How to _________________. A Blog Cruise where we share to how to do lots of great stuff!

Homeschool moms (and dads) are a knowledgeable lot. Today, several members of the Crew share some of their best “How-To” tutorials. From creating a media kit for your blog to great ideas for the kitchen, like how to make those yummy pretzels like at the mall or how to make a meal plan. Have you ever wanted to teach yourself how to knit? We have that, too! This is Blog Cruise you won’t want to miss. In fact, you’ll probably want to bookmark it for referencing later!

Beth B. @ Ozark Ramblings — How to take advantage of Walmart’s Price Matching

I can take advantage of every local store’s loss leaders without driving hither and yon.

Meg F. @ Adventures with Jude — How to Make Mom Mom’s Rugelach Safe for Me

Mom Mom’s rugelach recipe came with her family from Russia, and has long been a family favorite. We are updating it so it’s allergy-friendly and everyone in the family can share.

Heather A. @ Only Passionate Curiosity — How to be a Frugal Homeschooler

Homeschooling is expensive. At least it can be, if you aren’t careful. I feel like I have made every mistake in the book in my first year homeschooling, and therefore, am well equipped to tell you how to do it better than I did. To spare you the pain my pocket book feels, here are some of my best tips and tricks for homeschooling on the cheap.

Debbie L. @ Debbie’s Homeschool Corner — How to Teach the /s/ and /z/ Sounds

This is an excerpt from Super Star Speech: Speech Therapy Made Simple that explains how to teach the /s/ and /z/ sounds to your child. /S/ and /z/ can be tricky for many children to learn, so I hope these ideas will be helpful!

Kayla A. @ The Arrowood Zoo — How To Strengthen Your Marriage

Homeschooling creates all kind of life changes and challenges. Homeschooling is hard and time consuming for not only the mother but the father as well. Many homeschooling families only have one income within the home and its coming from the husband.

Karen M. @ homeschool-life-situations — Using Graphic Organizers to Teach Biology

Learn how to make biological classification visual with graphic organizers. Flow charts and Venn diagrams can help your child learn about the different kingdoms.

Clarissa W. @ Counting Our Blessings — Recipe: Goat’s Milk Baby Formula

After dealing with extreme food allergies with my first, failure-to-thrive with my second, and weight loss with my third child, I chose a different route for my 4th. It didn’t start out that way, but by the time he was 3-months-old, I knew something needed to change. And that something was his formula!

Brittany R. @ Mom’s Heart — Homeschooling Away From Home

I couldn’t just abandon all lessons with an emerging reader, so I had to get creative and figure out how to homeschool away from home, and without our school materials.

Jen S. @ Happy Little Homemaker — How to Homeschool Through Extended Illness

One of the benefits of homeschooling is the flexibility it allows. A few months ago, I was completely under the weather with morning sickness and found six ways to keep “homeschooling,” even if it’s not ideal.

Rebekah T. @ There Will Be a $5 Charge for Whining — Getting Crafty: How to Make an Altered Bag Book

Use these cute altered bag books as lapbooks or scrapbooks. They can be used your student publish their own works or develop anthologies of favorite authors. There are so many creative uses…and they are so stinkin’ fun to make!

Karyn T. @ Teach Beside Me — Connecting with Other Homeschoolers

Do you need a little support from other homeschoolers sometimes? I have found a great community of other homeschoolers online as well as locally. Today I am sharing how to find and connect with other homeschoolers and build a support network.

Tess H. @ Circling Through This Life — Schoolwork completed, Laundry done and Dinner?!

It is possible to serve a hot home cooked meal on the same day that you wear clean clothes and accomplish school work. The Key? Use your crockpot.

Lori S. @ Special Connection Homeschool — Learning to Love Learning

You can read articles all day about how to teach a subject, what worksheets to use, what hands on activities to include, etc., but what every parent really wants to know is how do we teach our kids to enjoy learning? One thing I try to do is make sure that Gess has plenty of opportunities to succeed in whatever it is she is trying to learn.

Sarah J. @ Delivering Grace — Bone Model from Recycled Materials

So I decided to create my own bone model from items around the house.

Laura L. @ Loving and Learning on the High Plains — How to Make a Fossil Rock

An inexpensive “friend-gift” your kids can make. Share the excitement of breaking open a rock to find a dinosaur, animal, or a jewel ring! Easy to make in large batches, this would be a great option for a party favor as well.

Renita K. @ Krazy Kuehner Days — How to Think Outside the Box with Handwriting Difficulties

Our oldest has handwriting difficulties, how we are overcoming this issue using Google docs to encourage typing and reading comprehension.

Melissa E. @ Little Connections Add Up — Feed a Big Crew on Little Dollars

It’s the middle of a pay period, you have less than $100 to fill 7 bellies for 5 days. What do you bring to the table? What’s already in your pantry? Come share some ideas!

Marissa C. @ Lighthouse Classical Academy — How to Make a Memorable Arrow of Light Arrow

Arrow of Light ceremony should be memorable…learn how to make an arrow that is unique, personalized, and symbolic of the journey that the scout has taken through cub scouts.

Sara P. @ Embracing Destiny — DIY Sensory Bins for Fun and Learning

Whether you’re taking a Montessori approach to learning, creating a therapeutic sensory experience for your autistic or special needs child, or just want to add some hands-on fun to your day, you can easily make a low cost sensory bin your children will love.

Kym T. @ Homeschool Coffee Break — An Astronomy Update

Near the beginning of the school year, I wrote a post describing what we would be studying for science – classical astronomy… here’s an update and little bit of ‘how-to’ that we’ve discovered along the way. The first project we took on in the study was a backyard compass.

Karen G. @ The Fruit of Her Hands — How to Make Hot Buttered Pretzels in an Hour

Do you love those hot buttered pretzels you can buy in the mall? Did you know they are fast and easy to make at home?

Amanda S. @ Our Heart and Home — How to Make Homemade Bagels

Don’t you just love the smell of a bakery? I know I do! But I got tired of paying bakery prices so I set out to teach myself how to “bring the bakery home”. Today you can learn how easy it is to make amazing bakery style bagels at home.

Brandy B. @ Kingdom Academy — Cheap and Easy Unit Studies

When I first started homeschooling, the thought of creating my own unit study seemed very daunting, but I have found it to be very easy. As the parent, you know your child best, why not build their education around the things they love?

Renata @ Sunnyside Farm Fun — How to Dance Like a Farmer and Other Farmyard Secrets

There is a conspiracy going on in my farmyard….
I’m sure my animals are smarter than I think and I’ve finally worked it all out.

(Some farmyard banter from the wandering mind of a tired farmgirl in the milkshed)!

Diane M. @ Homeschool Review — How and Why to Menu Plan

I am a planner. “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

Through the years I have come to learn that menu planning is important, and it sets your household up to run smoothly.

Cristi S. @ Through the Calm and Through the Storm — How to Make Every Day a Slushy Day 

Slushy Days for our family are a reward for the days when my kids worked extra hard and were extra cooperative. This week I realized something — I have underestimated my role in creating those good days.

Bethany H. @ Little Homeschool Blessings — How to Look for JOY

My word for the year is JOY. Sometimes being Joyful is hard.

Lisa N. @ Golden Grasses — How to Teach Writing

The ability to teach writing is at your finger-tips and not limited to just curriculum.

Marcy C. @ Ben and Me — Create a Media Kit for Your Homeschool Blog: The Why & How

I’ve created a sample media kit for those of you wondering what those look like. Actually, they can look like whatever you envision in your mind, but this one is simple to create and has all of the info you will need to include. Feel free to download it now for a guide.