Friday, December 11, 2009

Birthday Bonanza ~ Download N Go


I love the concept and idea of this ebook from Download ‘n Go by Amanda Bennett! We are done with birthdays for this year and our first birthday of the year isn’t until February. I am trying to figure out how I can adapt this for Jesus birthday and make this a fun unit study for December.
There are sooo many amazing things in this ebook to make the week long bonanza a blast!!! This study is meant to be done the five days prior to the birthday and the celebration at the end. What fun! It starts out learning about the child’s name, its meaning and why the child was given that name. Events of his/her birth, first home, etc. Then research into what happened on that day in history and prices of different things like milk, bread, and gasoline and compare to today.
There is a time for remembrance as you go thru photos of the birthday girl/boy and put together a collage of his/her life. What fun that is (we love looking at old photos and remembering the events).
Oh, and lots and lots of book recommendations to get from your local library or bookstore. Books like: Clifford’s Birthday Party, Curious George and the Birthday Surprise, A Little House Birthday, and many, many more.
There are poems, Bible verses, prayers, decorating ideas, games, coloring pages and most anything you can think of to make this a special, memorable week for your child. Maybe a new tradition can begin and be carried on to their own families.
There is also a lapbook included. For the lapbook you’ll need a file folder, glue, crayons, and maybe a couple of brads. If you’ve never done a lapbook (and you must try it at least once…they are addicting) there are links to help you through the process.
Even though this book is geared towards the K – 4th grade, I know my Jr High kids will get just as much enjoyment out of this project as those that are younger. I know my 27-year-old daughter will want to do this project as well (she’s one of the February birthdays lol).
I will have to make a few adaptations though and that is, my six kids at home are adopted. All still have the names they were given at birth (except the youngest whom we brought home from the hospital and we did change her name, but we know nothing of the events of her birth), so we don’t have the stories as to why they were given those names and if they were named after someone. We don’t know when their “firsts” were, like sitting, crawling, walking, first word, etc (one we don’t even have the birth records of so we can’t do her birth info like weight, length, etc). BUT with the basic plan and layout of this book, I’m sure I can come up with something to make it just as meaningful for them. Maybe making it from the time we got them and what we thought about their names, how much they weighed and how tall they were from then and compare to now, how much they’ve grown. You know the saying: where there is a will there is a way.
You can get your copy at The Old Schoolhouse Store. I think this is one unit study that will be used over and over and over again. Make it a family tradition in your home too.
God's Blessings
Vickie

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Girlhood Giveaway

Here's an awesome giveaway that I thought I'd share with my family and friends.

Remembrance Press ~ Publishers for The Girlhood Home Companion and The Gift of Family Writing ~ is giving away an awesome package for Christmas.

They are giving away not one but TWO holiday bundles PLUS the companion CD's PLUS four Christmas issues!!! How awesome is that!!

Got girls in your family? How about Granddaughters? Goddaughters? Sisters? Even if you didn't win this bundle, I highly recommend the subscription anyway. What a wonderful Christmas gift for the young lady in your life.

Check here for rules and details.

Good luck and God's Blessings

Vickie

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Blessed Thanksgiving to you all!!!

A Blessed Thanksgiving to all my family and friends out there in cyber world.
I have soooo many things to be thankful for. My list could run for pages and pages and all ya'll would get bored reading it LOL But I will list a few things anyway hehe

~ First and foremost I am thankful for my Lord and Savior. Without Him in my life, well I just wouldn't have a life. Thank you Lord for sending your Son Jesus to live, suffer, die, be buried, and rise again just for ME!!! The undeserving sinful being that I am.

~ I am thankful the Lord sent me a wonderful God fearing man to be my husband. We've been together for 32+ years and married for almost 31 of those years.

~ We've been blessed with 9 awesome kids. Travis, Jason, Brandy, Nicole, Jaime, Ashley, Donald, Tiffany, and Tawny. I wouldn't be disappointed for many more such blessings :)

~ I have 9 fabulous grandkids. Charlie, Tyler, Anikka, Ryann, Hailey, Megan, Samantha, Shelby, and Max. I wouldn't be disappointed with more of these little blessings as well ;-)

~ I've been blessed with the style of house I've dreamed of since I was 10-years-old. More than twice as big as I could ever dream or even imagine in my wildest daydreams.

~ Our business that we opened more than 20 years ago. It has had its ups and downs but the Lord has continued to watch over it and us every day.

~ My family of siblings, parents, in-laws, adopted and otherwise.

~ My church and church family. Extra thankful that we belong to a confessional Lutheran LCMS church.

~ For family (my 2 sons and several nephews) who serve our country in the military and are spread hither and yon around the world.

~ For my good health and the good health of my family.

~ Snowy winters and warm summers.

~ Freedom

~ The fact that I live in the United States of America

~ Friends. Whether they be neighbors or cyber friends. I am thankful for them all.

~ and so much more!!!!

Share what you are most thankful for.

God's Blessings.....be thankful for each and every one of them, no matter how small or trivial you think they are.

Vickie

Tuesday, November 3, 2009


Molly’s November Money Saving Digest!

Molly has another great digest out and ready for you! Molly is so full of wisdom for money saving ideas.

To start off this November’s digest she talks about saving money grocery shopping; how to make purchases using coupons, sales, and store saver cards. Can you imagine saving $19,000 in one year of grocery shopping? How awesome that would be!

Then she goes into scrapbooking! I Looooove scrapbooking BUT with the kids home all day everyday with homeschooling them, fitting scrapbooking in our daily schedule has been a chore. But after reading this ebook, I’m so hyped to begin scrapbooking again. Molly shares some secrets of storing pictures and the safety papers to use. She also share some wonderful sites for purchasing supplies and digital scrapbooking (I’ve not done this yet, I think it is worth looking into). I love taking photos and have thousands on my computer I need to get into scrapbooks.

Molly’s Digest also includes recipes and who couldn’t use some new and interesting recipes. This month are crock pot recipes. I’m up for anything to put in the crock pot! There is a breakfast recipe, put in the slow cooker before going to bed and have this wonderful egg dish hot and ready for breakfast. She has also included some dessert slow cooker recipes. I’m not sure I’ve ever cooked dessert in the crock pot!

Molly’s main monthly feature this month is on photography. The Who, What, Where, When, and How of taking your own photos. Saving not only money, but time and stress on your part, let alone on the part of the kids who aren’t in the mood or can’t figure out what these strangers want. Why not create photos using your own antique rocking chair? or using the real flower garden instead of the fake flowers and backdrops? I learned a lot of great tips from this article and have I mentioned, I Loooooooooove taking photos and have thousands on my computer ready to print for scrapbooking? Lol I have a new digital camera and I am planning to use lots of Molly’s advice (well, not technically Molly’s advice but Becky Emerick’s). Great pointers!
There are also other Reader Write-In tips.

If you’ve never read any of Molly’s Money Saving Digests, you should start with this one. It is awesome! She has her standard articles like On Sale This Month, Parenting that Pays, Goal-Getter Spotlight, Molly’s Minutes, and each month’s Monthly Feature (this month’s being Family Photography) and much much more.

You can find your own copy at The Old Schoolhouse for only $4.95.
God's Blessings

Vickie

Sunday, November 1, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Just wishing my wonderful husband of nearly 31 years a HAPPY BIRTHDAY today!!! We've been together since he was 18 years old :) We have been abundantly blessed over the years and thanks be to God that Dave has had a wonderful 51 years of life here on this earth and praying for many many more :)

Happy Birthday, Sweetie Heart! XOXOXOXOXOXO

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Interested in having a Homeschool Toobar right on your internet page? With one click find all your favorites? Including favorite most popular homeschool blogs, websites, news, weather, even getting to places like FaceBook and MySpace. Check it out!!!


Friday, October 9, 2009

Autumn Treasures...


Here is a new unit study series that The Old Schoolhouse is coming out with; the series is called “Download N Go”. With this series, one should be able to just download the ebook and be ready to start class with very little extra requirements. The inexpensive things that may be needed would be folders (for the lap books), scissors, glue, possibly brads, crayons and/or markers. As simple as that. Oh, it is geared for kids in grades K-4th.
So just think, if you need a filler subject for a week or two, waiting for new books to arrive, summer time activities, etc, this unit study would be just the thing. Each study is one-week in length, having five daily lessons and lap book to accompany it subject. It is awesome!!! Download N Go. Easy enough!
Now…the one we got to review is called Autumn Treasures. This unit study is as the title suggests…..autumn. Here are the daily titles: Day 1: What is Autumn? Day 2: Science Secrets of Autumn. Day 3: People and Places of Autumn. Day 4: Time for Tips and Treasures of Autumn. Day 5: Goodies and Gadgets of Autumn. Aren’t these daily titles eye catching and ready to dig in for a week of school? I think so too.
Each day also lists books (ISBN numbers included as well!) that you can get from the bookstore or from your local library. There are some video suggestions too. (No need to use them all, just a few suggestions). There are also some online links for more reading and some interactive links as well.
Everything you need in this ebook ready to do the lap book too. It is just such a complete unit study, one small price of FREE, download, and voila!! These would be perfect for beginning homeschoolers who just aren’t sure where to start or how to go about getting information. It is also great for the seasoned homeschooler for something different or a filler when you have time to kill. I almost think that even 5th-7th graders would get a kick out of these as an independent study, something to do when everything else is done. You know, I think this would even be good when you don’t know what else to get that niece or your favorite neighbor kid...how about this ebook, downloaded, put it in the file folder they’d be using for the lap book, nice gift wrapping and your shopping is done.
Go to The Schoolhouse Store and get your FREE copy today.

As always God’s Blessings
Vickie

Sunday, August 30, 2009

School Starts Tomorrow :)

Although we homeschool year round...the summer schedule is mainly focused on the 3R's and play time. Back to the full schedule for the year tomorrow. Woohoo!

Our classes are:

1. Bible (studying the book of Acts to begin with then moving on to learning about the feasts and festivals of the Old Testament)
2. Language Arts (Reading, English, Phonics, Spelling)
3. Math
4. State Study (for History, Social Studies, and Geography we've decided to study the states. We are going to do a state a week in chronological order, beginning with Delaware of course. Once we get to our state, we'll stay there a bit longer for more indepth study. Should be fun :)
5. Science (Apologia General Science)
6. Home Ec and Wood working
7. Latin
8. We'll also finish up our Gardening workbooks. That should be completely done by the time the harvest is completely in and put up.
I think that covers it LOL
This year we'll only have one that is basically in pre-school. Even though he is 3, he thinks he needs his own "school books" too. I've found a couple for him.
I've decided to divide the kids up so I basically have 3 classes and then the 3-year-old. I have the bigs, middles, and littles. As a whole class though, we'll do all but language arts and math together. Those will be done as the 3 smaller classes.
Time to shift the chores around as well. I put those in a hat and they draw out their new chores for 1st semester. Even if it means having the same chore as this past assignments....luck of the draw.
I think that is about it. We are rip roaring and ready to go.
What class/es are you doing that I'm not? I may have to add that to my list for the future. I'm open for new ideas LOL

God's Blessings
Vickie