As we enter the Christmas season, here in the northern hemisphere, we also enter winter and cold and flu season! So this week I thought I would share a few holiday diffuser recipes using essential oils to boost your immune health while also adding a bit of Christmas cheer to your home. Unlike scented candles or wax melts, essential oils do not add toxins to the air but, rather, support our overall health and wellness when we inhale them. Because of the amazing way that scent affects the brain, we also reap positive emotional benefits from diffusing essential oils.…
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During the month of December, we take an official break in our homeschool. Since we value consistency and enjoy our morning time together, though, I still like to continue some sort of recitation and read-aloud routine. It will look a little different than our regular monthly memory work because of it being Advent season. I planned several hymns and carols and no catechism or motto for this month. Our full morning time plan is to read the “Parents and Children” part of one devotional from Come Let Us Adore Him by Paul David Tripp. After that we will do our…
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At the beginning of October, I began what I intended to be only a month-long break from social media. You can read about that in my original post on “Joining the Luddite Experiment.” Now that it is nearly the end of November, I thought I should report on how that experiment has been going, because, as you may have guessed, I have not really gone back to Facebook or Instagram yet. I have checked a couple of things on Facebook in the last week, namely the Close Reads Podcast group to find out when we start reading The Great Gatsby…
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Yes, I know that a lot of our more traditional Thanksgiving meals here in the U.S. are not what we think of as “health food.” We have to be careful to make good food choices when we come to the holiday table. But that isn’t the reason I am saying that Thanksgiving is good for you. I am talking about the health benefits of gratitude. When we choose to cultivate a grateful attitude, we not only put ourselves in a more positive mental state. Certainly thinking of focussing on our blessings is beneficial to our emotional health. We think more…
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As I sit down to write today’s Wellness Wednesday post, a cold drizzle is falling outside. The leaves are almost all down from the trees, and we have had several gray, cloudy days in a row. The crisp but sunny September and October days are over, it seems, and a more wintery feel is moving in with November’s arrival. This being the case, soups and stews are showing up on my weekly meal plan more often! My family can’t eat canned soups, since many contain gluten, MSG and other additives that give us various health issues. But healthy, wholesome soups…