Settling Down for a Long Winter's Nap...

I want to need to take some time off.

........It's the holiday season and I want to thoroughly enjoy it without the added stress of keeping up the blog. I don't want to worry that I am not writing or that my heart is just not in my writing. It's not fair to you, my readers. I want to post the very best content I can, off course...I think that's every blogger's objective.


        ........Buttercup and I are done with homeschool for the year, except for a few odds and ends we are trying to get finish up.

                                                       .........I have lots of baking to do which I am looking forward to.


                 .........I need the rest, the down time, the sit-on-the-couch-and-watch-a-movie time.


                                       .........I want to prepare some homeschool material for January.


..........I have a new learning product that I've been working on and I want to put the finishing touches on it so it's ready to be launched at the beginning of the year.

So here are some incredible Christmas/Holiday ideas I've come across on the web to hold you over for the next couple of weeks. Some of them are my own, but mostly I just love to share what other bloggers are doing because it always humbles me to see the amazing creativity out there. So jealous....

Hi It's Jilly is doing a 31 Days of Christmas Music on her blog. How fun!

I'm sharing the recipe for the Best Chocolate Bark EVER!.........

.......and my Advent Calendar idea!

Take a look at this elegantly decorated mantle at Home Stories A to Z


Check out this front entrance over at The Passionate Home.

I'm loving this easy to make treat for the holidays from What's Cooking, Love?

I wish you all a wonderful holiday season! And I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being on this journey with me. Thank you for reading my ramblings...... Thank you for commenting......Thank you for sharing!

See you in January!
Adventures of a Homeschool Mom

The best chocolate bark EVER!

I hate to cook...

But I love to bake... especially during the holidays.


I've been on a baking frenzy over the last few days.

Several years ago at a family gathering I had the best chocolate bark EVER. And I just had to have the recipe. Lucky for me, the person who made the bark happens to be an amazing person and shared her recipe with me. I've been making Mrs. Hammond's chocolate bark ever since. I make it every year about this time and I bring it to parties, work gatherings, my kids bring it to school and give it to friends. Everyone loves it. No joke.

I just finished a batch and I can't stop eating it. Before I share this super easy recipe I want to give a shout out to Mrs. Hammond. She is my cousin's wife's mother (try to figure that one out!). She has the best outlook on life of anyone I have ever met.   Seriously.   It is a total joy to know her because she is so genuine and so giving.

Even though we are not technically related, I feel like we are family. Do you have someone like that in your life? Someone who just makes your day better? I hope you do. It's wonderful.

So here is Mrs. Hammond's chocolate bark recipe. I'm sure she would want you to have it!

The best chocolate bark EVER

Ingredients

• 2 sticks of butter
• 1 cup of sugar
• Saltine crackers
• Chocolate chips
• nuts (I use whatever I have, usually almonds or walnuts)

Directions

• Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray it with PAM.
• Cover the cookie sheet with a layer of saltine crackers.
• In a sauce pan, melt the butter, then mix in the sugar.
• Pour the butter and sugar mixture over the crackers.
• Put it in the oven at 350 F for about 10 minutes until golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and spread the chocolate chips over the crackers.
• Turn the oven off and place the cookie sheet back in for about two minutes, just to melt the chocolate.
• Use a spatula to spread the melted chocolate over all of the crackers.
• Sprinkle with chopped nuts.
• Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. I usually leave it in the fridge overnight.
• Remove from the foil and break into pieces.

Enjoy! Enjoy! Enjoy!

"Merry Christmas" in different languages

If you're interested in teaching your kids some culture this holiday season and making it part of homeschool, here's an idea that my daughter loved.

We were doing a lesson on Christmas around the world and how people celebrate the holidays. We found some traditions that are completely different than ours, but we also found some traditions in common. It was a very fun lesson and it teaches kids that our way is not the only way. It also teaches kids to respect other cultures and other people's traditions.

To make the lesson even more fun, we looked up how people say "Merry Christmas" in other languages. Here are our favorites:

Spanish - Feliz Navidad
Portuguese - Feliz Natal
French - Joyeux Noel
Italian - Buon Natale
German - Frohe Weihnachten

We wanted to learn some other ones, but couldn't find phonetic spellings for them. If anyone wants to add to this list, please do in the comments section and I will add them to the list.

We hope you enjoy your holidays and we look forward to a New Year full of great homeschool opportunities as well as lots of health, happiness, hope and joy!

So from our family to yours,
Merry Christmas!
Feliz Natal!
Joyeux Noel!
Feliz Navidad!
Buon Natale!
Frohe Weihnachten!