Did you miss any of these posts from 2013? Are you like me and don’t have time to read all your favorite blogs anymore? Well, you’ve landed on the right post! These are reader favorites (with the most pins) and also a few of my own favorites thrown in! Be sure to head over to Sarah’s place, Amongst Lovely Things and link-up your favorite posts! So many good blog posts in one place! Yay!
January
In January I shared about my fight for contentment, and I will admit, this year has been such a journey that I am still on toward learning to be content with where God has me and who I am in Christ. I also shared a Proverbs study I did with my children, 10 ways to use Dr. Bronners soap and a book review on Almost Amish – which might have been my favorite read of 2013!
February
I put all our American History resources/lessons in ONE post, we had such a great time studying our country’s history over a 2 year span! These were the best lessons and activities we did through that time period. I also shared about the Project Life BABY BOY kit which is so adorable!! If you haven’t tried Project Life, it’s the easiest form of scrapbooking known to man, or uh, woman. 🙂 Finally, I shared about another awesome book I read this year, 31 Days of Forgiveness by my blogging friend, Tracie! Take a peek if you haven’t had a chance to yet…
March
Back towards the beginning of the year I was doing a LOT better at staying away from grain and I listed 3 favorite GRAIN FREE desserts that we were enjoying. I need to try each of those again and get back off the grain! Ugh! I shared about the other book that will probably tie Almost Amish for my favorite book of 2013 ~ Bread and Wine!! Oh so good!! We got our CHICKS in March!! I also shared our favorite Christ Centered Easter Ideas! And my MUSTARD colored chair that I painted with MILK PAINT! I am still giddy about this chair. 🙂
April
Our Swing Set Turned Chicken Coop is one of my ALL TIME most viewed posts!! I’m so proud of my husband and all his hard work on this! I started the most popular series I’ve ever done on my blog in April…Real Life Homeschooling!! 20 posts from many different homeschooling moms sharing the good, the bad and the ugly of this life! 🙂
May
This LEGO history lesson on Communism and Democracy has been another popular post on Pinterest! We spent several weeks learning all about these CHICKENS of ours! This awesome Chicken Unit Study was probably one of all time favorite studies! I shared a list of our Read Alouds that worked well with 4th & 5th graders! We read some awesome books last year!
June
One of my personal favorite posts was sharing 5 of my favorite books for Praying Moms! I would love to hear from you if you’ve read any of these! I shared some of my tips for frugally grocery shopping online! I wrote about some practical ways to stay encouraged while homeschooling. We all need this post from time to time! We started using what I call our first “box set” of curriculum for this school year!! We are using Winter Promise Ancient History and I share lots more about that on this post. A HUGE deal in the blog world…I moved my blog to WORDPRESS!! Well, I personally did NOT do it…but you can read the details on this post.
July
The summer was the perfect time to share this awesome, quick, refreshing recipe for Iced Passion Tea! Another popular pin is this post where I share all of my Human Anatomy posts that we did several years ago. Another big deal in the blog world {for me} was to get an email subscription list!! I’m so excited that I have around 600 subscribers to this little blog now! That seems like a lot to me! I know it’s small beans in the blog world…but I’m THRILLED with each and every one of you that chooses to stop by this little place on the web. 🙂 My emails do NOT go out daily, we send out an email ONCE a WEEK on Monday mornings that contain all the posts from the previous week. I also do some freebies and give aways for subscribers from time to time! A favorite post of mine to write was 8 Reasons I Read Blogs. I never expected my ASTRONOMY page of ideas to be so popular! I believe this is my #1 pin from my blog…all time, ever. 🙂 One of the hardest, yet m0st powerful things I’ve done on this blog is to share about my struggle with depression. In July I wrote a series on Homeschooling with Depression.
August
I shared 10 tips for Saving on Groceries withOUT Coupons! Woot! I shared about the Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks which CONTINUES to be one of my favorite ebooks EVER. I listed our 10 Must-Have Homeschooling items…what would you add to this list? I followed up my Depression series with Practical Ideas for Surviving Homeschooling with Depression. And another one of my personal favorites from the year was 10 Ways to Use Social Media For Good. I think we all need this reminder weekly maybe. I quickly pulled together my FIRST EVER EBOOK!! 31 Days of Encouragement for the Homeschool Mom was a HUGE blessing!! You can still receive it for FREE when you subscribe to my blog!
September
I shared about how much I love the Teach Them Diligently conferences by collecting all my favorite session notes together in this post. {You have til 12/31 to register with the early bird price!} I love, love, love a Day in the Life of Homeschool family posts! So, here is one from me!! This is definitely what you would call nitty gritty. I also shared in this post that I started contributing to The Busy Mom blog which was a HUGE blessing and honor! I shared about one of my favorite ebooks for bloggers called How to Blog for Profit by Ruth Soukup. I started one of MY favorite series that I’ve done — Teaching Art {with the help of Pinterest} and this series is for ANY mom – art background or not – who wants to teach art at home or in a co-op! Tons of fabulous and easy ideas I’ve found on Pinterest and am compiling for you! I wrote a letter to my childhood self, I LOVED this assignment from the Compassion blogging team!
October
I shared a post, with thoughts from Leslie Nunnery, on the fact that Teach Them Diligently is NOT just for homeschool families! Their hearts are to be a ministry for ALL Families seeking to disciple their children and raise them in Christ-centered homes! I reviewed the Homeschool Enrichment Magazine and loved it!! I went to ALLUME!!! I had such a blast…and shared 10 Take Aways or things I learned at that conference. My SIL and I wrote a series together called Life with Asperger’s. I loved this series, I hope you will take some time to read it if you haven’t had a chance yet. I loved my new space at wordpress, but needed some design help, so Crisp Apple Design came to the rescue! Read all my thoughts about that experience here. Probably the biggest thing I shared in 2013 about my life personally was my experience in weaning off of Effexor. Ugh. Still brings back painful memories…but I’m doing SO well today and hope to share a happier update soon! And the ULTIMATE list of FUN Egypt learning ideas!!
November
EASY 3 Ingredient Peppermint Scrub is a super simple Christmas idea!! Super exciting news: The Getty’s {who wrote In Christ Alone} will be at the Nashville Teach Them Diligently Conference!! I can’t wait! FREE Printable Advent {simplicity} Prayer Calendar that i created just for you! FREE Printable Daily Advent Reading Plan combining The Greatest Gift with The Jesus Storybook Bible! Books I’ve read in 2013!! Woo-hoo! I have 2-3 I still need to add to this list from December…but I’m so glad I started keeping these lists 2 years ago! Love seeing these great books that I’ve already forgotten about! ha! After a particularly hard homeschooling week (or two) I shared 10 Reasons Why I’m Thankful We Homeschool. This post was SO good for me to write…I recommend creating your own list!! I share about the Compassion Gift Catalog and how we are so blessed to order from it each year! Have you given gifts of compassion yet this year? We chose to give CHICKENS this year!! Love! 5 Books for Discussing Purity & Puberty with Tween Girls! Oh my! And last but not least for November I shared 5 Verses for the Struggling…and a free printable.
December
A Christmas Ornament Art Project that turned out beautifully! I shared a little Christmas Home Tour for this year! I love Christmas decorations! I shared some fun ideas and resources for learning about the REAL Saint Nicholas!
Head over to Sarah’s link-up and join in the fun!
Oooooops and there I went changing everything! Whoops!
I’m excited to click through your list. I definitely don’t have the time to read all of my favorite blogs anymore, so I appreciate it when bloggers compile their best from the year in one place. 🙂
No worries, Sarah!! I am happy to change the button. 🙂 you’re allowed to change your mind! 🙂 I’m excited to read through all the link ups also!
Thanks for the great round-up of posts. Funny all the great stuff we forget by the end of the year. I did not know about getting 15% off anything you order five of from Amazon (from your frugal grocery post). That may change the way I buy some things. Thanks. Sharing this to Facebook!
Pam – I love subscribe and save!! let me know if you have anymore questions about it! We’ve been doing it for quite awhile now…and you can change your order each month also, so on the months we don’t need more toilet paper (ha!) I just subscribe to something else so that I make sure I have 5 in there to get the full 15%.