These Are A Few of Our Favorite Things

We are starting to wind down school for the season...how about you?

Our oldest is headed home for a week from college so we will take all of next week off to just spend time as a family, then we will hit the books for three more weeks in December before we take a Christmas break for a few weeks- or three! ;)  This crew needs a break, and honestly, so does this momma.

We have been super busy since we moved here and it is time to slow down and enjoy the holidays and some quiet family time.  It is also time for me to reevaluate our school schedule and what has been working for us and what has not.  Because I had the awesome opportunity to review for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine this past year, much of what we do comes by way of reviews.  Not surprisingly, you will find most of our favorites there!  (Did I mention I love reviewing?)

That being said, here are a few of our favorite things!

Homeschool Spanish Academy- I will just tell you that I was VERY nervous about starting this one.  The idea of Skyping with someone in another country took me way out of my comfort zone.  The idea of keeping an appointment each week did as well.  haha  WE LOVE IT and it is the highlight of our week now.  After our review period was over, we signed up again, and again, and have no plans to quit anytime soon.  It certainly eats a little more from our monthly homeschool budget, but it is worth every penny.  CJ is learning so much!  We love the teachers and cannot recommend this program enough.


Flip Flop Spanish- Yes, another Spanish product and another review item.  And yes, we use both! I loved this the minute it arrived at our door.  It comes with everything you need to pop into a 3 ringed notebook and you are off.  Because my oldest son is an auditory learner, he loves the CDs and is doing very well with this program.  Plus, because it can be used with multiple ages together, it is convenient to do with both boys.  After lunch each day we work for about thirty minutes- a little friendly competition to see who can remember the most words or who can make the best sentences is a plus!





ABeCeDarian- When we reviewed this reading program, we used the Level A and really enjoyed it.  At the time I did not feel my then 5 year old was ready to tackle the second book.  Now that he is six and his reading has taken off we have begun book B and I am reminded of why we liked the program so much.  It has a great combination of writing, listening and reciting, and tactile activities to keep my spirited child on task.  Enough said!

Notgrass- America the Beautiful-  We were doing another History with my 6th grader we have used for years, so our plan was to do this just for the eight week review period.  Oh well, plans change, right?  We love this curriculum- for its beautiful pictures, well written chapters, and numerous activities that can be added to it.  If you want, you can use the suggested activities to incorporate writing, bible, literature and geography.  My son liked it so much he asked to abandon the old stuff and keep using this, so we have.  Looking forward to using their Uncle Sam curriculum next year.

Apologia- Need I say more?  They have our hearts with Science AND Bible!  For science we are using the Exploring Creation Series.  Actually, two separate levels- Their newest Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics and Exploring Creation with Zoology 3- Land Animals.  Both boys enjoy the reading (the 6th grader does his alone) and they LOVE the experiments.  As I have shared with you before, experiments are NOT my thing, but I learning to be bold and try new things.  If you haven't read the links to either book, I encourage you to- lots of fun experiment pictures are included.

As for their Bible curriculum- after reviewing the Who AM I? series I fell in love with it.  I  bought the two others we did not have and are do are currently going through Who Am I? And What Am I Doing Here? with my 6th grader.  We plan to finish the two remaining books in consecutive years.

Bible Study for All Ages-  This is also a program I was not sure we would stick with, and even stopped using it for about two weeks after our review period ended.  Then I saw a difference in my 6 years old's behavior throughout the day and decided to try a little experiment.  We started each morning with this bible curriculum and things improved.  hmmmm.  I am not THAT slow of a learner!  I ordered the next two sets of worksheets and we begin each morning studying the word of God.  Oh what a diffeerence it makes when we start out day focused on God!

Of course, we do study other subjects, and have been blessed with many other books and fun products,  but- these are a few of our favorite things!

Want to see some from others?


Each year the TOS Review Crew votes for our favorite products we have had the privileged of reviewing. These Blue Ribbon Award winners are then announced and today is the day!  I would encourage you to check out the winners and see what other people are recommending.  I was excited to see that a few of my favorites won!

Oh, and did you hear the news?  I was accepted back onto Crew for 2014!  I am so excited to once again be a part of this amazing blogging and reviewing team and cannot wait to share new products with you starting in January!

Blessings,

Everybody Needs a Box!

This is my box!  It sits in my kitchen and hides my wheat mill.  I love it.

It was made by my talented father-in-law for me last Christmas.  He has made several things in our home like my daughter's hope chest-

And her writing desk-

And our bookcase for holding piano books.

hmmmm, now that I type all of that I realize all those things belong to the oldest.  She will take them with her in a few more years.

But NOT my box!

I saw one similar in a catalog and coveted wanted one.  I sent my order to my father in law.  He made it even better than the one I had seen.

Everyone needs a box!

For several years we have been grinding our wheat.  We do it daily, sometimes even several times a day for the freshest flour.  That meant taking the mill out from under the counter once a day, at least.  That sucker is heavy!  I am old and my back was getting tried of lifting, but I did not want it sitting open on the counter. For looks or sanitary reasons. OK, mostly for looks!

Now I have a beautiful oak piece that sits on the counter to hide the mill.  It swings open and I can use it just where it is since the plug goes out the back and stays plugged in.  Then I shut the door and everything looks nice and neat again.

Love it!

Everyone needs a box!

And a super talented father in law!

How do you hide the appliances in your kitchen?

Blessings,

Devotions From the Torah Group Giveaway!

Just consider this a two for one Fun Friday!  This is a giveaway you will not want to miss!  I am currently reviewing the first of  two books in the series Devotions from the Torah- Devotions from Genesis, and will have a review up for you soon.  I cannot wait to share with you all that author Nicole Halbrooks Vaugh is teaching me!  I think you will be blessed.  Devotions from Exodus Part One looks equally as good.

  While you wait, here is a chance for you to win a $160.00 value book basket with copies of these devotionals and more!

The Devotions from the Torah Launch Team is excited to help Nicole celebrate the release of the first 2 books in this series -- Devotions from Genesis and Devotions from Exodus Part One -- with a special giveaway of incredible books, several of which will enhance your study of the Torah! This giveaway is a $160 value!

We would like to thank the following companies for their generous sponsorship of this giveaway! Be sure to stop by their websites to say thank you!

Home School Adventure Co.
Knowledge Quest
Great Waters Press
PhyllisSather.com

To enter the giveaway, use the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post. One winner will be selected and announced by noon ET on December 5, 2013. U.S. residents age 18 and older only please. Other Terms and Conditions can be found in the Rafflecopter.

Here's what you could win!

Devotions from Genesis by Nicole Halbrooks Vaughn
See for yourself how Genesis, the book of beginnings, is not just ancient history and that the Word of God is still alive and timeless. Nicole Vaughn’s Devotions from Genesis will take you on a journey from the garden of Eden to the courts of Pharaoh in Egypt, allowing you to see your own hurts, struggles, and joys through the lives of patriarchs from Adam to Joseph. You will gain insight into your heart and more importantly, insight into the very heart of God. One day at a time, you will be reminded that you are not alone with these Devotions from Genesis.

Devotions from Exodus Part One by Nicole Halbrooks Vaughn
Devotions From Exodus Part One will take you from the bondage of the children of Israel to their freedom. The children of Israel were set free from their bondage in Egypt, and they had to learn how to live in this new freedom. As you study through these first twenty chapters of Exodus, you will see that after God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, he still had to get Egypt out of them. Our deliverance in Christ is no different. God delivers us from the world, but he still has to get the world out of us. We, like the Israelites, are learning to live in this freedom.

Philosophy Adventure: Pre-Socratics (digital download) by Stacy Farrell
Philosophy Adventure™ is designed to help students 6th-12th grade cultivate and defend a biblical worldview by teaching them how to write skillfully, think critically, and speak articulately as they explore the history of ideas.

Philippians in 28 Weeks (digital download) by Stacy Farrell

The Bible is banned in many countries. Countless believers have sacrificed their freedom—and many, their lives—to spread the message of God’s love and salvation contained within its pages. Are we exercising our freedom responsibly. Memorize the entire book of Philippians in 28 weeks!

A Child's Geography: Explore the Holy Land by Ann Voskamp
Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey...your family probably hears or reads about these names frequently. In an increasingly complex world, it is vitally important that children learn to see the world through their Creator's eyes. As we explore the Holy Land you and your family will delight in incredible, mysterious landscapes, hidden wonders and beautiful peoples - all created in God's image.

A Cry from Egypt by Hope Auer

Have you ever wondered what life was like in ancient Egypt? As an Israelite? And a slave? Want your children to understand the Bible is history? Adventure, excitement, love, and faith come together when Jarah and her family fi nd themselves at the culmination of four hundred years of history.

Purposeful Planning eBook by Phyllis Sather
Do you need a plan to keep your family moving in the direction the Lord is leading you? Perhaps you don’t know where the Lord is leading you. Phyllis takes you step-by-step through the process of planning a time together for your family to help determine the path the Lord is choosing for each area of your life. Her family has followed this format for over 12 years and has found that it provides the compass they’ve needed to plan and stay on course.

There!  That should keep you reading for a while, or at least make some great Christmas gifts!
Hope you win!

Blessings, 




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Christmas Book Review and Giveaway- The First Christmas Night

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

OK, maybe not quite yet, because I refuse to decorate until December 1st, BUT I have been known to sneak in a Christmas book or two a few weeks early.  When we began our lives with children I started collecting Christmas books to read to them.  Each year we try to add at least one new one to our basket which sits in the living room.  Our goal is that each night in December we read one of those books together.  Usually we end up reading more than one!  Each one holds sweet memories of Christmases past.

The First Christmas Night is our new book this year and I could not be more pleased!  Written by author Keith Christopher, this 32 page, hardback book is a gem.  Remember the old "Twas the Night Before Christmas?"  Well here is a new twist, centered on the birth of Jesus.  Written in short rhyme, it is easy and enjoyable to read.

"Twas the very first Christmas,

when all through the town

not a creature was stirring- there was not a sound."

From there the author takes you from Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem to the birth of Jesus and the visit of the wise men.  Each page holds a new verse of poetry that is sure to become a favorite for young children.  Who doesn't like a rhyme?  The target ages for The First Christmas Night is 4-8 though I have no doubt older children will enjoy it as well.  The pictures alone will captivate them. That brings me to illustrator Christine Kornacki.  Wow!  The oil paintings she uses are stunning and are one of our favorite parts of this beautiful book.  You can see our favorite picture of the wise men below. Depending on your understanding of the birth of Jesus, some of the pictures may or may not match up to your beliefs.  Questions like did the wise men visit Jesus as a baby or slightly older child, were there only three, and what would people in Bethlehem have looked like, or even what would Jesus have looked like, were raised in our family, but we looked at those as a discussion and learning opportunity and certainly not anything that distracted or displeased us with the book.  On that note, the author ended the book perfectly in my opinion, with the Biblical story of the first Christmas- right from Luke and Matthew!  

We love this book and highly recommend it to you, friends!   It is a keeper!

About the Author

Keith Christopher is a composer, arranger, orchestrator, and educator, and he has served as editor and producer for several major music publishers. In addition to writing and studio producing, Keith served on the faculty at the Blair School of Music of Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He lives in Hendersonville, Tennessee, with his wife and two children.

Stay Connected: 

Ideals Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IdealsBooks 

Buy! Ideals Website: http://www.idealsbooks.com/First-Christmas-Night-Keith-Christopher/dp/0824956532

You can purchase The First Christmas Night for $16.00 or I have one copy to bless someone with!  Just enter the rafflecopter below for your chance to win!

Blessings,

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TOS CREW Review- At Home in Dogwood Mudhole

It makes my heart smile to get to say my last review for this TOS Review season ends with a book! Seriously!  You all know how I love books, right?  And At Home in Dogwood Mudhole Volume One: Nothing That Eats?  What a book to end on!


Meet author Franklin Sanders!  Father of seven, husband to Susan (who I am pretty sure has the patience of Job), and writer turned agrarian.  For 17 plus years, Franklin has written The Moneychanger Newsletter, telling stories and teaching his readers on everything from money to history to farming. Now those published articles have been collected into three volumes for your reading pleasure. I had the honor of reading the first in the series-  At Home in Dogwood Mudhole Volume One: Nothing That Eats, which sells for $22.95. Volume two, Best Thing We Ever Did, will be available to order on November 15th, just in time for Christmas.


It would be a fair assessment to say I begged for this review because I dream of farm living!  I know, I am crazy like that.  I tend to read everything I can get my hands on to learn about that way of life so when the Good Lord takes me to the farm, I will be ready.  It is also fair to say this book has given me second thoughts! ;)

OK, not too many second thoughts but a few.  (Farming is HARD ya'll!)  Firstly, this is NOT a how to book.  Instead imagine yourself sitting down with a friend who tells you all about their day to day adventures.  That is what the book feels like to me.  A chat with an old friend.  A funny friend!  I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion, sometimes every other paragraph, and have made my poor family listen to me read aloud several times.  Franklin's witty, dry sense of humor is not only fun to read but I am sure has been what has gotten he and his family through a few rough spots- like being put in jail for not taxing the exchange of silver and gold.  (Crazy tale!)

The threat of Y2K drove Franklin, his wife, children and their spouses and grandchildren to the farm, but it is not what kept them there.
"...just behind the edge of every minute lurks some glorious surprise..." Page 378

Don't you love that?

Let me tell you what else I loved-

This book has animals- Franklin has a love- hate relationship with chickens.  He keeps buying them, the dogs keep eating them.  Easy for us to laugh because the stories he tells are funny, after the fact, I am sure. But funny, none the less!  And dogs...well let's just say that he may be more of a sucker for dogs than I am. Some not so smart ones either.  And horses!  And cows!  And pigs! "I named them 'Pork' and 'Chop' to give everybody the hint that their residence with us was not a permanent arrangement.  I'm not supporting a petting zoo."  p.172

This book has restaurants- The man likes to give credit where credit is due.  When he talks about a meal they had while on the road he will describe it in great detail and then give you the name, address and phone number of the restaurant...some all over the country!  You could take this book on a sightseeing adventure and be guaranteed good food!  Some of his descriptions had my mouth watering.

This book has History-  One of the things the Sanders family enjoys in their free time, not sure when that is exactly, is historical reenactments and history.  Sprinkled throughout the book are tales of their ancestors and tales of the south- and trust me Franklin knows how to tell a story!

This book has family- Family is obviously precious to Franklin and you can tell.  Stories about his children and grandchildren will make you smile and warm your heart. "There may be something better than being a grandfather, but I haven't yet figured out what that might be. " page 132  Did I mention that Franklin and his whole family moved to the farm? Together? For a while in one house?  Yes, they are a brave and devoted family.

This book has God- Franklin is a Christian and it shows.  Occasionally he asks for prayer, occasionally he shares a prayer and throughout the book his faith is woven in. "The best part of  living in the country is that daily the mighty works of God are played out before your eyes." p. 211

No, it is not, but it sure sounds like a place I would like to visit!  If you yearn for a simpler life, love history or just want to snuggle under a blanket this winter and giggle, ponder and relax, then I recommend you get this book and join Franklin Sanders and his adventures at Dogwood Mudhole!