever: Psalm 136 which is a beautiful picture book based on the Psalm and illustrated by Kathleen DeJong. So, when I heard that the Reformed Free Press Publishing Association had a new book starting a brand-new series I was excited to get my hands on it and start reading it with my children. When Jehovah’s Mighty Acts arrived they were thrilled to open it and the cover had my five-year-old begging me to start reading it aloud to him. With Bible stories by Nathan J Langerak and illustrations by Micheal Welply this is a beautiful hard cover book written for the elementary age group.

Over the course of the last month or so, I have been reading various stories from the book mostly to my five-year-old but if they are around even my eleven and thirteen-year-old children would stop to listen to the exciting stories of God’s mighty acts. My five-year-old would often bring me the book to read or ask me to read a story from his new ‘Bible book’ as he called it. Since it was so beautifully illustrated, he could also take it and ‘read’ it himself by looking through the pictures even though he cannot yet actually read. He enjoyed looking at the pictures and telling the story based on what he saw and what he remembered from my reading.

The Reformed Free Press Publishing Association recommends these books as read alouds for ages seven to ten but I think they would be interesting to a broader age range of at least five to twelve. They could be used as bedtime stories or a part of a homeschool morning basket. With older children they could even look up the scripture and compare it to the stories.

Each story or chapter is two to three pages long and includes full color illustrations. One feature that I really loved is that at the beginning of each story they list the scripture from which the story was taken. These stories come from all parts of the Old Testament including stories from Genesis all the way to Esther. Some of the stories are very well known such as creation, the fall, and the tower of Babel. However, other stories might not be as well-known such as “Assyria Smitten” and “The Day the Sun Stood Still”.

Rather than just going chronologically through the Bible this series of books is thematic with each book telling stories from throughout the Old Testament related to that theme. The theme of this particular book was Old Testament stories that display God’s mighty acts of salvation. The next book that is scheduled to be released in the fall of 2020 will be based on the theme of Old Testament friends and servants of God.

If you are looking for a book of Bible stories that gives more detail and information that most children’s story books, but is still written in an engaging story format that is easy for children to understand, you need to consider adding Jehovah’s Mighty Acts to your home library. We are looking forward to finishing reading the stories in this book and getting the next book when it is published in 2020.

Disclaimer
I received a FREE copy of this product in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

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Brain Blox Wooden Planks (Review)

With four children ranging in age from 19 months to 13 years, it is not often that I find a toy or activity that they can all enjoy. However, Brain Blox has created a toy that worked for them all! We received a set of Brain Blox Wooden Building Planks a few weeks ago to review and they have become a family favorite. When I agreed to review them, I was mostly thinking about my five-year-old son but in the end, everyone enjoyed them.

The Wooden Building Planks are sets of 100, 200, or 300 wooden planks that can be put together in thousands of different ways to create. The planks are all made from 100% all-natural, precision-cut, chemical-free, New Zealand natural pine wood. We received the 200-plank set which also includes a booklet of ideas and a nice red drawstring bag to keep all of the wooden planks together when they are not being used.

I started out by just letting the children play with the planks and decide what they wanted to build. Sometimes they built alone, other times they siblings worked together or had an adult help out. Through this they created a variety of really neat projects. My five-year-old make a pier with a boat launch and a ship. Then together we created a barn where he put his farm animals and tractor. My older son created complex towers and games. The toddler would stack the planks on top of each other and knock them down again.

After they had some time to play around with them, I took some of the ideas from the Brain Blox website and used the planks for a bit of ‘school’ with my five-year-old. There were some ideas for creating letters from the planks and so I had him work on creating his name out of planks. This was far more entertaining to him that simply writing his name and provided good practice at making and recognizing the letters.

In addition to the basic building ideas the website includes puzzles which you use the planks and logic to solve, building suggestions that range from simple to complex, and even a spatial awareness curriculum based around the planks. We look forward to continuing to use these planks in a variety of ways for many years to come. We are even considering purchasing the larger set for Christmas.

As a mom of four children, I have gotten pretty picky about toys with lots of pieces. I hate hunting for missing pieces, stepping on pieces left out, etc. However, the fun, creativity, and engagement created by this set made the pieces totally worth it. The nice drawstring bag also makes it fairly easy to keep the pieces together. I highly encourage you to visit Brain Blox for more information and then click on the graphic below and check out the experiences of the other Crew members. You can also purchase the set from Amazon. Also check out my review of another Brain Blox product, Family Fun Chess, from earlier this week.

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Brain Blox Fun Family Chess (Review)

Chess is one of those games that people seem to really love or really hate. My older children have been playing off and on for several years, but it was always too challenging for my five-year-old son, even though he wanted to play with them. You can imagine this created a bit of drama in our house at times, which is why I was delighted to give Fun Family Chess by Brain Blox a try.

When the game arrived, they were excited to unbox it, check it out, and get started. They loved how it all fit together inside the box, and I loved how it was sturdy and durable (with four kids, I don’t need games that are easily destroyed). The contrast of the black and white pattern made it eye-catching and appealing.

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There were two sets of instructions included with the Fun Family Chess set. The first set was for a simplified game that is a great introduction to chess. In this game, you use a special die that tells you which piece to move instead of using more strategy to determine your next move. There are also two reference cards which show how each piece can move to help players get used to the various pieces. The board itself is a wooden board that folds in the middle to create a box to hold the pieces, die, and reference cards. It is painted black and white and the pieces are also black and white. Also, if you prefer, there are video instructions located on their website to help with any questions.

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We had the opportunity to play the game multiple times over the last few weeks. The older children played against each other, taught their grandmother, and finally taught my five-year-old how to play chess. We would pull out the game in the evenings and two people would play while we all sat around the living room talking and laughing together. The die and easier rules leveled the playing field for younger (or newer) players and gave everyone a chance to win while getting familiar with the rules of the game.

The older children felt like the easier set of rules was a step backwards for them and preferred sticking with the regular chess rules, but we found that the easier set of rules was perfect for my younger son. The great thing about the game is that you can use the same game with either set of rules making it something that the whole family can play. It packs neatly into the case and therefore would make a great game to bring with you on a vacation or road trip to keep everyone occupied in a hotel room or at a campsite.

Overall, we enjoyed the game and think it is a great fit for families with younger children or those who are new to chess. It probably is not necessary for those that are already actively playing, unless they are wanting to teach younger siblings or friends who are not familiar with the game. However, since it is a standard chess set it can be easily used by those that wish to play by the regular chess rules.

I highly encourage you to visit Brain Blox for more information and then click on the graphic below and check out the experiences of the other Crew members. You can also purchase the set from Amazon. Also stay tuned for a review of another Brain Blox product, Wooden Building Planks, later this week.

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Blogging through the Alphabet with Hobbies: Drawing and Drama

Last week when we covered letter C I had a really hard time narrowing down my selection of hobbies but letter D was a different story. I have had difficulty coming up with hobbies that we enjoy that begin with a D. My son’s do enjoy drawing but that might be our only D hobby. Other hobbies that children might enjoy include dancing, dogs, drumming, and disc golf. Drama is another great hobby and elective course that can be very enjoyable and beneficial.

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If you read my Blogging through the Alphabet with Hobbies: Art post you know that I do not have a natural gift for art or drawing but my children are learning to really enjoy it. I have provided them with lessons from SchoolhouseTeachers.com and You Are An Artist both of which they have enjoyed. However, one of the best things I have found for encouraging them in their drawing is to simply provide plenty of drawing supplies and opportunities. A good sketch pad, a variety of pencils, colored pencils, markers, and other drawing tools that are readily available help them to feel comfortable drawing whenever they see something they want to draw.

Drama is another great hobby D which is also often used as an elective. While we do not personally participate in drama and theater by performing, we love to go and watch our friends perform. Just last week we were able to go see a performance of Alice In Wonderland in which several of our friends performed. You can encourage a love of drama through attending performances, watching performances online, and participating in your local community theater or perhaps a church performance. You can also turn that hobby into a class or just provide instruction for a child that wants to know more with one of the six different Drama and Speech courses provided by SchoolhouseTeachers.com. Our children participate in the 4-H public speaking completion each year and really enjoy it. This could also be a great way to help a student who is interested in drama to get more comfortable in front of people and work on skills such as speaking clearly and projecting your voice.

Do your children draw or participate in drama? What are your favorite resources for those hobbies or what other D hobbies do your children participate in?

Drawing Resources

Sketch Pads

Pencil Grip Magic Stix Markers

Watercolor Pencils

Sketching Pencils

Display Frames (these are on my wish list)

Prismacolor Color Pencil and sharpener Set (these are more expensive than crayola but if you have a child that is serious about art I think they are worth the money.)

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Deals and Freebies

Sally Clarkson just launched her newest book, a devotional for moms! You can purchase it at Amazon now .

Today is the last day of the big Last Chance sale for SchoolhouseTeachers.com at only $29.95 for three months it is a great deal. You can check out how we use this program in our posts on the blog!

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

School Doesn’t Have to Come First

I was sitting on my porch reading a devotional in my Bible for homeschool moms one cool morning a couple of weeks ago during, ‘false fall’. The weather was beautiful, my husband had all of the children out for a run so it was quiet, and I even had a nice cup of chocolate milk to drink. It was a beautiful morning, but as I started reading the devotional I was really struggling with what it had to say. I thought about what I had read and prayed about it most of the day because it was not the first time I had heard something similar and it just didn’t feel right. Today I want to share with you what the devotional said and why I don’t think it is the right attitude.

The devotional started out with Colossians 3:23, ” Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” Then it talked about how some days we might be tempted to skip homeschooling in order to relax or to get the household chores done. Their answer seemed to be that we should never do that and our priority should always be our homeschooling. I have some very real concerns with that attitude. First, let me be very clear that I believe homeschooling our children is a big job that requires effort and dedication. It is a priority in our family and we treat it as such. However, I do not believe that there is a biblical mandate that it must happen every day or that it is our highest priority. Teaching my children to love and serve God is my highest priority as a mother and following in God’s will for my day should be my highest priority as a Christian.

There are many things beyond academics that I want to teach my children including life skills (laundry, car repair, cleaning, etc), caring for others, and relying on God to help guide our paths. I am certainly not perfect at balancing it all, but I have found that if I pray each morning for God to help us prioritize our day, he will often show me where my priorities should be. Sometimes that means getting right to work on our schoolwork and sticking to our schedule. Sometimes that means taking the day or morning off and helping a neighbor. Sometimes it means having a housekeeping day and getting things around the house straightened up so that we can all be more productive.

I am not writing this to tell you not to make homeschooling your children a priority but rather to counsel that you not elevate something above where God has placed it. Homeschooling is important but not the only important thing in your life and it is okay to be flexible some days and take care of other things that need to be done. The verse doesn’t say “homeschool as though working for the Lord” (though we should), it says “Whatever you do.”

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Homeschooling your children is an important task and should be a priority in your life, but it doesn’t have to take first place every day. Making it a priority and giving your child a wonderful education does not mean that you can never take a break, clean your house, or just relax and enjoy your children. Spend some time each morning praying and asking God to help you spend your time that day as he would have you spend it and go forth knowing that he will direct your path.

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Deals and Freebies

Little Women is only .99 on kindle right now! (Amazon prices subject to change always check before purchasing.)

FREE Baby Yoda Art Lesson from Nana!

If you are looking to add some new electives or switch up some of your classes, SchoolhouseTeachers.comis having a great sale and you can get a whole year for $99, that is over 400 courses to use with all of your children for one low price.

All About Learning has released the best deal of the day: A FREE Snowman Pack with reading and spelling activities for a variety of ages.

Apologia has a new FREE Christmas/Advent E-book!

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Smartick (check out our full review here) is offering a 25% off discount if you use this referral link! Elizabeth is still loving this program.

Evan-Moor’s Skill Sharpeners Critical Thinking (Review)

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away (or at least many years and several counties) I began teaching a fifth-grade classroom. Much has changed in the classroom since then, but Evan-Moor products were there with me then and are still part of my resource library today. Now that I am a homeschooling mom, I still enjoy using their resources. Most recently I was given a copy of The Evan-Moor Skill Sharpeners: Critical Thinking, Grade 6 to review with my daughter.

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EvanMoor Review

I chose this book out of the wide variety of skill sharpener books, because critical thinking is an area we are working on with my daughter. She is very smart but doesn’t always like to have to think critically and figure out the answer to questions or riddles. My goal is to help her think through problems using logic and critical thinking skills.

When the book arrived one of the first things I noticed was that it was bright and colorful. This made the book much more inviting for students. In addition to bright colorful pictures and pages, the colors on the pages represented the subject matter that was being covered helping to visually break the book into various subject areas.

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When I started looking over this book to determine what I needed to do to get my daughter started and what she would need from me, I was delighted to see that it was a very ‘open and go’ type of program. The parent (or teacher) can simply open the book and begin without time consuming preparations. As a busy homeschooling mom of four, this made using it a lot easier. All I needed to do was decide which pages I wanted my daughter to do and give her the assignment. There was even an answer key provided in the back that made it super simple for me to check her work and provide feedback.

After looking over the book a bit I decided that I would let my daughter choose which activities she would complete each week. I gave her an assignment of two activities per week but she could choose which two to complete. This was a supplemental activity for us and I loved that it was so easy for me to adapt to our needs. If she had been struggling in a certain area, I could have picked those activities, or I could have had her work straight through the book. However, I felt like the ability to choose gave her more ownership in the process.

The book was split into four main sections: Animal Kingdom, Time, Technology, and Places. Then each section had activities that worked on various skills such as “Read All About It”, “Tell What You Know”, “Solve”, “Compute”, “Apply”, “Create” and more. These activities included reading passages, questions about the topic, riddles, puzzles, math problems, word finds, unscramble activities, and more.

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An example of one of the questions was “Jason made a batch of brownies, but he did not eat any of them. Give 5 possible reasons.” This makes the student think about various scenarios in which you would bake brownies without eating them. Another activity gave a word bank of words related to ancient Rome. The student then had to group the words into groups of three and explain how the grouping was related. My daughter’s favorite activity so far was an activity called “What Letter” in which she had to solve clues to find each letter and when put together the letters created the answer to a joke about sharks.

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Overall, I was very pleased with the layout and color of the book, the ease of use and minimal teacher prep that was needed, and how easy it was to adapt to our needs. I feel like this program will help my daughter build critical thinking skills which are so important in life. In addition to The Evan Moor Skill Sharpeners: Critical Thinking, Grade 6 book, there are books available for kindergarten through sixth grade. They also have the skill sharpeners books for other subjects including math, reading, science, and spelling. If you are looking for a quick and easy way to supplement your curriculum, review week areas, or strengthen critical thinking skills I highly recommend this series. You can find out more and purchase them directly from Evan Moor (they are having a BOGO sale on them right now) or from Amazon.

Disclaimer:
I received a FREE copy of this product through from Evan Moor in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

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Progeny Press Hound of Baskervilles and Little House on the Prairie Study Guide (Review)

Literature is one of my favorite subjects to teach because our entire family loves good books. When I looked over the titles that were offered for this Progeny Press review, I was very excited to get one for each of my older children to work through on books that I knew they would love. For my daughter, an eleven-year-old sixth grader, I chose the Little House on the Prairie Study Guide because I knew she would love that book and we had not gotten around to reading it with her. My son is a thirteen-year-old eighth grader but a very strong reader, therefore, I decided that he could handle the Hound of the Baskervilles Study Guide even though it was recommended for grades 9-12.

When I started looking over the Hound of the Baskervilles Study Guide it recommended having my son read the entire book,then go back and work through the book and the study guide section by section. This approach works well with for my son because he hates to stop reading in the middle of a good book in order to answer questions. Since he is working on being more independent with his work, I gave him the book and the study guide, showed him what to do and gave him four weeks to complete the process. This is a shorter time frame than typically allowed for this study guide but I did not have him complete all of the activities and I knew that he was a fast reader and could complete it with-in that time frame. This set up worked really well for him.

He read the book the first week and then set to work on the study guide. The study guide is designed as a fillable PDF so he was able to download it onto his laptop and fill in the answers, then save it for me to check. The Hound of the Baskervilles Study Guide broke the book down into 6 sections (with an additional overview section at the end) and had a variety of assignments for each section. These included comprehension questions, vocabulary, analysis, sections about literary elements, and optional hands-on activities and writing assignments. My son answered the questions for each section and completed a few of the hands on activities. Since he is working through a different writing program, I chose to let him skip the optional writing assignments but they would work well to make it a complete language arts program.

My daughter reads a bit slower and prefers to be thinking about the questions as she reads. I felt like having her read the whole book and then go back and re-read the sections would feel very challenging for her, and so I had her just read a section of the novel each week and complete the accompanying section in the Little House on the Prairie Study Guide. These sections were set up very similarly to the Hound of Baskervilles Study Guide but the questions were geared towards upper elementary and early middle grades. She completed all of the questions and an option activity from each section. Some of the activities that she chose were weaving a place mat from paper, watching an episode of Little House on the Prairie from our DVD collection, and her favorite was pretending to be Laura while eating a peppermint stick. She had to lick the stick into a sharp point like Laura did in one of the chapters of the book.

We enjoyed these study guides. While I personally would not want to do that much analysis and questioning with each book that we complete, I think that these are a great way to really dig deep into the novel. I highly encourage you to visit Progeny Press for more information and then click on the graphic below and check out the experiences of the other Crew members who reviewed a variety of different titles.. You can also check out our review of Progeny Press The Scavengers eGuide from last year.

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Blogging through the Alphabet with Hobbies: Camping, Cooking and Coin Collecting!

Camping, cooking, and chess were the first three hobbies that came to mind when I thought about the letter ‘C’. Then I was reminded that my two oldest sons are also participating in coin collecting. Other C hobbies could include calligraphy, collecting, crochet, carpentry, cross-stitching and more. We are excited about an upcoming camping trip and my sons are really enjoying coin collecting together so I decided to share more about those hobbies today.

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Aside from a few nights in my backyard I never spent much time camping as a child. However, my husband spent many nights camping with his family and his scout troop. I was a little nervous when we decided to try family camping for the first time, but I was hooked. I love the quiet of the outdoors, the smells of the campfire, the sense of peace that fills my soul when I get away from the rush of ‘regular life’ and enjoy a quiet day of camping. In addition to the enjoyment we get from camping, we have found that it allows us to stretch our travel budget much farther and therefore, we get travel more frequently.

Today I wanted to share a few tips that have made family camping easier for our family. First, we typically camp in state or national parks. These campgrounds are inexpensive (normally $20-$25 a night) and normally have fire pits, bath houses, and showers available. When it comes to food there are several things to consider. Cooking over an open fire can be lots of fun but requires time to get the fire ready, cook, and clean up. So, we normally plan that for an evening or morning when there is nothing else on the agenda. If we are going to be busy, we pack things that can be precooked such as muffins, boiled eggs, or granola bars. Another time saver is bringing your instant pot. This may seem silly since you are camping but if the site has electric hook-up (check when you make reservations) or you have an inverter for your car this can be a great way to help get a meal ready in a hurry. We can put oatmeal in the instant pot while we tear down camp in the morning or soup in the evening when we get back to camp too late for a fire meal. This saves us time and money (not eating at a restaurant) and keeps things fairly simple for me.

During the day my children can often entertain themselves fairly well at the campgrounds. We hike the trails, play with sticks and leaves, and just enjoy the great outdoors. In the evening as we sit around our campfire, we enjoy telling jokes, playing Would You Rather Games or using conversation starter prompts to guide our conversations.

For basic equipment you will need a tent, sleeping bags, camping chairs, insect repellent, and meal supplies. As you begin camping more you may want to add sleeping mats or an air mattress, field guides for your hikes, cast iron cookware for fire cooking, and a dining canopy for those rainy days. If you are new to camping, you may want to try a campground with rustic cabins or a camping event where some of the supplies are provided to ‘get your feet wet’ and work out any problems. I highly encourage you to give camping a try!

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Coin collecting is not a hobby that I was ever really interested in but my thirteen-year-old really enjoys it and has shared that love with my five-year-old son as well. One of the great things about coin collecting is that it is fairly inexpensive to get started and while you can spend lots of money on rare coins, you can also find a good variety just by going through your change from various transactions. My son got started with a version of this book and as he started collecting more coins he switched over to using Whitman Coin Folders and passed the other book on to my five-year-old. The Whitman Coin Folders are about $4-$5 each and have slots for specific sets of coins. For example, Jefferson nickels from 1962-1995. They are a great way to organize your collection and set goals for what coins to find.

When we first started, we just sorted through the coins that were in our house and the coins we got back as change from the store. However, as my son has gotten more into collecting, he has also begun to save his money and buy a few specific coins from auctions. In order to make sure that he is getting a good deal he has a coin value book and I check online as coin values can change quickly. We use eBay to search for similar coins that have sold recently. This gives us a good current value.

If you want more information about cooking be sure to check out Homeschool in the Kitchen and Adding Fun Into Your Homeschool: Cooking. Also stay tuned for a review coming the week of October 14th on a great new chess game! I would love for you to share your favorite ‘C’ hobby resources in the comments! Don’t forget to check out all of the other ‘C’ posts over at the link party!

Camping Resources

Self-inflating Sleeping Mat ( I actually prefer these to air mattresses)

Camping Chairs

Hammocks (not a requirement but we love ours)

Tent (what you need will vary based on your family size but ours is similar to this and we love the screened in porch if the bugs get bad)

Tarp (to put under the tent to protect the bottom)

Dining Fly

Field Guides (for hiking)

Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Sleeping bags (Tip: My husband got us two identical sleeping bags and zipped them together so that we have a giant sleeping bag big enough for both of us.)

Coin Collecting Resources

Whitman Coin Folders

Coin Holders

Coin Collecting For Kids

State Quarter Map

Guide Book of United States Coins

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

Resource Library

Deals and Freebies

Sally Clarkson is launching her newest book, a devotional for moms! You can purchase it at Amazon now and join in the launch party next week!

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Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!