Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ September 30, 2011

In my life this week…or should I say the past two weeks since I skipped last week’s journal .  One thing that has been seemingly ever present in my life the past two weeks is rain…gobs and gobs of it.  We had a very wet spring, a very dry summer, and we are having a very wet fall.  Needless to say, I am ready for the sun!

Sorry, I don’t mean to complain…but I just had to vent a bit. 

In our homeschool this week…Well, this week we have been on a well-deserved break.  The kiddos have been doing school since July 18th…and all of us were ready for a break from schoolwork. 

I am inspired by… all of the cool things people are pinning on Pinterest!  Have you checked it out yet? 

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…Last week we took a field trip to the fair, met with our county’s homeschool monitor, had fun with our church family at Truth Squad {a scripture memory program} and lunched with friends after church.

This week was supposed to be busy with baseball practice and two games…but practice and one game was rained out.  We did make it to a baseball game last night and we’ve got a busy, busy weekend coming up. 

My favorite thing this week was…The snippets of sunshine that we got in between all of the rain, rain, rain.  And the break from schoolwork .

Questions/thoughts I have…This is not school related, but more tongue in cheek rain related .  Have you ever just hung your laundry out on the line, felt rain drops so you pulled the laundry off the line really fast…only to see the sun coming out 10 minutes later?  Ugh…yep, that happened to me. 

Things I’m Working on…Preparing for our upcoming vacation and ds4’s 5th birthday!  I cannot believe that my baby is gonna be 5 already!

I’m reading…One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  Wow, what an inspiring book…and a convicting book.  I am trying to be intentional about noticing and thanking God for all of the blessings in my life…even the rain .

I’m cooking…apples {applesauce, apple crisp, mini apple pies for the freezer}, banana chocolate chip muffins, and two desserts for two different picnics we are headed to this weekend.

I’m grateful for…three healthy kiddos, the blessing of homeschooling and taking breaks on our own schedule, sunshine & rain , apples from the orchard, vacations…

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

My cool ds4…who’s going to be 5 soon.  Where does the time go?

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for Carlito C. Caterpillar’s MathHouse Game Card set here….

Carlito C. Caterpillar’s MathHouse Game Card Set ~ A Review & Giveaway

Carlito C. Caterpillar’s MathHouse Game Card Set is a unique, fun and very compact math game card set that was designed to be used to help teach preschoolers through early elementary aged kiddos early math skills.

This game card set was created by Domenico Marcario, M.S., who is a retired high school math teacher and a grandfather.  Marcario designed the games “to build upon the {math} knowledge young children already possess.”

There are three stages of material included in this game card set.  Within the three stages of material are 20 steps, and there are 2 games in each step…which equals 40 math games in all. 

You can read more about how to use this game card set here.

My Thoughts

I appreciate that most of the games in this card set are easy to prepare for and simple to play with your young kiddos.  The props for most of the games are basic items we usually have in our home already like food items {fruit, cereal pieces}, socks, pennies, etc. 

There are some supplemental materials required for some of the games but the creators of Carlito C. Caterpillar’s MathHouse Games have made these easy for you to make yourself by providing free printables on their website for these manipulatives.

Flipping through the card set, I have already tagged a couple of games that I know my kiddos will enjoy {and learn from}.  I plan to start at the beginning with my preschooler {ds4}.  The first game in Stage 1 is called “Alike It or Not” and it teaches kiddos about sets by having them place “alike” objects together.

I think that my 2nd grader will benefit from playing the games in Stage 3 of this math card set which has kiddos learning about basic math operations.

More Information

Carlito C. Caterpillar’s MathHouse Game Card Set is available for purchase from the MathHouse Games website for $23.95.  This price includes free shipping.

Propeller, the sponsor of this review, is also providing me with a copy of this unique math card set to give away to one of my readers.  Stay tuned for the giveaway information at the end of this review .

Carlito C. Caterpillar’s MathHouse Games is also on Facebook.  You can check out their page here.

Giveaway Information

If you would like to enter my giveaway to win your own copy of Carlito C. Caterpillar’s MathHouse Game Card Set simply leave a comment on this post.  Please be sure to leave a valid email address where you can be reached if you are the winner .  I will choose a winner on Monday, October 3rd at 10am EST.

 

“Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Giveaway Winners

The winners of the Theo DVD are:

Laura & Karyn

 

The winner of The Shunning DVD is:

Samantha D

 

All of the winners have been notified via email.

Field Trip ~ The County Fair

This week we took our annual trip to the county fair.

Our first stop is usually the households building…my kiddos absolutely love looking at all of the art entries .

We then headed over to the poultry building…it was loud!  I guess that’s what you get when you load a whole bunch of chickens and roosters into one small building .

The poultry building also houses bunnies…and we got a good chuckle out of the looks of this particular bunny.  Anybody ever seen an angora rabbit?  It was quite a sight.  I couldn’t see the eyes, but the small pink thing is the nose I think.

The kiddos spent a lot of time looking at the baby ducklings that were in a pen in the middle of the building.

There was a slide set up in the middle of the pen…some of the ducklings liked to walk up the slide…

and then slide down into the little pool at the bottom.  The kiddos watched this for quite a long time .

 

After that we headed over to the other side of the fair grounds to see the rest of the animals.  First we stopped at the horse stables.

Then we checked out a mama pig and her new babies.

Dd7 loved seeing all the mamas and new babies at the fair .

This baby calf was born at the fair on Sunday morning…he was still a bit wobbly when we saw him.

At the petting zoo area dd7 got to pet a miniature pony.

And the kiddos got to watch an egg beginning to hatch in an incubator.

We finished up our visit to the fair by taking a couple trips down a one-of-a-kind slide…{the kiddos did, not me }

Whew…that’s been two field trips in two weeks!  We’ve really enjoyed having a break in our schedule and are now looking forward to a school break next week .

Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ September 16, 2011

In my life this week…My favorite season is just around the corner and I am so excited.  I love the fall!  In our area we are having cooler than normal temperatures right now…and I love it!

In our homeschool this week…We took an impromptu field trip, we met our state’s homeschooling requirement by having our bi-annual meeting with our homeschool monitor and we completed three days of school…it’s been a busy and fun week!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…This has been a full week for us!  We began the week with a spur of the moment field trip to see Joseph at Sight & Sound Theater.

The following day we headed to our local homeschool monitor for our portfolio review.

We also did our regular stuff: our weekly trip to the library and our weekly trip to the apple orchard {a fall tradition}.  And ds9 had his first fall baseball game…it was an away game and the weather was downright chilly!

My favorite thing this week was…Definitely the impromptu field trip!  Dh and I have been wanting to take the kiddos to Sight & Sound but the plans never worked out…so when my in-laws called and told us about a fabulous deal on tickets we jumped at the chance to go .

What’s working/not working for us…I just have to say this again…I absolutely love, love, love our new curriculum. 

I especially love how Carrie {the writer of the Heart of Dakota curriculum} has added a whole lot of fun into the curriculum.  In the past four weeks we have done more science experiments and fun history projects than we have ever done…and each only took about 15 minutes a piece .

I’m cooking…Lots of baked goods.  I made granola a couple weeks ago, and my non-granola lovin’ boy loved it!  I have finally found an easy to make {and store}, semi-healthy breakfast that everyone in my house loves …so this week I made two batches! 

I also made a batch of muffins {for snacks and breakfast} and I plan to make a couple loaves of zucchini bread {with chocolate chips} and a couple batches of applesauce. 

I’m grateful for…The change of seasons.

A photo to share…

My three kiddos loved our surprise field trip to see Joseph at Sight & Sound Theater .

P.S.  I currently have two giveaways on my blog that have very low entries.  Enter to win The Shunning DVD here and Theo Presents DVD here.

The Shunning DVD ~ A Review & Giveaway

I just finished watching my complimentary copy of The Shunning DVD…and I loved it!  I am not usually one to cry at movies, but I must admit that there are tears in my eyes right now . 

The Shunning is a Hallmark Channel Original Movie based on the novel by Beverly Lewis. 

I love to read Christian fiction and Beverly Lewis just so happens to be one of my favorite Christian fiction authors…so I did read this book a while back.  Since it’s been a while I cannot say whether the movie follows the original story exactly but I think it is pretty close. 

I highly recommend The Shunning to anyone who is looking for a well-made drama without the bad language and love scenes that can bring a blush to your cheeks .

Now I’m off to put the next book in Beverly Lewis’ series starring Katie Lapp on hold at my library.

More Information

Learn more about the cast, crew, the author {Beverly Lewis} and more on The Shunning’s website. 

You can view the trailer of the movie here.

“The Shunning” also has it’s very own Facebook page.

Giveaway Information

And now for the best part of this blog post…I have a copy of The Shunning DVD to give to one of my readers.  If you want to enter, simply leave a comment on this post.  I’ll choose one comment randomly on Wednesday, September 21st at 9:00am EST. 

Please be sure to leave an email address in your comment so I can contact you if you are the winner.

 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

Field Trip: Joseph at Sight & Sound Theater

Thanks to a special deal on tickets and a pair of very generous in-laws/grandparents, we took a spur of the moment field trip on Tuesday {those are always the best kind aren’t they?}. 

The show started at 1pm…I packed lunch for each one of us and we enjoyed our food on benches outside the theater before the show began.  The weather was gorgeous!

None of our kiddos has ever experienced a Sight and Sound production before…they loved it!

 

I knew my older kiddos could probably handle sitting for the entire 2-1/2 show…but I was a bit apprehensive about the 4yo.  But he surprised me by sitting quietly most of the time .  All three kiddos loved the show!

After the show, we stopped by one of the local restaurants to pick up some yummy snacks before heading home…whoopie pie anyone?

Even though it was a whirlwind of a day…we all had a blast.  Now the kiddos keep asking when we can take dh to see the show .

Theo DVD ~ A Review & Giveaway

Theo is a new animated show for kiddos that was created with the goal of teaching children of all ages systematic theology. 

Theo discusses doctrines about sin, Godʼs character, the Bible, salvation and godly living with easy-to-understand illustrations that make children want to learn more about the Christian faith.

I received a complimentary DVD that featured Episode One: Saving Faith and the Bonus Episode: Good News to review. My kiddos and I enjoyed both of these short, sweet and straight to the point movies.

You can actually download and view the 5-minute bonus episode “Good News” here…it’s free .

The Theopresents website contains a variety of resources for parents and Sunday School teachers to use with kiddos including coloring pages and a printable parent guide that go along with the Theo videos..

Lifeway Christian Stores even has Church Curriculum for Theo that you can view and purchase here.

More Information

A DVD containing all three of the Theo episodes that have been produced so far {including “Saving Faith”} plus the bonus episode “Good News” is available for purchase on the Theopresents website for $14.99.

This DVD is also available for purchase from Amazon.

Learn more about Theo by visiting the Theopresents website.  You can also check out their Facebook page.

Giveaway Information

I have two copies of  the “Saving Faith” DVD to give away on my blog.  All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post and you’ll be entered .

I will choose two winners {using random.org} on Monday, September 19th 2011 at 10am EST.  Please be sure to leave your email address so that I can notify you if you win .

 

I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”