Simply at Home

Christmastime ~ Operation Christmas Child

2011-11-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

We checked the first thing off of my “make-sure-to-do-this-Christmas” list a couple weeks ago…

It’s been on my “want-to-do” list for the past couple years…

but it’s never been crossed off…

‘til this year…Operation Christmas Child boxes filled and dropped off .

All About Reading Level 1

2011-11-29T16:13:00.001-05:00

It’s here! And all of the All About Reading Level 1 products are 10% off through December 6th. Every AAR Level 1 order that contains a Teacher’s Manual will also receive a free gift .

I am most excited by the fact that this new kit includes my most favorite readers: Cobweb the Cat, The Runt Pig, and Run, Bug, Run. Last year I used these readers in combination with All About Spelling Level 1 to teach my struggling reader to read .

No you didn’t read that incorrectly…All About Reading wasn’t out yet, so I used All About Learning’s spelling program to teach my dd to read…I am so glad they published a reading program to go along with these readers and I can’t wait to use it with my ds5!

You can read more about All About Reading Level 1 here.

All About Learning products have worked so well for my family that I became an affiliate with the company. The product links in this post are affiliate links.

Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ November 18, 2011

2011-11-18T13:46:00.001-05:00

In my life this week…not much going on: we shopped for and delivered our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes {yay!}, completed five days of school, spent most of our time at home {doing school and playing outside}.

In our homeschool this week…we finished up another week of our HOD curriculum ~ we read about King Philip’s War {1675-1678} and the courage of Captain Church. I am learning just as much about American history as my my kiddos .

My favorite thing this week was…shopping for our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes with the kiddos and delivering them to our local drop off site . I’ve been wanting to do this for that past few years but we always missed it!

Things I’m working on…Thanksgiving fun for next week. I told the kiddos that if we finished all of the schoolwork that I planned for this week {which we did}, we will spend next week doing Thanksgiving fun stuff: crafts, reading our pile of Thanksgiving books, baking, and whatever else I’ve pinned on my Pinterest Thanksgiving board .

I’m reading…The Grace Effect {a review} by Larry Alex Taunton…a very thought-provoking book! So glad I was asked to review this one.

I’m cooking…dairy & egg free {or at least trying to} for the sake of ds5…he was diagnosed with a very slight allergy to dairy and eggs last year. Our doctor recommended that we cut back on dairy & egg but we didn’t have to remove it altogether.

This worked for a while, but I have been noticing that he has been having some issues with reflux lately so I decided to have him go dairy and egg free for at least a month to see if it makes a difference.

I’m grateful for…a boring week at home, no new sickness to deal with {just getting rid of old lingering ones}, very few outside activities, lots of things checked off the “to-do” list .

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

I found this picture on my camera’s memory card this morning. Dh took the kiddos to a park when I was sick, he took my camera along too .

The Grace Effect ~ A Book Review

2011-11-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

I recently received a copy of The Grace Effect, a thought-provoking new book written by Larry Alex Taunton, the Founder and Executive Director of Fixed Point Foundation.

The Grace Effect is a book about adoption…but it is not just about adoption. It’s also about what Taunton learned through his family’s experience of adopting a young girl from the Ukraine. It’s about what he learned about the grace effect, which Taunton defines as: “…an observable phenomenon –that life is demonstrably better where authentic Christianity flourishes” {p.22}

My Thoughts

This book has made me think more than any other book that I have read recently…really think.

It made me think about adoption {something my husband and I have been considering for the past couple of years}, the current plight of orphans around the world and how my family and I can help them.

It made me think about what the world would be like without Christianity…how my life {and my children’s} would be different if we did not live in a nation influenced by Christianity.

It made me think about how people are trying to change our nation from one based on Christian principles to one that does not acknowledge God.

The Grace Effect made me laugh, it made me feel angry and frustrated, it made me wipe tears from my eyes a number of times…it made me think.

More Information

The Grace Effect is available for purchase from Amazon. You can read more about this inspiring book on the Fixed Point website.

“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.”

Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ November 11, 2011

2011-11-11T11:00:00.001-05:00

In my life this week…Sickness and Sunshine…Sickness ~ I didn’t get a post up for last week’s journal because I was hit with an awful “bug” of some sort on Friday afternoon. It started out with me being just plain wiped out…then progressed to 3 days of off and on fever {Saturday’s fever was 103 degrees!}. I am left with just a cough that I think is on the way out {thank goodness}.

Thankfully the fever finally left for good on Tuesday…just in time for me to enjoy some of the sunshine that our area was blessed with . 70s and sunny in November…I’ll take it!

In our homeschool this week…We got five days of school in…in spite of the teacher {me} being a bit under the weather.

Dd7 finished up another math book…three more light units ‘til she’s completed CLE Math 1. Then I need to decide if I want to switch to Singapore 2A {the curriculum HOD recommends} or stick with CLE.

I also added God’s World News back into our school day. Last year I had ds9 read two pages each day…such a simple way to add current events to our curriculum. But for some reason I failed to start this up again at the beginning of this school year. Well, it’s in his assignment book now . I also added two pages/day of God’s World News to dd7’s assignment book, her and I read it together.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…I decided to not share my lovely germs with anyone other than my family…so we stayed put.

My favorite thing this week was…feeling better .

I’m cooking…Last night we had pot roast from the crockpot and homemade bread for dinner, our house smelled so good!

I’m grateful for… my husband, he did a wonderful job holding down the fort and keeping the kiddos fed and entertained while I spent the entire weekend on the couch.

The Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale ~ A Review

2011-11-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

The Three Trees:A Traditional Folktale is a delightful book written by Elena Pasquali and Illustrated by Sophie Windham.

This folktale is about three trees and their dreams for their future: one wanted to be a beautiful treasure chest, the second wanted to be a king’s ship, and the third wanted to remain a tree “…here on the hillside, pointing to heaven.” While the trees’ hopes for their futures do not come true exactly as planned…their dreams do come true even better than they planned.

My Thoughts

The inside front cover of this beautifully illustrated hardcover book describes The Three Trees as “[a] tale of hope and faith for Christmas, Easter, and always.” I found that to be a very apt description for this lovely book.

I loved the vibrant folksy illustrations and the wonderful message behind this folktale.

More Information

The Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale is available for purchase on the Kregel Publications website for $14.99.

Disclosure: I received this product for free for review purposes. I did not receive any further compensation for my review and I do not have to return the product.

Sweet Hour of Prayer CD ~ A Review

2011-11-07T16:06:00.001-05:00

This unique 40 minute CD features devotional readings from Oswald Chambers’ Prayer: A Holy Occupation that are interspersed with instrumental hymns. Some of the hymns included on this CD are: “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”, “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” and “Take My Life and Let It Be”.

My Thoughts

I found Sweet Hour of Prayer to be very uplifting and quite soothing.

Before receiving this CD I thought of it as a music CD with readings interspersed…but after listening to it I found it to be more of an audio CD of devotional readings with instrumental hymns interspersed. I absolutely loved this unique mix of devotional readings and instrumental hymns.

More Information

Sweet Hour of Prayer: Classical Ensemble with Devotional Readings from Oswald Chambers is currently available for purchase from the Discovery House Publishers website for $9.89.

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 ~ The Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-29T22:50:00.000-04:00

One of our favorite fall traditions is visiting a nearby pumpkin patch.

Between vacation and uncooperative weather, I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to make it to the patch before it closed for the season this year.

But we found a way to squeeze a trip in. Dh couldn’t make it {we went during the day}, but some of our favorite friends did .

The weather in our area this summer and fall made for slim pickings at the patch…

However, we were able to find three pumpkins worthy of carving to bring home with us.

Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ October 28, 2011

2011-10-28T20:04:00.001-04:00

In my life this week…Vacation was over, the kiddos were on the mend…it was time to get back into our regularly scheduled routine. We are not back to a regular routine yet, but we are much closer than we were on Monday .

But I have to admit…it was hard to go from warm, sunny and {mostly} relaxing days at the beach to chilly, rainy and {mostly} busy days back at home. .

In our homeschool this week…reading, writing, math, William Penn, viruses, t-cells, b-cells, k-cells and antibodies…

I am inspired by… the crisp air and brilliant blue skies of fall…this kind of weather inspires me to bake and clean and prepare for winter .

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…lots of errands: consignment drop off, apple orchard for more cooking apples, bank, post office, the final baseball games of the season and hopefully a trip to the pumpkin patch before it closes up .

My favorite thing this week was…being home…we had a lovely vacation, but there’s truly no place like home .

I’m cooking…more applesauce and apple crisp, chicken in the crockpot {which was yummy and made the house smell wonderful!}, homemade rolls in the bread machine to go with the chicken, and chicken broth using the chicken carcass...yep, it’s fall.

I’m grateful for…cozy slippers and our space heater, they’re calling for SNOW in our area tomorrow!

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

This pic is in the running for our Christmas card .

At the Beach ~ Day 7

2011-10-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

It was our last full day of vacation before the long drive back home. The weather wasn’t quite as warm as it was at the beginning of the week…but it was warm enough for just a little more beach time…

And now that everyone was feeling better and our vacation was about to end I wanted to at least attempt to get some family pictures .

I do believe at least one of these will be appearing on our annual Christmas card .

At the Beach ~ Day 6

2011-10-27T08:00:00.000-04:00

Thankfully, ds5 woke up on day six feeling much better so we made plans to have some fun.

A cool front had come in overnight, the wind made for a brisk day…but the sun was shining. Not so much a beach/pool day, but a great day to head out to explore some local sights with the kiddos.

Ever wonder how much fun three kiddos and a dad can have with three quarters?

A ton of fun if you spend your three quarters on fish food…

Ds9 was drawn to this store by the humungous boxes of Nerds in the window display.

Inside we found the biggest candy we have ever seen…Reese’s Cup anyone?

How about a giant Tootsie Pop?

A Sick Day at the Beach ~ Day 5

2011-10-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

Ds4 was anticipating day five at the beach…it was his 5th birthday. Unfortunately it was also a sick day for the poor little guy .

Soon after these pictures were taken the poor little guy took a long nap and woke up with a fever {this will be known as the never-ending cold of 2011}.

While he was sleeping his older brother and sister were working hard to protect their sand castle from the incoming tide.

The water made it to the castle and ended up creating a water-filled moat .

Even though he was tired…ds{now}5 felt well enough that night to open a couple of presents.

It’s no fun to spend your birthday in bed…especially when you’re on vacation.

It was so nice to see a smile on the little guy’s face .

At the Beach ~ Day 4

2011-10-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

On our fourth day at the beach I made it out before the sunrise…I was drawn by the dolphins playing in the water {if you look closely you can see two fins in the picture above}.

While I was out I got to see the sun rise…beautiful!

Ds9 soon joined me for an early morning shell walk.

Later in the morning every one headed out for more playtime in the ocean.

At the Beach ~ Day 3

2011-10-25T08:00:00.000-04:00

Another beautiful day at the beach…

The kiddos’ sand castle survived the night.

Ds9 is on his daily {or almost hourly} round of shell hunting.

In the afternoon we headed over to a cove area to look for more treasures from the ocean.

The kiddos tried out every pool they found.

We found two sea stars

and a bunch of hermit crabs.

Happy 5th Birthday

2011-10-24T10:00:00.000-04:00

Ds4 is now ds5…he celebrated his fifth birthday at the beach this year. Four years ago we celebrated his first birthday while vacationing in Nags Head, NC.

We discovered pretty quickly how he felt about the sand…

He did not want his daddy to put him in that stuff.

He did not like sand on his little feet!

Four years later his tastes have changed .

Happy birthday little guy!

At the Beach ~ Day 2 Pool Fun

2011-10-24T09:00:00.000-04:00

In the afternoon on day two the kiddos spent some time splashing around in the pool at our beach house.

Dd7 preferred the pool water to the salty ocean water.

Ds9 loved them both .

At the Beach ~ Day 2

2011-10-24T08:00:00.000-04:00

Our first official morning at the beach dawned bright and beautiful.

The kiddos couldn’t wait to walk the beach in search of shells.

Later in the morning they headed out for some fun in the ocean with dh...

boogie boarding,

sand castle building,

and just plain water fun .

Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ October 21, 2011

2011-10-23T22:18:00.001-04:00

In my life this week…We were at the beach! We had a wonderful, relaxing, sun-filled week at the beach. The weather was downright beautiful…70’s and sunny for most of the week!

We did have two more sick days, ds4 actually spent most of his birthday day in bed with a fever {from the never-ending cold of 2011} . But he felt much better the next day and we celebrated his 5th birthday then .

In our homeschool this week…I took a pile of seashore books so we could identify all of the shells we found and all of the shore birds we spotted…otherwise it was full-on vacation time from the school books .

I am inspired by…the awesome beauty of God’s creation…how can you doubt His power after witnessing a sunrise over the ocean?

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…We shared the beach house with an assortment of grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and friends. Most of our days were spent by the pool {our beach house featured a private one } or on the beach.

My favorite thing this week was…watching ds9 take like a fish to the swimming pool. He has taken swimming lessons every summer for the past three or four years. This summer he finally got the hang of it and actually began enjoying the water.

During our vacation he swam almost every day. He became a pro at swimming underwater, dh also taught him how to do somersaults and handstands in the water. He was so proud of himself, and I was too .

I’m grateful for…vacations and downtime with my family, off-season beach vacations {cheaper and less crowded}, healthy kiddos…

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

At the Beach ~ Day 1

2011-10-23T21:40:00.001-04:00

We just returned from vacation and I can’t help wanting to reminisce just a little bit…

We headed out bright and early {actually it was dark and early } to drive down to the beach.

It was a beautiful day for a drive…even a long one. Thank goodness for plentiful rest areas that are perfect for stretching little legs {and big ones!}.

We arrived in record time and the beach beckoned…

The kiddos could not resist trying out the water...

which was awfully warm for October!

We’re ready to start our week at the beach .

Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars ~ A recipe

2011-10-14T16:18:00.001-04:00

On my last post I mentioned making some oatmeal cranberry chocolate chip cookie bars and every commenter so far has asked for the recipe…so I thought I’d share it .

It’s basically the recipe found on the Quaker Oats oatmeal container and on this page with a few of my own substitutions. Here’s my own version of the recipe.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick), softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar {I use turbinado or raw sugar}
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour {I use a mix of white and fresh-ground wheat flour}
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
3 cups old fashioned, uncooked oats
1 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add in eggs and vanilla. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and mix well. Add oats, cranberries and chocolate chips and mix well.

Press dough onto bottom of ungreased 9x13-inch baking pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.

I’d show you a picture of the finished product…but they didn’t last long around here…maybe I’ll remember to take a picture the next time I make these yummy cookie bars .

Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ October 14, 2011

2011-10-14T08:13:00.001-04:00

In my life this week…The cold that wreaked havoc with my school schedule last week descended upon dh and I over the weekend. And poor little ds4 developed a hacking cough that this mama did not like. Thankfully he’s feeling much better, the cough was nothing serious…it just sounded bad to his mama’s ears .

In our homeschool this week…Despite the fact that the teacher was under the weather {me}…school continued. It was just a small cold, nothing to really complain about…but I still did . We completed four days of school {just like I planned} and we are now caught up and ready to go on to the next week in our curriculum.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…baseball practice, the apple orchard for more apples to cook up, and the bank to deposit our yard sale proceeds .

My favorite thing this week was…an unplanned drawing session that was inspired by the poem we studied this week. In our Bigger Hearts curriculum we study a different poem each week, taking time to learn about couplets and stanzas and different poetic devices. This week we studied the following poem:

Each in His Own Tongue

by William Herbert Carruth

A haze on the far horizon,

The infinite tender sky,

The rich, ripe tint of the cornfields,

And the wild geese flying high-

And all over upland and lowland

The charm of the goldenrod-

Some of us call it autumn,

And others call it God.

I have never heard/read this particular poem, and I am so glad that HOD introduced me and my kiddos to it…we all loved it!

Day 4 of our poetry study had the kiddos learning about imagery and they were supposed to draw the images that came to mind as I read the poem aloud to them. What was probably supposed to be a brief 10-minute lesson turned into a 30-minute drawing session with a bit of classical music thrown in .

All three kiddos really got into their illustrations…even ds4. After I read the poem aloud a few times so they could develop the imagery, I put our Best of Vivaldi: The Four Seasons CD into the CD player and played “Autumn”. It made perfect background music for their drawing session.

What’s working/not working for us…Our Heart of Dakota curriculum…I am still in love with it!

I’m reading…a bunch of freebies on my Kindle .

I’m cooking…Oatmeal Cranberry Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies {yummy!} and more apple goodness {mostly applesauce for the freezer}.

I’m grateful for…the overall good health of my family.

Giveaway Winners

2011-10-12T16:55:00.001-04:00

The winners of my two recent giveaways are:

Carlito C. Caterpillar Game Card set ~ commenter #1, Karyn

Cooper and Me ~ commenter #3, Amanda

Both winners have been notified .

Cooper and Me {children’s book} ~ A Review & Giveaway

2011-10-10T10:10:00.002-04:00

Cooper and Me is a sweet picture book about a little girl’s fears about her first day of school. Cooper and Me was illustrated by 11-year old Alexa Peters and co-written by Alexa & her mother Monique Peters.
The character of Cooper is based on Alexa’s real life dog, Cooper, a labrador retriever. And the book Cooper and Me was based on Alexa’s own personal experience with her first day of school.

Alexa’s illustrations are vibrant and colorful and the I love the rhyming text. Even though I am an adult…I have to admit, I love books that have rhyming text. Rhyming words are just plain fun to read, in my opinion .

In this story, the little girl is having first day of school jitters. Since my kiddos have always been homeschooled they have never been fearful about this particular experience. However, they have dealt with fears associated with embarking on a new experience, such as the first day in a new Sunday School class.

So even though they can’t exactly identify with what the main character in Cooper and Me is experiencing, they can sympathize because they have had “first time” jitters too.
I think Cooper and Me would be a fun read for any kiddo, whether they are looking forward to {or not looking forward to } the first day of school, or getting ready to experience a “first time” that they’re not too sure about.

More Information
Cooper and Me is the first book in the Cooper and Me series. This sweet picture book and the others in the series are available for purchase on the Cooper and Me website for $12.99/each.
The website also features a number of other fun and useful resources for kiddos and parents, including coloring pages that match each book in the Cooper and Me series and helpful reading guides for parents to use with each book.

Giveaway Information

I have been given one copy of this delightful hardcover picture book to give away to my readers. If you are interested in receiving your own copy of Cooper and Me simply leave a comment on this post.
I will randomly choose one comment {using random.org} on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 10am EST. Please be sure to leave a valid email address so I can contact you if you win.

"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."

Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ October 7, 2011

2011-10-08T11:21:00.001-04:00

In my life this week…The sun came back into town, yay! But sickness also visited our home, boo! Thankfully it’s just a cold, yay! But the first day of a cold is spent on the couch in our house because the drainage leads to stomach upset in my kiddos…not sure why, but that’s how it works around here.

Thankfully it seems that the worst is behind us and we can now look forward to enjoying the sunshine that’s predicted in our area for the next couple of days.

In our homeschool this week…I had planned to get three days of school in because we really needed one day of rest after our busy, busy weekend and we had a yard sale planned for Friday. Only one day got done. Two days were sick days for two different kiddos.

I am inspired by…the sunshine . I get so much more accomplished when the sun is shining, and my outlook is so much better.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…We made it to one baseball game before ds9 got sick. He’s feeling much better so he should be able to make it to his Saturday AM ballgame.

My favorite thing this week was…The sunshine and hanging laundry on the line after weeks of too-wet-to-hang-clothes-out weather.

I’m cooking…two batches of apple sauce and two batches of apple crisp and now it’s time to head back to the orchard to pick up more apples .

I’m grateful for…Being a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom . Dh and I didn’t have to stress over who was going to stay home with the sick kiddo when we woke up two days this week to sick kiddos.

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

I haven’t taken out my camera in a while, so I’m gonna post a picture from a while back . A couple weeks ago the kiddos found this critter hanging out on our porch. Dh did an online search and found that this guy was a bit far from home. I wonder how he got this far north?

September 2011 Wrap-Up

2011-10-05T12:23:00.001-04:00

It’s the beginning of October, we’ve actually been “back-to-school" since July 18th and this is my first wrap-up of the school year. Needless to say, I’m not very good about getting wrap-ups done . My goal is to do a monthly wrap-up ‘cause the weekly ones just come due too quickly!

So here’s the run-down of what we’ve accomplished since July…

Ds9 {4th Grade}

Math ~ He switched to Teaching Textbooks this year. We loved our old math curriculum {Christian Light Math} and dd7 is still using it, but I wanted a math curriculum that ds9 could do independently since dd7 & ds4 need a lot of my time this year. Ds9 is currently on lesson #29 of Teaching Textbooks Math 4…and he is loving it so far {well, at least as much as a 9-year old boy who’d rather be playing baseball could love math }.

Writing ~ We’ve also switched to a new writing curriculum this year. Once again, we loved what we were using before but it was time to ramp it up a bit…so this year ds9 started using IEW Student Writing Intensive A. I am not in a rush, so he is moving slowly through it. He is currently on lesson #3 {each lesson takes 10 days to complete}.

Ds9 was not excited when I told him it was time to add writing in to our homeschool day {we stagger subjects when we start back to school}…but he was pleasantly surprised at how much he enjoyed Mr. Pudewa’s DVD lessons .

Spelling ~ Ds9 is on Lesson #5 of Rod & Staff Spelling {no curriculum change for this subject}. He is also completing dictation passages from our HOD curriculum about 3 days per week.

Grammar ~ Ds9 is using First Language Lessons 4 this year for grammar. So far it’s been mostly review of information he learned in FLL3 last year.

Reading ~ I had a fourth grade reading list all planned out for ds9…but I switched our main history curriculum two weeks before we were supposed to begin so his reading list has changed {I’m coordinating reading with what we are studying in history this year}.

So far he has read Pocahontas and the Strangers and Pedro’s Journal. He is currently reading Almost Home.

Dd7 {2nd Grade}

Math ~ Dd7 is finishing up Christian Light Math Grade 1 and will be moving into either CLE Math Grade 2 or Singapore 2A when she’s done.

I have to say that I have been amazed at what the summer break has done for my little girl’s math skills. I know they say that breaks often lead to forgotten information, but in dd7’s case, I think the break gave her time to mature a bit.

Writing ~ This kiddo loves to write. She fills pages and pages of paper with stories and pictures and is always asking for the stapler or tape so she can keep her stories together.

This past spring I came across a couple reviews for WriteShop Primary and it sounded like a fun writing program…one that would indulge my dd’s passion for writing. So even though I don’t usually start a formal writing program this early in the game…I thought I’d give this creative curriculum a try.

We’re not in a rush to complete this curriculum so we’re taking it pretty slow…makin’ it fun for dd7 and I.

Spelling ~ Dd7 is using Heart of Dakota’s spelling program which is included in our Bigger Heart’s guide.

Grammar ~ Even though I love, love, love First Language Lessons {I have used the first 3 levels with ds9}, I decided to switch to Rod & Staff grammar this year. It comes highly recommended by Heart of Dakota {our new history, science and more curriculum}.

I really needed to free up some time so I could work more one-on-one with ds4 so I began looking for some subjects that dd7 could do at least partially independently. We are almost finished with unit one and so far I have been very pleased with the switch. Unlike FLL this is a grammar curriculum that dd7 can do semi-independently. We do about 2/3 of each lesson orally {together} and then I choose a couple of problems for dd to complete independently.

Reading ~ This year I am using Heart of Dakota’s emerging reader plan from our Bigger Hearts for His Glory guide. Dd7 is currently about 200 pages into The Beginner’s Bible . Heart of Dakota’s plan has her reading about 2 short chapters every day {she reads them aloud to me}, and then orally answering a few questions to check for comprehension.

Family Subjects

Our new Heart of Dakota curriculum Bigger Hearts for His Glory contains integrated lesson plans for History, Bible Study, Poetry, Read Alouds, Geography, Art, Vocabulary, Science and more.

Bible ~ This year we are learning about character qualities while studying the book of Proverbs. So far the kiddos and I have spent time learning about persistence, humility, boldness and trustworthiness while memorizing five passages from Proverbs.

History ~ The kiddos and I are using a biographical approach to study American History this year using Heart of Dakota’s Bigger Hearts for His Glory. So far we have been using A First Book in American History as our main history text and we have studied the lives of Columbus, John Smith, and Pocahontas.

One of our HOD geography activities was making a graham cracker map of the world .

Science ~ We’ve been learning about seashore life by reading through One Small Square: Seashore and doing experiments that go along with what we’re studying.

One of our science experiments asked the kiddos to use different tools {representing different birds’ beaks} to pick up “food” from the seashore.

Read Alouds ~ We just finished up reading a biography about Phillis Wheatley, Phillis Wheatley: Young Revolutionary Poet. Our next read-aloud is A Lion to Guard Us, which we plan to start this week. We also just started a new missionary read-aloud: Spy for the Night Riders.

Wow…this turned into quite a long post. Maybe next time I ought not wait so long to do a wrap-up post . And I didn’t even mention what I’m doing with ds4!

Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ September 30, 2011

2011-09-30T09:15:00.001-04:00

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

2011-09-27T15:35:00.000-04:00

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.

Giveaway Winners

2011-09-21T10:19:00.001-04:00

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

2011-09-20T16:49:00.001-04:00

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

2011-09-16T10:21:00.001-04:00

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

2011-09-15T15:57:00.000-04:00

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

2011-09-14T14:37:00.001-04:00

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

2011-09-13T21:22:00.001-04:00

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 .

Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ September 9, 2011

2011-09-09T16:21:00.001-04:00

In my life this week…Rain, rain and more rain. But thankfully we haven’t experienced any flooding in our neighborhood. In our case the rain has been simply a nuisance…keeping us inside a lot more…but we have been praying for the many people whose lives have been greatly affected by flooding from this seemingly unending rain.

In our homeschool this week…We have successfully completed three weeks of our new curriculum, Heart of Dakota’s Bigger Hearts for His Glory. And in am still in love with it!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…Before all of the rain started up, we were able to spend Labor Day afternoon with our church family at a nearby park…that boasts a big wooden slide. We had a wonderful time eating and sliding with our friends.

The rain began that afternoon and has not let up since…so the rest of the week has been spent mostly inside…getting schoolwork done .

My favorite thing this week was…Watching all of the sliding fun…especially the big kids {the adults}. Dh didn’t suffer much soreness from his day of fun, but I have heard from friends that some of the other “big kids” were pretty sore the day after.

What’s working/not working for us…Our new Heart of Dakota curriculum is working fabulously. It is so nice to not spend the weekend planning {I just open and go}…and it is even nicer to get everything done and still have time to play in the afternoon .

I’m cooking…The cooler, rainy weather has gotten me in the mood for fall…this week I made some homemade bread and a big pot of chili…and I have grand baking plans for the weekend.

I’m grateful for…The fact that we have stayed relatively dry despite all of the rain around us.

I’m praying for…All of those people affected by the flooding in our area and around the country. And that the rain will stop soon .

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

This is not just an ordinary old slide…it’s the big slide. Regulars to the park know to bring their own towels to slide on…and some even bring waxed paper for a super fast ride!

A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers ~ A Review

2011-09-09T07:00:00.000-04:00

A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers is Bright Ideas Press’ answer to the question “is there an easy-to-use resource that can be used to teach my 4th to 8th grader about composers?”.

Maggie Hogan and Melissa Craig of Bright Ideas Press have put together this 32-week course that can be used to give 4th to 8th graders a full year of composer studies.

A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers

The chapters in this 300+ page guide include:

Ancient Music to Music in the Middle Ages
Music in the Renaissance
The Baroque Period
The Classical Period
The Romantic Period
The Contemporary Period

Your 4th to 8th graders will be introduced to 26 different composers including Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Ives, Gershwin and many others.

The authors of A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers want this music appreciation course to be as “stress-free as possible”. In order to help this happen, they have included the following recommended schedule in this guide:

Day One

Listen to the recommended selections {music selection recommendations for each composer are listed in the appendix}
Read the lesson {lesson texts run about 12oo words and take approximately 15 minutes to read aloud}
Fill in the note-taking pages or answer the Student Review Questions {both are included in the guide}

Day Two

Listen to the recommended selections again
Fill in the Composer Info-Card {included in the guide}
Color in the timeline {included in the guide}
Match the composer to his place of birth {map directions are in the guide}

Day Three

Listen to the recommended selections again

As you can see from the authors’ recommended schedule, they feel that listening music of a particular period, and/or by a particular composer is at the heart of any good and effective composer study…and I wholeheartedly agree .

My Thoughts

This is a very well-thought out composer study curriculum.

The lesson text provided for each composer gives a very succinct summary of the life and accomplishments of that particular composer. It is a perfect introduction to a study on each individual composer. Please note that the authors took care to include only information about the composers that they felt was appropriate for the intended age group of this study {4th to 8th grade}. They intentionally left out information that dealt with immoral behaviors, etc. that you are sure to come across when reading about some of the composers in this study.

Following each lesson is a set of note-taking pages and/or student review questions. These worksheets can be filled in by the student or completed orally; we chose to do them orally since my kiddos are younger.

Templates for the Composer Info Cards and the timeline are included in the appendix, along with listening suggestions for each time period and composer, a coloring page for each composer, printables for games and more.

It seems that Bright Ideas Press thought of everything when they published this curriculum!

My favorite part of this curriculum is it’s “tweakability” {I think I just made that word up, but it fits }. My plan is to use this course as a basic jumping off point for a multiple year study of composers. The resources provided in the appendix are invaluable, in my opinion. The coloring pages and game printables will go a long way in helping me make composer study interesting and fun for my younger kiddos.

More Information

You can learn more about this outstanding music appreciation curriculum at both the Bright Ideas website and at Timberdoodle’s website.

A Young Scholar’s Guide to Composers can be purchased from Timberdoodle for $31.50.

Timberdoodle also has a number of other resources that can be used to teach music in your homeschool. If you don’t have one already, be sure to request a copy of Timberdoodle’s free catalog…it is chock-full of excellent homeschool resources.

As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of the e-book version of this resource in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.

Church Picnic & a Big Slide

2011-09-07T15:18:00.001-04:00

We celebrated Labor Day with our church family at a cool park that has a humongous wooden slide. The kiddos {and most of the adults} spent most of their time {after grabbing a few bites of yummy picnic food} at the big slide. Most of the kiddos were sliding, many of the adults were watching, and some of the bravest adults were sliding too .

According to most of the sliders, the faster you slide the better.

Ds9 tried many different positions…this one seemed to give him the most speed.

Dd7 didn’t really care about speed…fast or slow, she had fun either way.

Ds4 preferred a slower ride…he perfected the slow down at the bottom of the slide.

It seemed that the people who had the most fun were the dads . Dh took some pretty quick and crazy trips down the slide…but not as fast and crazy as some of the others dads!

July and August 2011 in Pictures

2011-09-06T12:39:00.001-04:00

Wow! I can’t believe it’s already September…the summer has slipped away. Here’s some of the things that kept us busy the past few months…

Baseball…the All-Star game, time really flies because ds9 has already started fall ball practice .

Ds4 learned to ride his bike without training wheels…and he’s really excited about it {can you tell?}

Carnival fun, with a ride-for-one-price wristband! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa .

Swimming lessons…

Watching our small town’s annual parade…why do you go to the parade? Is it to dance along to the music of the marching band…

To wave your flag to everyone who passes by…

Or to collect a bag full of loot?

A hike in the woods…

Fun at the pool…

A photo shoot at the playground…

And back to {home}school .

Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ August 26th

2011-08-26T13:21:00.001-04:00

In my life this week…Well, six weeks into our new school year, and we’ve already switched curriculums! It really wasn’t too big of a switch though, we’re still studying the same time history topic {American history}, we’re still using many of the same books {we just cut the number down a bit}, and we hadn’t begun our history studies yet anyway .

I have to say that I am delighted with this new curriculum, I am using Bigger Hearts for His Glory from Heart of Dakota with my two older kiddos {4th grade and 2nd grade}. Practically every night I have told my husband that I am loving actually getting to do Bible, poetry, vocabulary, grammar, spelling, math, history and even science {I always planned to do all of these things, but we always seemed to run out of time}.

And we’re not tied to the schoolbooks all day to be able to get to all of these subjects either. This week we’ve actually been spending lots of time with friends outside {school starts back in our area next week} and we’ve still gotten everything done {my 9yo is finished with all of his work in about 3.5 hours, it takes the 7yo about 2.5 to 3 hours}.

In our homeschool this week…We’ve broken in our new curriculum, and we are all loving it. Now I just need to plan some stuff for the 4yo to do .

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…If it’s broke, don’t be afraid to fix it…even if you seem a bit flaky when you switch curriculums only six weeks into the school year .

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…Today we are going to the dentist…it’s my turn to sit in the chair and all three kiddos will make themselves comfortable on the floor around me while they clean my teeth {sounds like fun, right?}.

It’s the kiddos’ turns on Monday…all three of them.

My favorite thing this week was…Doing some fun science and history projects with my kiddos. One my favorite things about our Bigger Hearts for His Glory curriculum so far is the fun, yet super easy to implement activities that are planned for in the guide.

What’s working/not working for us…Our new curriculum is definitely working for us!

Questions/thoughts I have…This question is not homeschool related but…I wonder what the weekend will bring, Irene is headed our way and even though we aren’t usually affected too much by hurricanes this far inland they’re saying it could be pretty bad.

Things I’m working on…Setting up ds9’s new reading program. I purchased Drawn Into the Heart of Reading from Heart of Dakota and I am currently studying the guide so I can hopefully start it up soon.

I’m reading…Lots of books on my Kindle {love those free Kindle books on Amazon}, lots of blog posts about back to school, and my new teacher’s guides.

I’m cooking…Lots of stuff in the slow cooker…I love not worrying about what’s for dinner ‘cause it’s already in the crockpot . I’m also cooking up a couple of freezer meals for a dear friend who is expecting baby #5.

I’m grateful for… Um, surviving the earthquake that shook our area on Wednesday afternoon . I know, earthquakes are not that big a deal to people on the west coast, especially ones that don’t knock things off the wall and such…but it was definitely an experience I will never forget!

I’m praying for… an uneventful weekend…after storms last weekend and an earthquake this week…I would love to see Irene pass us by .

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

One of the fun projects we did this week…labeling our globe/ball with the continents and the oceans.

Meet My Students {AKA the kiddos}

2011-08-20T09:14:00.001-04:00

This week it’s student photo week at the Not Back to School Blog Hop. This was a wonderful reminder to me to get some current photos of my own students .

First up is ds9 {4th grade}. He loves baseball, Star Wars and legos. He’s a gentle, loving, and sometimes bossy big brother .

Next comes dd7 {2nd grade}. This spunky, red-headed, middle child and only girl child keeps all of us entertained with her dramatic flair for life.

And last, but never least, is ds4 {preschool/preK}. He loves being loud, running fast, and giving great hugs to his mama {who can’t believe her baby will be 5 soon!}.

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for The Grace Card DVD .

The Grace Card DVD ~ A Movie Review & Giveaway

2011-08-18T10:40:00.001-04:00

The Grace Card is a movie about God’s love, God’s grace, and the power of forgiveness.

Mac is a father who lost a son 17 years ago, a father who is on the brink of losing his other son now…he is an angry man. And he is partnered up with a pastor cop, Sgt. Sam Wright, part-time pastor and full-time cop. Neither man really wants the other man in his life, but God put each of them there for a reason. That reason is to learn about grace; giving grace and receiving it.

I loved this poignant Christian film! It brought me to the brink of tears a number of times…and I do not usually cry during movies. I especially appreciated the message of this movie.

Please note that The Grace Card is rated PG-13 due to some violence and thematic elements in the movie.

The Grace Card DVD released on August 16th, 2011. You can read more about this movie on The Grace Card website.

You can also check out their facebook page that already boasts over 47,000 fans!

Giveaway News!

This giveaway is now closed…congratulations to commenter #1 {Laura}. I have emailed the winner and hope to hear back from her soon .

I have a brand new copy of this DVD to give away to one of my readers. If you would like to enter this giveaway simply leave a comment on this post. That’s it . I’ll be choosing one winner using random.org at 9:00am EST on Monday, August 22, 2011.

“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.”

Weekly Wrap-Up ~ Week 4

2011-08-12T18:01:00.001-04:00

Ahhh…week 4 already!

I didn’t get any pictures of the kiddos “doing school” but I did get some pictures of them having fun in a friend’s pool {we took a midweek break on Wednesday}. I’ll share those just to make this post a bit more

visually pleasing .

I am still in the process of adding in subjects, this week I had planned to add spelling and Bible to the line-up…but only spelling made it {although we did continue with our morning devotions from our Keys for Kids devotional}.

Both kiddos are moving right along in their math programs. Ds9 heads to the basement each afternoon {without complaining, mind you} to complete his Teaching Textbooks lesson, while dd7 works with me at the kitchen table on her CLE Math lesson. Dd7 finished up another light unit this week and aced the end of unit test !

Both kiddos are also seeming to enjoy their new writing curriculums. Ds9 is still working through lesson one in his IEW program; this week he wrote a paragraph from the key word outline they worked on during the video part of lesson one. He also made his own key word outline from a paragraph about desert tarantulas and rewrote a paragraph from the outline.

Dd7 and I have been having fun with her writing curriculum {Write Shop Primary Book A}. Every day we have been writing about animals {her favorite topic}.

We also began a new chapter in our science curriculum. I read aloud to the kiddos from our science text while we had an impromptu lunch on the back deck.

Even though we haven’t added history into our school day yet, I did begin to whet their appetites for our upcoming history studies by beginning a new read-aloud ~ The Birchbark House. This book is not one of our scheduled read-alouds from Sonlight, but it is one that I wanted to add in and it matches our upcoming history studies perfectly .

Once all of our subjects have been added into the line-up, we will return to our regular schedule of beginning our school day in the morning. However, these past couple of weeks the kiddos have been doing their schoolwork in the afternoons…mornings have been spent on chores and lots of outside playtime {while the day is still cool}.

Our School Room{s}

2011-08-12T14:37:00.001-04:00

This is school room week on the Not Back to School Blog Hop…so I guess it’s as good a time as any to share pictures of our school rooms.

I say school rooms {with an s} because we “do school” in many rooms in our home, and we also store school supplies {i.e. books} in many rooms in our home .

First up is our former dining room {thankfully we have an eat in kitchen so we don’t need to eat in our dining room}…it has been transformed into our main school room.

We’ve made some changes to this room this past year {here’s what it looked like last year}…in the spring we purchased some wonderful expedit shelves from IKEA {what homeschooler can ever have too many shelves?} and a couple weeks ago we gave three of the walls a new paint job.

I picked up some inexpensive picture frames from Michaels so I could display the kiddos’ art above the shelves. We repurposed an old kitchen table and some mismatched chairs to be used as a writing/work table in the middle of the room.

The shelf between the windows holds our current science books {top shelf}, our circle time notebook, our history notebook and notebooks for each kiddo {to keep this year’s completed work in}. Dd7’s All About Spelling supplies, books, and writing supplies are on the 2nd shelf; ds9 and dd7’s writing curriculum and more writing supplies take up the 3rd shelf. The two bottom shelves hold coloring books, crayons, blank paper, magazines and more.

Under the table is a basket full of blank books waiting to be filled with stories.

A pocket chart calendar hangs on our double-sided easel which stands in the corner of the room.

In our basement I have a desk and rolling cart for each kiddo…ds9 completes his math down there {that’s where the computer is}, but at this time the desks and rolling carts are basically just a place for each kiddo to store his/her stuff.

See…dd7’s desk is currently covered with building blocks and the table is covered puzzle pieces .

Most of the work gets completed at the kitchen table or in the dining room/school room…or on the couch {read-alouds}, or the back deck or even in the kiddos’ rooms. But I didn’t take pictures of those areas .

2nd Grade Reading List

2011-08-12T12:07:00.001-04:00

Last year my dd7 was a struggling reader. Thanks to All About Spelling {yes, it is a spelling program, but paired with the AAS readers, it is a very effective reading program}, my dd has spent most of the summer checking out books from the library that she can read all by herself !

So for the first time she will be getting her own reading list for the school year.

We will be working through Sonlight’s Core D history program this year. Many of the readers that I chose for dd7 will match what we’re studying in history, others are just classic, fun readers that match her reading level.

Small Wolf

The Story of Columbus

Frog & Toad Are Friends

Frog & Toad Together

Days With Frog & Toad

The True Story of Pocahontas

George Washington’s First Victory

Uncle Elephant

Grasshopper on the Road

A Bargain for Frances

George Washington and the General’s Dog

Ben Franklin and His First Kite

Paul Revere and the Bell Ringers

The 18 Penny Goose

Betsy Ross & the Silver Thimble

Sam the Minuteman

Amelia Bedelia

Thimbleberry Stories

Sacagawea and the Bravest Deed

Lewis & Clark: A Prairie Dog

Little Bear

Little Bear’s Visit

Little Bear’s Friend

Thank You Amelia Bedelia

Teach Us Amelia Bedelia

The Statue of Liberty

The Mighty Mississippi

The Long Way to a New Land

The Long Way Westward

Mount Rushmore

Looks like a pretty daunting list…I planned one book per week but I am very willing to slow the pace down if necessary .

Weekly Wrap-Up ~ The First Three Weeks

2011-08-06T16:49:00.000-04:00

We’ve actually been “back-to-school” for three weeks now. Back in the spring I decided that our first day of school for 2011-2012 would be July 18th…July and August in our area are usually really hot with a lot of humidity thrown in, so we might as well have some structured learning going on while we’re hiding inside with the A/C on .

For the first week back to school, I planned a pretty light schedule {only two subjects per kiddo ~ math & reading, and one family subject ~ science}. The second week remained the same, and then this past week we also added in writing. I plan to add two to three subjects per week until we reach full capacity on August 22nd.

So here’s what we’ve accomplished in the past three weeks:

Ds9 broke in his new math curriculum, Teaching Textbooks 4, and so far so good. He has completed 9 lessons so far, and both he and I are loving that he can do this subject independently .

Dd7 is continuing with her math curriculum from last year {CLE Math}. The plan is for her to finish up the 1st grade text soon and then head into the 2nd grade text.

Both kiddos have been reading like mad the whole summer, filling bags full of library books to checkout during our weekly treks to the library. They’re not yet required to read from their reading lists yet, but they are reading .

Our current science curriculum is Exploring Creation With Botany from Apologia. We have all of the books in the series, and I thought Botany would be the perfect choice for a summer study. So far we’ve completed the first chapter {we’re still in summer mode}, and we were even able to put some of our new knowledge to the test on a recent family hike .

Both kiddos are using new writing programs this year. I purchased IEW’s Student Writing Intensive A for ds9 and Write Shop Primary Books A & B for dd7 {she is extremely creative and this curriculum looks like such fun}.

Ds9 watched his first DVD lesson for IEW this week…he was not at all excited about beginning writing, but Mr. Pudewa actually makes writing fun {really}, even ds9 admitted that he was funny .

Dd7 and I completed two days of writing so far. The first day she was a bit grumpy because she really wanted to join her brothers on the front porch instead of doing writing with mom, but she seemed to enjoy the second day, especially the read-aloud time with mom .

Next week I plan to add in spelling {for ds9} and Bible. The plan is to have all subjects added in by August 22nd .

Our Curriculum for 2011-2012

2011-08-01T11:35:00.001-04:00

We’ve actually been “back-to-school” for a couple weeks now. We began our new school year on July 18th, just around the time that the 100 degree days started in our neck of the woods .

So I guess it’s about time that I post our curriculum choices for this year…and thanks to the Not Back-to-School Blog Hop I have incentive to do it right now ‘cause it’s curriculum week!

This year I’ll have a 4th grader {ds9}, a 2nd grader {dd7}, and a preschooler {ds4}.

4th Grade

Grammar ~ First Language Lessons 4

Writing ~ IEW Student Writing Intensive A

Handwriting ~ A Reason for Handwriting Cursive

Reading ~ SL Readers Core D Advanced

Spelling ~ Rod & Staff Grade 4

Math ~ Teaching Textbooks Math 4, Daily Word Problems Grade 4

2nd Grade

Grammar ~ First Language Lessons Level 2

Writing ~ Write Shop Primary Books A & B

Handwriting ~ Italics Book C or A Reason for Handwriting Transition {we have both books, I’m going to let her choose which style she prefers}

Reading ~ Various Readers to match our History studies {I hope to post her 2nd grade reading list soon}

Spelling ~ All About Spelling Level 2 and matching readers

Math ~ Christian Light Education Math Grade 2

Family Subjects/Circle Time

History ~ Sonlight Core D Intro to American History, adding in various activities from History Pockets and Time Travellers

Geography ~ Daily Geography {we have grade 2 & grade 4, I plan to do grade 2 orally with both my 2nd & 4th grader and use grade 4 another year}, State Study/Notebooking

Science ~ Exploring Creation with Botany, Discover and Do DVDs from Sonlight that match our botany studies

Bible ~ Bible Study Guide for All Ages, Keys for Kids devotions

Art ~ See the Light Art DVDs {I reviewed the first DVD while with the TOS Homeschool Crew last year, my kiddos loved it so much I bought the whole set }.

Music ~ We’ll be singing selected hymns and patriotic songs during Circle Time.

Ds4 {the preschooler} will be listening in during most of our family studies {history, science, Bible, read alouds} and doing his own letter study with me during independent work time…hopefully .

So that’s the planned line-up for 2011-2012.

Summer Fun ~ A Nature Walk in the Woods

2011-08-01T07:00:00.000-04:00

We are blessed to live very near a beautiful state park that is full of hiking trails…and we never seem to make time to take advantage of this blessing.

But this weekend we made the time…

The temperature reading at our house was in the mid to upper 90’s, it was at least 10 degrees cooler in the park .

After checking out the visitor’s center {which had some really great displays}, we headed up to a short trail that would lead to a vista of our town.

When we got to the beginning of the trail, we discovered a humongous rock that had beautiful specimens of what we had just been studying in our science book {Exploring Creation with Botany}.

The kiddos found some wonderful samples of moss growing on the ground.

And a bunch of lichens all over the rock formation.

As we headed up the trail we noticed bunches of ferns growing next to the trail.

And even some small clumps of wild raspberries.

After a half mile of walking we reached the vista area where we were able to overlook our small town.

And we found even more lichens growing on the rocks up there…and these lichens were greener {our book taught us that the greener the lichen, the cleaner the air}.

Of course, I had the kiddos stop and pose by the trail sign…and then we headed back down the trail.

On the way down, we spotted a number of trees that sported woodpecker holes…

And ds9 spotted a tree with a fungus growing on it {we saw a sample of this particular fungus at the visitor’s center}.

We finished our afternoon with a trip to a nearby playground area, known as “the tire park”.

This playground is one of our kiddos’ favorites mostly because it is so unique. Instead of wood chip mulch, the mulch is made of recycled tires {which is much softer to fall on}. There’s also a couple of really cool tire swings,

a zip line,

and much more…

I told dh that we definitely have to plan more hikes and take advantage of the beautiful parks that we have in our area.

Summer Fun ~ Small Town Parade

2011-07-18T11:15:00.001-04:00

One of our kiddos’ favorite parts of summer is watching our town’s annual parade.

There’s fire trucks,

marching bands,

and little horses in costume…

And most every one of them throws candy to the parade watchers

Ds4 loved waving at everyone as they marched, rode or drove past…

Dd7 enjoyed waving her flag as the parade went by…

And ds9 enjoyed sharing his loot with the adults sitting behind us who weren’t diving for the candy as it was thrown out {he’s a sweet kid}.

Yep, a good time was had by all .

Swimming Lessons 2011

2011-07-08T17:17:00.001-04:00

Today was the final day of swim lessons for ds9 and dd7.

For the past two weeks we have headed up to a nearby university pool every morning for one-half hour of swim lessons.

Dd7 loves being in the water, but she does not like the jumping in part.

Ds9 claims to really, really dislike taking swimming lessons…I think he’s changed his mind this year and he may in fact actually rather enjoy them, but he hasn’t admitted it yet :)

I told him that it doesn’t matter whether he likes lessons or not, he must take lessons until he learns to swim, for safety reasons that’s just a rule in our home :).

He’s done an awesome job this year, and he can now swim on his own across a portion of the pool. Today was safety day, so he was practicing swimming with a life jacket {they love wearing the life jackets:)}, but he can swim sans life jacket too.

Summertime swim lessons are also a super-easy way to fulfill PE requirements for our homeschool :)

Summer Fun ~ A Night at the Carnival

2011-07-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

What’s summertime without a night at the carnival? My in-laws blessed our three kiddos with ride-all-night bracelets so they got to go on every ride they wanted, as many times as they wanted ‘til we called it a night :).

Oh, to be a kid again. I used to love the Scrambler and the swings, but I am pretty sure I could not handle them anymore…too much spinning makes my head hurt :)

But I did ride the ferris wheel with them {I’m in the other corner of the car}. And for the record…I did not like it when our car stopped so others could get on, especially when we were at the tip top of the wheel :O!

No More Training Wheels

2011-07-06T12:50:00.001-04:00

It looks like he’s not a little guy anymore :(

Nope, he’s definitely a big guy now…he can ride his bike without training wheels!

And he is so proud of himself too :)

June 2011 in Pictures

2011-07-06T12:30:00.001-04:00

June was packed with lots of family fun…

We picked a whole bunch of strawberries,

took in a minor league baseball game,

had a blast at VBS {Gold Rush style},

had lunch at the library {three times},

watched our flower garden grow,

and finished up little league season with a trip to the All Star game :)!

Summer Fun ~ At the Ballpark

2011-07-05T15:10:00.001-04:00

We are blessed to live near the home of a minor league baseball team…and last weekend we finally took the whole crew to one of the games.

On Sunday evening home games, the team signs autographs on the field before the game and kids can play catch in the outfield.

The game had some great plays and our team won!

After the game was over, dh took all three kiddos down to run the bases…

And then it was time for the fireworks!

Ds4 loved the light show in the sky…I think it’s the first time he’s been able to watch them and not be bothered by the noise :)

Summer Fun ~ Lunch at the Library

2011-07-01T14:25:00.001-04:00

We are blessed with a wonderful library…it has a huge children’s area filled with books, games, puppets and more, a drive-thru pick up window {for books that are put on hold}, and a fabulous deck where you can relax, read, and even eat.

The kiddos have asked me every summer if we can take lunch to the library and eat on the deck. And even though I really, really wanted to make that happen, we never did it…until this summer. Actually, this is the 3rd time that we’ve eaten on the deck this summer :) This time we brought along my mom and my niece…and Emily {dd8’s American Girl doll}.

{Almost} Summer Fun ~ Strawberry Pickin’

2011-06-07T15:16:00.001-04:00

We missed out last year…and we almost missed again this year…but we made it to the patch before it closed {thanks to a reminder from a friend}.

We got up and outta here early this morning…before the heat of the day moved in…

The kiddos did an awesome job…and not one complaint was heard :)

Now, what to do with our big bowl full of juicy, red strawberries…

April & May 2011 in Pictures

2011-06-07T11:09:00.001-04:00

Rain, rain and more rain fell on our area in April.

Ds9’s first hit of the baseball season :).

Brotherly love on Easter morning :)

More Easter morning goodness…all three kiddos dressed up and smiling for the camera before heading to church.

And some silly fun too!

Daisy the dog is growing up…

A rainy week in May…and a lot of rainbows too.

Ds9 just hit a double!

Ds9 in front of the Babe Ruth Museum during a trip to an Orioles vs. Nationals game at Camden Yards.

Ds4 enjoying a snack at our final Truth Squad meeting before summer break.

Memorial Day fun ~ with popsicles…

…and parachutes

Helping Grandma celebrate her birthday!

Spending time with Great Grandpa…

…and Cousin Mandi ~ visiting from the west coast.

Amazing Grace: Celtic Hymns & Blessings CD ~ A Review

2011-05-27T14:46:00.001-04:00

My family was recently given the opportunity to review a music CD entitled Amazing Grace: Celtic Hymns & Blessings produced by David Huntsinger for Discovery House Music.

This soothing CD contains 13 different songs, including Amazing Grace, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Showers of Blessing, and We’re Marching to Zion. You can see a full listing of the songs on this CD on this page.

My husband and I especially enjoy Celtic music. We found the sounds of flutes, bagpipes, fiddles and harps on this CD to be quite soothing. We also enjoyed the mix of instrumental music {instruments only} and vocals. And my kiddos loved to add their own vocals to the instrumental music…especially when one of their favorite hymns was playing, Amazing Grace :).

Amazing Grace: Celtic Hymns & Blessings made the perfect background music for dinnertime prep and eating…its soothing musical arrangements and crisp, clean vocals seemed to calm the chaos that can sometimes ensue around dinnertime in our home :).

More Information

Discovery House Music is part of Discovery House Publishers…a publishing house that was founded over 20 years ago. Discovery House Publishers desires to “produce resources that feed the soul with the Word of God.”

Amazing Grace: Celtic Hymns & Blessings is available for purchase from the Discovery Music website for $9.90 {regular price is $10.99}.

I received this CD for free from Discovery House Music in order to provide an honest and unbiased review. I did not receive any further compensation for this review.

Read for the Heart ~ A Review

2011-05-27T07:00:00.000-04:00

I recently had chance to review another great item published by Apologia ~ Read for the Heart:Whole Books for Wholehearted Families by Sarah Clarkson.

This inspiring 384-page book is chock-full of helpful information regarding how to make reading good books a part of your home atmosphere.

I love how this book is organized. The first three chapters provide an introduction to both the author and why reading should be an important part of ours and our children’s lives.

The fourth chapter tells us how to use this book and is aptly titled “A Roadmap for Using This Book”.

The rest of the chapters in Read for the Heart contain booklists for different genres of literature. In these chapters Miss Clarkson provides detailed book lists and book reviews for books that she recommends be on your bookshelves. Each book review includes the author, date of original publication, awards received {if applicable}, illustrator {if applicable}, general age category, a short review, and cautions regarding content {if necessary}.

Each of the books contained in these lists are books that Miss Clarkson has either read personally or books that come highly recommended by trusted sources. Sarah also cautions that there are many “…excellent, classic books” that are not included in Read for the Heart:

The books I list are mostly the beloved companions of my own childhood. Your reading exploration may begin with the books listed here, but there are hundreds more waiting for your discovery.

Miss Clarkson also includes a number of helpful appendixes at the end of Read for the Heart. These appendixes provide booklists of Caldecott Medalists, Newbury Medalists, G.A. Henty titles, Landmark History titles, and Trailblazer Series titles.

My Thoughts

I am a booklover myself, and I endeavor to create booklovers of each of my kiddos. I sincerely appreciate Sarah Clarkson’s heart for reading, and it definitely shines through on the pages of Read for the Heart.

I enjoyed the way Miss Clarkson wove stories of how books affected her childhood into the pages of Read for the Heart. Her writing quickly drew me into the book, I had a really hard time putting it down :).

The way that this book has been organized makes it quite simple for me to pick it up and quickly find a booklist that matches my needs, whether I am searching for a wholesome and fun picture book to read with my 4yo, looking for a new family read-aloud, or preparing a booklist for history and biography titles to add to our history studies.

More Information

Read for the Heart is available for purchase on the Apologia website for $17.00.

You can access a preview of the table of contents and a sample chapter from this page.

Click on the banner above to read what my fellow crewmates are saying about Read for the Heart.

I received a free copy of Read for the Heart in exchange for my honest, unbiased opinion of the book. I did not receive any further compensation for my review.

Considering God’s Creation {Eagle’s Wings} ~ A Review

2011-05-25T07:35:00.000-04:00

I recently received Considering God’s Creation published by Eagle’s Wings for our family to try. Considering God’s Creation is a creation-based science curriculum that takes “a creative biblical approach to natural science” and it was written to be used with 2nd to 7th graders.

The authors of this award-winning science curriculum {Susan Mortimer and Betty Smith} are homeschooling moms who originally created this curriculum for their own children.

Considering God’s Creation contains 36 lessons and can be used as a stand-alone science curriculum that can be completed in one to three years. The authors wrote this curriculum with homeschooling families with multiple students in mind. Their intention was that it be flexible…so that families can adapt it to fit the needs of their kiddos.

Considering God’s Creation covers the following topics:

Creation
The Universe: Stars, Sun and Planets
The Earth
Non-Living Things: Rocks and Minerals
Weather
The Plant Kingdom
The Animal Kingdom
Animal Anatomy & Physiology
Man: Made in God’s Image

Our Experience

The package I received included a 128-page Teacher’s Manual, a 270-page consumable student workbook, and a 23-track cd.

The consumable student workbook isn’t just a bunch of fill-in-the-blank pages. Most of the pages require kiddos to do something {cut and paste a little book, play a game, do a bit of detective work, etc.} The authors recommend that each child store their completed pages in a notebook and from what I have seen so far, my kiddos will have a very impressive science notebook when we have completed Considering God’s Creation.

The 128-page teaching guide is very straight forward and easy to use.

My kiddos absolutely love the audio CD. The songs on the CD are very simple, yet catchy and they help cement the information that we are learning in Considering God’s Creation in my kiddos’ brains.

I am extremely pleased with this science curriculum. I have been looking for a fun and easy-to-use creation-based science curriculum that I can use with all three of my kiddos…and I think I have found what I was looking for in Considering God’s Creation.

More Information

Click here to view sample pages from Considering God’s Creation.

You can also find links to samples from the audio cd on the right sidebar of this page.

The Eagle’s Wings website contains a very helpful FAQ page about the Considering God’s Creation curriculum.

You can purchase Considering God’s Creation {teacher’s manual, one student workbook, and audio cd} for $29.95 from the Eagle’s Wings website. Additional student workbooks are available on the website for $13.95.

Click on the banner above to read what my fellow crewmates are saying about Considering God’s Creation.

I received this product for free in order to provide an honest and unbiased review of my family’s experience with this product. I did not receive any further compensation for this review.

A Kid’s Guide to Drawing the Presidents of the USA ~ A Review

2011-05-23T07:00:00.000-04:00

One of the first homeschooling catalogs that I received when I was a wanna-be homeschooler over six years ago was a Timberdoodle catalog. Since then I have come to depend on Timberdoodle for honest and reliable reviews of homeschooling products and a large selection of fun and unique homeschooling items.

So needless to say, I was very excited when I was given the opportunity to become a part of Timberdoodle’s Blogger Review Team.

A Kid’s Guide to Drawing the Presidents of the USA is the first item that I am reviewing for Timberdoodle. This series contains 42 library bound {hardcover} books. Each 32-page book covers the life and times of one President, from George Washington to George Bush. I received How to Draw the Life and Times of Harry S. Truman to use with my kiddos.

How to Draw to Life and Times of Harry S. Truman contains thirteen 2-page chapters and features a number of visual extras that enhance your learning about Truman, including a number of photographs {some full-color}, a copy of a famous portrait of Truman, and step-by-step drawing instructions for key places, events, and more that relate to the life and times of Truman.

In the first chapter we are given a brief biographical sketch of Harry S. Truman’s life. In the subsequent chapters we are given a more in-depth look at some of the details surrounding Truman’s life and times.

In chapter 3 we learn more about Truman’s home state of Missouri and we are provided with full-color photographs of the home that Truman was born in in Lamar, Missouri and a statue of Truman.

In chapter 9 we read about Truman’s transition from Vice President to President after Franklin D. Roosevelt died while serving as President. We are also given step-by-step pictorial instructions for drawing a 1944 presidential campaign poster featuring Roosevelt and Truman.

In chapter 10 we learn more about one of the important issues that Truman dealt with during his Presidency, the atomic bomb. In addition to providing photographs of both the plane that dropped the deadly atomic bomb, the Enola Gay, and the A-Bomb Dome Memorial in Hiroshima, this chapter also contains detailed, step-by-step instructions for drawing the Enola Gay.

Every book in this series also contains a timeline, a glossary of words, an index of subjects in the book and suggested websites that you can visit to obtain more information.

After reading through this book with my kiddos we spent some time discussing which picture we should draw first. My ds9 decided that he wanted to try to draw an old-fashioned piano that resembled the piano that Truman used when he was learning to play. The step-by-step drawing instructions were featured in chapter four which was entitled “A Missouri Boy”.

Dd7 decided that she would rather try her hand at drawing the Enola Gay {with a few of her own embellishments :)}.

My Thoughts

My kiddos love to draw and they especially appreciate drawing books that contain step-by-step instructions for drawing specific items or scenes. The drawing instructions in How to Draw the Life and Times of Harry S. Truman were simple enough that even my dd7 was able to create a fairly accurate drawing of her chosen subject.

I think any book in this series would be an excellent addition to any bookshelf both as a history resource and and as an art resource.

More Information

The complete set of 42 hardcover books in this series usually retails for $1060.50 ~ but Timberdoodle is currently selling this set at an extremely discounted rate of $195…that’s a savings of $865.50!

Some of the titles from this series are also offered for individual sale for $9.95, but not every title is available to purchase individually.

The Timberdoodle website includes a number of sample pages from this series on their website. Their website also contains a very informative 2-minute video that introduces this series and offers a number of suggestions for using these books.

You can request your own copy of Timberdoodle’s free homeschool catalog here. This catalog is chock-full of information that is helpful to any homeschooler…whether you are wanna-be or newbie homeschooler {like I was} or a veteran homeschooler who is looking to add some new life into your homeschool.

You can also check out Timberdoodle on Facebook.

As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.

The Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ Entry #14

2011-05-20T10:48:00.001-04:00

In my life this week…

A friend of ours and her sweet baby girl were needed up this way for some family stuff this week, and we had the privilege of having them stay in our home. My dd7 has been praying for a baby sister for quite some time, so she was beyond delighted to share our home with these friends.

My boys were wonderful hosts also…they loved getting out their old baby toys and setting them up around the house for our little friend to play with. And I must admit, I also loved having a little baby around the house again..and her mama too {of course :)}.

In our homeschool this week…

We finished up one week earlier than planned…ds9 has two more books on his 3rd grade reading list to finish and I will continue with our read-alouds this summer, but everything else is done!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

On the heels of a week of sunshine…we had a week of rain. It rained everyday, but thankfully not all day :) We spent most of our days at home visiting with our guests when they were here and getting schoolwork done.

Ds9 has a baseball game to play on Saturday, and a baseball game to attend on Sunday afternoon with dh. The two younger kiddos and I will probably do something fun while dh and ds9 are away but I’m not sure yet what that will be…

My favorite thing this week was…

Hosting our friends…I loved seeing my kiddos interact with our friends. All three of them were very sweet to the little girl and everyone had a lot of fun together.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…

One thing that I am grateful for when it comes to homeschooling is the ability for me to plan our school schedule. This year I planned for our schoolyear to finish up at the end of May so that we could enjoy the milder weather of June. I plan to begin our new schoolyear in mid-July which is just about the time that the heat and humidity of summer make it so that you want to spend most afternoons indoors reading good books :).

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

This has been a week of rain…and a week of rainbows :). We spotted two rainbows on two different days ~ both were full rainbows that went across the entire sky…and the second one was a double rainbow!

Wordy Qwerty ~ A Review

2011-05-20T10:22:00.001-04:00

If you recall, I used a product called Read, Write and Type with my kiddos back in the fall, and wrote a review of our experience on this blog. Well, our family was recently given the opportunity to review Wordy Qwerty, the sequel to Read, Write and Type. This online program was designed to help 2nd and 3rd graders {7 – 10 year olds} with their reading and spelling skills.

According to the Talking Fingers website,

After successfully completing Read, Write & Type!, most 6-7 year olds are able to write any word they can say. But they may not spell them all correctly, because they need to know a bit more about spelling conventions and about how words are constructed in English. This is where Wordy Qwerty comes in. In 20 consecutive lessons, woven together with fun-to-play games and delightful songs that will stay in their heads.

Wordy Qwerty is a research-based program that has 20 lessons, with 6 activities per lesson. According to the Wordy Qwerty website, “most words follow about 20 spelling rules”. The 20 lessons in Wordy Qwerty teach these 20 rules using six different activities:

In the Pattern activity kiddos learn to recognize patterns in words.

In the Karaoke activity kiddos learn catchy songs and rhymes about each spelling rule.

In the Recycler activity kiddos learn about different vowel combinations that make the same sound.

In the Pop-a-Word activity, kiddos memorize outlaw words {words that don’t follow the rules}.

In the Write Stories activity kiddos practice using the spelling rules by typing sentences that are dictated to them.

In the Read Stories activity kiddos practice what they have learned about spelling rules by reading short, engaging stories. These stories have words that are missing and kiddos have to choose which word would fit best from a list of three words.

You can read more about the lessons on this page.

The Talking Fingers website also offers a product tour of Wordy Qwerty that provides you with a more in-depth look at the activities your child will complete while working through this unique online program.

Our Experience

I chose to use Wordy Qwerty with my ds9 {3rd grade} whom I consider to be a very proficient reader and a natural speller. I think one of the mistakes that I made with ds9 was that I discontinued phonics lessons with him too early because he grasped reading so quickly.

My 9yo has been using Wordy Qwerty almost daily {4 days/week} since the beginning of April and he just finished the program this week. Each Wordy Qwerty session took him about 15-20 minutes to complete.

I am grateful that he strengthened his phonics skills and learned spelling rules on Wordy Qwerty…and he had fun doing it :).

I would definitely recommend this inexpensive reading and spelling program to any parent who is looking for a fun supplement to their kiddo’s current spelling program.

More Information

The Wordy Qwerty program is available in an online version {that’s what we used} and a Home Edition CD version {also appropriate for homeschoolers}. The prices for the online version of the software vary, depending upon the number of users that you need. The price starts at $25.00 for one user ~ see this page for more pricing information.

You can view an online demo of Wordy Qwerty here.

Learn more about Wordy Qwerty on the FAQ page.

You can also access a video clip from Wordy Qwerty from the bottom of this page.

In order to use either version {online or CD} of this reading software, you do need to have access to a computer. Read more about system requirements for Wordy Qwerty on their FAQ page.

Click on the above banner to read what my fellow crewmates are saying about Wordy Qwerty.

I received a free subscription to Wordy Qwerty in order to provide an honest and unbiased opinion of our experience with this product. I did not receive any further compensation for my review.

90 Days of God’s Goodness ~ A Review

2011-05-16T11:22:00.001-04:00

90 Days of God’s Goodness: Daily Reflections That Shine Light on Personal Darkness by Randy Alcorn is a small, 300+ page hardback book packed with 90 devotions that accomplish what the author set out to do {according to the book’s subtitle}…shine light on personal darkness.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been a famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt…

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

-Genesis 45:4-8; 50:20

It is with this scripture passage that Randy Alcorn opens the first of 90 devotions in this small yet powerful book. Each of the 3-4 page devotions opens with a passage of scripture and closes with a short prayer.

In the middle of these Randy Alcorn shares encouraging words and stories about others who have suffered and reflects on how they endured their trials by turning to God for strength while in the midst of their suffering.

The topics that this small devotional covers are not light-hearted and easy, they are about real life and real suffering. I found 90 Days of God’s Goodness to be a very encouraging devotional that I highly recommend to every one.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Bright Ideas Press ~ A Review

2011-05-16T10:42:00.001-04:00

WonderMaps is a “customizable collection of over 350 maps” that has just been released by Bright Ideas Press:

With WonderMaps’ made-to-order geography materials at your fingertips, there’s no more skipping map studies due to a lack of preparation time and resources!

This amazing digital map software offers a wide variety of maps from which to choose including:

60+ maps of the world
60+ maps of the USA
125 historical maps, including 25 biblical maps
The complete map sets from The Mystery of History vols. I–III and All American History vols. I & II
historical or modern-day maps
outline, reference, political, or topographical maps
black-and-white or color maps

Our Thoughts

Wow! That’s what I said to myself when I first downloaded this layered map software onto my computer. To give you just a glimpse at what this product offers, here’s an example of how I am using this map collection.

Next year my kiddos and I are tackling American History in our history studies, and I am beginning to gather notebook pages for my kiddos to complete during our studies. I like to include maps among these pages because they help give a visual of places and events that we are studying.

When I get to the WonderMaps home page, I have a couple choices to make:

The World, Continents, Regions, Nations
The World, Continents, Regions, Nations: Alphabetical Index
United States of America
United States of America: Alphabetical Index
Historical Maps
Historical Maps: Chronological Index
Thematic Maps
Thematic Maps : Thematic Index

I click on Historical Maps and I am given the choice of four time periods {Ancient times, Middle Ages, Renaissance/Reformation, and Revolutions to Rising Times}. When I click on Revolutions to Rising Times I am given 35 different historical events to choose from, including Revolutionary War Battlesites, Lewis and Clark, Mexican War Battlesites, US Immigration, and Europe after WWII. I chose to print the “Revolutionary War Battlesites” and “Lewis & Clark” maps for our studies next year.

Then I head back to the home page and click on Thematic Maps: Thematic Index. In this category I have four pages of themes to choose from, beginning with Biblical Maps {Abraham’s Journeys, David’s Journeys, Paul’s Ministry and Letters}, moving on to Chinese Dynasties, Native American themes {Aztec Empire, French & Indian War Battlesites}, Explorers, 14 maps related to American History, World Wars and finally 20th Century Treaties.

I chose to print “Thirteen Colonies Original Land Claims” and “US Immigration I” from the American History category to add to our American History notebooks.

The maps contained in the WonderMaps collection are beautiful too! Many of the maps are full color and they include features such as names, borders, rivers and cities.

You can also customize the maps by clicking features on the sidebar of each map page. For example, you can choose to have a map key {or not}, have city names listed {or not}, and have a modern overlay displayed on historical maps {or not}…and much more.

More Information

Wondermaps is a digital product that is available as a CD or download format from the Bright Ideas Website, either format is $49.95.

You can view a 6-minute tutorial of the WonderMaps software on the Bright Ideas website.

This software requires Adobe Reader version 9.1 or higher. You can download Adobe Reader for free on the Bright Ideas Website.

Click on the banner above to read what my fellow crewmates are saying about WonderMaps.

I received a free download of this product in order to provide my honest and unbiased opinion of my experience with this product. I did not receive any further compensation for this review.

The Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ Entry #13

2011-05-13T14:47:00.001-04:00

In my life this week…

We had some wonderful spring weather this week. The days were sunny and mild…great for opening up your windows and hanging laundry on the line :). We took advantage of the awesome weather and spent a lot of time outside.

In our homeschool this week…

Ds9 is on the home stretch…he’s already finished up his math program for the year, and this week he also finished up the main parts of First Language Lessons 3. Two more weeks to go in WWE2 and Rod & Staff spelling, although I think that the last week of both of these curriculums is review. We had planned to finish up our school year on May 27th, but we may get done a week early!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

Can anyone say baseball? Ds9 had three baseball games this week, including one last Saturday. No games are scheduled this Saturday though…we’re looking forward to a free weekend :)

My favorite thing this week was…

Getting out in the sunshine and crossing a bunch of yard work tasks off of our list.

What’s working/not working for us…

I love, love, love The Well-Planned Day planners! I have used the Family Homeschool Planner for the past two years and this year ds9 has been using the Well-Grounded Middle Schooler planner.

For next year I purchased student planners for both ds9 and dd7…I love how these planners help my kiddos be a bit more independent in terms of knowing what they need to get done schoolwise each day :)

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…

Even though we will be technically finished with our schoolyear in a couple of weeks, I will be sneaking some learning in during the summer. I have a couple of Childhood of Famous Americans books sitting on our bookshelf right now {about baseball players}, ds9 is really looking forward to reading these for fun this summer :)

I also bought Exploring Creation with Botany for us to use this summer. My kiddos love all of the wildflowers that make an appearance around our home in the summertime, I think they’ll really enjoy learning more about them from this book.

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

GoTrybe ~ A Review

2011-05-11T09:04:00.001-04:00

Our family recently had an opportunity to try out GoTrybe, an online fitness website designed especially for kids.

According to their website,

GoTrybe.com is an online fitness and nutrition community that delivers daily fitness, nutrition, wellness, and motivation content to students and teachers across the US.

GoTrybe is designed to be used by kiddos from kindergarten all the way through highschool. My ds9 used GoTrybe’s ZooDoos program which is to be used by K-5th graders.

How It Works

When your kiddo first logs onto GoTrybe, they have the option of creating a personal profile and designing their own avatar, my ds9 especially loved this part :). Once your kiddo has set up their account to their liking they are ready to go.

GoTrybe offers four different types of daily activities for your kiddos to complete: fitness, nutrition, motivation and wellness.

In the fitness portion of GoTrybe, kids are able to design their own workout by choosing video workout segments {created for their particular age group} that interest them. The segment choices include salsa dancing warm-ups, fun hip hop cardio, and kid-friendly yoga. Your kiddo can also choose predesigned Tybe workouts if they don’t want to put together their own.

The nutrition, motivation and wellness portions consist of short video clips about different topics. After the clip your kiddo takes a quick multiple choice “quiz” about the information presented in the video. Some of the topics covered in these clips include: eating breakfast, dehydration, and bicycle safety.

Kiddos earn GoTrybe points each time they complete a daily activity. These points are used to rank users on the GoTrybe site. They can also be used to purchase clothing and accessories from the GoTrybe store, and to customize your kiddo’s avatar.

My Thoughts

My kiddos have been having a blast with this unique and fun online program. It is so funny to see them run down to the basement so they can do their exercise program. It is even funnier to watch a 9yo, a 7yo, and a 4yo workout together :).

My favorite part of GoTrybe is that it makes exercising and learning how to be healthy fun for my kiddos, and pretty painless for me. Even though my ds9 is the only one with a GoTrybe account, all three of my kiddos are enjoying the GoTrybe activities, especially the self-designed workouts.

GoTrybe has an extensive FAQ page which will answer most any question you may have about this unique website.

More Information

You can try out GoTrybe for free with the promo code “GETFIT”.

A one-year membership to GoTrybe is $19.95 after the free trial {regularly $39.95}.

Click on the banner above to read what my fellow crewmates are saying about GoTrybe.

I received a free membership to GoTrybe in order to provide an honest and unbiased opinion of our experience with this product. I did not receive any further compensation for this review.

Circle C Beginnings {Kregel Publications} ~ A Review

2011-05-06T10:19:00.001-04:00

If you have a beginning reader who loves horses, you may want to check out Kregel Publications’ Circle C Beginnings series by Susan Marlow. Circle C Beginnings is a series of Christian fiction chapter books written for 6-8 year olds.

I received Andi’s Fair Surprise, a sweet little paperback book in Kregel’s Circle C Beginnings series. The main character in Andi’s Fair Surprise is Andi Carter, a spunky 6-year old girl who lives on her family’s ranch during the late 1800’s.

In this particular story, Andi and her family are heading to the 1874 California State Fair and Andi doesn’t want to go. Everyone else has something to enter into the fair…but Andi is too young to take an entry. However, once Andi gets to the fair, she finds that it is a lot more exciting than she expected.

Our Thoughts

I chose to use Andi’s Fair Surprise as a read-aloud with my kiddos ages 9, 7 and 4. I knew that my 7yo would love the story because she is a horse-lovin’ girl, but both of my sons enjoyed the book also.

When we do read-alouds, I usually limit our reading sessions to one chapter. However, we ended up completing all ten chapters in Andi’s Fair Surprise in just two lunchtime read-aloud sessions.

There are a whole host of printables available that go along with the Circle C Beginnings books. For Andi’s Fair Surprise the printables included coloring pages featuring black and white illustrations from the book {which kept my kiddos’ hands busy while they listened to me read}.

There were also a bunch of other fun worksheets that supplemented Andi’s Fair Surprise: a dot-to-dot page, some state-fair math pages, a California State Fair map and more. These worksheets made it so simple to extend my kiddos’ learning, turning Andi’s Fair Surprise from a fun read-aloud into a fun and educational read-aloud.

You can view the activity pages that match the books in the Circle C Beginnings series here. There is also a link to the supplemental pages on this page.

A link to an excerpt from Andi’s Fair Surprise is available on this page.

My kiddos loved Andi’s Fair Surprise, and they were delighted to learn that there are more Andi books…two of them are already on our shelves waiting to be read :).

More Information

There are currently four books in the Circle C Beginnings series, including Andi’s Fair Surprise. You can purchase Andi’s Fair Surprise {and the other three books} from Kregel Publications’ website for $4.99 each plus shipping.

Susan Marlow has also written a series of books about Andi for older readers, ages 9-14 in the Circle C Adventures series. These books are also available for purchase on Kregel Publications’ website.

Click on the above banner to read what my fellow crewmates are saying about Kregel Publications.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion of this book. I did not receive any further compensation for my review.

Yesterday’s Classics ~ A Review

2011-05-04T09:39:00.001-04:00

If you use living books in your homeschool, you have probably heard of Yesterday’s Classics. In fact, I have quite a few Yesterday’s Classics paperbacks on my shelves right now.

This quote from the Yesterday’s Classics website provides an apt description of this company:

Yesterday's Classics is your headquarters for the best classic literature for children. We republish classic books for children from the golden age of children's literature, the era from 1880 to 1920. Many of the titles we offer have been out of print for decades and so have been hard to find.

As a reviewer for The TOS Homeschool Crew, I recently received an amazing opportunity to review a 225 ebook package {Kindle or Epub format} offered by Yesterday’s Classics.

I have to admit, I always thought that I would never be tempted to forego paperbacks in exchange for an ebook. In fact, before this review opportunity presented itself, I did not own an e-reader. But when I saw the book titles that were included in the Yesterday’s Classics ebook list, I decided I had to at least check this product out.

This enormous Yesterday’s Classics e-book package contains books from 22 different genres of literature. It includes classic history titles like:

Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin
This Country of Ours by H.E. Marshall
Stories of the Pilgrims by Margaret Pumphrey
Viking Tales by Jennie Hall
Our Island Story by H.E. Marshall

living science titles like:

The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess
Among the Forest People by Clara Dillingham Pearson
The Storybook of Science by Jean Henri Fabre
Plant Life in Field and Garden by Arabella Buckley
Parables from Nature by Mrs. Alfred Gatty

classic children’s titles including:

A Wonder Book for Boys and Girls by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
Tanglewood Tales, Illustrated Edition
The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

and many, many more…Many of these titles have been on my wishlist for a long, long time.

The ebooks in this package appear exactly as they do in book form, illustrations and all.

This package was a snap to download onto my Kindle. Once I downloaded the product from the link sent by Yesterday’s Classics onto my computer, I was able to transfer all 225 books to my Kindle in less than an hour…and I was a brand new Kindle owner :).

My Thoughts

I absolutely love this product! My bookshelves are already overflowing with books, and with this product I now have access to 200+ excellent books without having to find space for them on my overstuffed shelves :).

One of my most favorite things about this ebook package is how easy it is for me to tote from one place to another. As long as I remember to bring my Kindle with me, my kiddos and I are never again going to be without a read-aloud.

Being baseball season, my two younger kiddos and I have found ourselves spending many hours waiting in the van {when it’s cold or rainy} while ds9 is at practice…and the Kindle version of this package has saved the day by providing me with a huge selection of quality read-alouds to choose from.

I have also found many selections that are a perfect fit for our current history and science homeschool studies. Pulling out my Kindle and pulling up the proper book file is definitely a lot easier, not to mention faster, than searching my bookshelves for the book :).

More Information

You can view a full listing of all of the books included in this amazing package here.

When you purchase Yesterday’s Classics Ebook Package you have the option of choosing whether you want the 225 titles to be in either Kindle or Epub format.

You do not need an e-reader to be able to take advantage of this package. The files in this package can viewed on your computer, laptop, netbook, smart phone, or tablet {you may need to download an app or e-reader software}. Yesterday’s Classics provides a full explanation of e-reader software in their “Guide to to E-reader Devices and Software” {scroll down the page on this link to view this section.}

This amazing assortment of classic books in ebook form is only $99.95 through May 31st, 2011! If you were to buy the paper copy of all of these books you would pay almost $2500.00!

Click on the banner above to see what my fellow crewmates are saying about Yesterday’s Classics.

I received this product for free in order to provide my honest and unbiased opinion of Yesterday’s Classics ebook collection. I did not receive any additional compensation for my review.

The Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ Entry #12

2011-04-22T15:02:00.001-04:00

In my life this week…

Some rainy days, some sunny days, and a box full of books from Sonlight…I can’t complain :).

In our homeschool this week…

Ds9 finished up his math curriculum this week…I am going to have him work on math facts for the next couple of weeks, and he’ll start his new curriculum in July {after our 6-week summer break}. We’ve also done some writing, some spelling, some grammar and some science…and we crossed another read-aloud off our list.

And I caught dd7 reading from her Beginner’s Bible a couple times {on her own, without being asked} :)

The countdown to summer break is on…five weeks left!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

Well, on Sunday night I looked at our calendar for this week and we had something scheduled for every.single.night {sigh}…I do not look forward to weeks like that :0.

However, we ended up cancelling our Monday night commitment because ds9 had a cold. And baseball was cancelled Tuesday night because of rain. I attended my book club on Wednesday night, ds9 had a baseball game on Thursday night, and tonight we are planning on attending Good Friday service. Then tomorrow we have a birthday party to go to and church and a family dinner on Sunday.

My favorite thing this week was…

Box Day! I ordered our Sonlight curriculum for next year {Core 3}…and our box arrived TODAY! Yay!

What’s working/not working for us…

Rain, rain, and more rain {check out the photo at the bottom of this post}. We are really ready for some warm, sunny spring weather :).

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…

I am thinking about how much I love getting new curriculum…I think it’s a sickness really…and my kiddos don’t have it :)

I picked up ds9’s new writing curriculum {IEW’s Student Writing Intensive A} last weekend at our local homeschool convention…I think it is going to be a wonderful addition to our homeschool next year.

I also ordered his new math curriculum {Teaching Textbooks} after letting him try a sample lesson on-line.

And our Sonlight curriculum for next year arrived today…yep, definitely looking forward to digging in to all of these new things…

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

We have been getting a ton of rain around here…I don’t remember ever having such a wet spring. This is a picture of one park in our area after we were swamped with rain last weekend…the green rooftops are playground equipment…and yes, they are under water!