First Sunday of Advent~Preparing the way

We are preparing....our homes.... our hearts....we are waiting...
for the Father to send the Son...
Emmanuel

Totebag~Quick and Easy Gift

My mom celebrated her 70th birthday on Thanksgiving. I wanted to have the boys make her something. This year our budget is very tight and I was thinking what could we make her that would not be costly and yet nice. My mind was blank.

I needed to be able to use items I already had on hand. Then I remembered I had these tote bags that I had purchased from Walmart and put away last year. They are just a canvas tote bag that I paid about $2 for. We decided to make mom mom a hand print tote bag. I think they came out really cute and mom loved it.

We used fabric paint and puffy paint both of which I had on hand. If you only have acrylic paints on hand that would work fine as well. I learned this at Halloween when we made the boys handprint Halloween shirts. I inadvertently bought black acrylic paint instead of fabric paint. They went through the washer and dryer just fine.

This would make a great Christmas gift for an aunt, mom, grandma.

We put hand prints on both sides. The green in the left corner cannot be seen very well in the photo but it was sparkly green.

I added little flowers with some puffy paint after the handprints dried.

close up

Happy Airplane Day Justin!

Eight years ago today daddy and I were waiting for our lives to change forever. Eight years ago today we stood anxiously in an airport with family and friends waiting to meet you! Eight years ago today God blessed us with you our beautiful son!

We are so thankful and blessed that God chose us to be your parents. What an honor to get to be a part of your life. You make us laugh and bring us joy each and everyday. We love you Justin! Happy Airplane Day!

The first picture we have of Justin!

Our first picture as a family!

Our beautiful boy!

Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously my own.
Never forget for a single minute,
You didn't grow under my heart,
But in it.
author unknown

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing each and everyone of you a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving. A day to remember the numerous blessings in our lives! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Why I don't post about drugstore deals..

Have you wondered if I am still doing those drug store deals? You know all those CVS deals I posted about each week? In a word, no. I stopped. Cold turkey. Why? I was overwhelmed. I had coupons piling up (I was buying multiple papers). I was constantly having to run there and roll those extra care bucks over. It really started to overwhelm me. I was so unorganized. I felt awful when I missed a great deal. I was obsessed! So one day I gave myself permission to not go. No more deals, no more coupons, no more guilt. I felt relieved. I have spent the summer and fall trying to clear the clutter out of my house. I still have a long ways to go, but I am making progress.

So how am I keeping our grocery costs down now? By shopping at Aldi grocery store. I love Aldi. It was the store I shopped at way before I knew anything about the drug store deals. They beat out the other larger chain stores here about 95% of the time. They do not take coupons, they do not take credit cards, you bag your own groceries. In fact you take your own boxes or bags (or you can purchase bags from them or pick up free boxes). You have to rent your cart for a quarter (you get it back when you return your cart). I love it though! Yesterday I was able to purchase three bags full of groceries for our local church pantry for $15.00. I can spend $50 and come home with a cart load of food. I buy most of our groceries there with the exception of a couple items I cannot get from there.

If you have an Aldi near you, you may want to take the time to check them out. One thing I have recently learned is that at times they put their items on a deep discount. I never thought they would do this since their prices are already very low. A couple of weeks ago I was shopping there and I saw a woman with several packages of pork chops in her cart. As I got over to the meat department I noticed a sign where they had been marked down to a $1 a pack (they had been over $3 a pack) of course the space was empty. Later I was picking up a package of bagels and I happened to notice they were marked down to 25 cents a bag. These are very large bagels, regularly $1.39. I bought 8 bags of them and stuck them in the freezer. When I was shopping there yesterday they had marked their butter down to $1.40 per pound, regular price $2.49 per pound. So even a great store like Aldi has markdowns you just have to keep your eyes peeled.

I loved getting those drugstore deals, but for this season of my life I am skipping them and it is ok! I still search out great deals though. Over the weekend I was able to pick up some Star Wars action figures for the boys for Christmas for $4.75 each, regularly $7.99. I have managed to get all of my Christmas cards for free this year and I have earned some additional money buy shopping thru shopping portals like Shop at Home.

Will I do drugstore deals again. Maybe someday. For now this is what is working for me.

Exploramania~Review

A few weeks ago we received a kids exercise video to review. This was not just any video. It was exercise and math facts combined into one video called Gymathics.

How does one combine exercise and math facts? During this video the instructor and her assistants do various exercises. While they are excercising they are also showing math concepts on the screen.

My boys loved this video! They were both interested in the exercising and learning math facts. We have used the video several times and this will be great with the upcoming cold winter months when we are stuck inside and need to burn off some energy.

The video runs 30 minutes. It is geared for 2nd to 5th grade level. It is available for purchase for $24.99 plus free shipping and handling.

Exercises and math facts covered:

• Shape Stretches Warm Up: Stretch your mind and body with line, circle, and polygon stretches.
• Counting Calisthenics: Aerobic movements work your heart as fun counting concepts work your brain.
• Pattern Power: Growing and repeating pattern exercise combinations challenge minds and strengthen muscles.
• Well-Being Wind Down: Relaxing stretches cool down the body and open the mind to think about healthy lifestyle choices including the Nice Wave Stretch and Big Dream Stretch.

You can find more information about Gymathics by visiting the Exploramaina website. There is a video sample you can watch. They also offer other exercise products.

Be sure to visit my crew mates at the TOS Homeschool Crew blog to read other reviews of Gymathics.

Disclosure: This product was provided to me free as a member of the The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew 2009-2010. All reviews and opinions expressed on this blog are my own

AVKO~Review

Recently I was given a one year membership to review AVKO.

AVKO is a non profit organization dedicated to helping everyone learn to read and spell, regardless of their learning disability weather mild to moderate or dyslexic.

AVKO provides free and low cost resources to home and school educators.

AVKO is the publisher of Sequential Spelling. If you are a Sequential Spelling user this website could be beneficial to you.

Membership is $25.00 for a year.

Membership includes:

• 25 % Discounts on AVKO printed materials
• Hundreds of dollars worth of free e-books (in PDF form)
• Access to the members only section
• AVKO Newsletter with freebies, discounts, resources and promotions
• Access to Don McCabe’s most popular workshop recordings in MP3 format
• Supplemental curriculum materials including word games, worksheets, activities and more.
• Access to pretests and placement tests
• Access tot he Answer Keys for the Unscramblers and Family Reunion exercises of the Engaging Language kits

Please be sure to check out the freebies on the website. You can also read the testimonials from other folks who have found AVKO beneficial.

I did find this website to be a bit overwhelming there is so much information and it was a bit difficult to navigate but I can see where many families could benefit from using this site if they had a child struggling to read and spell.

Please be sure to visit the TOS Homeschool Crew blog to see what my crew mates are saying about AVKO.

Disclosure: This product was provided to me free as a member of the The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew 2009-2010. All reviews and opinions expressed on this blog are my own

What is lurking in my leaves?

I found these in my leaves the other day……

Oh, it is only Justin and Kaden!

We really do have autumn weather here. You would never know it by this picture of Justin with no shirt. We have had some pretty warm temperatures here in NJ this past week.

Tips to Pack a Frugal Shoebox for Operation Christmas Child

I found this video about a mom who has some great tips on packing a shoebox very frugally. I am going to use these tips next year so we will be able to pack additional shoe boxes.

Operation Christmas Child

Our boxes have been packed, coloring pages filled out and delivered to our church yesterday. This year we paid our donation online so we could track our package to see where it went. We love participating in Operation Christmas Child. This week is National Collection week for the shoe boxes. It is not too late to participate. You can start with How to Pack a Box and find a drop off location by November 23. There are locations all over the country.

There are so many child in need all over the world. A shoebox can make a difference in a child's life.

Free Photo Ornament with Free Shipping

Seehere Fuji film is giving away another freebie. This time a free photo ornament. Sign up here and go to ornaments. There are two ornaments to choose from. Make sure you choose one of the $12.99 ornament (not the higher priced one). Create your ornament and then enter the code mallornament
It should zero out your total. If you have problems with the code try typing it in and not copying it. Thanks to Money Saving Mom for sharing this freebie.

Happy Saving!

Free Photocards just in time for Christmas

I just ordered my Christmas cards this morning. 50 of them! With envelopes! Free! If you would like to order your free cards visit Freebies4mom and follow the directions. You will get 50 free photocards either 4x8 or 5x7 free from Seehere by Fugifilm.
Oh and did I mention. Shipping is also FREE!

Homeschool Blog Awards Revisited

Yesterday I posted that I was nominated for the Homeschool Blog awards in the category of Best Thrifty Homeschooler. I was informed yesterday while visiting an online forum I belong to that I was also nominated for Best Cyber Buddy Blog. That was a shock! I obviously will not get an award for most observant blogger though. (just kidding there is no category for that!).

Anyway if you are so inclined to vote for me in either or both categories I thank you very much. ( you can click on each of the categories I mentioned above to vote.) Even if you are not inclined I thank you for taking the time to read my blog! I am honored to be nominated in both categories with some other fantastic bloggers. Why not stop over to the Homeschool Blog Awards and see all the great categories and maybe find a few new favorite blogs to read!

Veteran's Day

Please remember those who have served and continue to serve our country. Remember that Freedom isn't Free. Thank you to all the men and women and their families who every day put themselves in harms way to protect the USA.

Homeschool Blog Awards~Time to Vote!

I've been nominated for the Homeschool Blog Awards in the Best Thrifty Homeschooler category. I feel very honored to be running with some really fabulous homeschoolers! Thank you to those that nominated me! If you feel inclined to vote for me you can do so at the above link.
Now get over there and check out all the categories and all those fabulous blogs!

Review~American Heritage Education Foundation

The American Heritage Education Foundation is a non-profit, non partisan educational foundation dedicated to the understanding and teaching of America's factual and philosophical heritage to promote constructive citizenship and Freedom, Unity, Progress and Responsibility among our students and citizens.

This is a supplemental history CD that is offered as a free resource by The American Heritage Education Foundation.

There are three levels of lessons included on this CD.

• Elementary School Level
• Middle School Level
• High School Level

Here are the topics covered in the elementary level:

• Colonial America
• The Declaration of Independence
• A Famous Signature
• George Washington
• U. S. Presidents
• The Great Seal
• Thanksgiving
• The United States Flag
• The Star Spangled Banner
• The National Motto
• The Statue of Liberty
• The Pledge of Allegiance
• America the Beautiful
• What is an American

There are lessons for each topic as well as games, songs, puzzles and more.
For each lesson there is a purpose, objective, theme, core knowledge, how much time the lesson requires, materials needed for the lesson and how you need to prepare for the lesson.

We are working on The Pledge of Allegiance there is an activity sheet that gives you ideas of what to teach. For example how you should stand and face the flag and put your right hand over your heart when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Read the history of the Pledge of Allegiance. There are vocabulary words, a print out of The Pledge of Allegiance, synonyms to learn and a printable word puzzle. You can practice reciting The Pledge of Allegiance and then print and cut out the word puzzle. Have your child put the words in their proper order and then remove some of the words and have them figure out which ones are missing and see if they can recite it with the missing words. Continue on until you are only using a few words and your child is reciting confidently.

We will be using some of these lessons to supplement our US History.

This is definitely written for a classroom setting but can be adapted for one or more children easily.


To order your FREE copy please visit The American Heritage Foundation.


To see what my crewmates are saying about this resource be sure to visit the TOS Homeschool blog.

Disclosure: This product was provided to me free as a member of the The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew 2009-2010. All reviews and opinions expressed on this blog are my own

Review~Bright Ideas Press A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers and The Mystery Of History Volume I

Bright Ideas Press is a company I had never heard of before. When I found out I was going to be reviewing some products for them I was interested. When I saw what some of my choices were I was ecstatic! My two choices were A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers and The Mystery of History Volume I. I was sent both of them to review.



I have been wanting to add a composer study to our school and A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers intrigued me. I had not quite figured out how I was going to add this in and just never got around to it. Using this curriculum has made it easy.

First the info: A Young Scholar's Guide to Composers is a one year curriculum. (32 weeks) grades 4-8, $34.95 for the print copy, 298 pages(book) and $29.95 on CD-ROM. I received the print copy.

The first thing I did was to have the binding removed and have it spiral bound for easier use and copying. I had this done at my local office supply store for about $4.

What you will find inside:
26 biographies from Antonio Vivaldi to John Williams
An explanation of 6 eras of music
Maps
Composer Info cards
Coloring pages
Reproducible Timeline
Games to play
Book list Resource
note taking pages
Music listening suggestions

There is a story to read each week You can choose to do the additional items I listed above. You can do all of them or pick and choose what fits your student and your schedule. We are using this 2-3 times per week depending on our week.

There is no music included with this curriculum. There is an appendix of music suggestions towards the back of the book with websites such as you tube for finding the pieces for each composer. You could also do an internet search to find the suggested pieces or try searching your library as well. You will not need to purchase the music to listen to the selections unless you choose to.

I like that I am able to use this with both of my boys. They both have an interest in music and both enjoy classical music. We listen to classical music almost daily in our home and this curriculum has made it very easy to add in learning about different composers, their history as well as learning when those pieces were written and where on the timeline they belong. My four year old is able to do the coloring pages and listen along to the music while my 8 year old does the lessons.

Young Composer's Sample Pages



The Mystery of History is a history curriculum that I have been wanting since I heard author Linda Lacour Hobar speak last summer at an online homeschooling conference. I was so excited that I was going to get to review it!

Info on Mystery of History: This volume covers Creation to the Resurrection. targeted for grades 4th - 8th. (this can be adapted to younger and older grades-see below) Print copy $49.95.

The stories are chronologically based and combine biblical history with secular history all in one. This curriculum is broken down into three age groups younger (K- 3rd), middle (4th-8th) older (High School).

Here is what you will find in this book:

There are roughly 100 lessons in this volume ( three lessons each week to cover a 36 week school year)
Pretests for each lesson to see what your student knows about that particular story or event and expose them to new terms and names they may not have heard before.
Around the World summaries at the beginning of each quarter to introduce the time period.
Hands on activities
Memory cards
Reviews
Quizzes
Quarterly worksheets
Semester Tests
Student Notebooks
and much more....

Once again I took this book to my local office supply store and had the binding removed and spiral bound for easier use.

I love this curriculum! It is easy to read and makes a wonderful read aloud without even adding in the activities, quizzes etc listed above. I love that we are learning both Biblical and secular history at the same time. It puts it all together for us. Unlike the way I learned history Biblical and secular separate from one another which made it difficult for me to put together what was happening in other parts of the world during Bible times. I know we will be using this and future volumes of The Mystery of History.

Find out more about the Mystery of History.

Mystery of History Sample Pages

Sample Week

Please be sure to visit my crew mates at the TOS Homeschool Blog to read other reviews from Bright Ideas Press.


Disclosure: This product was provided to me free as a member of the The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew 2009-2010. All reviews and opinions expressed on this blog are my own

A boy and his snake

A few weeks ago Larry found a baby snake while he was out doing yard work. He called the boys over to have a look. It was a baby garter snake. When I came home from my grandma's, Justin was all excited about the snake and begged to keep it. He kept it in a bucket on our porch for several days. He really wanted to keep it as a pet but we did not have an aquarium to keep it in and I did not want to invest the money needed to buy one. Justin was disappointed but decided that it was best to let him go. We had a couple of great days holding and observing the snake.

We were even able to convince Kaden to hold the snake. Although he was not overly thrilled to do so.

Justin has vowed to find his snake next spring!

ABC Teach~Review

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew I was given a one month membership to ABC Teach to review. Guess what? I was already a member before I received my trial membership. I love this site. What is ABC Teach you ask? It is a website with tons of printables. Tons of them. You can access 5,000+ free printables at anytime on their site. If you purchase a one year membership you have access to 35,000 printables. New material is added each week.

ABC Teach has so much to offer! Even if you are not one t o useworksheets there is so much more available to you. Be sure to look at the list of categories.

Here is some of what we have used and will be using:

File Folder games
Clip Art
Learning Centers
Mini offices~I just made one up on telling time for Justin
Bingo games
Dot to Dot
On the Go Cards: On the Road~I made one of these over the summer.
Paper Roll Pals~animals and people
Center Cards
Pattern Blocks



One of my favorite parts of ABC Teach is ABC Tools. When you purchase a membership you have access to ABC Tools to create custom worksheets such as math, word walls, spelling lists, sudoku puzzles, shape books , handwriting and much more.

There are also video tutorials that show you step by step how to customize a worksheet, make a shape book, add clip art to a page, create a spelling list and several other tutorials.

Take a video tour of ABC Teach. While you are there visit the free part of the site to see if this is something that would be a fit for your family. A one year membership is $40 and group rates are available.

Be sure to check out the TOS Homeschool Crew blog to see what my crew mates are saying about ABC Teach.

Edited to add that if you join Homeschool Buyers Co-op you can save 50% on your ABC Teach membership. You have to purchase through the co-op though. Homeschool Buyers Co-op is free to join. This offer is good until 11/30/09


Disclosure: This product was provided to me free as a member of the The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew 2009-2010. All reviews and opinions expressed on this blog are my own

One more Halloween post

The other night we went to visit Larry's grandma and Aunt Lynn. The boys wore their costumes and were excited to visit great mom mom as we call her. They also got to play with their cousin Kiara whom they just adore.

A funny story about calling her great mom mom. We also call my grandma great mom mom. When I referred to Larry's grandma I would say we are going to great mom mom's and they would get confused and say which one. I said your other great mom mom. They started calling her "their other great mom mom"! They thought that was her name! I decided we needed to change that so now we say great mom mom G or great mom mom K! lol.

Here are a couple of pictures from our visit.

Great Mom Mom G and the boys.

After Aunt Lynn joined in the picture taking it was just hopeless to get this group to pose nicely! We were laughing so hard at her!

We had a really fun night eating, laughing and visiting!

On Halloween we carved our annual pumpkins. This year the boys chose a Star Wars theme. Justin actually wanted me to carve the Death Star. After looking at the directions and reading it took between 4-10 hours to carve, I quickly vetoed that idea! (maybe next year)

Cutting the tops off their pumpkins. They both did well. I was a little leery to let Kaden have that cutting tool but he was so insistent and is so independent. I let him have a go of it. He did really well.


scooping out the guts......(yes it was really warm here, notice the missing shirt!)

Our completed pumpkins....after two hours of me carving!

Darth Maul

Darth Vader