When I was a kid, I counted down the days till school was out each year. The anticipation of summer vacation with family and friends was second only to Christmas! My head swam with thoughts of lazy days filled with playing outside, having friends over, going to the big Fourth of July parade (which consisted of kids decorating their bicycles and the high school band playing), swimming, and picking things from the garden. I didn’t grow up on a homestead, so for me to go pick strawberries, shell peas, or shuck corn was great fun—sweaty, dirty, and exhausting, but fun.

What made it so enjoyable was the time spent with family and friends. Sure, you can go buy some nice strawberries at the store and save yourself all the fuss and muss, but you miss out on making memories with your family. Whether you are schooling year round or not, summer offers a wonderful time to make memories with your family. Some of you may be spending time cheering on your children at the local athletic fields. Some of you may spend a lot of time at the pool. Others might spend some time fishing or grilling out with friends. The fact is, it doesn’t matter what you are doing— what matters is that you take the time to enjoy your family.

HomesteadBlogger.com is a great online community that can help remind you of the simple joys of family. The bloggers there range from homestead wannabes to urban homesteaders to homesteaders desiring to live off the grid. Have you always thought that you might like to have a few chickens? Check out the blogs there to find out what breeds others recommend. Are you interested in organic food, but not sure where to start? Plenty of people there can tell you all about how to grow or buy organics. Do you love to sew or knit? You’ll find bloggers there who share those same interests.

A visit to HomesteadBlogger is like sitting together with friends enjoying God’s creation and learning how to make the most of it. We invite you to set up a blog there (www.HomesteadBlolgger.com) and hope you’ll stop by the Front Porch (www.HomesteadBlogger.com/HSBFrontPorch) to introduce yourself and read through some of the contributions from our amazing group of writers. It’s a great way to have some fun and to always be reminded of the importance of HOME.

Nancy Carter, Senior Editor for HomesteadBlogger.com, loves homeschooling and blogging and is so glad that the two come together at HSB. She’s also pretty crazy about her husband and three sons! You can read the latest HSB2 news at www.HomesteadBlogger.com/HSBFrontPorch or stop by Nancy’s blog at www.HomeschoolBlogger.com/tn3jcarter.