The Shunning DVD ~ A Review & Giveaway

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

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

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

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

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

More Information

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

You can view the trailer of the movie here.

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

Giveaway Information

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

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

 

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

Field Trip: Joseph at Sight & Sound Theater

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

Theo DVD ~ A Review & Giveaway

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

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

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

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

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

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

More Information

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

This DVD is also available for purchase from Amazon.

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

Giveaway Information

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

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

 

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

Homeschool Mother’s Journal ~ September 9, 2011

 

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

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

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

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 .