Back to Homeschool Blog Hop giveaway

I am so excited to tell you about the Back to Homeschool Giveaway!

Beginning next Monday and lasting all week, 50 plus bloggers will come together to blog about one of our favorite things- Homeschooling!  Whether you join us for for three days or all five, you will find a wealth of information, opinions (we are an opinionated group, don't 'ya know!), and ideas that will knock your socks off.

I know this group and I know you will be blessed.

Hope you can join us!

To get the party off to a fun start, several members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew have joined forces during our August Back to Homeschool Blog Hop to bring you these incredible giveaways, totaling more than $1300 in homeschool curriculum and Paypal cash!

We would love to see one of our readers win this one!

Blessings,

Grand Prize Giveaway

In the Grand Prize Giveaway, someone will win $765 in curriculum, plus $150 in Paypal cash to help you finish up your homeschool shopping! You could win all of the following. Please click on the prize links to learn more about each product.  From Home School Adventure Co. -- Philosophy Adventure--Pre-Socratics and Mere Christianity Critical Analysis Journal (digital editions) From Diana Waring Presents -Experience History Through Music From Writing with Sharon Watson - The Power in Your Hands: Writing NonFiction in High School and Writing Fiction [in High School] From Homeschool Legacy -- Westward Ho I & Westward Ho II Once-a-Week Unit Studies From The Old Schoolhouse Magazine -- One-Year Membership to SchoolhouseTeachers.com From Shining Dawn Books -- Charlotte Mason Homeschooling Bundle (Charlotte Mason Homeschooling, Loving Living Math, Grammar Packets, and Creative Nature Walks) From Memoria Press -- Latina Christiana I Set From Excelerate Spanish -- Excelerate SPANISH DVD Lessons 1-6 From WriteShop -- Winner's Choice of WriteShop Primary Book A, B, or C (Teacher's Guide + Activity Pack) From New Millennium Girl Books -- Isabel Writing Bundle  From Write Bonnie Rose -- Asia: It's People and History From Home School in the Woods -- Project Passport: The Middle Ages  From NotebookingPages.com -- Lifetime Treasury Membership From Victus Study Skills System -- Victus Study Skills Student Workbook & Teacher Edition Bundle From the Schoolhouse Review Crew bloggers -- $150 Paypal Cash

 2nd Prize Giveaway

In the 2nd Prize Giveaway, someone will win $325 in curriculum, plus $100 in Paypal cash to help you finish up your homeschool shopping! You could win all of the following. Please click on the prize links to learn more about each product.  From Home School Adventure Co. -- Philippians in 28 Weeks, The Wise Woman with Literary Analysis Question, and The Wise Woman Print Set (digital editions) From Writing with Sharon Watson -- Jump In: a workbook for reluctant and eager writers From Home School in the Woods -- K-2 Lap-Pak: Knights From Write Bonnie Rose -- Printables Bundle (Writing Prompts About Space Bonus Pack; Revolutionary War Activities: Patriotic Copywork; Revolutionary War Activities for Kids: Puzzles, Games, and Quizzes; Praying Through the Produce Aisle; Summer Olympics and Paralympics Unit Study) From Excelerate Spanish -- Excelerate SPANISH DVD Lessons 1-6 From Memoria Press -- Prima Latina Text Set From New Millennium Girl Books -- Callie's Contest of Courage Mid grade novel and Callie's Contest of Courage Literature Guide From The Old Schoolhouse Magazine -- One-Year Membership to SchoolhouseTeachers.com From the Schoolhouse Review Crew bloggers -- $100 Paypal Cash

To enter, use the Rafflecopter below. Residents of the U.S., age 18 and older only. See more Terms and Conditions in the Rafflecopter. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Your BIGGEST blessing- 52 weeks of family scripture memorization

A conversation with my youngest took the funniest turn this week.  First he wanted to know why I, and not dad, did everything.  Easy mistake to make.  After all, he spends his day with me, watching me cook, clean, teach and on and on.  So we had a big talk about what dad does.  How he goes to work to provide for us so mommy can stay home.  How he blesses us by earning money to provide for us, and all the other things he does.

Then we also talked about how our Heavenly father blesses us.  Everyday in every way.  It was fun to hear him list his blessings.

But look at this...our verse for this week, because I failed to remind him of what our greatest blessing is.

Salvation.

Yes, God blesses us with many things.  But, salvation, well, who needs anything more?
This week, let's teach our kids about the blessing of salvation!

Blessings,

Also linked up to Wake Me Up Wednesday linky at She Can Talk!

Be Our Guest

Over the past weeks and months, I have had the blessed opportunity to be a guest blogger for a few great people.  It is fun and it is an honor.  I think I do some of my best writing for other people! haha

My latest post is for a fellow military wife and mom who is in the middle of an overseas move- better her than me.  ;) After serving for several years in Germany, Heather's family is headed back to the states!  Welcome home, Heather!

With a week long Back to Homeschooling blog hop starting next week, here is a warm up to get you thinking...

6 Tips for Multi-Level Schooling

Schooling multiple children is at best, challenging. But multiple children all at different grade levels, well, at times it can be maddening. BUT, it can be done with a little planning, strategizing, and well, maybe some extra prayers!

We are one of those families. Four kids all spread out. It seemed like a good idea at the time. But, yes, it can make day to day schooling a challenge. Currently we have a college student, a highschooler, a middle schooler and an elementary kiddo. Some days, keeping track of them all can make my head spin. Luckily, we have found through the years some things that help make the day run more smoothly...

Read the rest of the article at Only Passionate Curiosity!

And if you missed my other latest guest posts you can find them at

Tolivers to Texas About Making BIG Decisions for College

Our Homeschool Forum where I am a contributor

and an oldie, but one that was quite popular at Chestnut Grove Academy on getting kids involved with chores.

Blessings,

 

O is for Oh Shoot!

We get a lot of questions about our thoughts on TV and movies. And I am usually hesitant to offer too many thoughts.

Everyone is different and everyone is convicted in different ways.

But we are ALL called to the same standards by God.  

Unfortunately they are far different than the world's standards in many ways.

And so we are very careful with what those in our family, kids and adults, watch.

For many reasons.  One being the language in so many shows.

Have you seen this video?

WOW!  It made a huge impact on our family. We have always told our kids "trash in, trash out."  And we have always told them that we pick up what we hear because we become immune to it.  And we have always told them that once you hear something (or see, or say something) you cannot get it out of your head.  Or heart.   And for the most part I think they hear us and take note. But there is just something about a visual that seems to make more of an impact on us.  This is such a case. Watching that family get hit by all those paint balls made me cringe.  So too, should every bad word I hear.  Or that my kids hear.   I want them to cringe.  I want them shudder.  I want to protect them. Can I from every bad word?  Of course not.  I cannot, nor would desire to, control every aspect of their life.  But while under our care and in our home, TV and movies are one thing we remain in control of. For us that means limiting what we watch.  Yes, we are one of those Andy Griffith, Little House on the Prairie and Daniel Boone watching families. But because we also have a TV guardian on our TV we are able to watch other shows that are a little more current.  As my mom used to say, the kids can't go to college only having watched Veggie Tales! (Though it seemed like a good idea at the time.) So yes, we restrict our TV and movie time, but we also enjoy movie nights on Fridays as a family.   Minus the bad language. If you take nothing else from the video, take this- every word has impact.  I would encourage you to start while your kids are young to protect them from bad language.
Blessings,  

"... whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things. "  Phil. 4:8 *Please note, this is NOT an endorsement of VidAngel, nor have we explored the company or their services.  There are some movies they talk about in their "behind the scenes" video that I am not sure why you would want to watch, regardless of whether the bad language or anything else was taken out.  This instead is just a post of my personal experience and why we avoid TV and movies with bad language.
We are still blogging through the alphabet with my friend Marcy at Ben and Me!  Hope you can join us!

Dealing With Anger- 52 weeks of family scripture memorization

After a challenging month with a huge chunk of scripture, we are going to make things a little simpler for a while and focus on children's behavior- with help from the Psalms.  Simpler in length, not in concept!

Our kids are 7, 12, 16 and 20.  The two youngers are boys, the olders are girls.  The two middles are also getting ready to have birthdays.  The youngest, for the record, was born in Guatemala and not brought home until was 21 months old.  Just want you to know where we are coming from.  We tell people all of the time that the youngest is still in the training stage.  That is only partially true.

Aren't we ALL still in the training stage in at least one area of our lives?  Or several!

So, let's do some training- for those kiddos in our lives and for ourselves!

Anger!

We tell our kids all the time that it is ok to be angry.  The problem is how we handle our anger.  Some of us are better at it than others. 

It is ok to be angry-

but 

not to hit

 not to bite

 not to throw a tantrum

 not to pout

 not to say unkind words

or...you name your response.

Because those responses are sin.

  

And God does not like sin.

It seems simple but it is worth remembering in times of anger.  Let's teach our kids, and ourselves, acceptable ways to respond with anger without sinning.

And then let's remind them that God ALWAYS forgives us when we do sin!

Blessings,

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