Linda @ Linda’s Lunacy

Our Homeschool Week in Review

April 6, 2013 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

I found this little guy this week, and just had to add him to my graduation stash. He’ll be a great addition to our upcoming graduation parties.

You can tell it’s spring here in Kentucky, the volleyball net went up! The girls were happy. Now they’ll be able to keep up with their volleyball skills. Well, Hannah will be graduated, so she won’t be able to play on the homeschool volleyball team. But she will still have fun and get some great exercise playing in our yard.

Our four little kittens are starting to walk around and are so cute. All the kids have spent a lot of time playing with and watching the kittens this week. I managed to get this picture of the two 12th graders laying on the living room floor playing with the kittens.

Oh, yes, book work! That was done, too! Zach begged and begged for a new Star Wars book, so I finally gave in and found the one he wanted on Paperback Swap. He read it in less than 24 hours. It was a long chapter book, not a picture book. Now he’s begging for another book in the series. lol He was a late reader, but certainly has made up for it since.
I posted two homeschool reviews recently, A Journey Through Learning Knights & Castles Lapbook and Classical Academic Press The Art of Poetry. Stop by and check them out!

To see more homeschooling posts, visit Weekly Wrap Up.

The Ultimate Blog Party 2013

April 5, 2013 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

If your not sure what the Ultimate Blog Party is, click on the graphic above to take you to the 5 Minutes For Mom where the party is happening at.

If you’re visiting from the UBP, Hi! I’m Linda, stay at home, homeschooling mom of 6, married for 31 1/2 years. I’m originally from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, now living in the Hills of Kentucky. My children are now 26, 25 (and married!), 18, 17, 14 and 12. We have always homeschooled, and the oldest two were graduated from our homeschool. I now have two seniors. Pretty soon, I’ll only have two students left! I haven’t had only two students since 1994!

My family is active in our church and we run the clothes closet as a family ministry.

I started blogging in 2003 (yep, all the old posts are still here!), but didn’t get serious about it until about 3 years ago. Now when I take a picture, or the kids do something funny, they say, “Don’t blog that!” lol

I am also an Independent Tupperware Consultant. I’m trying to do mostly online parties, since home parties take me away from my home a lot. You don’t have to live near me to have an online Tupperware party! 🙂

I have a few posts that I share on a regular basis. I usually share a post, In the Kitchen With Linda, with my weekly menu and my kitchen activities on Mondays. On Tuesdays, I have a Making a Home – Homemaking Linky where you can share your posts about homemaking, recipes, crafts, decorating, ideas and tips. On Thursday’s I host a giveaway linky. You’ll find some awesome giveaways to enter, and you can add your blog giveaway to the linky, too. Fridays find me sharing in Our Homeschool Week in Review. I share about our gardens and animals in Saturday on the Farm. On Sundays, you’ll find a video of a song that I love and that speaks to me.

In between those regular posts, I love to do reviews and giveaways. Finding quality movies, tv, and books for your family can be hard now a days, so when I find something that looks good for the family, I share it. I really love when I get to host a giveaway of these family friendly products. I also do homeschool reviews for The Schoolhouse Review Crew.

Thanks for stopping by to visit Linda’s Lunacy! I hope you drop by again! To make it easier to visit, there are several ways to follow Linda’s Lunacy over in the sidebar.

Thanks again for stopping by!

A Journey Through Learning Lapbook Review

April 4, 2013 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

As part of The Schoolhouse Review Crew, I received a free download of the Knights and Castles lapbook from A Journey Through Learning. (Not affiliate links)

A Journey Through Learning is owned by two homeschooling moms. So you can trust that their lapbooks will be a great addition to your homeschool. This was not my first time using A Journey Through Learning Lapbook, we used one last year during our Olympics unit study. I found both of these lapbooks to be full of great information, easy to implement, and fun for the kids.

This time, I used the Knights and Castles lapbook with my 12 year old, 6th grade son. Knights and Castles is written for grades 2-7, and contains everything you need for the study, and to complete the lapbook. The guide is 51 pages long. There are reading sheets included, so all the information your student needs to complete the lapbook is included. There is also an additional reading list if you or your student chooses to read more. I had my son use only what was contained in the lapbook study. Knights and Castles is written from a Christian perspective, so you don’t have to worry about what is in it. This study starts with the fall of Rome and continues into the Middle Ages. There is even a reading selection on Christianity in the Middle Ages. Zach actually let me include a picture of him with his lapbook! He hadn’t studied Knights and Castles before, so he learned a lot from this study. He enjoyed it much more than this picture shows. lol The Knights and Castles lapbook is a three folder lapbook, meaning it takes three file folders to hold all the pieces. The first activity included in the study was for the student to draw a picture of what they thought Knights and Castles looked like. Zach glued this to the front of his lapbook. Here you can see most of the three folders. It’s hard to fit it all in one picture. You can see come of the different activities included. The castle doors open and there is a picture inside that Zach drew. This is the left hand side of the lapbook. As you can see, all surfaces of the lapbook have little booklets on them, 20 in all, not counting the picture on the front. At the rate of one booklet a day, this lapbook will take a month to complete. Some days, Zach wanted to do more than one. Some of the booklets have pages that are turned, some have tabs that you lift to read what the student writes under them. They all contain written information by the student. Because of all the information included, this lapbook is something that Zach can refer to again in the future. It can also be used as a starting point for a deeper study of Knights and Castles when he’s older. The additional reading list will make that very easy. You can view sample pages of Knights and Castles. Knights and Castles is available on the A Journey Through Learning website in three different formats. As an Instant Download, like I received, for $13. On a CD for $14. Or in a Printed format for $21. Whatever the format you choose, Knights and Castles is a great study and lapbook. My son loved it. *Note: I am an A Journey Through Learning Affiliate. None of the links in this post are affiliate links. My A Journey Through Learning Affiliate link is in the sidebar over on the right. If you click on it, and purchase something, I will receive a small commission.

Saturday on the Farm – DIY Compost Tea

March 30, 2013 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

This week, Monday morning started out looking like this:

So much for working in the garden! The snow melted by Tuesday morning, but the rest of the week remained cold and damp. I was finally able to get outside for a little bit on Friday. I put compost in a raised bed behind the house where lettuce and spinach will be planted. I also made some compost tea for my seedlings.

I started by dumping some compost on top of the raised bed.

Look how nice the compost is? That’s straight compost, with no dirt mixed in. Love it!

I dumped some on each side of this raised bed. Then raked it in. In this picture, you can see the creek that is actually about 6 feet below the bed.

Look how nice the bed looks after raking the compost in? I can hardly wait for all the fresh lettuce and spinach!

While I was working in the compost, I took about 2 cups and put it into a 2 quart pitcher. I then filled it up with water.

I let my tea steep for about 5 hours. You can let it steep for 24 hours if you want, the longer it steeps, the stronger it is. Since I used this on my seedlings, I didn’t want it too strong.

I took a plastic container and put cheesecloth over the top to strain the compost from the tea.

And then I used the tea to feed my little seedlings.

How are your seedlings doing? Have you ever made compost tea before? It’s so easy, you should try it. Your plants will love your for it. 🙂

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Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt for Teens

March 30, 2013 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

*This post contains affiliate links. Post updated March 2025

I planned my first Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt for Teens when my youngest, who was 12 at the time, requested to have an Easter Egg hunt. He was too old for the egg hunt at church, but I was glad that he didn’t think he was too old for one. Especially since that was the last year he requested one. We all had fun with our first Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt for teens!

Easter Egg Scavenger Hunts for Teens

I thought it might be fun, and more challenging to have a scavenger hunt instead of a regular Easter egg hunt. Here are a few links I found, then I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. Your clues will need to be specific for your house or yard. Not everyone has the same features. So have fun finding clues that will fit your house, yard, and family. And you can make it different each year!

Bible Scavenger Hunt Questions

Scavenger Hunt Clues
45 Scavenger Hunt Clues for Kids (& Adults!)

40 Scavenger Hunt Riddles for Kids

Since I did our scavenger hunt outside. I used the worksheet for the Christian Scavenger Hunt, linked above. The kids had to look up the missing word in ten Bible verses. The missing word was the item they had to find for the scavenger hunt.

I gave the worksheets to my 12, 14, 17 and 18 year olds and had them fill them out. I hide four candy filled eggs, one for each teen & pre-teen participating, at a spot outside that corresponds to the missing word.

Example: water. I put the eggs near the outside faucet. For rock, I put the eggs by the rocks of our fire pit. Of course, we have rocks as garden edging all around our house, and a gravel driveway. So they had to really hunt for the eggs. lol

It was so fun! It satisfied my 12 year olds desire to have an egg hunt. And include the teens in a fun, challenging way, when they wouldn’t have participated in a regular Easter egg hunt.

For another fun idea, use glow in the dark Easter eggs for a night time scavenger hunt! Indoors OR outside! See how we used the glow in the dark eggs.

Here are some other fun things for Easter egg hunts!

And here are a couple of scavenger hunt games to play as a family anytime!

*This post contains an affiliate link. If you click the link and purchase something, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you.

Craftsy Online Craft Classes

March 29, 2013 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

I love crafting of all kinds. I also love taking crafting classes. It’s been years since I’ve been able to take a class, though. Making a home and homeschooling six kids doesn’t leave one lots of time for craft classes. Craftsy online classes sound like a great fit for me, no travel time, I could just go straight to class.

I made a list of three classes I would love to take.

My Craftsy Wish List:

1. Quilting Quickly – Learn to make quilts in a fraction of the time. Great for beginners like me!

2. Modern Piping – I’ve been decorating cakes for over 20 years now, but I would love to learn more about this technique

3. Knit Original Toe-Up Socks – I’m a very beginning knitter who would very much love to learn how to knit socks.

Check out all of the great Craftsy Classes by clicking here.

*Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you click the links and sign up for a class, I will receive a small commission.

Home Run Book Review & Giveaway

March 28, 2013 by Linda @ Linda's Lunacy

The book Home Run is a novelization of the movie by the same name. Home Run the movie will be in theaters April 19. Home Run the book is available to order now. Read the book before you go to the movie! I prefer to read the book before seeing the movie as movies usually change parts of the story. Since the book Home Run is a novelization of the movie, I’m expecting the book and the movie to be in sync.

Baseball star Cory Brand knows how to win. But off the field, he’s spiraling out of control. Haunted by old wounds and regrets, his future seems as hopeless as his past. Until one moment-one mistake-changes everything. To save his career, Cory must go back to the town where it all began. His plan is simple: coach the local baseball team, complete a recovery program, and get out as fast as possible. Instead, he runs headfirst into memories he can’t escape … and the love he left behind. Faced with a second chance he never expected, Cory embarks on a journey of faith, transformation and redemption. And along the way, he discovers a powerful truth: no one is beyond the healing of God. A novel based on the major motion picture starring Vivica A. Fox and Scott Elrod, Home Run is an inspirational story of the hope and freedom God offers each of us.

The book Home Run is written by Travis Thrasher, who is the author of more than a dozen works of fiction. Because this book follows Cory, an alcoholic through his hard times, it is not a book for kids. Despite the sometimes graphic descriptions of his behavior, the story line is a good one. Home Run follows Cory from his childhood, shown in flashback scenes, through his glory days in baseball, to his fallen days of alcoholism. The book doesn’t leave him down, though. Through attending a Celebrate Recovery program that his agent demands he attend, Cory finds his way out of his troubles by turning to God.

Our church started a Celebrate Recovery group last year. I personally haven’t attended any meetings, but have family members that have. Celebrate Recovery is not just for drug or alcohol addictions, but for all of lifes habits, hurts and hang ups.

Home Run is a moving story of what happens when someone gives their life to God. Bodies are healed of addictions, relationships restored, and dreams do come true.

For more information, visit these websites:

Home Run the Movie

Home Run the Movie on Facebook

Home Run the Movie on Twitter

Order the Home Run Book (Not an affiliate link)

I’m excited to be able to giveaway one copy of the book Home Run to one of you! Simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below.

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