eHow Featured Member

Well, this is kind of cool!

Back at the end of October, I joined eHow and over the next couple of week wrote a few articles for them. I got busy and ran out of writing ideas over the holidays and haven't written since. Despite that, I continue to earn a little bit of money on those articles I wrote. With only those first 22 articles, I'll have made a little over $65. It's not a lot, but then again, I'm doing pretty much nothing to make it.

Today, I got an email from them telling me that I'm the eHow Featured Member of the Day.

New Articles

Morning everyone! Ok, so maybe it won't be morning when you read this. Just know I was thinking of you all when I wrote it. Ok?

Anyway, I got a couple of new articles written at eHow that are very on topic. So, I thought I'd share them here.

I've posted in the past about how much I like the virtual academy, or online homeschool program, that we use. If you live in Washington State, you really should check out those posts and consider this great resource available to us. If you aren't in our state and are wondering if an online homeschool program in your state is a good fit for you, I've written an article about what things to consider:

How to Evaluate an Online Homeschool Program

Are you finding that your kids hate school? Complain a lot about it being boring, hard, or too easy? Do they cry when it is school time? Are battlelines drawn each day at math time? Are you feeling stressed or burned out? Considering putting the kids into public school? If you are struggling with homeschooling, perhaps your curriculum is hurting your success. Check out this article to decide if you need to look for something new so that homeschooling can be more a blessing than a chore.

How to Know if Your Curriculum is a Good Fit

Save Money by Cooking Thanksgiving Yourself

Are you thinking about Thanksgiving yet? Will you be cooking at home this year? Or will you skip the hectic Thanksgiving cooking marathon and let someone else do it?

If you are planning on skipping out on roasting your own Thanksgiving turkey, I'd like to encourage you to reconsider. Roasting your own Thanksgiving turkey will save you a TON of money this winter if you do what I do.

Start by buying a large turkey when they go on sale. Look at the prices and find the turkeys with the lowest price pound. Now find the largest turkey in that range and bring it home.

Then roast the turkey and follow the steps in my newest eHow article:

How to Save Money Making 20 Meals with Your Thanksgiving Turkey

Thanksgiving is the only time of the year that you can make 20 meals out of $7 worth of meat. The closest you can come is about 6 meals for that price. It's worth doing!

Saving Money on Entertainment Is Easy

Sometimes I wonder if you all think we have a lot of money. I mean, we are always going somewhere, right? It's expensive to go to all these places... children's museums, art museums, history museums, living history musuems, fairs and festivals, live theater, concerts, and everywhere else we go come with steep admission rates. Not if you know how to find the free days, special discounted events, and coupons. I've written a basic article about How to Save Money on Entertainment Without Staying Home on ehow.

I'll be adding more articles in that series that discuss each suggestion in more detail. I'll update you here as I post new articles. You can also check this post listing all of my published articles; it will be updated after each new article is published. Another way to stay up on what I'm writing is to click on the eHow button on the right side bar. It will take you to my profile at eHow.

Making Literature Fun for Kids

If you've read my blog for long, you may have noticed that I like to add fun activities to our studies. We don't just read the textbook or novel, we live it. It is the addition of these kid friendly activities that makes history, science, and classic literature enjoyable.

When it comes to reading and studying literature, there are many ways to add to the enjoyment of the novel. Strategies as simple as being comfortable and reading every day at a consistent time are easy to implement. Other strategies such as reading aloud using voices, acting out a scene or character, and discussing the book using well-chosen questions may take you out of your comfort zone. Enriching your experience by watching the film or live theater adaptations or going on related field trips take research and preplanning. Regardless of what strategies you use to make reading classic children's literature to your children more enjoyable, it is worth the extra effort.

To read more details about these strategies, read my eHow article How to Make Literature Fun for Your Homeschool Child.

My Published Articles

Here are links to my articles that have been published elsewhere on the Internet.


Blissfully Domestic

Low Cost Field Trips: Live Theater

eHow

How to Save Money Getting Rid of Fleas Naturally

How to Make Literature Fun for Your Homeschool Child

How to Save Money at the Children's Museum

How to Make Homemade Popcorn Chicken

How to Make Chicken Tortilla Soup Cheaply

Save Money on Entertainment Without Staying Home

How to Train Children to Behave Well in the Grocery Store

How to Save Money on Heat Without Being Cold

How to Make Learning the Alphabet Fun for Toddlers and Preschoolers