The premiere issue of Molly's Money-Saving Digest is now available! Here is the info that went out today (You can purchase this by clicking on the banner above!)

 

• Making a winter emergency kit for your car. Complete this simple project, at minimal cost, that could save your life or the lives of your loved ones!
• Crafting seasonal banners. It's heartwarming and uplifting to include touches of beauty in your home, and it doesn't have to cost much.
• Extending hospitality. For some of us, our closest physical neighbors have never been inside our homes! Involve your family by offering a loving hand of hospitality with low-cost, fun party ideas, recipes, Internet links and more!
• Respecting others. Taking a close inspection of the first of three absolutely foundational R's: respect, responsibility, and resourcefulness. Why does it matter? How do we teach it? How do we model it? Should people have to earn our children's respect?
• Repurposing objects by changing them into attractive, useful and appreciated items (photos included). Once you get used to this kind of thinking you'll see potential in just about everything.
• Working together toward a healthier budget with budget planning worksheets (provided for you) and an interview with Charlie Park, co-developer of the PearBudget system. "Budgeting isn't about getting less of the stuff you want, it's about getting more of the stuff that matters."
• Breadmaking for Beginners. There's nothing like the scent and taste of homemade bread. Along with the basics, how about trying sourdough from scratch, or experimenting with breads from around the world? Watching the food budget doesn't have to be boring! 
• Creating a Home Inventory Binder. These basic steps could save you thousands of dollars!
• Sale merchandise for the month of January. What a welcome list!
• Molly's question of the month: to be answered in a future issue. Do you contribute to the family income by making money from home? Tell us how you do it. Get in on this interactive feature now!  

Click here to instantly download Molly's January Digest E-Book for only $4.95!

"My favorite section was the special feature, 'Getting Organized for Fiscal Fitness.' This is one of our family's main goals for 2009 and this section was detailed and clearly laid out for even this math-challenged homemaker to understand and implement. I'm sure you will be encouraged and challenged as you and your family embark on the adventure that a new year brings."

• Making Money From Home
• Planning and Planting a Kitchen "Molly Garden"
• Homemade Health and Beauty Products
• Buying, Insuring and Caring for a Used Car
• Beautiful Weddings on a Budget

In every issue you'll find these columns:

• Begin with the Basics: an overview of a basic skill, from breadmaking to composting
• On Sale This Month: a roundup of merchandise that is typically discounted by month
• Keeping It All Together: practical home-organization
• Feather Your Nest Frugally: seasonal and frugal home décor
• Pull Up A Chair: thrifty tips and recipes for hospitality
• Parenting that Pays: basic parenting principles that don't cost a cent to implement
• Something Old-Something New: repurposing items for your home
• Goal-Getter Spotlight: families who have met big goals by staying on track financially
• Readers Write In: pertinent input from real families
• Molly's Question of the Month: send in your answers for possible inclusion in future Digests
• Words Worth Saving: a parting quote or verse relating to finances and stewardship

Are you ready to join Molly?

Order the January Digest now!

What others are saying about Molly's Money-Saving Digest for January 2009: 

"How do you stretch one income to provide for your family, and your children's education? How do you reach your family goals, and pay off debt? It takes creativity, self-control, patience, planning, careful spending, and sacrifice. Molly Green has all of that, and wants to share her knowledge and ideas with us! Molly's Money-Saving Digest really has a little bit of everything."

... Kris ...

I love, love, love Jan Brett! I have almost all of her books. In my email today, ...

 Here are some great project for you to use with your kids for THE

... Kris ...

I love Sundays - the beginning of the week ... in our home, it is usually the day for chores and cleaning. I know that sounds backwards, but we "rest" on Saturday. Today, I'll be taking down all of the Christmas decor while the children get their chores done. The temps hit the mid-70s yesterday ( weird! ) and my husband and kids washed and cleaned out the cars. He has more car work to do today and we have a kitchen pipe to clean out and then our chores will be done as well.

Speaking of chores, I put up a banner above to the Motivated Moms site. I highly recommend their daily planners. First of all, they are only $8 each and you have 8 choices of style as well. Some have daily Bible readings, the sizes vary, but they are all very thorough. I bought one last year and my life went so much smoother when I was using it. When I fell "off the wagon," things didn't get handled as well. Now that I'm working more, I'm grateful for a simple & quick system to use daily to keep my house in order.

My daughter is already wanting to go back to school - LOL! She says that she's had enough of a break and really doesn't want to be off until January 6th. I think that's hilarious! My son has a big English project due on January 16th and we will be starting work on that today to get the bulk of the work done while he's on break. He has to write a book - it has to be bound and everything! Luckily, my dad has a collater (sp?) that we can use. Ian has to illustrate it and put in a credits page and everything. I think it's a neat assignment.

I'm looking forward to getting back to a normal routine next week. I am also hoping that the changes that I'll be making in my daily routine to allow for more time to focus on my health will make a difference in how I feel. I know that I can lose 20 lbs. in a year if I put my mind to it and stick to the plan. My daughter has twice that to lose and I need to work hard to help her do that. Luckily, being a teenager should help her take the weight off quicker. It's always so much easier to lose the weight when you are younger. It all boils down to becoming more active and eating less food .... we are going to lose our weight the old-fashioned way!

Well, time to start my day ... I hope you have a great week!

... Kris ...

I have been blogging on my personal blog "30 Days of Thanks" and just recently I shared these thoughts.

(I am) Thankful for some wonderful music to listen to in my home during the day or afternoon while  kids are working on homework. I was blessed to receive all three of Steve Sensenig's CD's a few weeks back and they are absolutely wonderful! He is an accomplished pianist and his music is soothing and uplifting. I have not tired of listening to it on a daily basis since I received them! He has a Christmas CD which is starting to put me in the mood for the upcoming holidays!

I'd like to add to that I have all three of his CDs loaded into our disc changer and I turn on the music about 8am and listen to it all day long. It is just lovely to have spirit-filled music playing in our home. My kids have even said, "Mom, this music is so soothing." and they like to listen to it while doing their homework or reading or cross-stitch, etc.

Here is a bit more information about each CD and you can even listen to samples of the music on each page!

'Tis So Sweet - Steve returned to his childhood roots by recording such classics as "How Great Thou Art", "Great Is Thy Faithfulness", "Just As I Am", "Amazing Grace" and many more (19 hymns in all).
Intimately played in a free-flowing, uninterrupted fashion, you will find a refreshing hour of personal worship awaits you every time you listen.

Ivory Worship - Originally released as “To Worship You”, Steve’s first piano CD has now been re-released under the title “Ivory Worship”. This project includes intimate interpretations of many modern praise-and-worship classics such as "Breathe", "We Bow Down", "Shout to the Lord", "Agnus Dei", and others.

Christmas Solitude - Steve's Sensenig's third CD celebrates the Christmas season with 16 tracks of Christ-centered Christmas worship. "Christmas Solitude" includes "O Come, O Come Emmanuel", "O Holy Night", "What Child Is This?", "Mary, Did You Know?" and many more. This CD will bring a peaceful, relaxing time of worship to what has otherwise become a very hectic time of year! Included on this CD is one vocal number written and sung by Steve's wife, Christy. This intimate lullaby, sung from the perspective of Mary, the mother of Jesus, serves as a beautiful complement to the instrumental worship that precedes it.

Treat yourself or someone you love this holiday season with beautiful music. And shipping is always FREE in the Schoolhouse Store!

... Kris ...

I have reviewed several other products by Lighthome Publications (see those reviews here) and am happy once again to review a newer product of theirs. Here is their own description of what is inside:

We created this book as a way to draw the family together during Thanksgiving week and throughout the month of November.   Why not combine Thanksgiving celebration, music, art appreciation, Bible, and handwriting practice with singing, crafts, coloring pages, new recipes, table decorating ideas, and more?  (The coloring pages will keep your kids’ hands busy while you fix Thanksgiving dinner, not to mention looking through this beautiful full-color picture-filled book.)

For each of 10 Thanksgiving songs, we provide each verse of each hymn in manuscript print and cursive for kids to copy on the same page or on the 5 decorated lined pages, in 5 line sizes, at the back of the book.  Each hymn includes the author and composer or source of the music.  Each of the paintings includes notes about the artist and a brief discussion of art concepts related to that painting.  Bonus photos of planting and harvest on our own one-acre orchard and gardens demonstrate making the land fruitful by vigorous work, which gives us abundant reason to be thankful.

You are allowed to print out the pages for all family members in your same household year after year.  We suggest putting the finished pages in a hymn notebook and using it to sing the Thanksgiving songs, either just as a family or with guests.  Let this book be a jump off point to instill in your children a love for singing and a special place in your family schedule for singing hymns every year during Thanksgiving week.

There are 76 pages of wonderful activities for your children! You and your children can decorate the table together for Thanksgiving dinner, create an artistic menu to post and share with your guests, as well as cook some of the delicious recipes included just for you. Make a leaf suncatcher, a "thankful" bag, pressed leaf bookmarks, and color pictures together. I know that my family often took the week of Thanksgiving off, but there are some wonderful copywork pages for the children to complete that week if you'd like to do a "lite" week of school. On the copywork pages are reproductions of beautiful paintings with information about the painter underneath. What a great way to throw in a little Fine Arts study without the children knowing it!

Towards the end of the study, the Dunlap family shares a bit about their one-acre homestead where they have a huge fruit orchard and garden. It is nice to see the faces behind this project. After this section are some harvest and garden pictures to color - these pictures could also be used during the summer months when your garden is producing its harvest.

If you'd like to view some sample pages of this item, just click here!

... Kris ...

I received this information in my email yesterday and it is definitely worth passing on. If you don't already, you should subscribe to the CurrClick newsletter as they give away an item for free each week and list other free items at the bottom of each Monday newsletter. At the bottom, there is an INCREDIBLE PRODUCT available for only $4.99. It is over 160 pages of activity for this month - what a great value!

============================== FREE THIS WEEK ==========================

Thanksgiving Notebooking Pages
by Homeschool Notebooking.com

These Notebooking pages can be used for Copywork, Notebooking what was learned from a book or poem, writing what you are thankful for, and much more.     Includes:   ·      15 Thanksgiving Notebookin...

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Free Product of the Week

WisdomKids: Thanks and Giving by Firstfruits Publishers Holiday edition features Wisdom Stretchers, coloring pages, Challenge pages, puzzles, and a certificate of completion! Combine with WisdomKids: The ABC's of Being Thankful for an entire study where your child is finding the daily blessings in their lives. Your child will not only learn what grace and mercy mean, but they'll also be able to recognize how God pours these two blessings on them. Thought provoking Wisdom Stretchers will have you both sharing from the heart. What a delight to hear what's in your child's heart! An $8.95 Value!

 ==========================  AWESOME RESOURCE  ======================

 

New at CurrClick.com

November Book Bag by Teacher Book Bag November Book Bag is a cornucopia of wonderful activities from aviation, a tribute to Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving activities, a featured study on the work of painter Claude Monet, and so many other activities designed for the entire family. Take a look at what we have in store for you: I. November Birthdays of Children’s Authors  II. Book Comparison Graph          III. Main Character Comparison Graph             IV. Primary Book Report Form               V. Setting Comparison Graph                  VI. Featured Author: William Steig                  VII. Recommended Aviation Literature  VIII. History of Flight           IX. History of Flight Timeline                 X. History of Flight Timeline Questions          XI. Aviation Activities           XII. Helicopter and Propeller Plane Venn Diagram   XIII. Make-A-Book: Wilbur and Orville Wright Booklet   XIV. Aircraft Sorting Activity XV. Aircraft Graph                XVI. Aircraft Speeds Graph            XVII. Writing Graphics: Blimp, Helicopter, Hot Air Balloon, Jet Plane, Propeller Plane, Seaplane              XVIII. “My Shadow and Me” Activity               XIX. Veteran’s Day Suggested Resources        XX. History of Veteran’s Day                  XXI. Make-A-Book: Branches of the Military  XXII. Veteran’s Day Paper, Intermediate and Primary        XXIII. Thanksgiving Suggested Resources                 XXIV. History of Thanksgiving               XXV. Thanksgiving Activities                 XXVI. “How to Make a Turkey” Paper             XXVII. First Thanksgiving: Five W’s               XXVIII. Make-A-Book: Pardon Me, Please!              XXIX. Thanksgiving Paintings                 XXX. Mapping the Pilgrim’s Journey               XXXI. Assorted November Activities               XXXII. Counting Leaves                 XXXIII. Turkey Craft             XXXIV. Create a Cornucopia         XV. Thanksgiving Vocabulary Cards                XVI. Cornucopia Alphabet             XVII. Robert Frost’s Gathering Leaves   Poem and Poetry Study                  XVIII. Ten Little Pilgrims               XVIX. November Specialty Paper  XX. November Acrostics                XXI. Calendar Pieces: Pilgrim Hats                  XXII. Calendar and Math Pieces              XXIII. November Calendar             XXIV. November Coloring Pages  XXV. Featured Artist: Claude Monet      XXVI. “Little Boy Blue” Reformed and Responsible         XXVII. A Harvest Hymn                 XXVIII. Handwriting Pages           Our Price: $4.99

... Kris ...