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Confessions of a Chocolate Shake Addict

July 11, 2021 by Tasha Hackett Leave a Comment

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Hey, it’s Tasha. Remember me? I’m Laura’s friend. The one who fell off the cliff and didn’t die. I homeschool a few kids and eat chocolate, AND I DRINK IT. Eating paleo took a turn for the better once I discovered some amazing chocolate tricks, but today is the day for the confessions of a paleo chocolate shake addict.

Chocolate Shake Confessions:

I drink a chocolate shake every day. Sometimes more than one.
Secretly, not so secretly anymore, I am happy a few of my kids don’t like my chocolate shakes—more for me.
16 oz of cacao powder barely lasts me one month = that means I eat approximately 3 Tablespoons a day.
Once, mid-shake preparation, I was ravenous. Hungry, grumpy, starving. The cacao powder was not where it was supposed to be. I searched frantically through the cupboards to no avail. Mean Tasha came out. I yelled across the house to my husband and kids, “WHO MOVED THE CHOCOLATE STUFF??” No one answered Crazy Mama. Climbed up on the counter and searched the top shelf while yelling at my family that there was a crisis upon us. Turns out, the almost empty bag was found behind the Blentec. Right where I’d left it I’m sure.
No, I’m not misspelling Cocoa. Cacao is a real thing.

Cacao vs. Cocoa?

Cacao is the name of the tree that grows pods with beans that are harvested and roasted like coffee to make cocoa powder and chocolate. But—woah—if you don’t roast the beans, it’s called cacao instead of cocoa. Unroasted beans are raw and contain significantly higher levels of minerals, fiber, and even some protein. So that’s what I chose to eat. Please check out the Subscribe & Save options available for Organic Cacao Powder.

Paleo Chocolate Shake RecipeYum

Clearly, Laura’s salad-drinking habits are commendable. But, another confession: I’m not a grown-up enough human to submit myself to such torture. What I meant to say is that Laura is a super human blessed by the Almighty with taste buds of steel. Hmm. Okay, how about this: I’m so deeply in love with chocolate shakes and I see no reason to give them up.

Sorry. The recipe(s).

I mostly make it the same every day, but has been evolving over the year. Therefore, I will give you two recipes. The first is when you only have 30 seconds to spare. The second is when you have 2 minutes.

Quick Fix Chocolate Shake

8 oz. coconut milk
2 Tablespoons cacao or cocoa powder
2 pinches salt
1/2—1 teaspoon Super Sweet from THM or stevia/blend sweetener of choice
Large handful of spinach
3 cubes ice
Blend until smooth
Drink

The above smoothie has approximately 4 grams of protein and 92 calories. It is enough to satisfy a chocolate craving and sweet tooth. If you want to trick your mouth into thinking you’re having a treat, and you’re in a hurry, give it a try. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of nutrients in the spinach, cacao, and coconut milk, but I wouldn’t recommend replacing a meal with this shake. Unless you’re planning to starve yourself to death, which I highly discourage.

Paleo Chocolate Shake with more stuff…

8 oz. coconut milk
2 Tablespoons cacao or cocoa powder
2 pinches salt
1/2—1 teaspoon Super Sweet from THM or stevia/blend sweetener of choice
2 Tablespoons integral collagen (paleo friendly dairy/soy-free protein)
half of a banana (sliced and frozen is nice)
1/2 cup frozen fruit (blueberries or sweet cherries are good options)
1 Tablespoon almond butter
Large handful spinach
3 cubes of ice
Blend until smooth
Drink in secret or make double to share with all the toddlers

This is the shake I drink daily. If we’re heading out and I’m not sure if there’s going to be paleo food for me, then I make a shake. Sometimes I drink with breakfast, or later in the day if I’m hungry and there’s no food in front of me. The full recipe is approximately 320 calories and 17 grams of protein.

What do you eat everyday?! Does it make you ask happy as this shake makes me? If not… maybe you should make this shake instead.

Paleo Chocolate Shake

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Author: Tasha

Recipe type: snack

Ingredients

8 oz. coconut milk
2 Tablespoons cacao or cocoa powder
2 pinches salt
½—1 teaspoon Super Sweet from THM or stevia/blend sweetener of choice
2 Tablespoons integral collagen (paleo friendly dairy/soy-free protein)
half of a banana (sliced and frozen is nice)
½ cup frozen fruit (blueberries or sweet cherries are good options)
1 Tablespoon almond butter
Large handful spinach
3 cubes of ice

Instructions

Blend until smooth
Drink in secret or make double to share with all the toddlers

Tasha Hackett is a friend of Laura and author of the Christian Romance, Bluebird on the Prairie; available wherever books are sold and from her website, www.TashaHackett.com. She spends most of her time (drinking chocolate shakes) with four chatty children and an incredibly supportive husband. They give her the kind of love people write books about.

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How to Make Biscuits With One Hand

July 4, 2021 by Laura Leave a Comment

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Why do we need to know how to make biscuits with one hand?

Maybe we don’t. Maybe we actually have two hands to work with in the kitchen. Either way, don’t we all love learning ways to make our kitchen work easier? So whether you have one hand or two to work with in the kitchen, you’ll love how this easy biscuit-making-method cuts out a few steps and makes for a less messy biscuit-making process!

Me? I’m almost always working one-handed in the kitchen these days:

Yum

Who actually even cares about biscuits? I’ll just nibble on her neck all day long. Those pudgy hands!! HER CHEEKS.

But back to the biscuits.

I find that I can do quite a bit with just one hand, but using a rolling pin isn’t one of them. So one morning, I decided to attempt biscuits while holding the baby, and would you believe, it worked? From start to finish!

How did I make biscuits with one hand?

I scooped some Quick Mix into a bowl. I poured in some milk. I didn’t measure. I stirred, kind of. I made dough. The baby used her gummy grin to affirm my abilities.

2. I put the dough directly onto my baking stone. I pressed it down with my one free hand. It looked like this:

Good grief. Are we rolling our eyes together about the fact that while I made biscuits with one hand, I also continued to wash said hand so I could take pictures with my phone of the biscuit-making process? I guess I just really wanted you to see how easy this is.

3. I dug my biscuit cutter out of the back of my catch-all drawer. I used it to make the ugliest-shaped biscuits you’ve ever seen. The baby was still impressed.

4. I grabbed up the excess dough and rolled it into two balls, then pushed them down onto the baking stone.

5. I baked the biscuits. They turned out incredible and delicious.

6. We ate them with butter and honey and jelly and gravy. We were all so happy because it had been over a year since I’d last made biscuits.

This gravy recipe is coming soon!

No matter if you have one hand or two while working in the kitchen:

Skip rolling your dough onto the counter before cutting your biscuits!

Simply press your dough onto your baking pan. Then cut your biscuits on your baking pan.

It saves a step. It saves a mess. Why have I not thought of this before?

Recipes you need so you can make biscuits with one hand:

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How to Make Fruit Teas Like McAlister’s

June 30, 2021 by Laura Leave a Comment

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Do you like McAlister’s fruit teas? Sweet or unsweet? Yum! So delicious and fun! Want to save a lot of money and make them at home?

It’s hard for me to spend money on a special drink from a restaurant or coffee shop. If I’m going to justify it, I have to be traveling or working (borrowing the internet at a coffee shop).

Yeah, I should probably loosen up a little. Maybe stop overthinking how much tea or coffee I could make at home for the cost of one purchased restaurant drink. Maybe.

Conversation in my head: This cup of coffee just cost me $4.50?? I could make many, many, many pots of coffee for that price at home. POTS. Not just cups. I can’t believe I just paid that much for one cup. Mmmm, that’s good. Well, it better be good for $4.50…

Don’t ask me about buying ice cream for the family while on vacation. For the cost of one Blizzard, we can buy a nice-sized container of ice cream at the store to feed our entire family a treat. Oy. I am such a barrel of fun, am I not?

Well anyway. Hooray for splurging on fun treats while out and about. But when you’re at home, what if you could make your own fun and fruity teas?

A few years ago, someone introduced us to McAlister’s tea and we all fell in love. Also: we all got about 20 free refills while we sat there eating because we wanted to be sure we got our money’s worth. Like parents, like kids, I guess. Therefore we all had to stop and pee 20 times during the remainder of our trip. Worth. It. Good memories.

Now you can have fun at home with these teas. Make them sweet. Make them unsweet. Either way, they are a great treat and perfectly refreshing in the summertime!

How to Make Fruit Teas Like McAlister’sYum

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Grilled Pizza Tortillas – a 10 Minute Meal!

June 27, 2021 by Laura Leave a Comment

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I shared a similar idea a few years ago, and it’s good enough that I’m bringing it back! Not sure what to make for dinner? Have everyone build Pizza Tortillas. Then throw them on the grill!

Yum

This isn’t even a recipe. This is all too easy. You can look at the picture and know exactly what to do because it is self-explanatory.

Laura answers the hard questions about making Grilled Pizza Tortillas below:

What is the base of this Grilled Pizza Tortilla you speak of? That would be a…tortilla.
How many tortillas should we use? However many your family can eat.
What should I put on top of my Grilled Pizza Tortilla? Whatever you want. I suggest pizza toppings. Those make the best kind of pizzas.
How much of the toppings should I use? As much or as little as you like.
What kind of cheese should I use? What kind of cheese do you like? {Laura answers a question with a question}
Where do I cook Grilled Pizza Tortillas? On the grill.
How long do I cook Grilled Pizza Tortillas? Until they are done.
Sauce or no sauce? Now that’s a good question. I mean, they were all good questions.

But about the sauce…

I skip the sauce on these Grilled Pizza Tortillas. I think they cook better and taste better when they are sauce-less, with the cheese directly on the tortilla, then toppings on top of the cheese. But THEN. After you cook them, you can dip them in pizza sauce as you’re eating. Perfection!

So now you know all about making Grilled Pizza Tortillas. Your family will love this!

Want more super fast food ideas for this summer?

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Stovetop Popcorn is Really This Easy?

June 23, 2021 by Tasha Hackett Leave a Comment

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Stovetop popcorn has been my snack of choice lately. So quick to make, so delicious, and everybody is happy.

Stovetop popcorn is really this easy?

by Tasha Hackett

Sometimes I make burgers from scratch with homemade sweet potato fries and avocado dip and caramelized onions with balsamic vinegar. Homemaker over-achiever award, amen? And other nights I toss around apples, cheese, and popcorn and beg the children to eat and be happy while I put myself in timeout. Popcorn is versatile like that. I’ll agree that even though stovetop popcorn is not unhealthy, it doesn’t have much in the way of nutrition. But if you’re going to stuff your mouth with something salty and crunchy, stovetop popcorn is a great way to go about it.

Stovetop PopcornYum

We received an air popper for a wedding present. We used it frequently and poured melted butter over the top. Easy. Yummy. Last year, I don’t know why, I started using my large pot and the old-fashioned method and I’ve fallen in love with popcorn all over again.

Step 1: Pot for the Popcorn

Please use the biggest stock pot you have. I’ve used a smaller one, thinking I was going to make a smaller amount of popcorn. Clearly, it was a foolish choice. Just use the big one.

Step 2: Chose Your Oil

I have successfully used coconut oil (flavored, or flavorless), olive oil, bacon grease, and butter. My go-to is olive oil. Coconut oil is nice, but it’s more expensive. Butter is more likely to burn and I don’t always have bacon grease on hand—it makes a unique crisp type of corn. You should definitely try it.

Step 3: Chose Your Kernel

Truly, I have purchased all different varieties, thinking that I’m going to be scientific and compare the results. Alas, I’m too interested in eating the popcorn and therefore have yet to track any noticeable difference in the popcorn brands. If you have a preference, by all means, let us know. I will say, ten years ago I bought Mushroom Popcorn from a co-op in Kansas and there was a difference. Almost all the kernels popped with a mushroom shape. That was fun. So if you’re looking to make popcorn for gifts or something where you want each kernel to be beautifully uniform… splurge for the Mushroom Popcorn. Otherwise, meh.

And Now the How-To for Stovetop Popcorn

Pour (or scoop) a 1/4 cup of oil of choice into the pan. Oil makes things yummy. Don’t be afraid of it. Melt on medium heat.
Add 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels.
Add a teaspoon of fine salt. (Blend a cup of salt in your snazzy Blendtec for fabulous and cheap popcorn salt!)
Put the lid on your pot and wait for the magic. I used to frantically shake the pan back and forth to make sure nothing scorched or burned, but then one time I didn’t do that… and nothing scorched or burned. From then on I was flying free. I haven’t been frantically shaking the pan in months now. Just stand near and LISTEN.
Keep the heat on medium. Too high and your popcorn will burn. Too low and the kernels will swell and crack, but not pop.
Let it pop while you put away the oil and break the cheese into chunks and yell at the kids for someone to get the toddler out of the bathroom. Do the popcorn dance and when it starts to slow down, that’s your cue. Pop, Pop, Pop, Pop… and Pop, Pop… wait for it Pop… Pop… NOW remove the pan from the heat. Take the lid off.

popcorn

Eat. Smile. Stuff your face with crunchy salty popcorn goodness.

Of course, if you want to be really fancy, check out Laura’s recipes for a large selection of homemade popcorn flavors. BBQ, to Chocolate, to Ranch, and more. “But Tasha,” you say, “I thought you were on a Paleo diet that didn’t include any grains? Isn’t popcorn a grain?” OHMYGOODNESSYES. Stop judging me. Popcorn is a grain. Sadly, it is not included in a strict paleo diet. But it’s been six months and I’ve been trying new things. (Side note, I’ve been MOSTLY headache free for six months!) I’ve learned that I can do small amounts of popcorn. So there.

How do you pop the corn? Ever tried it on the stovetop? Share all your tips!

Tasha Hackett is a friend of Laura and author of Bluebird on the Prairie, a Christian romance set in 1879. She spends most of her time with four chatty children and an incredibly supportive husband. They give her the kind of love people write books about. To connect with Tasha, check out her website at www.TashaHackett.com. Follow her on IG @hackettacademy and find Laura @heavenlyhomemaker.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Simple Honey Glazed Pork Tenderloin or Roast (Crock Pot Recipe)

June 20, 2021 by Laura Leave a Comment

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Here we are with another super fast meal for summertime! This Simple Honey Glazed Pork Tenderloin will wow everyone!

Yum

There’s something about the combination of flavors poured over this pork tenderloin (or pork roast) that makes it so very good. It slow cooks all day, so that makes the meat extra juicy and the flavor extra amazing. Simply put a Pork Tenderloin in your crockpot (these are inexpensive, by the way!), stir together a few ingredients to pour over the top of the meat, turn on your crockpot, and walk away!

What’s great about a meal like this is that well, a Pork Tenderloin or Pork Roast just feels like a special meal. You can serve it with:

a salad
a steamed veggie
and some fresh fruit

and your meal will be amazing!! But you will have worked very little to pull it off.

Meals like this are my favorite. Or have you figured that out about me by now? :)

Tip for choosing a cut of pork:

Check for meat mark-downs! Our local grocery store often has a high quality brand of pork marked down when it’s getting close to the “freeze-by” date. When I see these, I grab them! They are usually between $2-3/pound at this point, making for some very affordable and delicious meat options for our freezer!
Pork Tenderloin, Pork Butt (he-he-he, Pork Butt…I’m in middle school), and Pork Roast are my favorites. They turn out tender and juicy every time with this recipe!

Simple Honey Glazed Pork Tenderloin or Roast (Crock Pot Recipe)

Simple Honey Glazed Pork Tenderloin (Crock Pot Recipe)

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Author: Laura

Serves: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

2 pounds Pork tenderloin
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
¼ cup honey
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
½ cup water
2 Tablespoons soy sauce

Instructions

Place the pork tenderloin in the crock pot.
In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients.
Pour the mixture over the pork tenderloin.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours or until pork is tender and falling apart.

I hope the recent meal ideas I’ve shared recently have been helpful to you this summer as you figure out what to feed your family when it’s too hot to care about cooking. I’ll keep the recipes coming!

What I’ve shared so far:

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Easy, Tasty Burger Topping!

June 16, 2021 by Laura Leave a Comment

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Need a tasty burger topping? This turns a regular burger into something special!

Right now I’ve been sharing some super-fast meals for us to put together this summer when we don’t feel like cooking. So far: Fast No-Brainer Stir-Fry and 5-Minute Crock Pot Chicken

Now I’m going to share about making grilled burgers, which isn’t a new idea, of course. But, this can become a go-to quick meal that turns into something special!

This sauce!!!!! I can’t get over how much it changes our burgers. Sooooooo good! This has turned into a favorite, which means I fall back on grilled burgers about once every week now.

Give this a try and see if your family doesn’t feel like you’re feeding them something extra special too!

Easy, Tasty Burger ToppingYum

Easy, Tasty Burger Topping!

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Author: Laura

Serves: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

1 cup mayonnaise
3 Tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon mustard (any will do - honey mustard is extra fun!)
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Whisk all ingredients together until well combined.
Store in a covered bowl or a squeeze bottle, refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

While we’re talking burgers:

Do you have an Air-Fryer?

Matt and the kids got me one like this a couple of years ago for Christmas. Man, we love that thing! On a night we grill burgers, we’ll throw french fries into our Air Fryer and we feel like we’ve paid $12/plate at a restaurant. SO GOOD. And for the record, we’ve paid around $1.50/plate. Such good food for such a low cost!

I’d love to hear about your Air Fryer experiences.

And burger toppings! What are your favorites?

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Fast No-Brainer Stir-Fry!

June 13, 2021 by Laura Leave a Comment

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Don’t feel like cooking? Here’s how to make Fast No-Brainer Stir-Fry!

Yum

I promised you meal ideas for the hot summer days when you just can’t find inspiration to cook.

Did you try our 5-Minute Crock Pot Chicken yet? It truly only takes 5-minutes of effort to make. Perfect for this summer (or next winter, obviously).

And now, I encourage you to spend a few minutes putting together some Stir-Fry Packets so that you can quickly make stir fry on a busy evening.

It looks something like this:

Gather Veggies.
Rinse Veggies.
Chop Veggies
Baggie Up the Veggies.
Freeze the Veggies.
Pull Out the Veggies on an “I Don’t Wanna Cook” Day

Oh, and while you’re at it, make several baggies at once. It only makes sense!

Having baggies of chopped veggies like this truly has been a life-saver for me. It makes for very quick meals, and does it go without saying that these meals are full of veggies? What a perk!

My favorite ways to use Stir-Fry Veggies are:

Stirred into cooked spaghetti noodles like this.
Stirred into Stick-of-Butter-Rice.

With gardens in full swing right now, it’s a smart idea to chop and freeze excess garden veggies anyway.

Carrots
Zucchini
Summer Squash
Asparagus
Sweet Peppers
Onions
Green Beans
Any of your favorites!

Use these veggies for a side dish!

Here’s another idea: Use these stir-fried veggies as a side dish with this 5-Minute Crock Pot Chicken. Or with any meat that you might throw on the grill.

What are your favorite Stir-Fry Veggies? Have you put together Veggie Packets for your freezer like this?

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5-Minute Crock Pot Chicken

June 9, 2021 by Laura Leave a Comment

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Can you really make 5-Minute Crock Pot Chicken in only 5 minutes? Try it and see! Maybe you can make it in only 4 minutes? :)

Meals like this are my very favorite:

Throw chicken in a crockpot.
Dump something on top of the chicken.
Turn on the crockpot and come back at dinner time.

Add a simple vegetable, a salad, some fruit, and your meal is complete. It’s so easy and delicious and perfect for summertime right?

That’s why I’m going to share several days worth of 5-Minute recipes in the coming days! I’m always looking for quick meals in the summertime that don’t heat up the house. As much as I love to cook, I don’t enjoy it as much in the summer. So if we can have meals that both:

Take very little prep time and
Don’t heat up the house

We love it, right?!

Right.

So subscribe if you haven’t already so that you don’t miss any of these 5-Minute recipes!!! And now for our first one:

5-Minute Crock Pot ChickenYum

5-Minute Crock Pot Chicken

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Author: Laura

Serves: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

4-6 boneless chicken thighs or breasts
2 cups Italian dressing
½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

Place chicken pieces in a crock pot.
Pour Italian dressing over the chicken.
Sprinkle cheese over the top.
Cook on low for 8 hours.

I try to keep Homemade Italian Salad Dressing on hand if I can, which works great in this recipe! But any Italian dressing will work. So open a bottle and pour it on!

More 5-Minute Recipes coming. Stand by!

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Why I Don’t Love Christian Homeschool Curriculum

June 6, 2021 by Tasha Hackett Leave a Comment

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Woah! Did Tasha just say what I think she just said? Tasha doesn’t love Christian homeschool curriculum? Ho, hum. Well, no. Yes. Kind of. Here’s the thing. I do. But I don’t. Clear enough for you?

Why I Don’t Love Christian Homeschool Curriculum

by Tasha Hackett

Without diving too deeply into all the arguments, the main reason is because I love reading the Bible with my kids. That’s it. I want to pick up the Bible and read it. I want to gather my four kids around and snuggle together on the couch and read. We also gather around the table and copy verses. Often I am stopped every few verses with ideas, opinions, connections, and questions. Either from one of the kids or myself.

In a nutshell, I’m too selfish to give up my own family Bible reading habits to make room for the other Bible reading required by Christian homeschool curriculum. Does that make sense? I tried a first grade curriculum a few years ago that included Bible stories for the reading lessons, Bible verses for handwriting, Bible text for ancient history… and by the time we added in Sunday and Wednesdays, I didn’t feel like adding extra devotionals for the family and I sorely missed that time. The time is precious when we just read the Bible with no expectations or questions to answer or papers to write. Just listening to God speak.

I do love curriculum written with a Christian worldview!

Last August I started the Early American History collection with my kids and we loved it. The course provided a good amount of books that were interesting to all three of my listeners (currently 9, 6, and 4). The baby didn’t care. This isn’t a “complete” curriculum. I still added a reading course for the Kindergartener, I needed Math and Language for the 3rd Grader, Handwriting for both, but our focus was American History guided by the books and characters provided in the kit. Currently, the 9-year-old is studying and memorizing the Declaration of Independence. Yes, you heard me right. We are memorizing it. He and I can practically recite the first two paragraphs already by memory and boy do we feel smart! We plan to have it ready to recite confidently by July 4th. (Even if it’s not memorized, reading it well is a challenge!)

Okay, so I do like Christian curriculum.

But I don’t prefer curriculum that uses the Bible as its main history text because my kids already read it with me, and they will continue to read it for the remainder of their lives. Therefore, I’d like to study other things for our school time. Laura has mentioned a few times that we do school, but we don’t “do Bible” and I agree. She’s emphasized the importance of Bible and God being more than school. Reading the Bible isn’t something I want my kids to forget about once they check it off their school to-do list and think that it doesn’t carry through the summer and adulthood.

That being said, if you love curriculum with the Bible stories included, go for it! But it’s not for me.

I’m already itching for NEW BOOKS.

Does this happen to anyone else? We’ve barely finished and I’m looking for what we’re going to read next. Ha! So I have to share with you the news. We’ve decided to study world history with Around the World with Picture Books I and II from Beautiful Feet Books to guide us. I’ll use that and supplement with either the History of Science or History of the Horse for my 4th grader. We’re charging forward with Saxon Math for 4th grade, and we’re trying out Writer’s in Residence for him. Curriculum can break the budget, but I’ve been saving and I’m ready for it. There are many more affordable options—namely the library and free books online. Did you know you can print math worksheets for free and watch YouTube videos on just about anything… #truth. But for me, I do prefer to own the books and then I don’t feel rushed.

What about you? How do you integrate the Bible into the school day?

Tasha Hackett is Laura’s friend, fellow homeschooling mom, and author of Bluebird on the Prairie. She eats a good amount of homemade chocolate and all agree that she dances too much on Instagram (@hackettacademy), but she spends most of her time with four chatty children and an incredibly supportive husband. Learn more about her at www.TashaHackett.com.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

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