By Holly Giles | Family , Florida
Family and Friends Our last installment of the Pioneer Culture is all about family and friends. How life really revolved around the importance of having those connections. “The true way to live is to enjoy every moment as it passes. And surely, it is in the everyday things around us that the beauty of life […]
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By Holly Giles | Family , Florida
Pioneer Culture: Living off the land In our fourth post in this series, we talk about the idea of living off the land. What did that look like 100 years ago and can that be achieved today? After she got married, Laura partnered with Almanzo with everything they did, even in business. She could run […]
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By Holly Giles | Family , Florida
Pioneer Culture: Use What You Have The third post in our series Pioneer Culture, is considering a “use what you have” what you have on hand to live daily life. Many of us would consider recycling a form of re-using, however, pioneers had a whole other culture of re-using most of what they had for […]
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By Holly Giles | Family , Florida
Pioneer Culture: Working Hard The second post in our series, Pioneer Culture, and Laura Ingalls Wilder is about working hard. What did working hard mean 100 years ago and how can we compare that to today? “Every job is good if you do your best and work hard.” -Laura Ingalls Wilder Think back to the […]
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By Holly Giles | Family , Florida
Pioneer Culture: Living Simply The pioneer culture and Laura Ingalls Wilder has a lot to teach us modern-day folk. We will explore 5 lessons we can learn in this series. The first lesson is living simply. But first, let us learn a little more about Laura and why she can teach us lessons that still […]
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By Holly Giles | handicrafts , homeschooling , Inspiration
Junk into Jewels One of the great blessings of being an exhibitor at a craft show is meeting the other exhibitors! This was true for us last spring when the boys and I set up at a craft show and met a family who turns junk into jewels. The show started out with road detours, […]
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By Holly Giles | Family , Florida , Inspiration
Reviving Florida’s Heritage Outdoor Sports It was the fall of 1978. At 4 am the bells began ringing on my grandfather’s wind up alarm clock. I had slept in my clothes so I would be ready for the fishing trip. It was so quiet and still in the darkness outside as we loaded the nets, […]
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By Holly Giles | Family , homeschooling
We can learn an incredible amount of life skills lessons from Laura Ingalls Wilder. Laura may have lived a generation ago however, her forward-thinking makes her a modern-day mentor. Mary Beth and I sat down and talked about what we can learn from the pioneers of the past and bring into our modern-day life skills. […]
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By Holly Giles | Boy Crafting , handicrafts , homeschooling , Inspiration
Homeschool Science Experiment A family industry can take shape when you least expect and produce an income along with valuable lessons for children. I want to share with you how a homeschool science experiment can sometimes yield viable products, even when you weren’t trying! Science and history are the two favorite subjects in our homeschool […]
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By Holly Giles | Field Trips , Florida , Great Outdoors
Living in Florida gives us a unique advantage to outdoor adventures all year long. City playgrounds to sportsman activities give families plenty of options to add adventure throughout all our homeschooling years. Toddler Years When my children were young, simple outdoor adventures were easy to find. Nature centers, museums, and many parks offer classes or […]
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