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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Oregon Trail Snacks: Making Pemmican


For our study of the Oregon Trail and Westward Expansion in America, we decided to make pemmican - a staple food of Native Americans and 19th century travelers.

Voyagers - public domain picture taken from Wikipedia.org


We studied how the Native Americans made pemmican by combining sun-dried fruits and berries with dried meat from hunting. 

Sun Dried Fruit - public domain picture taken from Wikipedia.org

Although we were able to enjoy the modern convenience of using a food processor, we learned a new appreciation for those who had to find their meat and fruit, dry it in the sun, then pound it by hand into a fine powdery mush that was able to be thoroughly mixed together. So much of 19th century life on the plains was all about survival. So much of the day was dedicated to the grueling task of just finding enough sustenance to fuel the bodies. We definitely have it very easy in our modern times, in comparison, and I hope that this lesson helped to instill that in my children.

Pemmican was a staple food because it was easily portable and lasted a long time without any kind of preservation. It was a very low maintenance food to transport, yet provided protein and energy (carbs). Could you imagine eating dried pemmican for weeks on end? Those who made it could spend a few days hunting, cutting up the meat and drying it, and gathering berries or other available fruits and drying those. This would produce a large amount of pemmican that could feed the travelers for weeks.

To make our modern version of pemmican, we first gathered a 3oz bag of beef jerky.


We also bought a small bag of mixed dried fruit. From our studies, we learned that most pemmican was made from dried apples or dried berries, but that travelers would also make it from any fruit that was available. Its purpose was to provide sweetness and energy to the pemmican.


Although in the 19th century, those who made pemmican would grind or beat the dried meat into a fine powder, we placed it a few pieces at a time into the food processor to grind it. 


We then added the dried fruit, along with 2 teaspoons of water to moisten the mix. Indians were known to use bear grease in their pemmican, but we decided we would skip that part!


After making sure the meat and fruit was well pulverized and combined, we spread it out onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet. We left some bigger chunks, and did not completely grind it down.


We then covered the pemmican mix with another sheet of wax paper.


Using our hands, we pressed the ground meat and fruit together and shaped it into one large, flattened 'pancake' about half an inch thick. 


It looked like this.....


Since it is the middle of winter and we haven't seen the sun in weeks, we put our pemmican in the oven to dry out, rather than trying to find some sunshine to dry it. We set it in a 250 degree oven for about an hour. 


We watched it closely, and when the pemmican felt dry and looked browned, we took it out and let it completely cool. As it cooled, it hardened more, and after a few hours, we were able to break up the one giant piece into smaller, bite-sized pieces. It came out crunchy. (We had thought it would have more of a jerky texture). 


The pemmican tasted sweet because of the dried fruit, and we packed it in zipper sandwich bags for the girls to snack on.They enjoyed eating it, pretending that they were weary travelers on the Oregon Trail.


This was a really fun lesson, and the girls enjoyed the hands on aspect of learning what life was like for those who traveled in the 19th century.




Copyright 2012-2014 - "Be The One" - www.aclassofone.blogspot.com  All rights are reserved. No text, photos, or content may be reproduced without direct permission from the author.


Friday, January 24, 2014

5 Essential Attitudes in Homeschooling - Day Five: Planning And Priorities



For my final day of this mini-series, I would like to discuss planning and priorities.

As the children grow up and enter the high school years, planning for the future becomes a regular topic of discussion. They also become much more involved with activities and friends outside the home, and start to learn the juggling act that we call adulthood.

I once wrote a post about developing priorities in my own life, and how that helps me make good choices when I am faced with so many wonderful and interesting activities to get involved in. Then I realized that my teens were facing many of the same dilemmas, and struggling to make good choices in their own lives. With so many people in our family having a personality that always wants to GO and DO, I decided we needed some help with figuring out what our priorities should be, and how all those activities should fit into our lives.

This is a list of five areas that we can use to help our teens focus on their priorities and planning. My suggestion would be to have your teen think carefully about these areas of their life, and establish their own written list of what is the priority in their own life. A written list will help them distinguish between good and better choices when they are confronted with life’s options.

    Faith – There is nothing more important than knowing God and developing a good relationship with Him while you are young. That is why this is first on my list. The areas that should be included in this category are:

  •        A personal walk with God through daily devotions, Bible reading, and praying.
  •       Various ministries and volunteer opportunities
  •        Soulwinning, visiting, and fulfilling the Great Commission.

    Family – The home is the first place where children learn to develop relationships. Children should learn ways to work together and problem-solve in their homes, with their siblings. Children also need to honor parents, even while they are seeking their own independence. Teens that are spending more and more time outside the home due to jobs, sports, or other activities sometimes need reminders that family is still a priority!

  •        A place of responsibility. Charity begins at home.
  •        Build strong relationships that will endure the test of time.

     Friends & Fellowship – Friendships are very important to teens. This is a wonderful time to build and develop strong friendships, and to learn good people skills.

  •        Opportunities to minister together with these friends through church, youth group, missions trips, choir, sports, etc.
  •        Be an encouraging friend. Build those around you – don’t tear them down or cause drama.
  •        Keep in touch. Don’t always expect your friends to come to you. Be the one looking to help them when they have a need.

   Finances – Most teens begin an intimate relationship with finances during their teen years. They study about it in school, they earn money through jobs, and they realize how much it takes to buy the ‘stuff’ that they want and need.

  •        Practice Biblical giving of tithes and offerings. Give to foreign missionary works.
  •     Develop a savings plan. Plan for college, cars, and marriage.
  •      Invest in a missions trip.
  •        Learn how to make and stick to a budget.

    Future – These years are all about looking ahead and planning for the future. Teens need lots of prayer together with their parents, as well as guidance in this planning.

  •        Courses to study
  •       College planning
  •        Job training



Copyright 2012-2014 - "Be The One" - www.aclassofone.blogspot.com  All rights are reserved. No text, photos, or content may be reproduced without direct permission from the author. 



5 Days of Homeschooling EssentialsStop by and see what other homeschool moms are writing about, as they share what their homeschool essentials are!

Ellen @ Grace Tells Another Story

Jenn @ Treasuring Life's Blessings

Christine @ Our Homeschool Reviews

Michelle @ Delightful Learning

Sharon @ Life With The Tribe

Hillary @ Our Homeschool Studio

Melanie @ FinchNWren

Brittney @ Mom's Heart

Heather @ Principled Academy


Residents of the U.S. only.  Void where prohibited by law. Must be at least 18 years of age. See other Terms and Conditions in the Rafflecopter widget.


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Thursday, January 23, 2014

5 Essential Attitudes in Homeschooling - Day Four: Taking Responsibility



I love homeschooling. In fact, I haven’t really found much not to like about it. I love my kids, and I enjoy the opportunity to see them learn and grow, and to make the most out of teachable moments. I enjoy spending time with them in many different venues. This doesn’t make me a better mom than one who sends their kids to school. If you knew me like my kids do, you would quickly see how many “mom” areas of my life are in need of improvement. In all my homeschooling years, there is one area I found that really is lacking though. It definitely needs special focus. That is the area of teaching and maintaining personal responsibility and accountability with our children.

A homeschool mom wears many different hats: teacher, nurse, referee, chef, chauffeur, mom, comforter, and disciplinarian….and all that can be before breakfast! It calls for a mom to be always on her toes, and walking close with the Lord to have the wisdom and strength necessary to know when to be firm and when to step back.

With some time and experience, most homeschool families are able to develop a system that works for them, using a combination of the many homeschool systems that are available. One tendency I have noticed that homeschool moms in general seem to have though is to be very lenient on school requirements and deadlines.

When children are younger, they are satisfied with pleasing their mom/teacher by completing everything that is asked of them. They generally enjoy schoolwork, and learning new things. Most homeschool moms are very involved in one-on-one teaching with their young children, which children really thrive with.  As the students get older, they may test the waters a bit to see if certain assignments really need to be completed or not, and if not, will there be consequences? They become more comfortable with voicing their opinions about subjects and assignments, especially the ones they find challenging or boring.

Moms who are busy, worn down, or just plain trying to keep a peaceful homeschool running smoothly may be tempted to slack off a bit on these students. It is easier to not make them finish, or to just let them off the hook on something they are struggling with. There may be challenges to overcome with finding a tutor or someone who can help explain more challenging subjects. 

One of the main challenges to homeschooling is that we are 100% in charge of character building, 100% of the time.  Homeschool parents don’t get to ‘share’ that responsibility with a teacher or school system. There is not a typical partnership with a caring teacher who will labor to make your child ‘toe the line’ and be accountable for assignments. A homeschool mom has to always be willing to take the unpopular route in the home and sometimes even be the firm one who deducts points off an essay that is not completed on time, or gives a failing grade to a test that deserves it, requiring that student to correct and redo work that is not up to the standard that has been established for them. Because of the lack of other voices telling your child what to do, they may perceive your sole demands on their personal accountability as unfair or unjust.

While homeschooling certainly demands a fair amount of flexibility, the flip side is that homeschool parents are assigned the challenge of making sure that their students experience the demands of personal responsibility in their work as well. Remember, we are training them for life. When they make mistakes, we want them to be the type of people who will take responsibility for it, and make things right. We want them to have good character, and be able to pursue whatever dreams the Lord gives them. 

Perhaps they will go on to college or the military. That cannot be their first experiences with being accountable for completing tasks properly and on time. We must determine to create situations right in our own homeschools, where they will learn this necessary character trait.

It is a great disservice to our homeschooled students to not be consistent with them or not make them complete their assignments. We are doing them no favors when we look the other way and do nothing about it. We should be looking to give them some deadlines and make them accountable, just to give them some practice for real life situations.


Personal responsibility begins with us as homeschool parents. If we will be responsible to follow through consistently on the tasks we assign, and keep our kids accountable with their schooling, they will surely respect and follow our example. We will be building good character that will reap generous benefits in years to come for our students. 



Copyright 2012-2014 - "Be The One" - www.aclassofone.blogspot.com  All rights are reserved. No text, photos, or content may be reproduced without direct permission from the author. 


5 Days of Homeschooling EssentialsStop by and see what other homeschool moms are writing about, as they share what their homeschool essentials are!

Ellen @ Grace Tells Another Story

Jenn @ Treasuring Life's Blessings

Christine @ Our Homeschool Reviews

Michelle @ Delightful Learning

Sharon @ Life With The Tribe

Hillary @ Our Homeschool Studio

Melanie @ FinchNWren

Brittney @ Mom's Heart

Heather @ Principled Academy


Residents of the U.S. only.  Void where prohibited by law. Must be at least 18 years of age. See other Terms and Conditions in the Rafflecopter widget.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

5 Essential Attitudes in Homeschooling - Day Three: Consistency



My Essential Attitude for today is CONSISTENCY.

Over my homeschooling years, I have met all kinds of parents with every homeschooling method imaginable. I have also seen brilliant homeschooled students who have come from every method available. What can I learn from this? That no matter what curriculum we settle on, how many hours a day we do school, what approach we take, etc. what really matters is that we are consistent.

Consistency can be applied to many areas of life. I am not a fan of jumping around to many different curriculums, and one of the reasons is for the sake of consistency. When I find something that works, I will embrace it and stick with it. Granted, children are different, and one type of method may work wonders for one child, yet frustrate another, but overall, there should be a common thread of consistency in our homeschool lives. Consistency builds character.

“Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.”
Samuel Smiles

Consistency not only applies to curriculum and schooling, but also to our attitudes. With God’s help, we should strive to be patient and calm parents. Our children should never have to guess which “mom” will show up for school that day. Will it be the patient mom who can overlook their silliness and help them get some work accomplished, or will it be ‘that mom’ who gets easily irritated and frustrated with everything?

Our discipline should be consistent as well. This is probably one of the hardest things a parent faces, because we get busy and often don’t want to take the time to set our children down to explain and correct the faults in their character. We start to let things slide, then when we feel they have reached the point of no return, we clamp down and make the children mind. This is nothing but confusion for children, who despite their protests really do like clear boundaries to work within.

We should determine in our hearts where those behavior boundaries should be, then clearly explain them to our children. As tedious as it may be, every time those boundaries are crossed, the issue should be dealt with as soon as possible. If a child thinks they can get away with something, even occasionally, they will think it is worth taking the risk. If they get punished for a misdeed when mom is having a bad day, but not when mom is having a good day, they will become frustrated. They know they should not be allowed to get away with bad behaviors. If we are not consistent, our children will not be either.

The best benefit of consistency is that it breeds predictability. Predictable days, predictable parents, and predictable studies give children a much needed sense of security. The whole world might be crazy, but they have a safe haven where they know what to expect, because their parents have strived for consistency in their daily lives. My goal is to be that kind of parent to my children.


Copyright 2012-2014 - "Be The One" - www.aclassofone.blogspot.com  All rights are reserved. No text, photos, or content may be reproduced without direct permission from the author. 


5 Days of Homeschooling EssentialsStop by and see what other homeschool moms are writing about, as they share what their homeschool essentials are!

Ellen @ Grace Tells Another Story

Jenn @ Treasuring Life's Blessings

Christine @ Our Homeschool Reviews

Michelle @ Delightful Learning

Sharon @ Life With The Tribe

Hillary @ Our Homeschool Studio

Melanie @ FinchNWren

Brittney @ Mom's Heart

Heather @ Principled Academy


Residents of the U.S. only.  Void where prohibited by law. Must be at least 18 years of age. See other Terms and Conditions in the Rafflecopter widget.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

5 Essential Attitudes in Homeschooling - Day Two: Flexibility



Today’s Essential Attitude I would like to write about is FLEXIBILITY.

Flexibility is important in homeschooling because we are training little people, not assembling robots. Each day will be different with its new challenges. Life has a way of throwing curve balls at us when we are least expecting them. Just when we think that we are finally starting to get this parenting thing figured out, a child will do something outlandish to show us exactly where our faith and dependence need to remain.

It is important that we have a mindset of flexibility and put it into practice. This will likely call for a great deal of patience, especially if you are the type of parent who likes all their ducks in a row and everything scheduled.  A group can only move as fast as its slowest member. This might require slowing down and taking in the scenery sometimes!

Making a plan and following it is important, but be sure to build in enough time to keep it flexible as well. Teachable moments come and go quickly, and we must take advantage of them when the opportunity arises. They may never come again. If we are so rigid in our scheduling that we miss the chance to answer a question, or touch our children’s hearts, that moment may be lost forever. That child may feel that their question or silly little story was not important enough to interrupt our day, and they may never ask it again.

Children will have sick days, storms and natural phenomenon will happen, power goes out, visitors come in, friends have a crisis…. All these are events that naturally take place in life, and provide great life training. When God sends them our way, we should always thank Him for the lessons, and take that moment to reach into the heart of our children, showing them the way that God would want us to take care of these things, and building memories.


Our children may or may not remember that they finished a certain workbook, but they will remember those ‘big moments’ when their family made good memories taking care of an unforeseen circumstance. Plan your work and work your plan…but while you are doing so, be sure to leave enough flexibility for the real lessons of life!



Copyright 2012-2014 - "Be The One" - www.aclassofone.blogspot.com  All rights are reserved. No text, photos, or content may be reproduced without direct permission from the author. 


5 Days of Homeschooling EssentialsStop by and see what other homeschool moms are writing about, as they share what their homeschool essentials are!

Ellen @ Grace Tells Another Story

Jenn @ Treasuring Life's Blessings

Christine @ Our Homeschool Reviews

Michelle @ Delightful Learning

Sharon @ Life With The Tribe

Hillary @ Our Homeschool Studio

Melanie @ FinchNWren

Brittney @ Mom's Heart

Heather @ Principled Academy


Residents of the U.S. only.  Void where prohibited by law. Must be at least 18 years of age. See other Terms and Conditions in the Rafflecopter widget.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, January 20, 2014

5 Essential Attitudes in Homeschooling - Day One: A Surrendered Life


Welcome to the first day of my mini series on "Homeschooling Essentials" with The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew. Stop back daily for a chance to enter my giveaway for a new 16GB iPad Mini - see entry details at the bottom of this post!

As part of my series on Essential Attitudes in Homeschooling, I would like to discuss what I feel is likely THE most important starting point for a parent: Living A Life Surrendered to God.

Each morning as we start our new day, we need to take a few moments and surrender ourselves wholly to God for that day. Each day is a fresh start. While yesterday I may have been a nominee for the “Worst Mom of the Year” Award, today is a clean slate. I can’t change yesterday, but I can certainly improve today.
Quiet time with the Lord each morning shows our sincerity to Him, and our faith that “without Him we can do nothing”. It sets the tone for our day, our attitude, and our spirit.

Since I spend the majority of the day with my children, one of my biggest goals is to let God’s love flow through me to them, so that they will get to know and love God. If they can do Algebra well, but don’t know the love of God, then I have failed at what I set out to do. The only way that God will be real to them is if He is real in my life, and they see me living that out in front of them. The only way I can maintain a sweet spirit and Godly presence in our home is if I start out each day surrendered to Him. 

Surrendering the day to the Lord helps adjust my perspective on the events that come at me throughout the day. If I have committed the day to God, and something expensive breaks or something goes wrong, my first thoughts should not be anger or frustration, but an acceptance that it is what God has for me that day, since I gave Him control over everything in my life early that morning.

Surrendering our life to God each morning can be as simple as a short prayer before we even hop out of bed. It is a prayer of giving over the control and asking God to use us and work through us in the lives of our children, family, and anyone who might cross our path that day. God will answer that prayer. Amazing things will happen, and we can retire to our beds at night with the satisfaction of knowing that we put a smile on God’s face that day. Having a quiet time of devotions in the morning where we can commune with God through prayer and reading His Word will broaden this prayer of surrender and certainly strengthen our spirit to carry out God’s plans for the day.

A surrendered life is a happy life! Happy parents have happy children. Happy parents and children together create a happy home. A happy home is a very fun and successful place to have homeschool. That's what makes "A Surrendered Life" my number one homeschool essential!


Copyright 2012-2014 - "Be The One" - www.aclassofone.blogspot.com  All rights are reserved. No text, photos, or content may be reproduced without direct permission from the author. 

5 Days of Homeschooling EssentialsStop by and see what other homeschool moms are writing about, as they share what their homeschool essentials are!

Ellen @ Grace Tells Another Story

Jenn @ Treasuring Life's Blessings

Christine @ Our Homeschool Reviews

Michelle @ Delightful Learning

Sharon @ Life With The Tribe

Hillary @ Our Homeschool Studio

Melanie @ FinchNWren

Brittney @ Mom's Heart

Heather @ Principled Academy


Residents of the U.S. only.  Void where prohibited by law. Must be at least 18 years of age. See other Terms and Conditions in the Rafflecopter widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Sneak Preview of A Blog Series With An iPad Mini Giveaway


My blog is participating in its first ever giveaway! See details below and enter to win an iPad mini.

This coming week, my blog is participating in a blog hop through The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew. This series has 89 veteran homeschool moms writing about what they consider their homeschooling essentials. As I was preparing my posts for this series, I started making a list of what I felt were absolute essentials for my own homeschool – the stuff that I could not live without.  As I wrote and thought, it became very clear that the ‘things’ I could not function without were not ‘things’ at all.

Yes, there is the necessity of functioning DVD players, since most of the girls’ lessons are on DVD’s. When one of those little electronic devices goes down, it definitely is a full blown crisis in our home. Or perhaps I could write about my newfound love: my new Kindle, or even the cool apps that have helped the girls review lessons on my iPod. Maybe an essential item would be the library card that I use on a weekly basis to flesh out the lessons with really cool stories and books, or maybe it would be our membership with the Family Vision Library, where we have access to nearly 10,000 Christian homeschooling items that definitely are not available through the local public library….

As you can see, the eraser on my pencil got just as much use as the pointy end by the time I was done with my list. I kept erasing and re-writing, because as I was jotting down these ‘essentials’ I realized that school can be done without electronics, and that Abe Lincoln was able to receive an education at home without a library card. So what really IS essential?

I have finally settled on a list of ATTITUDES that I think are essential to a happy and successful homeschool. Actually, they are essential to any happy and strong parent/child relationship. I am so thrilled to have a Bible that talks so much about good parenting skills.

This coming week I will be focusing on a different attitude everyday – one that I cannot live without in my homeschool. To me, they are my homeschool essentials! Take away all my books and supplies, and leave me in a room with just my children, and this is what it all boils down too. The ‘things’ are just that – tools to help reach the goal. The heart issues are the preparation for real life.

The goals I have laid out for my children are to:
  1. Know God
  2. Love God
  3. Enjoy God

These goals will mainly be accomplished through the daily attitude that I have as I spend time teaching the children. If my homeschool is to be a success, then improving my daily attitudes must be at the very top of my “essentials" to-do list.


Please stop back every day next week to read my mini-series “5 Essential Attitudes for Homeschooling” and make sure you enter my giveaway for a chance to win a brand new iPad Mini!

Residents of the U.S. only.  Void where prohibited by law. Must be at least 18 years of age. See other Terms and Conditions in the Rafflecopter widget.
The giveaway will run from Jan 18 at midnight ET thru Jan 28 at midnight ET.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Devotional: Four Things Done In Secret That God Rewards Openly


As I started through my Bible again at the beginning of this year, I decided to keep a journal of devotional thoughts to share here on the blog. I hope they will be a blessing and encouragement to you - that's my goal!

Four Things Done In Secret That God Rewards Openly

As I started my New Testament journey in the book of Matthew, I was immediately struck by chapter six, where God lists several things that a Christian is to strive for. God plainly tells us that these are things that we are to do privately as a part of our walk with God. Because of His great love for us, He also promises a reward to those who follow through on them. I think it's amazing that we can be so blessed by God, just by being obedient. 

The really neat blessing about this whole thing is that even though we do these things in secret, meaning we don't make a huge ordeal or announcement over the fact that we did them, God's rewards are very evident and abundant, and definitely not a secret!

Here are the four things we can strive to learn about and put into practice:

1) Giving
Matthew 6:4 "That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly."
In this chapter, the directions are given to do "alms" which basically means giving to the poor or those in need. Let's face it, it's easy to give to someone that has given to you, or that you know has the means to return the favor when you have a need, but true love, and God's way, gives to those who cannot or will not repay. The Bible talks about giving to the poor, that it is just like "lending to the Lord". Even better, if this giving is done in secret with no expectation of others giving you a "pat on the back" for being such a great Christian, then God, who sees everything, promises to repay in ways that only He can.

2) Praying
Matthew 6:6 "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."
Much can be accomplished through prayer. Not only does it strengthen our relationship with the Lord through worship, communication, and trust, but it is also a means of loving and helping others. I find it interesting that the ones who prayed loudly and openly in the Gospels were not the ones that Jesus  lifted up. He always pointed out and emphasized the humble, quiet, faithful praying people. Secret prayer strengthens the life of a Christian like nothing else can. It is something we need to make a priority in our life if we want to see the power of God evident in what we are setting out to accomplish.

3) Forgiving
 Matthew 6:14 "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:"
This is a very strong verse. Forgiveness is really a matter of the heart. There may even be people who we must forgive that we cannot ever have the opportunity to tell them they are forgiven. Perhaps they never asked, or never realized that they caused us hurt, or maybe they are no longer here. If we harbor bitterness in our heart against them, we are only destroying our own life, and causing grief to our own heart.  I do not want to miss out on the blessing of feeling complete freedom and forgiveness in my own life, because I have chosen to deliberately hold out and not offer that forgiveness to someone else. Forgiveness is something that is 'done in secret' because it is something that is not seen by others, but is known to only you and God.

4) Fasting
 Matthew 6:18 "That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly."
Fasting is a time set aside to deny the flesh something it craves, and to replace that time seeking after God. Whether we choose to fast from food, electronics or media, or even something else in our life, this should be a special  time where we can draw closer and build on our relationship with the Lord. It is also something that should not be "announced" for attention or the awe and praise of man. I know a man who fasted 40 days in order to seek God's will on a matter. Only the closest few people to him knew, in order to be a help and to have understanding about what was going on in his life. I do believe God has greatly rewarded this man openly, as He promised, for the time spent fasting and seeking after God.

God, who sees all, knows us better than we even know ourselves. He understands our heart, and wants us to surrender it, and all its desires to Him. He wants to bless us. Let us seek after these things that we can do secretly, just between us and our God, and watch how much God moves in our lives, and in the lives of our families, because of it!



Copyright 2012-2013 - "Be The One" - www.aclassofone.blogspot.com  All rights are reserved. No text, photos, or content may be reproduced without direct permission from the author.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Dairy Free Chocolate Fudge


I really enjoy making fudge...throughout the year, but especially at the holidays. For several years, I have been working on creating a recipe to provide a special fudge treat to my dairy-allergic children. I think we have finally come up with a perfect fudge recipe. I fed it to someone without telling them it was dairy free, and they loved it, and then didn't believe that it had no milk, cream, or butter.

Here is the recipe I created, with some links to some of the specialty products that are required to make it. {These are Amazon affiliate links - if you click through them, and purchase, I will receive a small commission}

Dairy Free Chocolate Fudge

3/4 c. dairy free butter, plus 2 TBS for buttering the pan - (I use Earth Balance Buttery sticks,            available in soy or non-soy versions)
3 c. sugar
3/4 c. hot water
1/3 c. Dari-Free chocolate powder
1 package of Enjoy Life chocolate chips
7 oz. marshmallow fluff
3 tsp. vanilla extract (or you can use mint extract for a flavor variation)

Prepare a 9x13 pan by generously buttering it with the 2 TBS of Earth Balance butter. Measure out fluff and extract and set aside. In a medium sauce pot, mix together the 3/4 c. Earth Balance butter, sugar, hot water, and Dari-Free powder. Stir over medium heat until all the sugar is dissolved. Increase heat slightly and bring to a boil. Patiently keep stirring. When mixture reaches a full, rolling boil, continue boiling for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and quickly mix in entire package of chips and the fluff. Stir until completely smooth. Pour in extract and stir until blended. Pour entire mixture into the pre-greased pan and allow to chill for at least 4 hours before cutting. Enjoy!

Here are links to purchase the specialty products listed above:

Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, Gluten, Dairy, nut & Soy Free, Mini Chips, 10-Ounce Bags (Pack of 6)

Vance's Foods DariFree Non Dairy Milk Alternative Mix -- 23.3 oz

Earth Balance Buttery Stick - No 4, 16 Ounce -- 18 per case.




Copyright 2012-2013 - "Be The One" - www.aclassofone.blogspot.com  All rights are reserved. No text, photos, or content may be reproduced without direct permission from the author.
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Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Family Game Night Linkup for January

Happy New Year! I hope 2014 brings you many great days with which to make great memories.
 

For 2014, I am starting up my Family Game Night Link Up once again. It will take place at the beginning of each new month. I will share a game that our family is enjoying, and invite others to link up one of their favorite games, to give us all some new and fresh ideas!

May 2014 be a great year of fun family memories for all of us!




The girls received this game for Christmas from some dear friends of ours. We had never even heard of it before!! It quickly became a family favorite and definitely was one of the Top Ten Favorite Gifts this Christmas.

The game comes in a small canister. There are three levels of play: beginner, intermediate, and expert.

First, remove all the pieces and sort them in order from largest to smallest. 2-4 people can play, and the pieces get divided equally between all players. Extra pieces, if there are any, are placed in a draw pile.

The pieces, as you will see below, consist of one base, and a number of notched rods in various lengths. Each length is identified by a different colored end.



For the beginners level, players compete by 'suspending' their rods on the sculpture of pieces in order from largest to smallest. There is a lot of thinking and planning involved, because pieces must be balanced out or they will drop. Any pieces that fall must be picked up and added to that player's pile. Of course, the first player to run out of rods wins, so you don't want to be picking up extra rods along the way!

In the intermediate level, players roll the die and play the color shown. This can get tricky because if the first piece you must play is the shortest one, it is more difficult to find stable spots for the longer rods. Again, first player who runs out of rods wins.

The expert level can be played like a tournament, where rods are worth points depending on how many notches they have. It can get very challenging and involves multiple rounds.

I love the rule sheet - it includes an option for single players....and encourages them to "ignore the rules listed above, and have fun just building their own metal sculpture"!

This game is quick and easy, and is different every time you play it! We have played almost all variations of it, from 2 player beginners, to more advanced multiple player rounds. This is one of those games that is so fun the kids don't realize it is also educational (can you say physics??)


Here is one of our metal sculptures from a recent game!

The age recommendations on this game are 8+. I think children younger than that would enjoy it as well.

Copyright 2012-2013 - "Be The One" - www.aclassofone.blogspot.com  All rights are reserved. No text, photos, or content may be reproduced without direct permission from the author.


Please feel free to grab the button and link up your favorite family games here!

Be The One


Blog Year In Review: My Top Ten Posts of 2013

This was my first year blogging full time. I learned a lot and found it fun and rewarding, as well as challenging! My creativity and inspiration was definitely stretched to new levels, and it was interesting to learn many new things about computers as well!

Looking back over the past year, the many reviews I wrote, the recipes, and the fun projects we completed as a family in our homeschool, I went into the blog stats to see which posts were the most visited and shared. It was pretty interesting, and gave me some good insight as to what direction the blog should go in for 2014.

Here, in order of popularity, are my top ten posts of 2013!

1) Breakfast burritos - an easy recipe that can be made ahead and warmed up for busy mornings.

2) Quick Breakfast Sandwiches - another easy and quick breakfast recipe!

3) Review for Song School Spanish from Classical Academic Press. This was one of my first reviews, and was a product that we loved and still use nearly a year later.

4) My post about Free Lego plans that includes a link. I have used this link extensively - glad to see it has helped others as well.

5) We took a camera everywhere we went one day, and joined up with a blog cruise chronicling A Day In the Life of Our Homeschool.  It was just a typical day, so I found it amusing that so many people visited and enjoyed this post! The kids have been asking to do it again, so I guess we will have to make it point to put a few more of these 'real life' posts on! :-)

6) Another recipe - Christmas pretzels with an allergy free alternative.  This post is on track to make it to the very top of my list of 'most popular posts of all time'. It had only been up a few days before it went 'viral' on Pinterest. In just over a week, it has already made it to number 6 on my 'most visited posts' list.

7) A random breakfast recipe posting, that included homemade granola. But what really catapulted this post to the 'all time favorites' list was my notes on "the world's easiest way to cook bacon." Once again, thank you Pinterest!

8) Another photojournal - Youth Group Game Night.

9) Combination of a photojournal and a review: my review of Spanish For You. We had a lot of fun with this review, and I have chosen it as my top review of 2013.

10) How To Build A Flexible Spine - An Anatomy Project that we made when studying the spine. It was a quick and easy project, and made a cute blog post. (Note to self - making cute pinnable graphics makes my pins spread like wildfire on Pinterest)


So there you have it! I have my marching orders and some direction and goals for the blog for 2014. I will be focusing on adding allergy friendly recipes more often, as well as sprinkling some fun photo journal type stuff more frequently into the mix as well.

Thank you to all my readers and followers who helped build this blog from scratch over this past year!

This post is linked up with a "Looking Back" series from The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew. Click the button below to reminisce this past year with the Crew!


Looking Back at 2013


Copyright 2012-2013 - "Be The One" - www.aclassofone.blogspot.com  All rights are reserved. No text, photos, or content may be reproduced without direct permission from the author.