Bootcamp for Lousy Housekeepers is available for purchase here through lulu.com, and you can get to know the author (and glean additional housekeeping motivation) through her blog.

 
Domestic Chaos Tamer and Homeschool Mom of Five, Dell writes about home, heart and hearth.

What's New at Art of Eloquence newsletter subscribers will get a free gift soon for Valentine's Day!  If you are not a subscriber, you'll want to subscribe before our next newsletter comes out so you don't miss out! 

What's New at Art of Eloquence offers exclusive articles, special offers, free gifts and other communication fun ONLY for subscribers!  We do not give out this information anywhere else (on our site, blog or Facebook Fan Club Page!) but just to those on our mailing list! 

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Happy Valentine's Day!  From the folks at Art of Eloquence.com!

It's Valentine season and love is in the air. I get a small snow storm of letters and drawings from my children everyday with, I <3 you mom!! I get the warm fuzzies and YES I keep them in a bulging file that has seen a decade of love.

With the heart symbol all over the place in decorations to cards lets use that as a platform for a quick unit study on Congenital Heart Defect. Strange, did I just jump off a cliff? No, Febuary is CHD awareness month. Did you know that CHD is the number 1 birth defect?!  Chances are many of you have a child with CHD or know of a child that has CHD. 

Knowledge takes away the mystery and fear of a child with a birth defect. It will help your child to be a better friend and Christian should they meet a child with CHD!

Here are some sites and facts to help you put together a topic study on Congenital Heart Defects (CHD).

50% of people with Down Syndrome have CHD  Penelope and CHD

Here is a site for children or adults with CHD, it also has a financial assistance program. Congenital Heart Information Network

John Hopkins Cove Point Foundation has clear graphics to show you each type of congenital defect, great for the older kids.

Finally here are some families that are dealing with CHD right now.

All that and a Box of Rocks

I am Blessed   is written by mom, Amy Morris, who helped to open my eyes to the need for awareness of CHD. She also made the small awareness badges on this page! Thanks!!

If you want to take this one step further. A teen could volunteer at a local hospital. You could make a family project of making small blankets for babies in the NICU.  If you call your local Children's Hospital they usually have opportunities you can help. They just need people to ask!

Blessings my friends!

Heather lives in West Virginia. She and her husband have been homeschooling their 5 children for 8 years.  Due to a genetic disorder their children have multiple special needs. Heather is also dealing with personal health difficulties. Living life to the fullest for the glory of God is their goal!  Visit Heather's page at  www.homeschoolblogger.com/gfcfmomofmany/ or at Special Needs Homeschooling.

Valentine's Day.  Romance.  Flowers and chocolates.  I'm all for it!  I love
getting a heart-strewn card, roses, and a box of chocolates from the man I love!
And I love it that my 16 and 18 year old sons are seeing how much I enjoy it.
After all, I hope and pray that they, too, will shower their love with love on
Valentine's Day!

Actually, that last sentence is incomplete.  I left out a word...a single word which is all-important in our worldview.  Allow me to re-write that sentence here, and make it complete:

After all, I hope and pray that they, too, will someday shower their love with
love on Valentine's Day!

There, now that's better!  If you have junior high or high school students in your home, I'd like to take this opportunity to urge you strongly to begin with them (if you haven't already) an important and ongoing conversation about marriage and purity.  

I grew up going to a "dead church" (spiritually dead, that is).  Oh, I believed in God; I even believed that Jesus was God's "son," and that He died on a cross to save people from their sins.  But I never understood what that meant for me.  I never understood that Jesus died on a cross to save me from my sins.  I don't know if any of my friends at that church did.  I don't think my parents did.  We just went to church because that was what everyone did.  At least in our neighborhood, they did.  

By the time I entered high school, I was in the dating scene.  Everyone was.  By my college years, although I'd finally heard that Jesus was my personal Savior, and I'd accepted Him, I had my heart stomped on and broken, and I broke a heart, as well.  What a waste.  But, back then, I'd never heard of any other way.  I'm not kidding...I'd never heard!  Not even among my Christian friends.  We all were dating.  

I love to see God's hand at work.  And one of the most powerful places I've seen this is in the work He has done in the hearts of all of us homeschool parents with regard to teaching our children to protect their hearts before marriage.  Now, there are a lot of ways out there that people can go with this!  So, the purpose of this blog entry will not be to expound upon a particular method of courtship or betrothal or whatever-you-want-to-call-it.  What I want to do is to introduce you to two phenominal videos that have been catalysts in our home for the discussion of purity and heart protection before marriage, in the hope that one (or both) of them might help to launch a conversation and plant a seed in the hearts of your children as they mature. I will tell you straight out, right now, that if you've decided to let your children date, and you're secure in that decision, I'm not looking to condemn or to criticize.  That is not the point of this entry.  However, you may not  be interested in the rest of this entry...unless you are questioning that decision.  Just to let you know! 

The first video is an older Christian classic, "Pamela's Prayer" by Dave Christiano Films.  Like many of these early, groundbreaking films, the quality of the film and the acting is not something that has garnered praise from critics!  But, the content presented gave my two pre-teen sons a vision for the kind of young men they wanted to be that is still with them today.  I have heard from some who have viewed this that their kids wouldn't give the film the time of day because it's not "up to par" (in terms of cinematography and acting) with today's movies (and they meant secular movies), so they wouldn't show it to the kids.  That breaks my heart to hear.  I give this a "don't shoot the messenger" sign.  And I do think this one is best to show to your younger teens, before they've already entered into a desire to or habit of flirtation or recreational dating.

From the website comes this description:

"This motion picture portrays the unique and heartfelt story of Pamela Bucklin from her birth in 1969 to her wedding day in 1991. It also contrasts two Christian girls and their different outlook toward purity and dating. All of Pamela's friends were dating. She was not. And it seemed unfair that her father insisted on such a high standard of purity. Yes, it seemed unfair...until the day she married."

View the film trailer here (or at the website, if this isn't working for some reason):     

 

 

Pamela's Prayer can be purchased for just $9 at Christian Films.com; or, you can do what we've done, several times over...you can purchase 7 of them for just $3 each, as long as you promise to give them away!  (Speaking of giving them away, be sure to visit my HSB blog linked at the end of my post, to see the GiveAway I'm hosting!)

 

Another video that we've really enjoyed, though I'd say it has some slightly more mature storylines (that means you'll want to watch it before you decide to show it to a pre-teen or a very young teen), and that I highly recommend, comes from Advent Film Group.  The fact that it was produced by homeschoolers gives it extra points in my book!  "Come What May," set at Patrick Henry College, is the story of Caleb, a young man caught in the middle of two opposing worldviews.    

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF65PQm00Ng

Learn more about this exciting Film group, and the story portrayed in "Come What May":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF2uOze0XLo

Valentine's Day is a fun holiday to spend in the kitchen.  There are so many cute things that you can make to add a little extra love and excitement to the menu. 

I like to go with a heart theme and see how many hearts I can sneak into the meals and snacks for the day.

Here are just few ideas:

Breakfast

Pancakes- either pour the batter into a heart-shaped cookie cutter on the griddle, or just cut out the hearts after the pancakes are done; top with a swirly red heart made with strawberry syrup.


Toast- cut hearts out with a cookie cutter.  If you're ambitious, crack an egg into the cut-out heart and fry it up for a "heart in one".  Butter the toast and sprinkle on some cinnamon sugar or maybe some pink or red sugar crystals. 

Butter- cut little heart shaped butter pats out with a tiny cookie cutter.

Cereal- top your cold cereal with heart-shaped strawberry slices.

Swirls- add a swirly heart design to a bowl of oatmeal using strawberry syrup

Lunch

Cut sandwiches into heart shapes.

Make strawberry smoothies and top with a syrup or strawberry heart.

Serve tomato soup topped with a swirled on heart of cream and heart-shaped crackers, toasts, or croutons.

Dinner

Bake a heart-shaped pizza.

Put together a beautiful salad topped with rose petals and little hearts cut out of pickled beets.

Dessert

Bake heart-shaped sugar cookies and let the family decorate them to their heart's desire.  Provide icing in white, pink and red, plenty of sprinkles and colored sugars, tiny candies, etc. and let the fun begin! 

I love these Secret message Decoder Cookies  at Gourmet Mom on the Go.  You might want to check out some of the other creative Valentine's Day ideas there, as well. 

Taste of Home has a wonderful variety of Valentine's Day recipes, too. 

Whatever you decide to do on Valentine's Day ... put your heart into it! 

Blessings,
Catherine

Catherine Love lives in the heart of Texas with her husband Carl, and their 3 daughters, Sarah, Hannah, and Cana.  They enjoy cooking, gardening, and learning new things as they seek to live a lifestyle of learning together as a family.  You can read Catherine's Kitchen Adventures and more on her blog- Seeds of Love.

This week's Featured Blogger has been noted here on the Porch before, back when we used to point you out to a Random Blogger. Not quite the same thing as being Featured Blogger and msmarla of Marla's Musings is certainly worthy of the higher honor!

As I was deciding which blog posts to share with all of you, the beautiful music on Marla's blog playing, I felt like I had met a new friend. Someone I could relate to and enjoy talking about family, and homeschooling with. She describes one of her days, and how inadequate she feels sometimes and yet the Lord has given her strength to continue on with being a homeschool mom.

How many self-help books have you read or support group meetings you've attended and asked "How do you . . . ?" Life is always full of questions with seemingly few answers. It's nice that we have the Lord to help us. It doesn't hurt to have a funny and clever husband either!

Finally, Marla offers the best parenting advice anyone could ever offer.

Please go say hello to Marla and make a new blog friend!

Would you like to nominate a HSB blogger for Featured Blogger of the Week? Email me at tlinschied@thehomeschoolmagazine.com. Please keep in mind that Featured Bloggers must be at least 18 years of age and their blog must be encouraging, uplifting, and/or inspiring.

The weather is chilly outside... who am I kidding it is down right frigid here.  Winter runs up to April. So where does a furry brown rodent fall into our season?? Ground Hog's Day is special here. Most of our television channels come out of Pittsburgh and all of Pennsylvania news gets excited over Ground Hog's Day.

Really I don't mind. I think it is a bit cruel to wake up some poor little guy and try to see his shadow, let him sleep! I am faced with a serious problem with Ground Hog's Day. My children ask me how can a groundhog affect weather? They can't honey. Why do they keep trying? Is he magic?

That is my problem. For most kids this would not be a problem, you tell them no, they move on. When you have a black and white thinker, such as my autistic kids, your answer and the celebration around the day don't mix. I have to repeat that the Lord made and tends the weather not a groundhog.

I found a funny but very real way to make my point. We got a weather rock. We laughed about it but it made a point.
"Is it raining?"    "Yes, the rock is wet!"
"Is it sunny?"   "Yes, the rock is dry with sun on it!"
"Now can that rock make it's self wet? No, it can't no matter how much it tries." 

The kids still need reminders but now I can just ask "what about the rock?"

I think it is important for us to root out these silent fallacies. You may say hey there's no harm in this silly thing or that. I agree some fanciful items are fine. For my children I had to draw the line where they were displacing the Lord's power with something of this world. Find that line for your family. You are not taking away the joy of childhood you are raising up a generation for the Lord! 

Heather lives in West Virginia. She and her husband have been homeschooling their 5 children for 8 years.  Due to a genetic disorder their children have multiple special needs. Heather is also dealing with personal health difficulties. Living life to the fullest for the glory of God is their goal!  Visit Heather's page at  www.homeschoolblogger.com/gfcfmomofmany/ or at Special Needs Homeschooling.

Considering the fact that groundhogs generally have up to 6 in a litter, which is nowhere near "only one"... I really couldn't figure out much of a tie-in with this column's category. (Not that that's stopped me before!) I did find some interesting facts from several different sites. I'll be quoting snippets from each site.

Lots of good information on the following site -- both on "what" the groundhog is, it's name deriviation and even some fun. I hadn't heard of "whistle-pig" before this research quest. (The tongue twister & its answers might make good copywork.

The groundhog (Marmota monax), also known as a woodchuck or whistle-pig, or in some areas as a land-beaver, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots.

 [The name] stems from an Algonquian name for the animal (possibly Narragansett), wuchak.

 The apparent relationship between the two words has led to the common tongue-twister: "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?". (Occasionally, "How much ground would a ground hog hog if a ground hog could hog ground?" is used in place, or as a reply.) Various response lines can answer this, including:

 "As much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood."

"A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood."

"A woodchuck would chuck all the wood, if a woodchuck only could."

"A woodchuck would chuck what a woodchuck could, if a woodchuck could chuck wood."

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog 

From

http://animal.discovery.com/convergence/groundhog/meet/meet.html, I found out that  groundhogs "can whistle, swim, and drop its body temperature to just above freezing." No wonder they are known as "whistle pigs"! It also shared that  "a baby groundhog is called a kit or a cub." There was also a nice bullet-pointed list covering its Habitat, Description, Cool Facts about, along with other interesting tidbits.

 

I did find out that good ol' Phil may be the "seer of seers" but he's not the only groundhog around checking to see if he can see his shadow. The following was from one of these "other" groundhogs.

 The link between weather prediction and the day is said to have been inspired by an old Scottish couplet: "If Candlemas Day is bright and clear/ There'll be two winters in the year."

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiarton_Willie 

 The next two give a bit of the "lore" surrounding Groundhog Day.

Groundhog Day grew out of a mainly German superstition that if a hibernating animal casts a shadow February 2 -- the Christian holiday of Candlemas -- winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, legend says spring will be early.

http://www.groundhogs.com/ 

Groundhog hibernation gave rise to the popular American custom of Groundhog Day, held on the second of February every year. Tradition dictates that if a groundhog sees its shadow that day, there will be six more weeks of winter, though such a prediction seems a sure bet over much of the groundhog's North American range. Groundhogs are the largest members of the squirrel family.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/groundhog.html

http://www.hoghaven.com/ has a lot to offer. Go "nosing around;" it's a good site.

Another take on what the groundhog is, including another name that I hadn't heard of:  land-beaver.

The groundhog (Marmota monax), also known as a woodchuck or whistle-pig, or in some areas as a land-beaver, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots.

http://www.hoghaven.com/

This site has an excellent history of Groundhog Day, including the specifics about Phil. (Punxsutawney, PA official site)

http://www.groundhog.org/groundhog-day/history

 

It’s a neat thing, having the internet available is like having your own personal library at your fingertips! Encourage your child to do some research on the groundhog (with appropriate supervision for their age—it’s still a “surfer beware” situation). They might find something that I missed… Groundhogs are interesting critters.

Donna Conner lives in Fort Worth, TX with her husband, Glenn, their son, Mike, Donna's mother, Charlotte, and their dog, Lucia. Donna and Glenn homeschooled their son since the beginning of his education. Mike completed his homeschooling in the fall of 2008. Donna is an artist and has always enjoyed writing. She wrote Homeschooling Only One in 2003, after discovering that there were many other families homeschooling only one child. Her website is devoted to those with only one student in their homeschool, with listings of online resources. You can find these free resources, including a message board for those who HOO, on her website at http://donnac.com and read her blog at:

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/DonnaC

copyright © 2010 Donna Conner ~~ All rights reserved. Content may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of author, except in the case of brief passages embodied in critical reviews and articles where the title and author are listed.

February 2nd is Groundhog Day.  The day where the groundhog can supposedly predict how much longer winter will last.  Well, if you're in ARIDzona, it doesn't much matter because winter is just the absence of 115 degree heat.  

According to Wikipedia, a Canadian study of the past 30-40 years and the National Climactic Data Center put the groundhog's accuracy at 37-39% mostly since at Groundhog Day there is 6 more weeks left of the winter calendar. 

Since I can't tie Groundhog Day into anything more communication related than the body language of a rodent, I've decided that there is a 100% accuracy rating that this groundhog is actually announcing the 5th Annual Say What You Mean Convention tomorrow! 

Indeed, it's true that the 5th annual online communication convention put on by the folks at Art of Eloquence, WriteShop and Girl Nurture is beginning the Say What You Mean Convention festivities  tomorrow morning at 8am PST/11am EST and it kicks off with Christian comedian Michael Jr in a interview on humor and faith. 

The event includes live seminars and workshops, pre recorded audios, contests with prizes, freebies and more!  The theme this year is: The Three Flavors of Communication: Writing, Speech and Conversation. 

The event is entirely online so you don't have any travel and can come in your PJs if you wish!  To find out more just visit http://www.SayWhatYouMeanConvention.com.

Paul and Gena Suarez Recipients of the 2009 Dr. Robert Dreyfus Courageous Christian Leadership Award

COLUMBIA, SC, Jan. 26 /Christian Newswire/ -- Frontline Ministries, Inc., and the Exodus Mandate Project ( www.Exodusmandate.org) announced today that Mr. and Mrs. Paul and Gena Suarez are the joint recipients of the 2009 Dr. Robert Dreyfus Courageous Christian Leadership Award. Established by Frontline Ministries, Inc., in 2007, this award honors and recognizes Christian leaders who have exhibited moral courage through their unique contribution to the Church by advancing Christianity in the culture and life of the nation. This contribution and ministry may be in the face of opposition or it may run counter to the prevailing culture of Church and society. Chaplain Moore said of Mr. and Mrs. Suarez, "This couple has made a tremendous contribution to homeschool education through the founding and publishing of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine ( www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com). Their magazine has grown into the largest Christian homeschool magazine in the United States."

Starting with a humble beginning in spring of 2000, not as a magazine, but as on on-line e-Bay business, selling used textbooks and curricula to homeschool families throughout the United States and abroad, it flourished to a 12 page black and white flyer (The Old Schoolhouse Newsletter) in 2001, and then proceeded to becoming a full-color glossy magazine with paying advertisers in 2002 called The Old Schoolhouse Magazine (TOS). Since then, the Lord has blessed their efforts and has expanded TOS with the addition of a blogging community (HomeschoolBlogger.com), an on-line store (TheOldSchoolhouseStore.com), and a number of other homeschool-associated websites.

TOS Magazine exists to support and encourage the Christian homeschooler. Says Gena Suarez, "For the Christian, 'homeschooling' is not merely about 'schooling' or 'education.' Homeschooling is about discipleship -- cultivating a love for God in our children's hearts (Proverbs 22:6)." TOS Magazine is inclusive with respect to educational methodology, allowing "experts" to freely talk to the homeschool community about the various education methods available to them, as well as providing an endless array of educational resources, product reviews and heartwarming, encouraging articles written by homeschool columnists.

TOS Magazine exists to bless the Church. It is their objective to educate and warn the Church on the true nature of the Public School Institution -- to provide the Church with an accurate picture of the public school profile. "No other entity or establishment has succeeded in inflicting more injury to the Body of Christ in this country than the Public School System," said recipient Paul Suarez.

TOS Magazine exists to bless the non-Christians -- to share the Gospel with homeschooling families who have not yet embraced Christ. While there are few non-Christian homeschoolers who subscribe to the magazine, most of their contact with such homeschoolers takes place through their blogging community on HomeschoolBlogger.com (HSB). They intentionally did not make HSB a "Christian" community, hoping to draw homeschoolers of all faiths, and to encourage those who know the Truth to engage in lively conversation with those who have not encountered the Truth yet.

In accepting the award, Paul and Gena Suarez said, "We are most appreciative of your recognition. Yes, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is about homeschooling, but our focus has always been to keep Christ "front and center," even as we promote and advance the cause of homeschooling. It is our prayer that God will use this humble little phenomenon known as "homeschooling" to revive the Church in this country -- and around the world -- and set it back on its biblical foundation."

Dr. Robert Dreyfus, for whom the award has been named said, "Paul and Gena Suarez embody the attributes that have made America great, and many individuals have benefited from their work." Dr. Dreyfus, a prominent retired Florida dentist and inventor of a device to relieve neuromuscular pain for dental uses, served as a president of the Florida Dental Society of Anesthesiology. He has a 45-year history of volunteer work on behalf of family values and K-12 Christian education in Florida and is now the Florida State Coordinator for the Exodus Mandate Project.

Dr. Bruce Shortt, Exodus Mandate Board member and contributor to TOS Magazine said, "No magazine does a better job of reflecting the joys of homeschooling than Paul and Gena Suarez's The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. From the beautifully designed cover and layout to the insightful and engaging articles, the Suarez's show in every issue of TOS how homeschooling is a profoundly fulfilling journey that anyone can undertake. Homeschooling couldn't ask for better ambassadors than Paul and Gena."

Chaplain Moore noted that the 2009 award is the third to be awarded. The 2008 recipient was Dr. Brian D. Ray, PhD, president of the National Home Education Research Institute (www.nheri.org). His work as a premier researcher, writer and demographic analyst for homeschooling in the US has been recognized by both the Christian and secular worlds.

Christian Newswire

What a wonderful topic we have this week here at the Front Porch!  Groundhog Day...our favorite holiday of the year!  The boys and I enjoy putting our high school studies on hold for a few days before February 2nd in order to study groundhogs, weather patterns, the city of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania...

In case you didn't guess, I'm being quite facetious.  We don't have time to do much more than listen to the radio to find out if furry little "Phil" saw his little shadow or not!  And then, of course, to sigh a little sigh that winter, at least here in northern Illinois, will be with us for a couple more months, no matter what the beast saw that morning!

And that brings me to my topic today...how to keep your homeschool high school scholars going through the long, cold days of winter.  (For those of you in southern climates, with no snow, ice, or bitter-cold temperatures, the problem still exists...we are in the "hunker down" months of the challenging high school year!)

I have but two ideas to share today...for two reasons!  One, I am sick, so it is all I can do to get to the computer and get this entry in (sorry I'm late, Tia!); two, I want to hear YOUR ideas today!  Sometimes I wonder if anyone reads this...we're all so busy, so few people ever comment here.   Let me hear from you today!  Don't be shy...we all LOVE to get comments!  It keeps US going here at the Front Porch! 

OK, here are my two suggestions:

#1. Bathe this time of year in prayer.  Ask the Lord to give you strength.  "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4:13)  Dedicate this winter's studies to His glory!  And...most importantly, pray with your students.  Ever hear the phrase, "basking in the warm glow of prayer?"  Try it out! 
"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (James 5:16)

Be sure to "focus" this particular time of prayer with your students on feeling His strength, and being motivated by the idea of doing this work of studying to His glory.  "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ." (Col. 3:23-24)

 #2. Change things up if you hit a really rough patch of "I hate winter and I'm sick of schoolwork!"  It is hard to set aside the routine of studies once you're in the high school years, but it is easy to take that routine and do it in a new place!  After breakfast, pack the backpacks with 3 subjects-worth of books and notebooks...bring the pencils, the calculators, the laptops...whatever you need to do the work, and head out to your public library, your community college library (get ready for a major dose of "culture shock" if you choose this option!), or, if you have one available to you like we do, an arboretum or botanic garden.  We live near a beautiful arboretum, and it has a gorgeous old wood-panelled library, with windows overlooking the arboretum grounds.  In warmer weather, we can go through the library to get to a small "reading garden," inaccessible to the visiting public who don't know how to get into it!  Obviously, this is not useful in the wintertime, but on that first 70-degree spring day, guess where we're heading for our studies???

A simple change of scenery will make a difference in your students' attitudes...and yours, as well!

Alright...YOUR TURN!!!  Let me hear from you, parents of high schoolers, and share your favorite "break the winter doldrums" ideas with our "Homeschooling Through High School" readers! 

May God Bless you and your homeschool this week

~Lori

PS. I'm hosting a "giveaway" contest over at my blog...click a link below to be transported, and to learn the details!

Lori Havens has been married to Kevin for 25 years.  They live in Illinois with their two sons, Bryan (17) and Nathan (16), and dog Sunny (9).  Lori enjoys writing, gardening, reading, and the outdoors.  She hosts the "Thursday Talkin' About Teenagers" meme at her HSB blog, "Plans4You," and is the author of "Should I Be A Nurse? A Journey of Self-Exploration for Those Considering a Career in Nursing" and  "7 Essential Questions Every Future Nurse Must Ask."      You can find her blogging at both Homeschool Blogger and Homestead Blogger  .

OK, so this one is a stretch for me, but I did find this recipe for Groundhog Cookies and a link to a groundhog cookie cutter, both are found on the Groundhog.org site. 

Since the "official" groundhog's name is Phil, maybe your children would like to  mix up this Philly Cheesy Chili Dip from Taste of Home (I told you this one was a stretch of my imagination.).   My girls love this dip with tortilla chips.  The Kids Coloring Cookbook page at Taste of Home  has a whole list of printable recipe coloring pages.  These might help to keep little hands busy while waiting their turn to cook. 

Groundhog Day "Ground Hog" Recipe - This wouldn't work in my family, as my girls would not think it amusing at all; but some might enjoy having "ground hog" for Groundhog day. 

My favorite find while researching this topic was this recipe for Chocolate Groundhog Cookies.  I think we will make these our Groundhog Day treat.  They are quite similar to the Two-Bit Wonders  that we enjoyed so much at Christmas time.  They are almost guaranteed to be a source of sweet, sticky fun in the kitchen. 

Hope these give you some ideas for celebrating Groundhog Day with your family.  An indoor picnic with Philly Cheese Dip, chips, fresh veggie sticks, and groundhog cookies sounds like fun to me.  Once you know Phil's prediction, you can brainstorm ways to either enjoy a few more weeks of winter, or dream up some activities to welcome spring. 

Blessings,

Catherine

Catherine Love lives in the heart of Texas with her husband Carl, and their 3 daughters, Sarah, Hannah, and Cana.  They enjoy cooking, gardening, and learning new things as they seek to live a lifestyle of learning together as a family.  You can read Catherine's Kitchen Adventures and more on her blog- Seeds of Love.

This week Cappuccinomom is having a give away for an interesting book. Go on over to her blog, The Cappuccino Life to check it out! You'll need to leave a comment on The Cappuccino Life by this Thursday in order to enter the giveaway.

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