Giveaway Winner

The winner of this giveaway was selected by Random.org.  Congratulations to Cindy who said:

  Would LOVE this book! I'm a follower! :o)  

Cindy     http://ourjourneywestward

Send me an email with your mailing address and I will get the book to you right away.  Congratulations and thanks for participating. 

Kaldidoscope by Patsy Clairmont

KALEIDOSCOPE: Seeing God's Wit and Wisdom in a Whole New Light 
By:  Patsy Clairmont

What would God have to say about such things as stretch marks, expiration dates, trapping, or bugs? 

Quite a bit according to author Patsy Clairmont in her new devotional book based on the book of Proverbs: the wisdom book of the bible.  Patsy uses stories from her life and interlaces them with her witty humor and a verse from the Proverbs to create a fresh perspective on familiar scriptures.  At the end of each short chapter she pulls it all together with some questions for reflection and further scripture references.  

Although Patsy Clairmont is a best-selling author and speaker with Women of Faith, this was my first encounter with her.  I enjoyed her wit. She has a way of expressing herself that just makes you grin.  For example in the chapter Get Smart, she discusses having the painful foot condition plantar faciitis.  In an effort to relieve the pain she rode a stationary bike which led to severe charley horses in her legs that lasted for hours.  She said that it was in the height of those cramping moments that she would volunteer to pick ticks off gorillas in the jungle for Jesus if the pain would just go away.

These devotions were were meaty enough to make you think but short and sweet making them perfect for someone who is short on time but desiring to be in God's word. 
 
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their http://BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Wordless Wednesday

Another Giveaway

Another blogger friend is hosting a giveaway this weekend. Check out Debbie's blog for a chance to win a super homeschooling book. 

Great Giveaway

It has been a glorious day here.  I have spent the day outdoors painting the rockers that sit on my front porch.  While resing my bones for a minute I decided to check out some bloggy friends.  I came across some giveaways to tell you about. There is a great giveaway going on at Locust Point Academy .  Be sure and check out all the goodies that my friend Marcy is giving away.  You will love reading about her adventures with her little boy, Ben.  Tell her I sent you.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already
                                                      It's A Country Life Giveaway

My first Giveaway!!

I decided that I couldn't wait to host my first giveaway.  I am really excited about it and I hope to boost my followers/readers.  So here it is..........a copy of Real Learning:  Education in the Heart of the Home by Elizabeth Foss. 

If you would like a chance to win, simply become a follower of 






Please spread the word to your home schooling friends and fellow bloggers.  The giveaway will end March 28.  I will announce the winner on the 29th.PS: Leave me a comment telling me that you are following and want to be entered.  Thanks! 
 
 
 
  

Places I love to visit

These are some of my favorite places to visit online.  I will be adding more later so check back! Just click on a button to visit my friends.
































 

homeschooling resources

Here is a list of the homeschooling resources that we use most in our home school:

Amanda Bennett Unit Studies
Apologia Science
Around the World in 180 Days
Before Five in A Row
Christian Kids Explore Science
Easy grammar
Five in A Row
Great Editing Adventures and Great Explorations in Editing
Henle Latin
Latina Christiana I and II
Learning Language Arts Through Literature
Letters and Sounds K
Life of Fred Math
Literature 9 Abeka
Number Skills K
Phonics Handbook
Simply Numbers
Simply Phonics
Simply Spelling
Teaching Textbooks grade 7
The History of US
Videotext Algebra
Wordsmith

Hosting a Giveaway

I really want to host my first giveaway soon.  I was trying to make it to 100 posts and then have the giveaway to celebrate but I don't know if I can wait.  I am going to be giving away a book that home educators will love.  Especially if they like Charlotte Mason.  So be watching to see if I decide to do the giveaway sooner or later. 

Learning to Read

For a while now I have been thinking about doing a post on how I teach my little ones to read.  I like to combine resources and use them for our benefit and possibly not quite as they were intended.   The longer I home school the more I find myself doing that sort of thing. 

The first thing that I do is when they are 2-4 (or interested) I give them a wooden alphabet puzzle.  They play with it and get to know the shapes as they put it together.  We play a game where I call out a letter and they find it and put it in its place. 

When they get pretty good at this I begin doing short phonics lessons from Simply Phonics by Laurie Hicks.  She teaches each letter by telling a short story to introduce the letter and its sound thereby giving the child something to *attach* the letter to in his mind aiding him to remember the letter and its sound.  For example, when teaching the letter Mm, she tells the story of mother cow calling to her calf saying Mmmmm.  A picture of the moon is also given with a little saying something similar to this:  when mother cow calls to her baby she says Mmmm and Mm is the first sound in moon.

As the name suggests, this is a simple way to teach the letters and their sounds.  The lessons are no more than 5-10 minutes and the stories are simple and cute.  After we learn the letters and their sounds, we move on to Abeka phonics instruction.  I like their phonics handbook and the charts that go with it.   They are colorful and give lots of needed practice.  I also use the phonics workbooks if I have a student that likes worksheets.  Not all do, especially little boys.  :)

After we learn the vowels and

begin putting sounds together, we add these readers.

These are short reading practices and stories.  They are perfect for little hands. We always practice until the child has mastered the book and then put a sticker on the front.  The little ones feel such a sense of accomplishment

when they put their sticker next to big brother or big sister's.  

Usually after we get through all of these books they are reading pretty well.  We just keep practicing with easy readers and I like to use the Abeka phonics workbooks for reinforcement.  They are short and colorful with varying exercises.  

For my littles that love workbooks, we have added in these.

These books give a good bit of writing practice although they don't teach handwriting skills.  Of course, I can't forget to mention Starfall.  It is a wonderful resource for reinforcing those phonics skills. 

That's it!  I have tried several phonics programs but I always come back to this method.  It works for us.  What works for your family?  I would love to hear. 

You should never make fun of your mother

Last night as I deposited my weary frame onto my bed, I was clobbered (is that a word?) by children.  They had apparently decided that it was make fun of mother night. 

I was informed that I smell bad.  Okay, I know my hair was dirty and it really did need a shampoo that day. In my defense, I was short on time.  I admit I knew it was a bit smokey smelling from being on the patio around the fire pit the day before.  I had tried to cover the smell  freshen it up a bit with some body spray from Bath & Body after I showered.  At least I showered.  Come on!  I do have to remind some people in this house to bathe.  They said my hair smelled like a public restroom.  A mix between smoke, perfume, and f**ts.  SIGH................

They didn't stop there with the devastation to my self-esteem.  No, they got down and dirty.  They cut me deep.  They said I have two chins.  And they named the second one.  Can you believe the nerve of these kids?  Sylvia, that is what they call it - my second chin.  At this point in the conversation, I am quite sure that these children who look familiar are not really mine.  My children wouldn't make fun of their dear hardworking mother.

Yeah, right!

About 2:30 a.m. this morning, the eldest of the brood was up vomiting and pitifully asking for his dear mother.  And do you know what I did?  I sent Sylvia to help him.


Just joking.  Of course I took good care of my baby.  But I couldn't help thinking that it might be a bit of  retribution for making fun of dear mother. 

Oh, I am just kidding about that, too.

Last week I was wearing one of  hubby's big hooded sweatshirts.  As much as I hate to admit it, his clothes feel better than mine.  I am long waisted and have a hard time with my shirt tails being too short.  I was lamenting this fact when my oldest daughter says that I need to buy EBR jeans. 

I naively grabbed the hook.  "What are EBR jeans," I ask.  "Extra butt room" says the girl genius. 

So I guess I need to shop for some EBR jeans.  At least I won't be lonely.  I will have Sylvia to keep me company.
 
I am off now to check on my sick one.  Hardworking mothers are good at caregiving and being the brunt of jokes.  Hug your family tonight and have some fun!

New Chapter in Life

Today marks a new chapter in our lives. Our firstborn is growing up. Of course we knew that. He is 14 after all and if the facial hair and deep voice didn't give it away, the fact that he is taller than my hubby and myself screams right in my face that he is growing up.
We left him today in a new place with strangers. I left him in a place where he knew no one. And did I mention he is extremely shy? What kind of mother am I? What was I thinking?
The truth is he is attending a week long event called Teen Pact. You can read about it here.

This is a quote from the founder, Tim Echols
When the time comes to learn lessons in political science, Christian students all across the nation are turning to a TeenPact state capitol experience instead of just a textbook. TeenPact teaches the foundations of government with the legislative branch, beginning with a week-long session at the student's own capitol.
Spiritually, TeenPact teaches Biblical principles of government and family, going hand-in-hand with the values of families who participate. It is very important that our young people see that spiritual revival is the answer to America's problems - not politics. We teach students that every Christian must pray and vote according to Biblical principles.
Overall, studies in government are beneficial in any vocation. Our hands-on civics courses offer an incredible platform for rhetoric, interpersonal communication, and current events. There is a great need for godly, powerful communication within any arena and our goal is to train up a generation of young people to fill that need.

It is a really good program that came highly recommended to us from two other families. In fact, we were blessed with an anonymous scholarship for our son to attend. So even though we left him in a new place with strangers, we really did it for his own good.

He looked so grown up in his suit and tie which is the required dress code.  AND guess what I forgot to do? I forgot to take his picture!! I can't believe it. I will try (if this foggy brain will let me) to remember to take it Friday when we pick him up.

I was so impressed with the young people we met today. They walked right up to us and introduced themselves while looking us dead in the eye. It was a breath of fresh air to see such high standards in young people. They were eloquent, friendly, engaged us in conversation, befriended our son, and overall just knocked our socks off.

I really think this is going to be a super experience for our boy. But I am sure you will understand that my heart is breaking as well. I covet all prayers for my boy and for his mommy.

Now I am going to sit back and hope he phones home tonight. My hubby hopes he is having so much fun he forgets all about us and I want that for him too but I secretly (NOT) want my baby to call.