If you want to make a little extra cash, and if you enjoy blogging and don't mind copying and pasting your blog posts from HomeschoolBlogger.com to another site every day......

you might want to check out Writing Up, a blogging community which was started by two computer and marketing guys.  It's free (as is just about everything I do online), and isn't any kind of "sign up," really. You're just creating a blog, just like you did here at HomeschoolBlogger.com. 

How will you make money, then?  Google Ads will be placed on your blog there.  That's something I've been doing here for a couple of months (see mine on the left column, scroll down -- oh, and click on them so I get a few pennies!).  You'll get the revenue from the ads.

What ads will be on your site?  I was worried about this when I first signed up to place Google ads on this site.  But the ads are based on content.  In other words, the ads change all the time based on what you wrote.  I have gotten ads from the American Red Cross and Martha White flour.  Your ads will not be on the shady side, unless you are writing that way.  I once got an ad for meeting singles.  I didn't want that ad on my site, so I simply went to Google Adsense and blocked that ad from being on my site. 

I'm a huge skeptic when it comes to "make money from home" opportunities, because there are too many scammers out there.  But I did create a simulcast blog at Writing Up, because I already know that Google Ads are a fine way to make a few dollars each month (I'm getting around $50 a month between Writing Up and this blog's ads but I've just started, so that should really increase).  I also signed up with Writing Up because all I have to do is write a blog here at HomeschoolBlogger.com, like normal, and then copy and paste it at the Writing Up site. 

A no-brainer way to make a passive income. That is sooo my style!

How do you get started? 

1.  Click on my Google Adsense banner (in the left column, under "Blogs I Visit Often" - click on the "Generate Revenue from Google.." box) and create a Google Adsense account.  This is easy to do and - of course - free. 

2.  Go to Writing Up (click on the name anywhere in this blog) and create a blog there.  It's free and very quick to do. 

3.  Blog every day and wait a little while for it all to kick in.  Once it does, you should be getting a little revenue each month (note:  Google pays you each time you reach $100, so you'll have to wait until you get to that point before you get your first payment).  

by Lori Seaborg

A student in the landscaping class that I teach brought me a
Pennyroyal cutting this week and a cutting of Spearmint. As most gardeners do, he expected a trade, so I was happy to give him cuttings of my Mountain Mint and Lemon Thyme.

A cutting is a little slip of a plant about 6-10" long that can be placed in a medium until it grows roots. That "medium" might be water, soil, vermiculite, sand, or peat. Propagation is a fancy word for rooting cuttings of plants.

To root mints (including pennyroyal and the thymes), your job is very easy. Just use your fingers to pinch off a piece of the plant, about 6" long. Place the cutting, cut side down, into some soil or another medium mentioned above (my favorite is vermiculite, as it holds its moisture and is lightweight). You don't need to worry about adding rooting hormone to these cuttings -- they are a natural at rooting all by themselves. Keep the cutting moist, but do be sure that extra water is able to drain away.

After a couple of weeks, if you are antsy, you may check on your cutting by gently lifting up on the stem. If it is tight, you probably have roots ready. If it pulls up, wait longer.

If you have the self-control needed, as I do not, leave the cutting alone for 3-8 weeks (depending on how warm the soil has been) so that you don't damage the little roots by checking on them. When the cutting has a nice supply of roots (several at more than 1-1/2" long), you may put it into a prepared pot with potting soil or into the garden.

Trading cuttings not only saves you money, but also allows you to experience the gift of sharing!

by Lori Seaborg

Useful and Useless Bits of Information

1. Quiet Time is the key to my sanity as a mother of four little ones. Each day, right after lunch clean-up, the children lay down for Quiet Time which lasts at least an hour. The 2yo naps, the 5yo naps or reads quietly, the 8yo finishes schoolwork or reads in her room, and the 10yo finishes schoolwork or reads in his room. If Daddy is home, he gladly naps, too. I spend my quiet time reading or writing. I have a rule that I cannot do chores during quiet time.

Quiet Time is not only good for me, but also for the children. They are more rested for the long day and less irritable and tired (they are the  most healthy kids I know, and I think this lack of exhaustion is part of the reason.  The other reason is the sheer number of germs we probably innoculate ourselves with daily, but that's a confession I didn't plan to make in this blog). Our 10yo looks forward to Quiet Time so he can have a break from his 5yo brother bothering him!


2.  When your Child is fake-crying, and you know it is not a serious cry,calmly say, "Go to your room, close the door, and cry. When you're done, you can come out again." Our 5-year-old, angel though he is, pulls fake cries on us often. When I say, "Go to your room to cry,"
he often stops in mid-cry, wipes his eyes, and continues playing.  See? He didn't need to be crying after all.  Even our 2-year-old is being sent to her room to cry.  She comes out within seconds, happy once again.

3.  Moving a nest of eggs that a hen is setting on:  You may not need to know this, but I have needed to know it twice.   If you need to move a nest of eggs that a hen is setting on, she will follow those eggs to the new location, and she will not reject them.

4.  If you need to catch a hen, it's easiest to do it when she goes to bed just before sunset. She'll perch in a tree or up on her perch, and it is easy to catch her then. But if she perches too high for you to reach, don't try to catch her with a broomstick or she's likely to fly out of the tree and not come near you again for 2 days (I know this to be true).

3. Running your sprinklers for 1 hour equals about 1" of rain.
Your garden needs 1" of rain per week to thrive (in the hot summer,
in very hot areas like the Deep South and SouthWest, it may need 1"
every three days).

If you have not had enough rain in a week, water your garden or lawn
for one hour.  If you have had some rain, water your garden for less.

To check your rainfall amount for the week, use an empty tuna can for a rain gauge. Sink the tuna can into the dirt. If the can is full, you've had 1" of rain.

4.  How to water your garden:  Your garden will do best if it has the 1" of rainfall all at once rather than slowly. If you sprinkle your lawn daily for only 5 minutes each time, you are encouraging short roots that want to stay at the water level. Short roots = weak plants. By sprinkling the lawn or garden for one hour at once, you encourage the roots to stay at a deeper level.

by Lori Seaborg