Homeschool mom of two shares 10 years of homeschooling including highschool. Curriculum, books, Christian walk, homemaking and life stories http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:49:00 -0500 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:49:00 -0500 Here's our favorite cookie recipe. It makes tons of cookies and the dough can be frozen. You can also half the recipe or quarter it. 1 lb. butter softened to room temperature 3 lb creamy peanut butter (6 1/2 cups) 2 lb brown sugar (5 cups) 4 cups white sugar 1 tbsp. corn syrup 8 tsp. baking soda 1 dozen eggs 1 package chocolate chips "big bag" like Costco size or about 3 regular size bags 18 cups Oat Meal (old fashioned) 1 bag coconut  Mix butter and peanut butter together. Then add remaining ingredients in order. Use 1/4 cup scoop, roll into balls then flatten on  greased cookie sheet leaving room to spread. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Then cool 1 minute. Remove from pan. I place mine on a cooling rack, but you can use brown paper bags to set them on.  You can add raisins, nuts or seeds what ever you want. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/684077/ Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:49:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/684077/ Hi all,  I look for recipes all over. The farm house muffins are from Taste of Home magazine a long time ago. I have recently been looking at Jamie Oliver (the naked chef, no he's not naked). I look through cooking magazines and cookbooks at book stores. Also a great place to get cookbooks cheap is thrift stores. I also really like Gooseberry Patch.  It's fun to try new things instead of the same old same old. Blessings,  Debra http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/671609/ Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:32:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/671609/ Here's a GREAT recipe I make all the time. You can substitute your own homemade buscuits for store bought or turkey for burger etc. I found the way the recipe is tastes best.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             1 Tube (10 ounces) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits 1 pound ground beef 1/2 cup ketchup 3 Tablespoons brown sugar 1 tablespoon cider vinegar 1/2 teaspoon chili powder 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese Separate dough into 10 biscuits; flatten into 5-in circles. Press each into the bottom and up the sides of a greased muffin cup; set aside. In a skillet, brown ground beef; drain. In a small bowl, mix ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar and chili powder; stir until smooth. Add to meat and mix well. Divide the meat mixture amoung buscuit-lined muffin cups, using about 1/4 cup for each. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from tin and serving. Yield: 10 servings. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/667689/ Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:29:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/667689/ Well, I quit my job my last day is Thursday. I feel releaved. Now I have to clean my house and get it back in order.  Deb http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/659159/ Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:00:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/659159/ Well it's been a tuff 5 months or so. I started working outside the home from 2-6 monday thru friday. It's really hard to keep up with everything at home including homeschool. Even cooking and shopping has been hard.  We don't live really close to everything so going out takes extra time.  When it even comes to cooking dinner I just couldn't think of anything. We haven't been eating well since I started working. I  know I'm spending more on groceries. Also when we leave the house we spend more on food and extras. I finally joined Weight Watchers just to get a handle on recipes and loosing weight as I was not eating well. We don't get as much time for school either. It's really hard to get it all done. So hopefully I will be able to quit in a couple of days or so. It's hard to give up the money for extras. Our house is still for sale so that adds to the cleaning everyday. I have really been leaning on the Lord and listening to some really great Joyce Meyer cd's on the way to work each day. My daughter is 18.5 now and always on the go with friends. Really found a great book called "Praying the Scriptures for your Teens" by Jodie Berndt. It really helps. Life has a way of throwing curve balls at you and God uses them to grow us. I've really had to grow lately. Our house hasn't sold and has been for sale for about 2 years, my daughter is growing up and need to be covered with a lot of prayer for right decisions, been working outside the home and really feel frazeled, trying to keep up with homeschooling, and need the courage to quit my job (which I hate btw). One of the lessons I have learned is not to be judgemental of certain ministries. It's really easy to get caught up in some of the ministries that put women in the home and limits their teaching of the Bible outside the home. Also only certain churches or church philosophies are exceptable.  You know God is using men and women to help people.  I have really had to let go and let God lately.  My children have minds of their own and they don't always want to do it mom's way. I also have had to let go of the wrong thinking that things are worse than they are. It's a condition of negetivity from the way I grew up. Things usually aren't as bad as I think they are. My son attends two youth groups. This is something I wasn't really interested in. But you know we've had some really good discussions out of it. I have been letting God do His will in their lives. I have to either try to go crazy making sure they don't do anything wrong or trust God. I will admit it has been really hard. But I am learning. Yes I have shed a lot of tears. Sometimes growth is hard. I am pretty sure I have quit worrying somewhat. I know if I worry then I am not trusting. God has also used this time to grow my husband. We have started to pray together every morning. We have had to lean on each other for support as our children become young adults. We have had to pray through situations we don't really agree with and ask God to change hearts. I have seen God answer my prayers for keeping the wrong people and places away from my children. Sometimes God has put them there anyway to show them how wrong it is. It's hard to let them learn a few things on their own. I pray my children would have the mind of Christ and a heart for God. Trust God and pray, pray, pray! Blessings,  Deb   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/658423/ Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:39:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/658423/ Thanks for the prayers. I will tell Kyle HB and tell you Happy Birthday also!!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/606768/ Sat, 18 Oct 2008 18:06:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/606768/ Well I haven't posted in quite awhile. The US financial crisis is hiting a lot of us homeschoolers. I have gotten a parttime job as have other homeschool mom's I know. I am praying for us all. I am praying God would restore to us what satan has taken. For us it's our medical being paid by my husbands company as well as his overtime being cut.  Please join me in praying that we can be at home with our children and God would restore our families income. We are doing a co-op this year for one class. Understanding the Times by summit ministries. It's a really great worldview class. Our house is still for sale and has been for about 1 year. No lookers at all right now. On a lighter note gas should be going down and that will help everyone. Well God bless Deb http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/603691/ Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:17:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/603691/ Hi,  Can't believe it's almost April and we have 2" of snow. It's all melted now but come on! I wanted to share another great resource by Lorrie Flem from Teach Magazine. It's the Mother Daughter bundle, tying mother daughter heart stings. It's comes with a cd and 3 ebooks as well as a book on writing letters to our daughters and son's. It's something I plan on doing. Letters are something they can keep for a life time and read over and over. It's a way to tell them our hopes and dreams for them with out the eye rolling. Lord bless.  Debbie http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/507515/ Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:01:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/507515/ Hi All,  Just wanted to share a great marriage resource with you all. Lorrie Flem from Teach Magazine has a great marriage bundle you can down load. It's really great. Also this weekend Cindy Rushton has a marriage study going on.  Just thought  I'd pass it along to you all as our marriage relationships are the most important relationship to have. It takes constant up keep.  You can follow the link on my blog to both websites.  Deb http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/476441/ Thu, 7 Feb 2008 12:57:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/476441/ Hi All,  Well Christmas is over! I am using my daughters new laptop at Starbucks so I can use high speed. Let's see... for Christmas I got an ipod. I love it. I can download tunes and podcasts it's great. I hope to listen to it when I walk. The thing is I can't walk because of the snow and rain. I want SPRING.  Okay I did get two seed catalogs in the mail so I feel a little better. My daughter is starting her second quarter at community college on Monday. She did really well last quarter. Got two 4.0's and one 3.5 (script writing) so all you home school moms who are fretting about your high schoolers lacking can relax.  My son is in 9th and we are working on the usual. We are doing Beautiful feet Us and World history for highschool. It covers literature, history and one other subject I would have to look up. I like to do multiple subjects with one class. I read Uncle Tom's Cabin out loud to him. It was really hard and I am a good reader. We are now reading Josiah Henson the real uncle Tom and Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Beecher preachers. It's really good. It's written by Jean Fritz on of my favorite authors. If you all want the link for Beautiful feet it's www.bfbooks.com One more favorite of mine is Gooseberry Patch. I looked all over our mall to find a new gooseberry patch calender, I finally found one at Barnes and Noble. www.gooseberrypatch.com Well have to log off and go pick up my children from youth group way out at some nice people's home. It's nice to have a whole huge youth group with almost all homeschoolers. It only  meets twice a month too which is nice.  Lord bless you all in this new year. 2007 wasn't that great for us so I am looking forward to 2008 being better. Never did sell our house so we took it off the market for now. Could the housing market get any worse? jezzzzz. Debra P.S. okay Christina I posted! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/456224/ Sat, 5 Jan 2008 22:13:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/debraleanderson/456224/