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Homemade chips are a favorite side for burgers, hot dogs, steaks, grilled chicken… around our house, but because I’m trying to add more healthy options into our diets, I thought it would be good to try making sweet potato chips rather than chips made from regular “white” potatoes. I sliced the sweet potatoes into 1/8″ thick round chips and fried them until golden brown. While still warm, I lightly salted with sea salt. The result? Delicious sweet and salty chips that were enjoyed by everyone – including Munchkin who isn’t a huge sweet potato fan. In fact, they were enjoyed so much that the chips disappeared very quickly, and I received requests for more. Alas, there were no more to be had that day. They are definitely something that I’ll be making again in the future. It’s nice to have a chips that you feel comfortable giving to your family because you know all the ingredients are healthy.
On Thursday, my laptop completely died. No power. No lights. Nothing. Seeing how I had been unsuccessful at backing up my computer right before this, I was not happy, so I scrambled to try to get my computer back up and running so I could at least get it backed up. I thought I would share the tech tip that I used to get my laptop back up and running. After bringing the laptop back to life, I was able to successfully get my computer backed up, so even if it doesn’t stay up and running, I’ll at least have all my files.
If your laptop suddenly dies and won’t power on, here’s a trick you can use to get it back up and running. It won’t necessarily solve all the issues with the laptop, but it should allow you time to get the files backed up.
- Unplug all cords from your laptop.
- Remove all storage devices such as memory cards and external hard drives.
- Remove the battery.
- Turn the laptop upside down and hold the power button down for 30 seconds.
- Plug in the power cord.
- Power up the computer.
- Once the computer has rebooted, insert the battery.
There is something about the combination of holding the computer upside down and holding down the power button that resets the laptop. I know it sounds crazy, but it works!
By Munchkin 
This horse is my latest art project. For this picture, I worked with pencil and charcoal. I still have more detail to add to get it just right, but it’s a good start.
I made a few more changes to the picture and came up with this second version.
Art Projects by Pat Knepley (See the Light) is an art curriculum geared towards students ages 10 and up. The complete Art Projects curriculum has 9 dvds and features projects recreating works from 9 different artists including:
- LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY
- WAYNE THIEBAUD
- HENRI ROUSSEAU
- GEORGES SEURAT
- GEORGIA O’KEEFFE
- MARC CHAGALL
- EDGAR DEGAS
- WINSLOW HOMER
- VINCENT VAN GOGH
What’s Included and Price List:
Each dvd contains 4 step-by-step lessons. Teachers/students should allot roughly 1 hour for each lesson. A variety of additional materials are needed to complete the lessons. Each project features a supply list, so it’s easy to know ahead of time exactly what will be needed to complete the lessons.
The complete Art Projects dvd set costs $99.99. You can also purchase the dvds individually for $14.99, or you can join the Art Projects dvd-of-the-month club for $12.50 per dvd. You can follow See the Light on facebook for news, updates, giveaways, and sales information.
 About the Art Instructor:
Pat has been drawing and painting since she was able to hold a crayon. Pat has a degree in Art Education, a teaching credential, and has taught art in PA and CA. In addition to being the master artist for the See The Light Art Class and Art Projects DVD series, Pat teaches art to school-age kids in Los Angeles area. When she is not drawing or teaching, she is tending to her rose garden or watching classic black & white movies. Pat lives in a windy part of Southern California with her husband and two almost-grown sons.
Our Thoughts:
We received the Art Projects Poppy Collage dvd to review. I have to be honest and say that Munchkin was not thrilled when she saw the dvd as collage is probably one of her least favorite art mediums. She was surprised that this particular dvd was part of the older kids set as it’s something that she did when she was younger. While the techniques are bumped up a bit from what she had done when she was younger, it still was not a big hit.
The supplies needed for these lessons included poster board, simple flower petals, tissue paper, scissors, water, paint brushes (not noted in supply list), paper plates, school glue, pencil, and eraser.
The dvd begins with an introduction which includes the getting everything ready information. It then heads into the actual lessons. In the Poppy Collage project, students learn about and create an art piece based upon the work of American artist Georgia O’Keeffe.
Even though this particular dvd wasn’t a good fit for us, Pat did a wonderful job of presenting the lessons in an easy to follow manner. She is a great art instructor who obviously has a passion for teaching art to kids.
My Home School Grades is, in my opinion, the easiest homeschool grade and transcript service that I have experienced. It is intuitive and truly simple to use. Because this product is so new, they have plans for many additional features.
Just a sampling of the upcoming features:
- State specific time/hour/day recording coming soon.
- State specific grading scales
- Upload pictures and documents
- Creating a portfolio
- Additional curriculum providers
Currently, there are a limited number of curriculum providers, and they are not all complete with lesson plans and tests. They are constantly updating the curriculum providers and adding in more information for these curriculum They are very quick to respond to requests for adding new curriculum providers. (This is a very new company that has some great plans in store for the future.) The good thing is there is the custom/other option if your curriculum isn’t listed or if you’ve created your own course.
I really like that you can add multiple school years when you are adding in classes. In other words, you can add the classes from the previous year, the current year, or even a future year to create a comprehensive transcript. You can even adjust which classes are shown on the transcript. If you don’t want to input all the grades for a class (assignments, quizzes, tests, projects), you can just input the final grade for the class. It’s very versatile for individual wants and needs. Quickly creating a transcript has never been easier.
You have a variety of options to use for grading including letter grades and percentages. It really is set up with the diversity of homeschoolers in mind. In addition to grades, you can also track extra-curricular activities. Just like the curriculum choices, there is a drop-down menu that includes a list of activities as well as a place to add your own custom activity.
Because this is a web-based program, you are able to use it from pretty much any device that can access the internet such as smartphones, tablets, and computers. You just log in wherever you are as long as you have internet.
My Home School Grades is offering a free 14-day trial, so you can check it out for yourself. The cost for a lifetime subscription is $49.99 which includes future updates and enhancements. They have a selection of videos available that explain the program. To keep up-to-date on the improvements at My Home School Grades, you can follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
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