Nov. 24, 2008 - OMGoodness, this is one you're going to want to get in on!!
Wow, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine has outdone themselves this time! For just 5 days, they're putting on a Black Friday Sale. I've gotta make this one quick because baby Princess has a cold and she's fussing at me but I wanted to share this because this is an awesome deal!
Let me just cut and paste the text:
The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine is having an amazing sale on subscriptions during their annual Black Friday Sale November 26 – 30. For those 5 days only, they are drastically reducing their one-year subscription price to $7.95! That's the price you would usually pay for just one issue at a bookstore!
This is their lowest price ever on the magazine and they want all of you to take advantage of this offer and share the info with your friends.
Please don't miss out. Your one-year subscription will pay for itself time and time again as you receive practical tips and Biblical encouragement to keep going strong in your commitment to homeschooling and to the Lord. Since it's a quarterly magazine, they even have a monthly subscriber's only E-Newsletter called Teacher's Toolbox that will give you seasonal teaching ideas and a free E-Book download! It's like joining a unit study of the month club! The free E-Books alone are valued at almost $250/year. It's really perfect for people who are homeschooling on a shoestring or just wanting to add in some little extras to your teaching.
Plus during the Black Friday Sale, they have all kind of bonus gifts when you spend $50, $75, $100, or $150. Some are electronic downloads that you can download immediately, while other are physical products mailed from various vendors directly to your home.
AND, their Win Big contest is going on so if you just happen to be customer 67,000, you will receive a prize package valued at almost $500 which includes a $150 gift certificate to the Schoolhouse Store! Who couldn't use that? And you can qualify to win it no matter how much or how little you spend!
Mark your calendars for November 26 - 30th and do a little shopping from your seat, not your feet at the Schoolhouse Store's Black Friday Sale!
Nov. 18, 2008 - TOS Homeschool Review~ Rime To Read
Rime To Read(RTR) is a virtual beginner’s reading program. It consists of 20 short online books, 4 books per short vowel. Each short vowel rime (word family) is color coded to go along with its word family and the illustrations match their corresponding vowel. The books are designed to be used in a specific order because they build on the rime patterns taught in the previous books and 35 specific sight words are introduced in order as well. They also increase in difficulty as you go along. Once you’ve purchased your books you’re allowed to print them off one time. I saved mine in pdf format for later use.
Customers can buy a vowel set of 4 books for $9.99, or, the entire 20 book set for $44.99
Children should have down all the consonant sounds and be able to recognize lower case letters before beginning this program.
These are cute little books with very simple, but sweet illustrations. I’m partial to Pat, the curly-headed main character in the first book of the series. Being one of two curlies in my home, I love to see fellow curly girls in the spotlight.
Now, I already have a complete, reading program that works extremely well for my family. I used it to teach Tink how to read and am currently in the process of teaching my 4 year old DS how to read with it too. He’s doing extremely well and correctly puts together new words on his own as soon as he learns a new sound. Tink experienced a few snags along the way but obviously it worked because at 10 years old, she reads at a high school level and she frequently has her nose in a book in her spare time. Not only that, but my sister and I were both taught with the same program (public school version) when we were in school and we always tested well above grade level. Honestly, I’d be afraid to use anything else to teach my children with since it works so well for us.
I think that if I were to use Rime to Read in my homeschool, I would use it as a set of readers after I finish teaching my children how to read carefully with phonics and blending. RTR could be used as a fun way to get in some extra practice, be entertaining and have small books to enjoy while children exercise their new reading skills.
The ladies at Rime to Read are currently in the process of adding a new sound feature which allows you to click on and hear the color coded words if needed. Do keep in mind that this sound feature is all still in progress so it’s not fully functional yet. I emailed Lynn at RTR and asked when they expect to have their site completely up and running and she gave me an estimate of another few days from today (November 18, 2008). Meanwhile you can still purchase their virtual books, print off the pdf. files and allow your child to practice reading them that way.
Oh, and if RTR looks like something you’d want to check out, you can try one free book by signing up at their site.
If you subscribe to TOS Magazines's Schoolhouse Store blog you get entered in for a shot to win the $100 gift certificate. Now I'm off to feel sorry for myself because I don't get to enter. lol. Just kidding.
Do let me know if you win, I promise I'll be extremely happy for you.
I figure since I'm already telling people about some great products and contests as part of the TOS Crew, I might as well spread the word about other neat contests as well.
I just got an email from Robin at Heart of Wisdom (HOW). I've always liked the basic idea of HOW and have considered using it as our main curriculum several times, but so far, DH has said 'no'. Well, this may be my chance (and yours) to try it out for free.
All you have to do is post a comment at the How Community Board
and you'll be entered into a drawing to receive two HOW ebooks for free!
The TOS Crew was asked by the people at Time 4 Learning (T4L) to blog our experience with them as we go along rather than one big entry, so here goes:
I was intrigued by T4L when I took my first look at their website. What caught my eye was the mention of kids being able to use it for remedial work. That's something I'm definitely interested in!
I believe I've mentioned here on my blog that Ninja and Tink are behind in a couple of major areas. I plan on working through the summers and maybe even some holidays to get my girls back on track. T4L looks to have some real potential in helping out a family like us. Now, that's not all they do. They describe themselves as having something to offer just about everyone. Their service is "Enrichment for Afterschool, Remediation, Special Needs, or Summer School".
So far the kiddos are liking it. Ninja said she prefered using T4L over another choice I gave her for help with her math skills, but being extremely loyal to Math-U-See, she claims she wouldn't switch.lol. Teenagers! Whadda ya gonna do?
Tink had to be coaxed off the T4L site. She loves science and astronomy and she discovered some very interesting articles in the science section. She later recounted what she'd learned with a big smile on her face. Don't you love it when children have fun while they're learning?
Dude liked the preschool section as well. I hate to add more to his load since he's already in a preschool program, but he sure didn't think it was work. He had fun playing games and matching up same and different patterns of fish. He also got some practice in using the touch pad on the laptop.
I do have to say things should have gone a bit more smoothly if we'd just followed directions.lol. I couldn't figure out one of Dude's games, then vaguely recalled some instruction to use the subjects with the arrow pointing to them that indicated this was the child's current area of study. Oops! When all else fails...
Like I said, so far, T4L is looking like a fun way to add some enrichment to your homeschool. I believe I read somewhere on the site that there are some homeschoolers who use T4L as their main language or math curriculum but I could be wrong. I'll have to take another look at the homeschooling section of the site some other time. For now, Princess is getting mighty cranky, so it's time to say goodnight.
Nov. 10, 2008 - TOS Review: The Truth Seekers Mystery Series. Book #1~The Missing Link: Found
TOS Review: The Truth Seekers Mystery Series. Book #1~The Missing Link: Found by Christina and Felice Gerwitz
When I was assigned the first book in The Truth Seekers Mystery Series for review, I’m sorry to say I literally judged the book by its cover and as a result was expecting to be disappointed. Generally, I don’t like mystery novels for my children and I was considering reading it to myself instead of reading it to them.
Now, I know that some might turn up their noses at something like this, but I genuinely enjoyed it. And, yes, there was a bit of repetition of certain phrases and reaching for descriptors, but for goodness sakes, this novel was written by a 12 year old homeschooler. I think that’s awesome!! It was written for reluctant readers, but neither my girls nor I would ever turn away a good book, so as far as I’m concerned, eager readers can enjoy it as well.
I read this book aloud to my 10 and 14 year old girls (“Tink” and “Ninja”). I was expecting my oldest to say that the book was boring or that she didn’t want to read it. Truthfully, I was afraid to ask her if she liked it. I even called Tink in to read one night while Ninja was busy, thinking Ninja didn’t want to be read to anyway, but later on, when Ninja came into the room and found us reading she said, “Hey! Why are you guys reading without me?” I was surprised to say the least. I apologized and asked if she’d read those two chapters on her own the next day to catch up, then we’d pick up together the next evening. She agreed without hesitation.
Lol! Ninja just walked by as I was typing this and after reading over my shoulder, she has this to say…
Ninja: “I liked the book a lot! I don’t know what my mom’s talking about…”
Well there you have it. Straight from Ninja’s own, uuuh, fingers.
I greatly enjoyed the book right along with my girls. In it's 208 pages was lots of adventure with creation science facts neatly tucked inside. I was eager to know what happened to our characters and how in the world they were going to explain the discovery of the missing link. I loved the use of facts from a creation perspective. My girls have liked watching creation presentations and this novel was a perfect way to spice things up while presenting facts at the same time. There were a few character flaws in the lives of the two main characters, but these kids were repentant and I liked that these flaws made them a bit more believable. Oh, and best of all… there was no kissing in the book! Lol!
Media Angels has literature guides available for purchase to go along with each of the three novels in the series.
There are several interesting looking products in the Media Angels catalog as well.
The Missing Link: Found turned out to be a wonderful read that made us want to keep on reading right up to the very last page. I think it’s a great way to add an interesting bit of fun and excitement to your study of creation science or to encourage a child who just doesn’t find reading as gratifying as my girls and I do. It’s also a nice way to support fellow homeschoolers and spread the word about creation science in an enjoyable way.
It's a giveaway On the Company Porch. I just wish I could enter as well.
It's okay, I've won a book from Salem Ridge Press from the Porch before, and it looks very interesting, so I'm not horribly jealous. lol. Let me know if you win!
November's Schoolhouse Planner Module is a lovely little resource. So far, I’ve enjoyed every module. They all contain helpful hints for each subject and they’re not even seasonal, so you don’t have to fear that you can’t use it after the particular month its issued. You can use them at any time throughout the year.
This module- Amusing Mathermatics - has simple manipulatives included, just copy, cut and color and you’re on your way to trying out the games for yourself. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s inside:
Fun worksheets
Jokes, games and riddles
Pattern blocks
Sudoku
Multiplication
Money
Telling time
Vocabulary
Word search
Coloring pages
Recipes
Copywork (loved it!)
Recipes
Resource list
Answer keys for the games, puzzles and worksheets
There are links to check out the subjects more in depth or to play games and try out the topics covered, helpful tables and charts, and tips on how to remember everyday math facts.
I was very pleased to see the section on world currency. It was so timely since we’re studying several different countries this year with ECC and this adds to our lesson on currency. Ninja (my oldest daughter) was asking what exchange rate means and I tried to explain it to her, but just couldn’t find the right words. I’m going to have her read the explanation provided by the module. I’m sure it’ll be much clearer.
I loved the copywork pages. There were several useful rhymes and interesting details that will help my children remember essential math facts.
I feel a little strange about this, but my children love worksheets. I guess it’s because we don’t use workbooks for most of our school work, so when they do get them, it’s fun for my girls to fill them out. I’m sure they’ll thoroughly enjoy the worksheets contained within this module.
True to form, the November module is an excellent help to my homeschool and I look forward to using the resources to teach my children.
This Nativity Set is a really cute alternative to the traditional Nativity Set. I love that One 2 Believe thought to make one for kids. I know that personally, when I visit someone’s house around the holidays, I’m always on the lookout for breakables. It’s good to know that this set could be handled by little fingers without the fear of breaking Grandma Mimi’s heirloom porcelain or glass set.
There are 17 pieces in the set, made of PVC and there is also a mini story book that tells the Nativity story. Now, I know that some people have a problem with letting their children handle PVC, but it seems to work okay for my family. I did a bit of searching and it looks like the biggest worry with PVC is with small children mouthing it and making contact with saliva which could potentially make PVC toxic for little ones less than 3 years of age. I guess the people at One 2 Believe have already thought of that because according to their web site, they’ve already done their own independent testing and the box is clearly labeled, stating this product is for children 3 and up. For added safety, I keep our set up on our mantle where baby *Princess can’t reach it and *The Dude has to ask for someone to get it down for him. *Tink can reach it herself, but she has strict orders not to let baby Princess handle it. (You may want to do your own research and determine for yourself whether you’re okay with PVC in your house.)
But really, the kiddos don’t handle the set a whole lot. They just like the wide-eyed look of the figures. I think maybe they’re attracted to them because there’s a child-like quality to the faces.
My children were very curious when I opened the package containing the Nativity Set Dude spied it and said, “Mom, what’s dat?” I told him it was a nativity set and asked, “Do you like it?” His reply: “Yeah!”
LOL!
The set scored its first few points right out of the box.
I don’t remember where Princess was, but the rest of the family pitched in and helped untwist the twisty ties and were soon playing with the set. Tink had the whole manger scene in place when I noticed the “wise men” were off to the side. When I asked her why she said it was because they hadn’t arrived yet and were on their way in from the East. The funny thing was they really were set up east of the scene. Way to go My Father’s World ECC ! My children are learning so much.
One 2 Believe has other products available on their site and they look very interesting. We may be asking for the Spirit Warriors, Messengers of Faith , or Tales of Glorysets for the kiddos for Christmas. I’m sure they’d like them as much as they liked the Nativity Set. These toys look like a nice alternative to all the other superhero and global toy manufacturer offerings out there these days. I, for one, appreciate having more choices and more ways to share my faith with my children.
* I’ve decided to use nicknames for my children so there’s less chance of weird things happening because I mentioned their names online. I hope that's understandable.
Nov. 1, 2008 - TOS Review~ Homeschool Library Builder
I have to make a confession… I did not want to share this with you. Yes, I know I’m a horribly selfish person, but this resource was just too good and I was afraid the more publicity it has, the more people will buy ‘my’ books. That sounds just awful, doesn’t it? I guess it is.
So since I promised the people at TOS that I would review the products assigned me, and I agreed to stick to the TOS Crew code, here we go…
Homeschool Library Bulider(HSLB)is an online bookstore that sells used and even new (publisher’s remainder) books at very good prices. These books are ideal for those of us who love literature and teach our children with “living books”. After looking over their selection I was very excited about having this resource that I’d never heard of before.
The site is well organized with several different categories to search from. Here are a few:
If you purchase a book in this category, proceeds will go to victims of the recent hurricanes and in addition, HSLB will match those purchases dollar-for-dollar and donate this money to Samaritan’s Purse. They sound like really neat people, don’t they?
Whether you use Five in a Row, Sonlight, Beautiful Feet, Veritas Press, Tapestry of Grace, Ambleside Online…you’re set. The people at HSLB have already placed selections from these curricula into their own categories! All you have to do is select the one you like. I use My Father’s World curriculum and all the above mentioned categories are great for me because MFW uses many of the same selections in their curriculum.
Now, you do have to be aware that some of the titles have a limited stock; sometimes only one copy of a particular book is available which is why I was being selfish and didn’t want to share my new found favorite online store.
HSLB is an amazing resource.
I know I’m not the only homeschooling mom for whom money has become tight these days. Last summer I tried to piece together my curriculum and shop for bargains but it seemed that every time I found an item I needed on sale, they never had anything else I needed which meant I had to buy from several different places. This of course raised the cost automatically because of shipping. I have found several titles at HSLB that I was unable to find anywhere else and usually HSLB’s price is much lower than elsewhere because it’s either used or a remainder. That means I can get hard to find books, geared toward homeschoolers, cheaper, and for less shipping.
In addition to the lovely books at excellent prices, HSLB has a few other interesting features:
HSLB Marketplace – HSLB wants to help homeschoolers by offering links to your “homegrown” products that they believe will appeal to homeschoolers on their site for free.
HSLB Membership - HSLB offers a free membership program for its customers. You can earn points by buying books and by referring your friends.
It's called Come What May and it looks like a good one. I believe I heard somewhere it was made by homeschoolers.
One of the trailers touched on something that hit very close to home for me: whether or not a child is alive before they're born. In the state of Nevada, a child is not alive, even minutes before birth. My son died approximately 30 minutes before birth, but because he was not considered human by the state of Nevada, the medical "professionals" who should've helped us, yet chose not to, were barely even questioned. They were not held responsible for their negligence because of this law.
I'll quote the Dr's words in the police report: "There was no time of death because the fetus was never officially alive"
I felt my son kick, move, squirm, stretch, hiccup, even wiggle his little hands before birth. My son was alive.
People need to be made aware of the importance of laws across our country and of the sanctity of life. I think this movie helps do just that.
Help me 2 Teach describes itself as “… a subscription-based internet directory of online educational resources.”There are different subscription options:
“1 year@ $29.95 3 mos. for $15.95 1 mo. for $9.95 3 days for $4.95
Price includes Quarterly Newsletters and FREE research for anyone with a paid one year subscription or longer.”
“This educational tool provides over 2300 prescreened websites categorized by subject and user-type with a brief description of each site’s contents. It can be used to provide a total curriculum or to provide supplemental resources. Sites are marked according to their appropriateness for parents, teachers, or the students themselves. This unique resource provides curriculum from Pre-K through High School. Users can safely click on a link and travel directly to that site.”
There are also fundraising options.
I have to say that at first glance, this site didn’t appeal to me. I didn’t see the sense in paying for something I could look up myself. But, after reviewing it as part of the TOS Crew, I’m looking at it differently.
Let me go through and tell you what I found…
When you log in and enter the site, there is a Table of Contents page. There are 27 topics listed, most containing more specific subcategories. You also have the option to search for a specific subject. The science and social studies sections are large.
When you click on the subjects, some of them lead you to neat sites, interesting crafts and games and even clip art and cross word puzzle makers. I found a great site on the Amazon with lots of fun games and quizzes. I know my kiddos will like it. Other sites were more informational.
I also found a fun site to help my girls learn the U.S. states and they voluntarily played it every day during the two weeks we studied the U.S. It was a great little refresher and they enjoyed it quite a bit, even getting a little competitive with each other.
The typing section was a lot of fun. My teenager played typing games on one site for 45 minutes and learned a lot. I think this section made it worth a year’s subscription just because of the free online typing programs that came up. I would’ve paid more than that for the same amount of programs on CD-ROM.
Now for a few cons:
I searched for each of the countries we’re going to study this year and the ones we’ve already covered. There was not much or sometimes no results at all on some of them but the larger countries were usually covered pretty well.
The results for Germany were all either on Hitler or the Holocaust, and while those subjects are very important in history, Germany is more than that.
While the subjects HM2T already has ready to go were packed full of info and useful teaching tools, sometimes HM2T searches take you almost to, but not directly to the page you were looking for. For example, one search took me to another site’s search results page but not directly to the subject I’d searched for. The link to the subject was on that page but I had to click on the link to get there. While Searching for Antarctica, one search result was about reptiles that live everywhere butAntarctica. The word Antarctica within the article went directly to an Antarctica article which had good info. Little quirks, they don’t seem to be major.
Then I typed South America into the search bar and I think it looked up America because I got many of the same results when looking up the U.S. There were some outline maps that would come in handy. One result was Zion Academy of America. Not what I was looking for. There was one site was on Aztecs, Incas & Mayas.
One site did have a pop-up for Victoria’s Secret. I’ve already alerted the owner and she has removed that page. One little slip-up but obviously this site owner is very on top of her business and takes care of customer concerns immediately
Over all I’d say this is a good tool for homeschoolers. Like I mentioned before, the typing programs I found alone are worth more than a year’s subscription to HM2T and I really like the fact that the search results are all geared toward educators and homeschoolers. PTL, my DH just found a long term job last week so we may be able to fit it in the budget.
There are also periodical specials to be found. In fact, you can try the site out for free here.
Just scroll about half-way down the page and look for KT Graphics. There’s a free 1 month trial and you can check it out for yourself! It's absolutely worth it.
I'd always thought of blessings as something good, something that made you smile and gave you comfort. A few mornings ago, I was reading my daily devotional in Nancy Guthrie's The One Year Book of Hope. This is a book I began reading two years ago when I joined a local pregnancy and infant loss group. I use the term "group" loosely as it consisted of just the group leader and myself.lol.
It seems I got sidetracked somewhere along the way because I'm just now getting down towards the end of reading it. I don't know why it took me so long to finish. Maybe God knew I'd be more receptive to some of the truths in this book further out from my loss...
So anyway as I began reading week 42 the title was "Blessing". As I read through the page in the early morning darkness, my eyes got bigger and bigger. I'd never considered that hardship or loss can be a blessing. I thought at first that maybe this was something the author was simply using to convince herself that her tragedies in life were a blessing, then I got to the next paragraph and here's what it said:
"The Hebrew word for blessed is ashr, which means 'to find the right path.' If you are surrounded by many confusing ways and you find the right way to go, then you are happy. This Old Testament idea of happiness has to do with orientation, perspective, and the discovery of what is meaningful in the midst of shallow, superficial options.
And this is what we need, isn't it-- to find the right way to go, to gain some perspective about what is meaningful? We're looking for a pathway lit by the radiance of God's face, a pathway that will lead us toward life, toward him. We want to be blessed."
Wow.
Wow!!
I am blessed by reading that. I no longer have to feel (inwardly) that because something is going wrong in my life that it automatically means I'm being denied a blessing. The situation that is upside-down may in fact be the blessing. I mean, I knew that, but seeing the acutal meaning in the original language makes it so much clearer.
How many times have I opened God's word and been amazed by something new? It happens over and over again.
Well, I don't believe I've mentioned this yet on my blog... my DS (4) is most likely on the autism spectrum. I'd suspected as much for a while now but for various reasons never actually checked it out in depth. Then this Spring we put DS on a gluten-free (GF) diet and are also avoiding corn, peanuts, yeast and dairy. He's doing much much better.
We'd been unable to take him to church- or much of anywhere for that matter- before this since his behavior had been so bad. Now that we can take him out in public regularly without fear of nuclear meltdown, he goes to church every week and is even in his age-appropriate class. Seeing DS around all those other kids DS's age made me realize how very behind DS is compared to the other kids in his class. Particularly in the area of speech. Since the speech pathologist at our nearest school had done a great job helping DD#1 work through her lisp and a couple of other speech issues, I thought we could just take DS in for speech therapy and be done with it.
Well, I was wrong.
Since the speech pathologist wanted to do a full evaluation, she brought in the psychologist to evaluate DS first. I could tell something was not right and about 20 minutes into it, we were discussing autism. :( I was hoping my gut feelings were wrong but after hearing it from professionals I had to admit they were right.
We went home and waited a few weeks for the next phone call and it came Monday.
So we go in for a meeting on Friday with the speech pathologist, psychologist, the principal and his teacher. I'm so grateful that after discussing this with a fellow homeschooling mom at church, she pointed me in the direction of a lady at church who as it turns out, is his teacher!
I've been really praying about all this and seeking the Lord because even though my plans had been to homeschool DS from the start, maybe those are not God's plans. As I've learned over the last couple of years, just because something looks and feels right, doesn't mean it's God's plan. For now, everything is falling into place. Even down to our vaccine waiver. When talking to a friend who's son has autism, I was told that the speech pathologist usually gives her a hard time when it comes to declining vaccines. When I was at the school, it was the speech pathologist who walked me over to the nurse's office for the waiver, then when the nurse was objecting a bit, the speech path was actually supportive and helpful for me! What a blessing!
Well, I've gotta turn in for the night. I'd really appreciate if anyone reading this could keep us in their prayers.
I enjoy reviewing excellent products. Here’s one of the first of hopefully many. :
I absolutely looooove The Old Schoolhouse (TOS) Magazine.The very first time I came across it, I was at a homeschool convention searching for my dream curriculum. Unfortunately I missed the My Father’s World booth somehow but my goodie bag contained a free copy of TOS Magazine. I had no idea what a treasure I carried around with me that day.
Beginning with that first issue I was so blessed and encouraged. There was even an article giving some amazing tips on how to improve my relationship with my husband. Can you believe that was some of the best advice I’ve ever received?As I continued to read through the issue, nearly every article was relevant to my home school. I subscribed soon afterward and have cherished every issue I’ve received since then.
It seems no matter what your homeschooling style or where you are in life, there is something useful to help you continue on your homeschool journey. That is ever the case for me. I’ve found help, ideas and encouragement for schooling my special needs children and great product reviews for those tough subjects to get down like math facts or even scheduling your day. ~I’m praying like crazy I get to review Times Tales and their Clean N Flip products. lol.~ I’ve seen articles containing entire unit studies, drawing lessons, helps with different approaches such as unschooling, Charlotte Mason, eclectic homeschooling… other articles aid in cheering me on during my struggles with finding quiet time and even my own character issues. What’s neat is they were never preachy. More like the author was sitting down and sharing her own struggles with me and they were my struggles too.
Here’s the fall promotional info that’ll hopefully cover anything I might miss. It looks like a great deal and the free gifts look wonderful. :
I wanted to tell you all about The Old Schoolhouse Magazine's Fall
Special. You can get two years of the magazine, 6 fabulous physical
gifts (no downloads!) worth over $120, plus the current issue of The
Old Schoolhouse Magazine that is full of ideas for the new school
year, so you start receiving your magazine in a flash!
It really is one of their best deals ever and you don't want to miss
out. In fact, they've got a really cute Homeschooling with Heart tote
bag (valued at $13.95) for the first 1000 to subscribe. About half of
them are gone, but you should still be able to get one if you hurry!
(They will remove the info from the subscription page when the bags
are all gone.) The total value is over $212, but you receive it all
for only $39 - 50% off of cover price! Plus subscribers get their
online monthly Teacher's Toolbox which focuses on a different topic
each month, giving you words of encouragement, hands-on teaching
ideas, book recommendations, field trip ideas, and a bonus download
item.
Like I said, this fall promotion looks like a marvelous bargain.
A few words about the free gifts… I’ve personally tried Progeny Press and Creation Illustrated Magazine. Progeny Press produces some study guides that are a real treat. Even my finicky teenager likes them. She’s currently using the “Holes” and “The Hiding Place” guides as part of her regular course in language arts with My Father’s World and she likes them quite a bit. Creation Illustrated is a gorgeous production with beautiful photography and interesting nature articles. I recall some recipes as well. In my opinion, just those two free gifts would be enough to entice me. J I’m sure the other free gifts are fabulous too.
So whoever you are, however you homeschool, whatever curriculum you use, I believe TOS Magazine is a resource that will bless you and your home school. Check it out.
I've already mentioned the fact that I've been selected to be a member of The Old Schoolhouse's Focus Group. Apparently there are even more perks than I'd originally thought. As a thank you, every crew member is receiving a free Homeschooling With Heart tote bag. Is that cool or what?
Here's what it looks like:
And here's the link to how to get one free with a TOS magazine subscription. This looks like a cute bag and it'll be nice to have another library book bag or something to carry my Bible study paraphernalia in. The librarians are forever suggesting we get another tote bag as we attempt to haul our mountain of books home at least once a week. :)
My second gift is the gift of my family's first year spent with our baby girl. A year ago today, we were in the hospital in disbelief and gratitude that our little princess had survived what her brother did not: cord prolapse.
To add to it, her placenta abrupted partially. Once again we had to make an emergency trip to the hospital. Amazingly enough we ended up in the same ambulance that G's big brother Peter died in. Praise the Lord it wasn't the same crew. After hearing that our Peter had died in the same ambulance partially because of the last crew's refusal to take our midwife seriously, the driver this time was not messing around. My DH told me that there were times when he was driving 85-90 mph down the highway. We thank God for that man and our awesome midwife.
On top of all of this, we found ourselves in the same hospital room waiting for the anesthesiologist to arrive and the same Dr. My poor DH. I can't imagine the fear that must have been gripping his heart that morning. Mine wasn't nearly as bad. I had labor to keep me distracted and I wasn't as aware of my surroundings the day Peter went home to heaven.
Our beautiful princess G did just fine. She's lit up our home with her smile for the past year and we're so very grateful that God saw fit to lend her to us for an entire year so far.
We had such a nice day yesterday. We went to Apple Hill to celebrate DH & baby G's birthday which is this Tuesday. Two milestones: Baby's first birthday and dad's 40th. I'm sure he appreciates me letting everyone know exactly how old he is. ;)
The plan was to go to our usual spot next to the water wheel and eat our lunch there on the picnic tables but when we arrived, they were both closed. We drove around for a few minutes looking for another spot and found a beautiful shaded spot in the trees so we just parked on the side of the road and enjoyed our pitas. It was a lovely lunch. I'm so lucky to have a fabulous husband who will not only pack our lunches, but includes fruit, beverages (just water, but that's all we drink anyway :), and even a choice of turkey or chicken salad for our pitas. Wow, just typing that out makes me realize I don't deserve him.
I'd been looking through my ECC teacher's manual for next week and realized the girls were supposed to go to a zoo next Friday and navigate the family around the different displays using a map as part of their study of geography/maps assignment. Since we don't have a large zoo nearby, I decided to let the girls navigate us to the various farms once we were on the road again.
Our first stop was Kids Inc. where we got a couple of "Walkin' Pies" I don't have any idea what that means, but they were goooood. There was no pie pan, just a plate. It looked like they just laid out a round piece of crust on the bottom, piled a mound of apple filling on top and shaped a dome of delicious flaky crust around it. Can you tell my mouth is still watering over it?lol. We couldn't finish them and should've purchased only one. It would've been enough for all four of us. The babies didn't have any. G shouldn't be eating that much sugar... then again, I guess the rest of us shouldn't either, huh?... and I'm sure apple pie is not on E.J.'s gluten-free menu. He munched on GF Ginger Snaps instead.
After our pie feast, it was on to the nature trail. We stopped so E.J. could count the rabbits and chickens, then talk to the pig, donkey and goat, or "goot" as E.J. called it. It was especially warm out and we were all sweatin' by the time we got to the end of the first climb. I was grateful for the shade of the trees up there. The last and steepest climb was fully in the sun. That part was not fun. E.J.'s little legs can only go so fast and I didn't want to get very far ahead of him because of my mountain lion/bear paranoia. It seems E.J. has to be behind the rest of the group. Even if we slow down for him, he slows down even more.
By the time E.J. and I got to the top, DH and the girls were gone. We walked in the direction I thought they went and thankfully we found them resting in the shade, listening to a pretty good blue grass band. E.J. and I only got a few second's rest before heading back up to the van. We were all very happy to have cold bottles of water waiting for us in the cooler.
S navigated us over to Plubell's where the girls, of course, had to have Dad push them on the tire swing. I thought S, at 14, was going to say she was too old for that sort of thing, but DH got to enjoy pushing his first love, his teenage baby girl, on the tire swing. I wonder if it was his last chance to do that? Meanwhile, I took E.J. over to the little kids' slide a few yards away. A cute little girl caught his eye and he had lots of fun playing 'chase' with her down the slide and back up the little hill. That boy is such a chick magnet already. I hope he's smart about those kinds of things when he's older.
We found another nature trail and hiked it too. This one offered slightly more shade and I was very happy about that. DH showed E.J. an acorn on the way back and he loved it. The girls thought it was cute because the cap looked like E.J.'s hair.
E.J. was getting rather tired and cranky by the time we made it back from our second hike. He freaked out when someone's pet pit bull sniffed him so we decided to hit Honey Bear Ranch, pick up one of DH's favorite organic apple pies and go home. We were all very tired by then. E.J. had only one more episode. He forgot his acorn in the bathroom at Honey Bear and had to go back for it. Luckily we weren't on the road yet so it wasn't a huge deal.
I was looking forward to a nice shower at home, or maybe even a little nap in the car on the way, but near the half-way point, traffic stopped completely. We sat...and sat...and sat.... After about 20 minutes, people started getting out of their cars. A few headed down the road to see what was going on down there. Someone said it was a motorcycle accident. With Street Vibrations going on in Reno, I guess that's fairly common at this time of year. DH prayed for the victims and EMS workers. As far as we know, everyone was okay. When we were finally allowed to get moving an hour and a half later, the motorcycle looked fine, but there was a small white car that looked pretty banged up. The tire marks on the road looked like they swerved and hit the side of the mountain. Please pray for them. I'm sure that even if no one was seriously injured, they were pretty well shaken up.
We made it home safely and put the babies in the tub to wash off all that red clay dust that was all over us. The kiddos went to bed without a fuss. I know I enjoyed lying down and closing my eyes last night. Over all a very good day.
I couldn't believe it when I read those words in my email in-box... "You have been selected for the top 100 finalists!" Were they serious?? I was actually chosen to be a part of the Old Schoolhouse Magazine's Focus Marketing Group! LOL.
What does this mean? I get to try products designed for homeschoolers and let the world know what my children and I think of them via my blog. Sick! ;)
Soooo, keep an eye here on my page, I just may get to review something you've been thinking about trying out with your family. I'm sure those who've been on various lists, groups and bulletin boards with me know I'm not shy about giving my opinion about products and services I've tried, so get ready--- the focus group should be getting our assingments next month. It'll be a lot of fun to see what neat products we get to try. I'll label my post with the words TOS Product Review when doing an official TOS evaluation. And I get to use the cool little graphics. Now I just have to figure out how to add them to my page.lol.
A very sweet woman who'd heard about my hubby's being downsized back in February got a call from God to purchase our curriculum for us since we were unable to do it ourselves. I know God will bless her abundantly for her act of kindness that means so much to this family.
I was just about in tears this afternoon reading about some of the lives of godly men and women that my children will be learning about in MFW's Exploring Countries and Cultures this year.
