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Got Preschoolers?
| “What do you do with the younger kids while the older ones do school?”
Wow, I have been asked that question SO many times! But the sad thing is, I am often wondering the same thing myself: what DO I do with them? “Preschoolers: Creating a Rich Environment and a Fun Place for Learning”, a new e-Book from The Old Schoolhouse, is a great resource to help all of us who need help with answering this question. The e-Book is a fast read, but is packed with great ideas for making the most of the time with your preschool-age children. There are ideas for everything from “tot school” for the little ones to chores and fun field trips.
I loved reading through this book. I got wonderful ideas and inspiration for doing activities from music to lapbooks, as well as creating a rich learning environment for preschoolers. The book was also packed with wisdom and good advice from moms who have “been there, done that” on working with preschoolers in your homeschool. If you are a mom with one child who just can’t wait to begin homeschooling, the chapter on homeschooling your only child who is still a preschooler is wonderful! If you are a mom like me who struggles to figure out how to teach all your multi-age children, there is a chapter for that, too!
I felt that this book was a great, comprehensive resource for homeschooling moms with preschoolers. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I know I will use it again and again as a reference in my own family homeschool!
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A Family Portrait session
Finally... the 2009-10 Schoolhouse Planner is here!
| I look forward to summer as a time to relax, and a chance to plan our homeschool year when I am unhurried and de-stressed. If you are like me, you’ll LOVE The Schoolhouse Planner! I have been using the planner all year, and have looked forward to the 2009-2010 planner ever since it was announced a few months ago. And my expectations were not disappointed… this year’s planner includes 374 pages, over 100 more than last year’s! It is packed full of great forms to help you organize your homeschool, homekeeping, family life and anything else you would ever need to plan. It also contains a wealth of great resources for your home and homeschool: recipes, timelines, teaching helps, and even a unit study for each month! Every month, the Schoolhouse store will offer a module that goes along with the unit theme for the month, and this year the modules will incorporate lapbooking! Right now, the Schoolhouse store is offering the planner and a full subscription to all the modules for 2009-2010, a value of $134.40, for just $99.99… a great deal! (And you know I love a great deal!) Get it here!
My favorite feature of the planner is that it is fully customizable and personalized to fit your unique needs. There are forms for everything, every style of homeschooling, and even just different versions of the same form. (For example, there are 3 menu planning forms: one weekly, one for a whole month of meals, and one with weekly plan and grocery shopping list all on one page.) This feature combined with the e-book format means that you can print out only the forms you choose for a completely individualized planner!
Technically speaking, the planner is simple to use and well designed. The download was very easy. I like to plan in front of my computer, where I can refer to my calendar and emails easily, so I love that I can have my planner open in a another window alongside what I am doing. I find it neater and easier to type my plan for the week than to write by hand, so I love that you can type right into the forms in this planner! This brings me to my one suggestion for improvement, which is the same as my request from last year: I would like to see a feature that allows for saving each form individually if you so choose once your purchase the planner. For example, I typed in yearly goals for one child and wanted to save it before I continued on to goals for my next child. However, my only choice was to print the form and then complete it again for the next child, losing the info I had typed for the first child. I worked around this by saving one planner for each child, but as the planner is so large, it takes up a lot of space, and it would have been easier to just save the goals form three times (one for each child). It seems to me like it would not be difficult to create a page where each form was a separate .pdf file that could be individually downloaded.
One other thing I love about this planner is that the pages are well designed. When I printed out my planner, it looked very nice and coordinated. I realize that this is just an asthetic thing, but I find I am more motivated to use a planner that is pretty than one that is not!
Overall, I applaud The Old Schoolhouse Store for creating such a well thought out, comprehensive planner. It will meet the needs of a great variety of homeschooling families, from unschoolers all the way to those who keep track of daily grades. Available from the Schoolhouse Store for $39, this planner is crammed with value-added features which will simplify, organize and enrich your homeschool! You can buy it or see a free preview here.
Happy Planning!
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Some photos to share with you...
2009 is the year I am going to finally open a photgraphy studio! I have been putting together a portfolio which will appear on my website once it is up and running. Until then, I figured this slide show of a very few images could hang out over here as a sample of my photography!
Here it is... enjoy!
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A Great Deal- TOS "Take 10" Promotion, 2 days only!
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Have you heard yet about the TOS 2 Day “Take 10” subscription promotion? This great deal on The Old Schoolhous Magazine is available on May 25th and 26th only. For just 48 hours, a one-year print subscription is only $15!
Plus, as a bonus,new subscribers get 5 FREE WeE-books of their choice! It’s the TOS
Take/Get 5 subscription sale. Only good until midnight on May 26.
Click Here to subscribe!
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Rocket Phonics!
When Violet learned to read, it was just kind of the "by osmosis" method. I played a lot of games with her and as we read books, I would help her sound things out. This year, Dash is in kindergarten and I have been looking for something to use to teach him how to read. I wanted something that would be fun, but also be structured enough for me to be able to have a plan of what to do with him each day. (Unfortunately, the 'by osmosis" method just doesn't work as well when it comes to the second kid, because mom is busy and forgets to "osmose!" LOL!)
I received Rocket Phonics as part of the Homeschool Crew, and I LOVE IT! It is very simple and straightforward for me to use with Dash, and it is full of games and fun things to do with him to teach him to read. It makes me wish we had used something like this with Violet, because even though I did games and such with her, this is much more systematic and well planned out.
Dash is a very, VERY acive little boy, and I cannot imagine sitting with him and going through a phonics program that does not involve games or active learning. Rocket Phonics is GREAT for this! The set comes with spiral bound books full of colorful, fun illustrations and games. The books take a child systematically through learning sounds and combining them into words. They use a unique letter or combo of letters for each sound, so it is easy for a child to tell whether the sound is "e" as in egg or "e" as is eagle. Once children start reading stories, they put the sound symbols underneath the words to tell the child what sound it makes. They gave a great hint to call the symbols a secret code, and so my son LOVES to be a secret agent and use the secret code! The set also includes beautiful, high quality cards with the sounds on them to use in games, some bingo markers, and also included are two treasure hunts (WITH the treasure!), as well as a ton of free bonuses through email that you can use for even more games and activities.
I cannot say enough about how much we love this program! Rocket Phonics retails for $160. For more information, go to www.rocketphonics.com. Thank you to Rocket Phonics and the TOS Crew for this great review opportunity!
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Writeshop StoryBuilders
“What’s this? A competitive skateboarder falls down a rocky path? An awkward gymnast breaks a record? A disrespectful hockey player learns a lesson at the neighborhood ice rink? What kid wouldn’t love to write a story filled with such spirit or drama?
WriteShop® StoryBuilders card decks help to jumpstart a creative writing project by providing students with the basic elements of a story—character, character trait, setting, and plot—laying a foundation for a joyful writing experience with some clever surprises thrown in along the way.
StoryBuilders may be used by students of all ages, from kindergarten through high school. Using the StoryBuilder Cards, they’ll develop their tales by picking one card from each category. Does the hero save the day? Will the notorious bad guy learn a lesson? And what twists and turns appear in the character’s path? A dropped ball? A bully? An embarrassing mistake?
Break up your routine or add punch and variety to writing lessons by offering StoryBuilders occasionally. Use them in addition to or instead of a daily writing activity. At first, to help your student write concisely, limit her to a specific number of sentences or paragraphs. As she improves (or if she thrives on writing creative fiction), allow her to compose longer, more thoroughly developed stories. And with hundreds of possible story combinations, no two will be alike!”
This is the description of StoryBuilders from WriteShop, its creator. We received samples of two of the StoryBuilders ebooks, and I thought they were great! The book includes card that you can print out and cut apart. A lot of ideas are given in the ebook for fun and creative ways to use the cards in games to get your student writing. The idea sort of reminds me of MadLibs in reverse… you take four cards and then put them together as you write your story.
We have done a lot of free writing at my house, and often my daughter will struggle to find an idea. I think the StoryBuilders are a great way to solve that struggle. Also, if you get one of the topics that really interests your child, it can make it so much more fun for children to write!
WriteShop currently publishes four different StoryBuilders, all E-books. They all make a great supplement to youw writing curriculum, and can be used over and over. You can see them at our store.
- World of Animals StoryBuilders – Retail $7.95
- World of People StoryBuilders – Retail $7.95
- World of Sports StoryBuilders – Retail $7.95
- Christmas Mini-Builder – Retail $3.95
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Happy Birthday, Dash!
Dash also had a birthday recently- on December 30, he turned 6! He is such a fun, happy little boy who is growing into a big boy in so many ways! He is learning to read, write, and do chores around the house. Dash is my cuddler. Even though he is always on the go and very very active, he will stop everything to snuggle me. I treasure that so much, because I know it will only last a short time. I do hope, though, that he will always have a hug for his mama at least!
For his birthday, we went on a special trip to Chicago to see Aunt Mandi and Uncle Justin, and we got to go to the Lego store for a birthday shopping spree! It was so much fun! There were huge creations made out of Legos, and a big lego table, too! He loved looking at everything, and chose several really cool Lego sets to bring home. Once we were home, he invited his friends to come for a Lego Birthday party..... we played games with Legos, and the cake was a big green Lego!
Dash, I love you! You make my life so very very special, and you bring a smile to my heart!
Happy Birthday!!!!
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Happy Birthday, Violet!
My sweet first baby turned 10 this month- DOUBLE DIGITS, as she likes to announce! Wow, has the time flown! I am amazed at the wonderful young lady Violet is becoming. She has such a beautiful heart that loves Jesus and loves others. She has a servant's heart in our home, cheerfully serving her brothers, her daddy, and me. She is a loyal, true friend. She is always ready with a, "yes, Mommy," to help me or obey. She is a creative girl who loves to decorate her room with crafty creations and make things! She loves to try new things and learn. She is such a smart girl, too! She loves to read and write stories, and loves to sing, act, dance, and do art projects. And let's not forget her deep love of horses! She loves Miracle so much, and it is beautiful to see them together riding around the arena or through the field! Mostly, beyond her interests and the things she does, I just love her for who she is.
I am SO blessed to have her for a daughter. And I wish her the Happiest Birthday EVER!!
Here is what we did for her birthday this year... a weekend trip to American Girl place and to visit Aunt Mandi and Uncle Justin, plus an American Girl mystery party with her friends!
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Challenge Your Brain with Critical Thinking
This review could easily consist of one (incomplete) sentence: LOVE IT!
OK, so that is probably not a real comprehensive review, but it certainly lets you know how I feel about the books I received from The Critical Thinking Company! These books focus on something that is SO important, but often overlooked completely, in education: THINKING!
I used the Building Thinking Skills series, books Primary, 1 and 2, all available for $29.99. Through puzzles, games, and problem solving exercises, students are challenged to think and reason. I was thrilled to have a resource like this to use with my children, because when I was growing up, I was in a gifted education class in school and we did these kinds of exercises all the time, and I loved them! I think that they developed in me the ability to think through things, see connections and reason deductively. I believe that developing these skills was a very large part of my ability to score very high on standardized tests. I did very well on my ACT and SAT; and, as a result, I was awarded a National Merit Scholarship in college. The company has many resources for developing thinking skills, as well as some specific test prep materials, too!
I have seen a lot of information out there recently about the need for adults to stretch and exercise our brains as a way to avoid mental decline and possibly even Alzheimer's later in life. These books are so much fun to do, perhaps you should consider picking one up for yourself while you are shopping for your kids!
I can tell you this, we will be customers of The Critical Thinking Company for a long time to come! I feel their prices are reasonable, and their value to my children's development is PRICELESS!!
Thank you to The Critical Thinking Co. and TOS for this opportunity to use these great resources! Check out the company's website at http://www.criticalthinking.com/index.jsp to see all they have to offer. Also, check out what the rest of the Crew had to say here. Thanks!
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All About Spelling!
There has been a meme tage going around where you list 25 random things about you, and I cannot believe how many people I have seen who have listed something like this: "I am OCD about spelling. I cannot stand misspelled words." For better or for worse, poor spelling is commonly equated with a lack of intelligence and education. So, it is one of my goals for my children to be good spellers!
We have a spelling program that I have enjoyed fairly well, so I was a little hesitant to change for this review. However, when I saw the materials sent to me from All About Spelling (AAS), I got pretty excited about trying it! The initial prep is labor intensive, as you have to cut all of the cards you will use with the program (and there are A LOT). However, the company has heard customers' requests, and will now be perforating all of the cards. This will dramatically cut down on prep time.
As I was cutting all the cards, the first impression I had was that this was going to be fun. AAS is a multisensory, colorful program very unlike any spelling curriculum I have ever seen. It uses the cards and magnetic tiles in a hands-on manipulative style to teach children spelling and the patterns behind English spelling.
The manual pleased me even more than the colorful cards! It is no secret to those who know me that I love a program I can just pick up and use right away. This program is just that, and the manual is very easy to use. It is laid out in a beautifully organized, easy to use way that makes it easy and fun to teach.
The final thing I love about this program is that it is organized phonetically. I have always thought that good readers make good spellers, and this program teaches and reinforces good reading skills right along with spelling. I love that I can use this not only to teach spelling, but to teach my children how to read as well! It makes for such an effective use of our time, which is essential when you are teaching squirmy little boys like mine! My daughter is in 4th grade, and is greatly benefitting from this program as well. I taught her to read "on my own" (without a formal phonics program), and she is a great reader. I love that this program fills in any "gaps" left from a lack of using a formal systematic program.
All in all, I think All About Spelling is here to stay at our house for a while! Levels 1 & 2 are $29.95 each for the teacher and materials packet set. Levels 3 & 4 are $39.95 for each set. They will be adding two more levels this year to take the program all the way through high school. The letter tiles (essential to the program) are $9.95. The magnets for the letter tiles (helpful for keeping your tiles organized on a magnetic board or cookie sheet) are $5.95. The phonogram CD is $14.95, and helps you to know the correct pronunciation of each sound. To see more, check out http://www.all-about-spelling.com/ and the rest of the Crew reviews here!
P.S. I realize that my blog will now be subjected to a scrutiny of my spelling errors, because I just reviewed a spelling program. I am horrible about typos, even though I am a good speller, so you will probably find plenty to criticize. So, if you feel the need, go for it... just don't leave me a ton of comments about it, LOL! (Unless, of course, I have misspelled something and it is just heinous or something ;) )
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Music Lessons for your wee ones!
I have wanted my children to learn piano, but it just has not fit into our budget thus far. However, I was very skeptical that they could learn well from an online or DVD based program rather than a “real teacher”. Kinderbach pleasantly surprised me: I was very impressed by all they have to offer for 2-7 year old children! Here is a description of the program by Karri Gregor, creator and founder of Kinderbach.
“KinderBach is piano lessons for 2-7 year olds taught by DVDs, Activity Books, and CDs. Children learn the notes on the piano and staff by characters rather than letters. I have taught hundreds of students, and I know that your child does NOT have to be able to read to learn piano.
KinderBach not only teaches piano, but other factors of music. Music theory, note reading, rhythm, ear training, hand position and much much more!
KinderBach was designed to give your child the over all music foundation. Your child can take everything they have learned from KinderBach and apply it to another instrument or continue further with piano. KinderBach was designed to be a spring board, taking this information and just going to endless bounds with what they have learned!”
The Kinderbach online Learning Center has over 300 sessions included as well as PDF files for the printout activity pages for 14.95 a month. Or, you can pay for a year upfront for $85.95. I feel that is a great value for piano lessons compared to paying for private lessons! My only problem was setting aside consistent time to do piano. This is not in any way due to the program, however, so don’t let it deter you… if you notice, the issue of follow through is a big one for me. I would, however, recommend planning ahead of time how you will actually fit this in to your schedule, so that you make the most of your investment in the program.
If this is something you are looking for, I would recommend trying out Kinderbach for yourself with their free trial of the first two lessons (weeks), available at their website http://www.kinderbach.com
Thanks!
. Also, check out what other Crew members have to say about Kinderbach here!
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A Review of Spears Art Studio
Up until now, art has always been a subject that we covered very haphazardly and with no plan at our house. I would typically wake up one day and think, "We should do an art project today." So, then, I would go and grab some art supplies from around the house, plunk them on the table, call the kids to come sit down, and just kind of wait to see what happened.
We received a CD of Spears Art curriculum, a complete art curriculum for K-8th grade. I was initially slightly overwhelmed by all of the projects included, but once I calmed down and realized that these were simply a large variety of options rather than a burdensome checklist of everything I needed to do, it was easier for me to handle. I like the cd format, because I don't need more paper cluttering up my house! However, if you are a person who prefers a hard copy, you can get that from them as well or print out hard copies yourself and put them in a notebook.
The lessons are organized around the calendar, which I like because it makes for great seasonal decorations as well as great art lessons! I also love that the curriculum is biblically based and focused on honoring God as our creator and reflecting His creativity by creating art. Another nice thing is that art appreciation is included right alongside the projects.
All of the projects can be completed with common art materials, so you don't have to hunt down obscure supplies. This is a huge help to me as a busy mom who doesn't always plan ahead to go out and buy supplies! The cd is $39.95, which comes out to less than $5 a year if used k-8th grade... I dont think I am going to find a better deal than that! I felt it was flexible, too, to fit a variety of homeschooling styles. A very structured family would likely appreciate all of the lesson plans and schedules of projects. A more spontaneous family like mine might just pick and choose projects as they went along. I feel it is a strength of the program that it could be used by pretty much anyone.
I would love to get it together enough to have art, music, foreign language, etc. all scheduled in to our regular homeschool week. But, for now, I am still struggling to just get all of the "basics" in! So, we will probably continue my haphazard method of the "Let's Do Some Art Today" approach. But, instead of running arund gathering supplies, plunking them on the table, and saying, "Go to it, kids!", I will have actual projects we can work on with some actual learning about art involved. So, for that, I thank Diane Spears for this great currciulum!
Spears Art has a wonderful website you can view here, and as always, take a look at the rest of the Crew's reviews here. Thanks!
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A fun way to express your creativity!
Wow, have we ever had fun with this review! We were given a sample of Crayola Art Studio software from Core Learning (http://www.core-learning.com) to play with and review. This software is so much fun! My kids loved it, and I even found myself wanting to play with it.
With Crayola Art Studio, you can make all kinds of pictures, graphics, coloring pages and more! You can use any kind of drawing/painting medium, like crayons, watercolor paints, tempera, markers, etc. You can customize everything, from the thickness of the line/brush tip to the color. There are cool stamp tools that have premade images to use in your pictures. One of our favorite things was using the pirate stamps. We made the image of the map as background and then the kids drew things on it to create a treasure map!
We loved printing out the images, too. You can bring your own pictures or images into your creations, and can save your creations in many different file formats. I was even able to save some of the kids' art as graphic files and use them in other programs to create greeting cards and things!
This software seems to have no limits as far as how creative a child can get with it. It was great for all ages, as my 3 year old loved it as much as the 10 year old! As a homeschool mom, I also loved that it could be done independently and caused no mess. I would love to say that we do art projects all the time at home, but often we don't because my time is limited to supervise or I am not feeling up to cleaning up a big mess. This is great because my children can do art whenever they want to with no mess.
We also received samples of other programs offered by Core Learning. They offer some really neat looking math and language arts software, a health software curriculum, as well as a more advanced graphics and art program. I would personally be interested in the math and language arts as well as the graphics and art one from what I saw in the demos. The health software is really comprehensive and loks neat, but I personally have some reservations as sex ed/ puberty is included in part of it and I am pretty sure it is not approached from a Christian persepective. I am not saying that it is bad (I didn't see too much of it in the demo), but I am very selective about using the higest quality materials that integrate faith, values, and God as creator into the information when approaching sex ed, puberty, human development, etc.
Overall, I absolutely loved the Crayola Art Studio software, and the rest looks pretty interesting, from what I saw. Take a look for yourself at http://www.core-learning.com. You can also check out what the rest of the review Crew has to say about it at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/620165/ .
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Wish you knew more about web page design?
Never having learned computer science in a formal manner, I never would have thought about it as a subject to teach my kids in our homeschool. I was surprised and pleased to see that a simple and straightforward resource exists to do just that. I received an ebook, Let’s Make A Webpage by Motherboard books to use and review with my kids. Not only did my daughter, who is 10, learn how to make a webpage; but, also, it taught me a lot, too! I have done some basic html and design on my blog, but this was very helpful in explaining systematically how to do it. (My attempts have all been very haphazard and random based on what I needed to put on my blog.)
Motherboard Books also carries a more complete basic computer science course to use in your homeschool with older students. You can check it out at http://www.motherboardbooks.com.
We will consult this ebook as a resource quite often in working with web pages and blogs! Thank you to TOS and Motherboard books for this review opportunity. Check out what other Crew members had to say at the Homeschool Crew blog.
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Ever wished you had the how-to book on homeschooling?
I cannot tell you how many times I have wished that someone would hand me a book that would tell me everything I needed to know about homeschooling. Sometimes it can get verwhelming to try to figure out all aspects of each child's education and of how you want your homeschool to work.
Terri Johnson of Knowledge Quest has put together just such a book, and has done it in an ingenius way that prevents information overload and that feeling of overwhelm. Homeschooling ABCs is the name f her new course, which takes 26 aspects of homeschooling and covers them one per week fr six months. As a class participant, each week I receive an email with a link to that week's lesson and bonuses. Yes, there are bonuses each week! Included with the course are many free resources to use and try in your homeschool, everything from curriculum samples to full curricula!
Terri's knowledge of and enthusiasm for homeschooling just shine in every lesson, and I found it so helpful to be able to tihnk through one aspect of our homeschool each week. The lessons are on many different things, such as developing a philosophy of homeschooling, field trips, and how to teach science and math. There are many other topics, 26 in all!
At first, I thought the price of $10 per month for 6 months was somewhat pricey for an online course. However, once I read through the lessons and realized all of the bonuses that are included, I came t feel it is a very good deal. I have made countless purchases of curriculum that did not work for our family, just because I was feeling my way around homeschooling. I feel that this course would have helped me to better know what I would like to use, and actually would have probably saved me some money in the end. This class would be great for someone new to homeschooling, just thinking about it, or someone who is a "veteran" who still has no clue in a lot of areas. (Like me!)
You can read more about this great class, which I highly recommend, at http://homeschoolingabcs.com/.
Enjoy!
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Some fun games for your little people!
 
Alphabet Alley is a faith-based company that produces high quality toys for the early childhood market. We use all original graphics to illustrate solid values in a fun and entertaining way. Children choose Alphabet Alley products because they are fun! Parents, teachers and schools choose Alphabet Alley products for their educational, motivational and spiritual values.
I received two games from Alphabet Alley: Noah's Ark Go Fish and their Two By Two Matching Game. They are two fun games based on the story of Noah’s Ark. My 3 year old has really loved playing them with his brother, sister, mom and dad. They are really cute, and have bright, fun pictures of the animals and the Ark. It’s great to play with Jack-Jack while we talk about God and the story of Noah’s Ark.
So many games I have tried with my preschoolers are either too simple, too complicated, too boring, or too noisy. These games are good quality, classic childhood games that encourage early learning and are faith building for kids. I love them!
Noah's Ark Go Fish sells for $5.99 and Two by Two Matching sells for $10.99. Check out these and many other adorable Bible-based toys at http://www.alphabetalley.com/default.asp.
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My new favorite resources!
My daughter has had a very difficult time memorizing her multiplication tables. I don't think this is because she really struggles with memorizing things; rather, I think she just was not interested in memorizing tables of numbers. Times Tales by Trigger Memory Systems changed all that! The upper level times tables, including upper 3s and 4s facts, are put into cute stories with characters to make it interesting and easy to remember. The first day we used this, Violet knew more multiplication facts than she has previously memorized in the past year!
We also have a struggle with chores, especially cleaning rooms. I was eager to see what happened when I gave my children the Clean and Flip System that Trigger Memory system sells. The set has three spiral bound flip charts with easy to read directions and clear illustrations. One shows a step by step system for room cleaning, one for doing laundry, and one for "zone cleaning" (things like cleaning the living room or the kitchen). The very first time my daughter used the bedroom Clean & Flip chart, she cleaned her room faster and more successfully than she had ever done before!
f all of the things I have reviewed so far, these two products are my favorites. They took struggles and made them easy, simple, and doable for my children and me! Thanks, Trigger Memory Systems, for these great user-friendly, budget-friendly, all around great products!
You can find these great products at http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/. Times Tales Deluxe sells for $29.95 and Clean & Flip is $29.95 for all 3 flip charts.
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A Nativity Set that Kids can Touch!
I have always loved nativity sets, and when I had children, I quickly saw that they love nativity sets too! Children want to play with the figures and act out the story of Christmas. The problem is that many sets are fragile and breakable, only for looking at and not to touch.
One 2 Believe has recognized the need for children to be able to play with and act out the Bible stories that are so familiar to them. They carry Bible based and faith based toys, and their website has some really good resources for Christian parents. Their nativity set is really detailed and is made of durable plastic, so that kids can play with over and over again.
My kids loved this set! It really engaged them! I wasn’t sure if my active boys would like it, but they spent quite a bit of time playing with the figures and arranging them in the stable. All of my children especially liked the baby Jesus… he got slept with a few times, and also we lost him a couple of times because he was a popular toy to carry around the house!
One 2 Believe carries several Bible playsets, not just the nativity, so it is not just for Christmas. I think that the sets are a good value. This one sells for $24.99. There are so many toys out there that the kids just use once or not at all, or toys that aren’t really in line with our family’s values. I love this line of toys because it encourages kids to play in a hands-on way with the Bible characters and stories that we are teaching them, and it is fun and engaging to them. Overall, I highly recommend these playsets! Visit their website at www.one2believe.com to check out all the neat Bible based toys they have to offer. Here are some photos of the nativity set and two of my children enjoying it!
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Incredible
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The cutest way to learn geography!
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