Posted in Everything Else

I got an idea a few years ago from flylady.net about making coupons as a gift.  I have done this the last three years for Christmas for our kids and it is a gift that keeps on giving all year long!  I made them in a Word document on the computer, printed them out, cut them apart, and stapled them together at one end like a coupon booklet.  I'm going to list some of the coupons that I include...

• Going with Mom for ice cream
• Going with Dad for ice cream
• 30 minutes of computer games with no interruptions
• Plan a supper meal and help Mom cook
• Plan a game night for the family and everyone must cheerfully play
• Stay up late and play a game with Mom and Dad by yourself
• Have your own movie night with Mom and Dad
• Go spend the weekend with grandparents (at their convenience)
• Go spend three days with cousins (at everyone's convenience)
• Plan an evening out for you and Mom
• Sit down and play a game with Mom or Dad as soon as possible

On some of the coupons, I put that there must be a certain amount of advance notice given.  I also put an expiration date on each coupon.  Several of the coupons are in the booklet two or three times (computer, game night, ice cream).  I have learned to make my expiration date be around the middle of November; otherwise, they start trying to use all of their coupons up in December before they expire -- which makes for an even busier month in December! 

 

These coupons have been a great stocking stuffer in our family and they always look forward to getting them.  They are fairly easy to customize each year in the computer (after getting it done and saved the first year) so it doesn't take much time at all.  We have four kids and this helps us to spend individual time with them on a more regular basis.  

 

Some of the things we have done just this month as a result of these coupons....

• I have gone to get ice cream with our youngest son
• Two kids have planned and helped prepare supper
• Family game night
• Sat and played games twice (just the child and me)
• My husband and I stayed up late playing games with our youngest son

You could also give a coupon booklet for a birthday or other special occasion.  It's just easier for me to know that everyone has the same coupons and they all expire at the same time (less for me to keep up with mentally -- which is always a good thing)! 

 

If you have ideas for other coupons, please leave them in the comments . . . . . Thanks!

Posted in Everything Else

I bought these Worship Guitar Class DVD's recently and am so excited about them after using them for just one day!!!  I have only done the first two lessons but can already play three chords and two songs.  I also have learned a strumming pattern that I never was sure how to do.  I have been sort of trying to learn to play the guitar off and on since I was a kid and have learned a lot after just two short sessions with these DVD's.  I would highly recommend the entire set to anyone!  Jean Welles presents things on a "need to know basis," and it all seems so easy!  I will give an update when I have had more time to spend with these, but as far as I can tell they are worth every single penny I spent (and I spent a whole lot less than I would spend on a year of guitar lessons).  Click here for more information on this series and feel free to post a comment if you have this series or if you have any questions for me.  I just can't say enough good things about this set!!!

Posted in Everything Else

Well, I have finally made a final decision about which Spanish program to use this year.  We are going to use The Easy Spanish (not to be confused with Easy Spanish -- they are two entirely different programs).  I visited with the author for quite a while at the homeschool book fair and was very impressed with this curriculum.  It isn't widely known yet, but I have a feeling that it will become well-known and loved in the homeschool community before long.  Click here to read the details about this curriculum.

 

7-23-06 -- Update on this entry . . . Well, just a few days after posting this we received a sale in the mail from Rosetta Stone.  My 15-yr-old son had been doing the Rosetta Stone demo cd-rom this past week.  I ended up basically letting him choose between The Easy Spanish and Rosetta Stone (he would prefer the majority of the work to be on computer).  Although I think The Easy Spanish is an excellent curriculum, we are going to use Rosetta Stone this year.

 

For anyone interested, click here to get the special price for homeschoolers on Rosetta Stone.  Orders have to be placed by August 15th.

 

 

Posted in Everything Else

The ongoing Carnival of Homeschooling is being hosted this week by Homeschoolbuzz.com.  The Carnival of Homeschooling is a neat concept. Every week a homeschooling related blog hosts a collection of links to the best stories submitted from all over. It’s a great way to discover new blogs and read some great writing on homeschooling.

Click Here

Posted in Everything Else

Yahoo Is Tracking Group Members

All members of Yahoo Groups - be aware that Yahoo is now using "Web Beacons" to track every Yahoo Group user. It's similar to cookies, but allows Yahoo to record every website and every group you visit, even when you're not connected to Yahoo. Look at their updated privacy statement, go to:

          http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy

About half-way down the page, in the section on cookies, you will see a link that says WEB BEACONS. Click on the phrase "Web Beacons." On the page that opens, find a paragraph entitled "Outside the Yahoo Network." In that section find a little "Click Here to Opt Out" link that will let you "opt-out" of their snooping. After you have clicked the "OPT OUT" button, another page comes up stating that you have successfully opted out, Be careful! NOT to click on the next button shown. It is an "Opt Back In" button that, if clicked, will UNDO the opt-out.

 

Posted in Everything Else

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;

but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.

One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,

yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice;

yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

 

If the plural of man is always called men,

why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?

If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet,

and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?

If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,

why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

 

Then one may be that, and three would be those,

yet hat in the plural would never be hose,

and the plural of cat is cats, not cose.

We speak of a brother and also of brethren,

but though we say mother, we never say methren.

 

 

Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,

but imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim.

 

Some other reasons to be grateful if you grew up speaking English: 

1. The bandage was wound around the wound.
2. The farm was used to produce produce.
3. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4. We must polish the Polish furniture.
5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8. At the Army base, a bass was painted on the head of a bass drum.
9. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10. I did not object to the object.
11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13. They were too close to the door to close it.
14. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18. After a number of Novocain injections, my jaw got number.
19. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
22. I spent last evening evening out a pile of dirt. 

Pronunciations can mess up your mind! For

example...If you have a rough cough, climbing can be

tough when going through the bough on a tree!

 

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There

is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;

neither apple nor pine in pineapple.

 

English muffins weren't invented in England.

 

We take English for granted.

 

But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that

quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,

and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

 

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,

grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

 

Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but

not one amend?

 

If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid

of all but one of them, what do you call it?

 

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? 

 

If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a

humanitarian eat?

 

Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking

English should be committed to an asylum for the

verbally insane.

 

In what other language do people recite at a play and

play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wiseguy are opposites?

 

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a

language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

 

If Dad is Pop, how come Mom isn't Mop?

 

~Author Unknown

 

And that has been today's

grammar lesson! 

Posted in Everything Else

I just started looking through some books that I purchased a while back and couldn't put Boyhood and Beyond by Bob Schultz down!  This is such a good book with very practical words of wisdom and guidance to help boys see how the small things in their daily lives and the choices they make lead them to becoming Godly men.  The chapters are just a few pages long and end with some questions for thought and discussion.  We will plan to use this as a family devotional each evening.  From the back of the book..."Wisdom and common sense are gleaned from short chapters covering topics such as authority, inventiveness, and honesty as well as learning to overcome things like fear, laziness, and temptation.  Boyhood and Beyond motivates boys to build their lives on a foundation of strong moral principles.  Most importantly, these chapters will encourage boys to become the men God wants them to be as they develop a relationship with Him."  I think this is going to be a great book for our family!