Dec. 3, 2009 - $5 Friday Bonanza is Underway
Wow - the $5 Friday Special is off and running! We started it a bit early this week, as it is going to be a wild Friday here and we needed to make sure that this special $5 Friday sale was not lost in the shuffle. Happy shopping, and thanks!
$5 Friday Specials include:
$5 - American Government Unit Study CD (Regular price is $14.95)*
and
$5 - Space Unit Study CD (Regular price is $14.95)*
and
$5 - Dogs Unit Study CD (Regular price is $14.95)*
and
$5 - Heroes of Chivalry CD (Regular price is $14.95)*
and
$5 - First Steps in Faith CD (Regular price is $19.95)
and
ONLY $1 shipping for your entire order!
Jump in now and take advantage of the savings - at midnight on Friday,
prices go back to their regular values!
* Only one CD of each title per customer
Dec. 3, 2009 - Frugal and Fun Gifts to Make with the Kids
This is the time of year when many homeschooling families gather together and prepare for the holidays, making gifts, sharing memories, and reading together. While working on my Christmas Unit Study over the years, we have done these same things at the Bennett household, and we have been blessed with some amazing memories. I'm writing today to respond to the many requests for descriptions of some of the things that we have tried, I hope that something here will help you and yours as you settle into December and celebrate His birth.
Here are a few gift ideas that we have tried or are working on currently - most are fun to work on as a family, particularly during days when one child can read to the rest of the gift-makers. :-) A favorite book for read aloud this week might be Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates, by Mary M. Dodge -- suggesting this as I watch the weather forecast for snow tomorrow!
The homemade hand warmers and the memory drawings on this page sound like great projects for the kids: A Do-It-Yourself Christmas: 34 Great Gifts You Can Make Yourself
With the returning popularity of scarves, I am trying to make one as a gift - here's the pattern: Love Knot Scarf Pattern - Cool to note that they include special instructions for lefties at the end of the instructions!
Back in the olden days, B.C. (before children), I loved to crochet. We enjoyed some crochet projects around the holidays when the children were younger and our daughter was interested in yarn projects. Recently, I started looking around for some fun and simple afghan crochet patterns, and found a treasure trove of vintage patterns online.
Easy To Crochet Afghan Patterns - Beginner Crochet Afghan Patterns
For those of you with thrift shops nearby, this craft sounds like fun, and Scrabble games abound at most thrift shops:
Scrabble Bracelet - How to Make a Scrabble Bracelet
After seeing this, I thought that it would be fun to just glue small magnets to the backs of the letter tiles and use them for spelling and message fun on the refrigerator or a cookie sheet! NOT for use around small children, of course - tiles are too easy to swallow!
Here's the recipe for Friendship Soup in a Jar, which is similar to Country Soup in a Jar, but the recipe offers the option of adding meat.
Another favorite is Country Soup in a Jar - Six beans, grains and pastas are layered to a pretty effect in a glass jar with seasonings and bouillon granules in this winning idea for a hostess gift.
When our children were young, we had so much fun making "gifts in a jar." Here's a link to Cookies in a Jar - Gifts to Make and Give
Cookies in a Jar - Gifts to Make and Give
These cookie mixes in glass jars complete with recipes were big hits with everyone on our gift giving list!
We had loads of fun making rolled beeswax candles for Christmas gifts, and I finally found the sheets online:
Textured 100% Beeswax Honeycomb Sheets for Candle Making - Item # P0001
We would get sheets of honeycomb wax, and the children would roll them into tapers or other interesting shapes, wrapping them around wicks that we purchased in the crafts department of Walmart or Hobby Lobby. This was a favorite project for them, and the candles were beautiful to burn and lasted a long time - big hits with grandparents and friends!
$5 Friday Bonanza is Underway
Wow - the $5 Friday Special is off and running! We started it a bit early this week, as it is going to be a wild Friday here and we needed to make sure that this special $5 Friday sale was not lost in the shuffle. Happy shopping, and thanks!
$5 Friday Specials include:
$5 - American Government Unit Study CD (Regular price is $14.95)*
and
$5 - Space Unit Study CD (Regular price is $14.95)*
and
$5 - Dogs Unit Study CD (Regular price is $14.95)*
and
$5 - Heroes of Chivalry CD (Regular price is $14.95)*
and
$5 - First Steps in Faith CD (Regular price is $19.95)
and
ONLY $1 shipping for your entire order!
Jump in now and take advantage of the savings - at midnight on Friday,
prices go back to their regular values!
* Only one CD of each title per customer
Interesting Book Notes from Amanda
"Advent is a Latin word meaning "the coming." Officially established by church leaders in the 6th century, Advent was originally meant to be a time when Christians reflected on the meaning of Christmas and when new believers spiritually prepared themselves for baptism."
From Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas, by Ace Collins.
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, by Susan Wojciechowski.
Another favorite of mine that will touch your heart, this book tells the story of a wood carver, a young widow, her son, and a lesson in love and patience for everyone. This book is included, year after year, in our Christmas wicker basket of holiday favorites for everyone's enjoyment.
One Wintry Night, by Ruth
While the two wait out the storm in her cabin, the woman lovingly shares the story of the Bible from Creation to the Resurrection, and each chapter ends with a bit of a cliffhanger -- perfect for family reading time during December.
As I write this today, we are expecting our first snowfall, and I'm enjoying the Christmas instrumental music of Chris Rice -- Living Room Sessions -- Christmas. Next up on the listening list is Steve Sensenig's untouchable instrumental Christmas Solitude. It's quiet here now, and everyone is outdoors, getting things ready for the first snowfall. Plenty of firewood in the woodpile, and cookies are baking -- wish you were here!
Dec. 3, 2009 - Unit Study $5 Friday
Good morning, friends! Wow - the $5 Friday Sale is off and running! We started it a bit early this week, as it is going to be a wild Friday here and we needed to make sure that this special $5 Friday sale was not lost in the shuffle. Happy shopping, and thanks!
http://bit.ly/2opSxW
Dec. 3, 2009 - Creative Christmas Letter Ideas
Wow! The Homeschool Minute readers totally rock!
Here are some of the FABULOUS creative Christmas letter ideas that our readers submitted via email:
- Last year we thought of television show titles that seemed appropriate to events from our year. Here are a few of the entries:
Lost – While we’ve never actually seen this show, it could aptly describe K and C’s teeth. K lost 4 over a period of three months. C, not to be outdone, lost her first shortly thereafter.
The Office – OK, another one we’ve not actually seen. But it doesn’t really matter, because Dh no longer goes to the office. 2008 saw a dramatic increase in his consulting business, so we’ve returned to the land of the self-employed. We’re thankful that God has blessed his business so much more than we deserve.
Extreme Home Makeover – We had our own version of this show, just without the lights, cameras and one-week deadline. We spent most of the year working on the remodel, changing our small, awkwardly laid out two bedroom home into a larger, open three bedroom with room for D to work and the kids to do school work or head off to their own rooms. With the remodel, R has learned more about the Albuquerque area dumps than you’d ever want to know. And while the country is struggling financially, D and R have attempted to single-handedly keep the area Home Depot and Lowe’s in business.
(I'm leaving out a huge section of her Christmas letter, but I love how she ended it... -Nancy)
It’s a Wonderful Life – Finally, no holiday season would be complete without this timeless classic. Ours is a wonderful life, thanks entirely to Christ’s love and His ultimate sacrifice. Praying that His love changes your holiday and your lives!
Submitted by Robin
- For the past 12 years I have continued my mother's tradition (started when I was in kindergarten!) of writing a poem at Christmas. All of the year's highlighs (and some low-lights) are chronicled using a 4-line stanza format (first two and last two lines rhyming), with about 8 stanzas total. Usually the first stanza is standard Christmas-greeting fare, and the last sums up with a view of the True Meaning of Christmas. Usually each family member gets a stanza, and then a couple more for general family events. Folks look forward to them every year -- I think my parents' friends would cause a ruckus if she ever stopped this tradition!
Submitted by Ellen
- I'm a big fan of trying to be funny which usually involves poking fun at ourselves. Here are ideas I have used over the years:
-Last year was an impromptu description of our family by the 8 year old. He was making a newspaper (his own idea) and I wrote down as he dictated. How he summed up our family was HILARIOUS! "Daddy likes to snuggle, likes Joel love, and likes to go to church." I also included 16 random things in the pattern of a facebook note that was going around last year.
-A comic that illustrated each member of the family followed by a paragraph summary.
-A 'Most wanted' including AKA, wanted for, description and last seen. Ex. the baby was charged with disturbing the peace. "Since his appearance Joel has repeatedly and without remorse violated noise ordinances. Victims drop charges after he smiles at them."
-Our year's story in the pattern of "Twas the night before Christmas" or to the Gilligan's island theme song.
-The year the boys were in Fiddler on the Roof, the letter was paragraphs themed according to song titles. ex "Wonder of Wonder, miracle of miracles"
-Top ten lessons learned, then paragraph explanation. Ex "Free library is a contradiction in terms. (fines b/c we ck out 30 bks at a time) "If you take the cheapest flight, be prepared to find out why."
-Thank yous from our family devotions. With little ones this is hilarious. "Thank you for a good trip. Thank you that we won the revolutionary war."
-On a heavy travel year we copied a map with stars where we had been and short paragraphs telling about our travels.
-Best and worst of the year, and aspects of the year. ex best and worst of working at home ;-) best field trips, best verses
-Once upon a time - a fairy tale about the King Queen and 5 children. Story about disturbances in kingdom - too much water used for bathing, mysterious odors etc... A sage is consulted and concludes castle is infected with adolescence. Solution? Time and 3 potions- Compassion Growth formula, Backbone Strenghthener, Sense of Humor.
-ABC's of Christmas. A word beginning with each letter and a one sentence explanation.
-"Our Space" done like a Myspace with a profile pic and description of each family member.
-This year is questions heard around our house, with answers mom says or just thinks and keeps to herself. ;-)
What a fun walk down memory lane!!! My favorites are the comics, Most Wanted and the fairy tale. Some years are better than others ;-)
Submitted by Betsy
- This is the third year we have written letters - and it is a blessing to us -and hopefully to those we send the letters. We create 2 letters - one for our personal friends & family and another for our church family, since my husband is a pastor. Our church family sees us so regularly - we don't feel the need to update them on what is happening with each of us.
We try to pick one of the Christmas Hymns - and put one verse of the hymn at the top, and then we use our introduction paragraph - to encourage thoughts of the true meaning of Christmas - based on the hymn we used. For example - this year we used the hymn, O Come all Ye Faithful - so we encouraged those reading our letter - to come and adore , and behold the Lord of lords. We then pick out a verse of scripture related to the hymn, and have it at the bottom our letter.
Our second paragraph is a personal note to personal friends & family about our family or to our church family we put a summary of the encouraging work of God in our church. My husband then writes a handwritten note to each church member - and I take care of writing a personal note to our friends/family outside of church.
We too enjoy receiving notes and even cards- when they have a personal note in them. Just thought I would send this . I am fairly new to Old Schoolhouse, but what a blessing it has been to me. Thank You.
Submitted by R&K
- Our annual Christmas letter wraps up the year's events in the form of a Dr. Seuss-inspired rhyme. It's always really fun to put together, and now that our children are learning to rhyme words, it's really become a family tradition!
We’re recounting ’09, a year chockfull of blessings
As we eat our fill of turkey and dressings.
So how do we wrap up this year, grand and merry?
Guess we’ll just start with the stuff back in January.
Submitted by Brandy
(This was a fabulous full page poem. I absolutely LOVED it, but didn't want to give away her whole letter. ~Nancy)
When I was 6 months pregnant--for our first child-- our letter came from his point of view. We didn't know if we were having a boy or girl, so we just said "Baby D". The next 2 years it also came from him. Friends and family loved it! It was a fresh take. Not just a letter from mom: "so and so did this, so and so did that". It's become that in the past few years as my boys have grown. I'm determined this year to make it unique in some way again! Thanks for the inspiration! - Joie
We really had fun one year and sent out a Mad Lib as our Christmas letter! I included our e-mail address for people to send us their version of our Christmas letter with their words filled in, then I would send them the actual letter with the correct words. It was kind of a fun way to write about our family that year. I was thinking it might be fun to do it again! :o) - Yvonne
I don't have the time or energy at Christmas, so I picked another holiday. We happened to choose Valentines Day. I figure people get lots of Christmas cards they don't have time to read, so if I'... See Morem going to take the time to write it, I want somebody to have the time to read it. People are surprised and seem happy to get a Valentine's card (We try to keep it short and sweet, but include a picture, greeting, some kind of thing we've learned to appreciate through the year, and keep it low on the boring details.) - Jennifer
I have to say my favorites are those that are 'real' and funny. I don't like those that seem like mini resumes of accomplishments (bragging). I rather hear how the Lord has blessed a family/person than how advanced a reader a child is, but that is just my preference. With that said, my Christmas letter is not really a... See More letter at all but more of a newsletter. I call it The Santiago Fun-Times, and people always tell me they love getting it because it's funny. I format it like a newspaper (one sheet, front & back) and have sections like The Sports Section (My husband is a coach) and 'Arts and Leisure' where I write real things about our family but in short articles. It's fun to write & read & I need to get started on it. ;-) -Jasmine
We've done the newspaper format (with a variety of articles from different "reporters") as well as a "menu" outlining a smorgasbord of appetizers, entreés, and desserts from which our readers could "taste" a year's worth of our family's activities. - Paula
We started doing Christmas letters the year after my oldest was born. That first letter was a simple summary of our year as a new family. We change it up every year. One year the highlights were summarized in a seasons theme (winter, spring, summer, fall). Another year, we did a top ten list. We did an acrostic of CHRISTMAS. Last year we did a multiple choice quiz and that was the one that got the most compliments so far. This year the theme was TWO because events in our lives were doubled. - Anna
I really appreciate you all taking the time to write in and share these awesome ideas. Readers on the FB page are already saying how much these suggestions have helped them!
Anyone else have a creative idea to share? Just leave it in the comments section!
Merry Christmas,
~Nancy
P.S. - You can still read The Homeschool Minute issue on Christmas Letters if you haven't gotten a chance to read it yet. The Familyman has some great things to remember when you're writing your family's Christmas letter.
Dec. 3, 2009 - Bit of history about Advent...
"Advent is a Latin word meaning "the coming." Officially established by church leaders in the 6th century, Advent was originally meant to be a time when Christians reflected on the meaning of Christmas and when new believers spiritually prepared themselves for baptism."
From Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas, by Ace Collins.
I am thoroughly enjoying this book, and learning so much!Interesting note - sixth century church was the pre-Luther Christian church of believers, all worshipping, waiting, and preparing in this season. Imagine!
Dec. 3, 2009 - $5 Friday Unit Study Sale is up early...
Just for those of you night owls - we have already posted the $5 Friday Sale! http://bit.ly/2opSxW
Dec. 2, 2009 - Thanksgiving Memories
Our version of the kids' table
Cousins
Cuteness to the 10th power
Thankful to be together!
Nov. 25, 2009 - Making Soap
Put a lid on the lye and set it to the side. Lye is dangerous stuff. Respect the lye.Next you measure out all of the oils. This recipe called for shea butter, olive oil, and lard.
See how my pot almost covers the scale? That's what made things hard. The nice thing was the little zero button that allows you to measure one ingredient, zero the scale, and then continue measuring and adding other ingredients all in that one pot. 
My friend suggested that we add the solids before the liquids. It's important to measure the ingredients exactly. Soapmaking is a very delicate chemical process.Put these oils on the stove at a low heat to melt. Stir as needed. Keep an eye on the temperature once it's all melted.
Now it's time for the excitement. Make sure that you're wearing your safety goggles & gloves and have some ventilation where you're working.
Gently pour the lye into your pitcher of water. It heats up to 200* immediately and stinks. Stay clear of the fumes. Stirring heats the water and you will need to get the temperature down per your recipe so avoid stirring. 
You really need to have two thermometers. One for the lye mixture and another for the oils. You can perhaps wipe them clean as you go back and forth, but it's a lot to keep an eye on. You're trying to get both mixtures at the same temperature: cooling the lye mixture and heating up the oils. Tricky stuff.
But oh, sweet mercy, when the temperatures are in sync, you get to pour the lye mixture into the oils and that's when the magic starts to happen. Your heart will race and you'll find yourself thinking, "I'm doing it. I'm really making soap!"I was so excited, I couldn't even take a good picture.
Now you get to add the yummy fragrance oils. Mix gently and carefully with the stick blender paying close attention to the consistency. You're waiting for it to get to the elusive "trace" that soapers talk about. Trace is when it's kind of like pudding and when you dribble the soap across the pot, it leaves a faint line. If you close one eye and squint your eyes, you might be able to see what I'm talking about in this pic. Don't hold your breath though.
I was thinking about making soap, not taking pictures.
Once it's at that perfect consistency, you can pour it into the molds. You can just use regular boxes lined with wax paper or store-bought molds. 
See how ours isn't perfectly smooth? That's how you can tell it is homemade. Ha ha! Maybe we let it get too thick.
Can any of you soapers let me know?
This recipe has to cure for 3 weeks. I can't wait to see how it turns out.
It smells sooooo good.
Nov. 20, 2009 - Extreme $5 Friday is almost over!
Friday's almost over - hope you had a chance to take advantage of the Extreme $5 Friday sale! One of the most popular items today - my workshop on Understanding Unit Studies. Orders will start shipping tomorrow, and thanks for your orders!
http://unitstudy.com/$5_friday.htmNov. 20, 2009 - Extreme $5 Friday at UnitStudy.com!
Guess what's already in motion in a BIG way? EXTREME $5 Friday! And I can't wait to see what you think of it all:
http://unitstudy.com/$5_friday.htm
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