Old Schoolhouse Magazine—Free Digital Copy!

I haven’t even received my print copy of The Old Schoolhouse magazine yet, but the digital copy is already online. The Old Schoolhouse has made this issue FREE! I really like my print copy, but the digital issues are really nice because of the clickable table of contents,  the ability to click on ads and be taken straight to the advertisers’ websites, the ability to search the magazine using keywords, etc.

The Summer issue includes articles on special-needs homeschooling, the Charlotte Mason method, lapbooking, and much more!

Free Shipping at Super Star Speech

I’m offering free shipping on all Super Star Speech books until August 20. If your child (or a child you know) has articulation errors, I hope you will take a look!

Beginning August 3, the e-book versions will also be 20% off at Currclick’s Back to Homeschool Sale.

I’m going to Women of Faith in Atlanta

I just found out that I was chosen to be a BookSneeze blogger for the Women of Faith conference in Atlanta on August 12-13. I am so excited! I have been to several WOF conferences and loved every minute. Two full days of laughing and crying while listening to life-changing messages.  And there is nothing that compares with singing praises together with thousands of other women!

I wasn’t able to attend last year and didn’t think I’d be able to afford this year’s trip until now, so this is a tremendous blessing.

Watch this video clip to learn more.

If you have the opportunity to attend a Women of Faith event, don’t pass it up! It will be a weekend you will always remember!

Next Year’s Curriculum

We’ve been enjoying a relaxed summer. Emily has been doing about an hour a day of math and some science experiments. We’ll start our next school year in mid-August. This is what our curriculum choices look like for 6th grade:

Math: 

Singapore Primary Math 6

Language Arts: My main focus is to have Emily do a lot of writing this year, much of it coordinating with history. I’ll incorporate spelling and grammar instruction into her writing. We’ll also use--

Wordly Wise

Write With the Best

Editor-in-Chief

History:  In the fall, we will complete our World Cultures studies by learning about South America and Europe. In January, we will begin Diana Waring’s world history series. I have the first edition which I used with my older kids. I don’t think it’s as structured as the current edition, but I found it very easy to include all the extra resources we have or will borrow from the library. I love all the activity and writing ideas included.

Science: I have a hodge podge of science planned, including some of the Curiosity Files, Classic Life Science, and TOPS  Magnetism. I’m hoping to receive something interesting  as a member of the TOS Crew, too!

Other:

Rosetta Stone Spanish

Building Thinking Skills

Piano

We will start off the year by doing a couple of units from Beyond Five in a Row—Cricket in Times Square and The Saturdays.

All of this is pretty flexible and subject to change and modification as we use TOS Crew review items throughout the year.

TOS Crew

I was chosen to sail for another year with the The Old Schoolhouse Crew. Review products will start being sent out in the next few weeks and I’m looking forward to another fun year trying out homeschool products and reviewing them here on my blog!

Shake it Up!

We’ve been busy busy this week with Vacation Bible School. I’m leading the music and Katie is acting as accompanist. This year’s “Shake it Up” curriculum calls for lots of motions, dancing and jumping around. I feel like I’m getting a good aerobic workout for 2 1/2 hours every morning leading the songs over and over! It’s been fun, but I come home tired every afternoon.

Emily has “aged out” as an upcoming sixth grader, so she has a new role as a youth helper. She’s been acting as a general gopher and helping with the snack station. I love that all ages have a place in VBS at our church, so no one feels left out of the fun.

Dollar Days at CurrClick

Currclick is currently running a Dollar Days sale, with many curriculum items marked down to $1.99.  A couple of my games are included in this sale. If you’re looking for games to supplement your curriculum, I hope you will take a look!

Super Star Games

I also have 2 brand new games: Galloping Through Ancient Greece and Roaming through Ancient Rome that are now bundled with Exploring Egypt in an Ancient History Games Pack that is temporarily priced at $4.95 for all three games!

 

 

 

 

 

Super Star Games

Bird Watching

We just put up a new squirrel-proof bird feeder. The birds seem to like it—We’ve had a lot of activity there lately! We have a good view through the kitchen window.

We’ve seen chickadees, tufted titmouses (titmice???), nuthatches, cardinals, Carolina wrens, goldfinches, and hairy woodpeckers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have had several young cardinals that seem nervous about perching on the feeder and stay on the deck, eating what falls. Occasionally, one will make some noise and the male cardinal will bring it some food.

Here’s a hummingbird at the hummingbird feeder.

The squirrels and chipmunks spend their time on the deck eating what falls. The seed in the feeder is lasting a lot longer now!

Give Them Grace (Review)

Give Them Grace, by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson is written by a mother-daughter team. The authors explain what so many of we Christians understand, but fail to implement in our parenting—that teaching our children to understand and embrace the GRACE of God should be our most important goal.

I want my kids to be good. I want them to obey the rules. I want others to think them well-behaved.   But in making these things my goals, I teach them that following the rules will grant them not only my approval, but God’s approval.

I am a Christian only by God’s grace. God loves me, a sinner, and sent His Son for me. There is nothing I can do to earn salvation. It is a gift. I want my children to understand that. I don’t want them to think that God rejects them if they are bad or accepts them if they are good. One thing I like about this book is that is continually emphasizes that our little rule-followers need God just as much as our little rebels. And they need to be reminded of this continually.

The authors provide examples of conversations to have with your children to point them to God’s grace at every turn. I thought the examples, as given, were much too wordy and would cause kids to tune out, but the ideas were good.

When I started the book, I was afraid that I might find the authors advocating ignoring rules, but they don’t at all. They just distinguish between teaching proper behavior and leading children to Christ. Both have their place, but they are not the same thing.

My thoughts:  I liked the premise of the book and will be implementing some of the suggested strategies. However, I had a hard time getting all the way through it. It wasn’t gripping reading and was somewhat repetitive. It just wasn’t a book I loved even though the ideas are good.

I received a free review copy of this book from the Crossway Book Review Program. All opinions are my own.

Money Secrets of the Amish by Lorilee Craker (Review)

Money Secrets of the Amish: Finding True Abundance in Simplicity, Sharing, and Saving

The title of this book intrigued me! The Amish are known for their simple lives. Obviously, they don’t spend money on gadgets and “stuff” like most of the rest of us do. But I have really never thought of looking at their lives as models for thrift.

The author, Lorilee Craker, realizing that Amish people seem to thrive in a good or bad economy, spent time visiting Amish communities, getting to know the people, and interviewing them about their lifestyles of frugality. In doing so, she extracted many principles that are valuable for any of us who want to save more money and stretch our resources.

I found this book to be a very enjoyable read. I enjoy learning new ways to save money and also find the lifestyle of the Amish people fascinating. The principles that were brought out in this book: reusing and recycling, de-spoiling our kids, avoiding debt, buying in bulk, delayed gratification, and bartering are useful concepts for anyone and I picked up quite a few new tips to try in my own household. The author’s interviews with various people made them come to life for me. I enjoyed reading about such things as one community’s “Trivial Pursuit night” –played with a  $2 second-hand game,  a 2 1/2 year old helping to wash the silverware-because everyone works hard(!), and bartering of a quilt for midwife services.

She has a great sense of humor as well, which added to my enjoyment of the book. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in moving toward a more frugal lifestyle or if you are just fascinated with the Amish, like I am!

I received a free review copy of this book from C. Grant and Company. All opinions are my own.

Saving Money at Disney World

When I saw the topic for this week’s Destination Disney, I knew I had to participate! Over the years, we have found LOTS of ways to save money on a Disney vacation. Some of the things we do are:

1. LODGING  We really like to stay on site. For us, it’s just part of the Disney experience. If you go off season and watch for specials on room rates, they can be reasonable. We stayed at the Pop Century Resort two years ago for about $70 a night.  Our very favorite place to stay is the Fort Wilderness Campground. We’ve usually brought our Pop-Up Camper, but last fall, we did stay in a tent for the first time. (Since Chris didn’t go on this trip with us, I was  a bit nervous about handling the camper all by myself.) We’ve paid as little as $35 a night in the off-season. Fort Wilderness is a very very clean, well kept up campground with a nice pool and a lake, where you can watch the Electrical Water Pageant each night. There are sidewalks everywhere for biking or walking and even a lovely bike trail leading to the Wilderness Lodge.

2. TICKETS  In 2002  and 2005, we bought 10 day non-expiring tickets for each member of our family. By doing this, we only paid about $25 a day, plus had water park tickets as well. Each time we go, we use a few days off these passes and still have enough left for another trip or two.  Since Disney tickets seem to go up at more than the rates of inflation, I think they’re a good investment!

3. FOOD  I’m the ultimate cheapo when it comes to food! We eat breakfast at the campground or hotel room (cereal, etc.). We carry snacks with us—granola bars, fruit, string cheese, etc. Then we usually eat one main meal in the early to mid-afternoon and treat ourselves to a snack, such as Mickey Mouse bars. If the meals are large (and they often are), then two of us may share.

4. MOUSESAVERS.COM Visit this site and subscribe to their email list!  You’ll find, not only useful information about closed and future attractions, but notifications of lodging specials and links to discounted tickets.

What are your money saving tips for WDW? I’d love to hear them! Reply here or visit Destination Disney to join in the blog hop!