Facebook friends: How to see my updates on Facebook

by on December 11, 2012
in links · 1 Comment

Our Simple Homeschool page on Facebook has nearly 10,000 likes.

Over the past year this page has become a well-visited virtual community–where I ask questions from readers, give links to posts, mention giveaways and other items from the web I think you might be interested in. You also share your thoughts and advice with other readers there, too.

Honestly, that page totally redeemed my faith in social media (of which I have only a little!).

Recently, however, Facebook has changed–they are not consistently showing status updates in your feed merely because you “like” a page.

If blog or business owners pay to promote a post, then FB show it to more people. But for those of bloggers not rolling around in piles of money to do this often, it often seems that up to 95% of readers who have liked the page may not see my updates.

Kind of disheartening!

Thankfully there is a way that you can easily continue hearing from me on Facebook. Take a look at the screen shot below and you’ll see what to do:
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Holiday homeschooling back in the day

by on December 10, 2012
in inspiration · 16 Comments

Written by contributor Jena Borah of Yarns of the Heart

My homeschooling days are now in the past, and I’m glad I have piles of journals, full of memories. Here’s a look at my entry fourteen years ago as we were preparing for Christmas. The kids were 9, 6, and 4.

November 19, 1998

Today was a good day. Meg (age 6) is making progress in reading. We played reading games and I changed the clue word for the letter u to “up” instead of “umbrella” because sometimes she pronounces it “imbrella.” I made signs with the word up and arrows and put them all over the house.
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Weekend links

by on December 9, 2012
in links · 2 Comments

The winner of yesterday’s Sparkle Stories giveaway is Mindi Bartoli–congratulations! Remember: you can try Sparkle Stories for $1 for one month AND their Christmas Time audio book is on special offer for only $3 with this link.

“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.” ~ Albert Einstein

Weekend giveaway: Sparkle Stories

by on December 8, 2012
in giveaways ·

This giveaway has ended. Thanks for entering!

I was tucking my eight-year-old son Jonathan into bed last night when he turned to me suddenly and said, “I wonder what trash company Martin and Sylvia use at their house?”

Seven-year-old Martin and five-year-old Sylvia are the main characters in one of Sparkle Stories most popular storylines. This homeschooled (woot-woot!) brother and sister live, love, eat, learn, argue, and work together–just like most of our little people.

Jonathan’s comment probably clues you into the fact that this duo has, along with other Sparkle Stories characters, become featured players in our home.

I download new Sparkle Stories each week onto my phone, and we often listen to one or two after dinner and before bed. They have added a blissful layer of calm to this hour that for some reason tends toward chaos.

Here’s an overview about this resource that has added so much to our family’s life:
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Multi-task with a mission this holiday season

by on December 7, 2012
in inspiration · 4 Comments

This time of year we often find ourselves buried under a pile of “to-do’s.” Even for those of us attempting to embrace a less commercial holiday, many of our tasks involve shopping in one form or another.

Today I’m thankful for the opportunity to share with you a way we can multi-task with a mission, combining our shopping errands with something much more significant.

It’s called Pure Charity.

I recently bought some items we need for the upcoming season–a bike for Jonathan this Christmas, these winter boots for Elijah, and a homeschooling mama’s best friends–new books to add to our shelves.

These purchases weren’t extras, but items I would have been buying anyway. By using Pure Charity, the stores I bought through are giving a small percentage of the money back to me–to donate to the charity I choose!

It’s a win for me as I shop, a win for the store I buy from, and a win for the charity–everyone’s a winner!
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