Family Style School

Memoria Press Geography I

2013-06-16T23:34:00.001-06:00

Geography has always been something I wanted all my kids to touch on. I struggled when looking for what I wanted.

I decided to give Geography I a try from Memoria Press when it came up for review with The Schoolhouse Review Crew.

Geography I teaches The Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.

The main goal of this curriculum (text, teacher guide, and workbook) is to master identification of each country on a map, as well as capital cities. You also learn/research facts about each country.

The way you get to mastery is by learning and review. Every section has a review and then a quiz.

It is suggested that you study at the rate of 2 or 3 countries a week.

You read the text book, fill out the worksheet in the workbook, label the country and capital, discuss the country.

Emily used this just like it was suggested and it easily fit into her days. She has future dreams to travel to Europe, so I let her study Europe first. She has had such fun learning about the different countries over there.

I had to supplement with her in order to actually have memorization down. There are a lot of countries to memorize. This was easy to do with free games found online, and once she had learned the countries, she actually enjoyed challenging herself.

Check out a sample for yourself.

Memoria Press Geography I did have many things I was looking for in a geography curriculum.

The lessons are short
It can be done independently
It teaches more than just location
It is easy and interesting
It is broken down into chunks making it so it is not overwhelming

Emily did mention to me that she wishes the workbook and text were one book. I happen to like the fact that they were two separate books, that way it was a little harder for her to go back and check the countries when she was struggling to remember them.

The use of Geography I is suggested to come after learning The United States and it’s capitals (using Memoria Press States and Capitals) There for while using Geography I, you can use Memoria Press States and Capitals Review. However this is not necessary to have done. We did our states and capitals a few years ago and many of them are much harder to recall than they once were. This review book was great to be able to freshen up on those.

Memoria Press Geography I sales for $48 which includes

Geography I Text
Geography I Workbook
Geography I Teacher Guide
United States Review Student Book
United States Review Key, Quizzes and Tests

It is suggested for grades 4 and up.

The Schoolhouse Review Crew was invited to review both this, Geography I as well as Prima Latina from Memoria Press.

Check this post out to see reviews of both products.

To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

Let’s Make A Webpage {A review}

2013-06-09T19:37:00.001-06:00

Motherboard Books offers a quick project book, Let’s Make A Web Page. Written by Phyllis Wheeler.

In this 60 page ebook are 9 lessons. We did one lesson every 3 days or so.

The lessons are:

An Interview - This lesson helps you decide and think through what your webpage is going to be about.
Download and set up the program – You download and set up a free program, Coffee Cup. (not for Macs unless you have Parallels installed.)
Add text
Add photos- where to find them and how to add them
Add animations – This lessons shows you how and where to find and upload free animations to add to your webpage. - I appreciated how in this lesson before she has you search the internet, she has you make sure you have safe search on and explains how to do that.
Browser checking, backgrounds and photos – In this lesson you find free backgrounds. She takes you to a website that is completely full of ads. This becomes an opportunity to learn about being internet wise. Which is also all discussed throughout this book.
Sound – Here you get to learn about different types of files (such as .Wav, etc.)
Links – How to add hyperlinks
Posting your work

This book is suggested for ages 8 and up.

My 8 year old was able to do this with quite a bit of help. (The reading for this was way above her level.) I read the book to her from my iPad and worked on the webpage with her. She didn’t understand many of the terms used. I had to take the time to explain them to her. Most things I ended up doing first with her watching and choosing, and then I let her try it on her own.

My 8 year old is not advanced, if anything she is behind the average child her age. I am glad she got to give this a try and get a feel for web design. I do plan on pulling this back out again in a few years when she is at a higher level of understanding and reading.

Overall, I feel like computers are our future and kids now days need to be able to navigate the internet well and have ample computer knowledge. This is a great short term starter project. I love that it is not a huge time commitment to learn from this book. I even learned things I didn’t know. I also like how it shows how easy it is to create a webpage and all the safety advice it gives throughout the lessons.

The price for Let’s Make A Webpage is $19.95.

The short time frame of this project makes summer a perfect time to take it on.

To see what others think of this and another product they offer, Logo Adventures a bigger project, check out this post. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

Simplifying your life

2013-05-30T01:07:00.001-06:00

I have been lucky enough to review a few items from Simplified Pantry.

Simplified Dinners and Simplified Dinners Gluten Free/ Dairy Free have been much more than just a cook book in my house. They have completely changed my meal planning.

It starts of simple enough. You use a master shopping list that she provides. It has basics and you can download a sample here.

You buy whatever meat and veggies that are on sale that week and prepare a meal from them. The idea is that if you keep the items from the master shopping list on hand, you can always make a meal from the cookbook.

This cook book is very different than any other I have ever seen. The sections are based on the type of main dish and meat you have. Don’t think there are just a few recipes in here either. There are tons. In fact, I don’t think we have even had the same meal twice yet. There are 16 categories all with multiple variations.

This left meal planning flexible enough for me. I was able to think ahead of what I wanted to make for dinner. If I had planned on something that took a while to cook and I forgot to start it in time, I was able to just choose something else using the ingredients I had on hand.

These meals are all easy enough to prepare and the ingredients were all real whole foods. I love that!!

The most interesting thing for me was that after the initial stock up of pantry items I am actually spending less each week on groceries than I used to. We are also eating much healthier.

There are 2 separate books the regular version and the new GFDF version. Each PDF book is $12.99.

Another neat thing I was able to review is Paperless Home Organization.

This has been such a motivator for me. Paper is my struggle. I have multiple filing cabinets and paper stacks are still everywhere. Using the system put together in this book can eliminate most all paper. While I am not fully ready to give up on the paper version of everything. This system has sure made it easier to locate something when I need to find it.

This book takes you step by step through setting up the system. I already had the email set up and a calendar somewhat in place. I had never heard of Evernote, which is essential to this system. All have free apps on most any app store.

Don’t think you’re going to have to load up on a bunch of apps, this system only uses a few. I already had a to do list app in place that I love. So I did not use the one suggested. It was very easy for me to tweak this system for me. Even though I am still not totally ready to give up on all my paper, I see how parts of this system have improved.

Everyone in my family has some type of device so we have been able to set up the calendar like the book says and the kids are able to enter their own things and have it show up on my calendar under there name. This has been great for when I need to know where they are going to be at or if they need a ride somewhere, they can check if I can do that before they even ask me.

This PDF book sales for $3.99

Until June 3, 2013, you can use code TOS2013 to get 30% off any of her ebooks. What a deal!!!

To see what others think of all 3 of these items check out this post. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

Scaredy Cat Reading Level 3 {a review}

2013-05-24T00:47:00.001-06:00

Joyce Herzog has created a reading system that makes sense to kids. It is called Scaredy Cat Reading.

After using the placement test, I knew my daughter was on track for Scaredy Cat Reading System Level 3, $100, so that is the one I requested.

Scaredy Cat Reading System is set up to make reading fun!

After about 30 pages of teacher training, you are ready to teach the Scaredy Cat way where mastery is the key!

There is also some teacher prep work as far as cutting out some of the game cards. I decided to break that up into chunks. Each week I cut out what I think we will use for the following week. That way I haven’t been getting overwhelmed with all the cutting.

Games, games and more games is the Scaredy Cat way.

They use a “Menu Plan” to classify what type of day you will be having. By doing this you keep things new. Joyce Herzog says, “Variety is the spice of life!” Don’t worry, she also says, “DO not plan to do every activity.”

The “Appetizer Day” is for wetting their appetite and having fun, showing the student more fun is to come. You just do one activity on these days. Some examples are Cartoon Days, or a Letter Master Day. (more on the Letter Master below.)

The “Salad Day” is for getting into in a little bit more. On these days, Katey didn’t even realize she was learning yet. You just do one activity on these days. Some examples are a Story Day, a Bingo Day, or even a Review Day.

The “Main Course Days” are the bigger lesson days, you do two activities on these days. Some examples are, a Lesson Day (doing a lesson from the book), a Work Day, or a Test Day.

The “Dessert Days” are fun days, you celebrate the progress your child has made, or play a game with them.

The Letter Master – Ah, yes, let’s meet him. He is great! With all the levels of Scaredy Cat Reading you get a mini comic book which tells the story of how the letters got their sounds. It is fun. This is something you read/listen to repeatedly to get the letter sounds down. Joyce suggests listening to it while playing with Legos or something similar.

This system is based on mastery. How does Mastery usually happen? By doing something over and over. That could be boring. That is what is so great about this. You change it up every day, even though your child is learning/reviewing the same thing until they have mastered it. Mastery is considered reading words from the rule they are working on at 30 words per minute. By then they will have become sight words.

I have been glad that we could just jump right in and begin at the level we needed. This can be used for any age and I think my older children can benefit from the spelling rules taught.

This product is so great for me because there is just enough structure to keep us going, yet it is flexible enough for us not to get bored with it, and easy enough for us not to get burned out on it. Each day has taken us about 30 minutes to get through a lesson.

This isn’t really age specific, so if you have a child learning to read, have them take the placement test and see which level would be a good fit for them. There are 4 levels of the system.

Many of Joyce Herzog products were reviewed by the crew, including all levels of Scaredy Cat Reading System. Check out this post. While your there subscribe to our crew blog.

Science Naturally

2013-05-21T23:49:00.001-06:00

Can you spare a minute in your day for science fun?

Of course you can!

That is just what Science Naturally has come up with in their new book One Minute Mysteries: 65 More Short Mysteries You Solve With Science!

We were lucky enough to be able to review this 166 + page book which includes 60 mysteries to be solved using basic science knowledge. There are also 5 bonus science mysteries and 5 mysteries you solve with math. Each mystery is on it’s own page you turn the page for the answer which includes a picture. This is the second book with science mysteries. They also have 2 books with mysteries you solve with math. These books were written by a father daughter team. Check out their author bio at the bottom of this page.

We read a few every day at lunch time. They literally took about one minute to read each mystery. The kids took turns guessing and most of the time it turned into a discussion, which was nice to get them thinking and talking about the same thing as a group. Remember my kids are 14, 12 and 8. They were all discussing their opinions.

Once they were ready I read the answer. Which gives an explanation with it.

Go ahead try a few mysteries out with your family! RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!

That was fun, wasn’t it?

Don’t forget this book is for ages 8-12 and is only $9.95.

You can get it here.

Don’t just take my word for it, check out this post to see what others thought. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

Can we say “stressed”? {Week in Review}

2013-05-20T09:58:00.000-06:00

First of all, I would like to say:

Please forgive me for the way this post is jumbled. I am trying out using Evernote for blogging and just entering things through the week on that. Then transferring them over to a post for our week in review.

After a stressful weekend, I was not ready for Monday!

My husband took my keys to another state for the week. Ahhhh. I had a ton of errands to run. By the time I realized this, all the dealerships were closed for the weekend and the soonest they could make a key would be Monday and even then it would cost me $200. I ended up finding a ride 2 towns over to go pick up his truck and drive that around until he had found someone coming back this way to bring me back my key. I know some of you are one car families and make it work. The problem with this for me, was that it was not planned. So I had a ton of errands to do. A TON!

I created the kids end of year plans. We finalized them Monday morning and discussed some expectations. They can be done with school as soon as they complete everything and then they can take a break until June 10th which is when we will start our summer schedule. Stay tuned for our end of year schedule and summer plans later this week.

After all this I had one kid ready to finish up that day! The other two wanted to take that day off and I decided to let them.

We did get in some unscheduled learning.

Our bug collection made a lot of progress this week.

We also got out our Discovery Scope and looked at dandelions (a composite flower). Here is a picture I took using my phone through the Discovery Scope.

We also spent some time at the park while waiting for Emily’s softball game to start. So far they had been undefeated. The had their first loss this week.

Last week we were learning about details in paragraphs. The kids wrote paragraphs describing how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We put their paragraphs to the test . They had to read them while I did exactly what they read. This made for some fun family laughs as some steps were skipped.

Katey has been learning all about space so far. We have been learning how to use binoculars to look at the night sky.

Tommy did the self test in grammar (english grammar 101) for module 1. He scored great!

He has also started his own lawn mowing business with his friend. So far he has been quite successful and this is proving an opportunity for him to learn applied math with expenses and cash flow as well as partnership and communication.

The spring weather has been gorgeous so we have spent much of our reading time outside.

We have also been able to play outside quite a bit!

Tyler has been learning how to do puzzles. He still needs a lot of help, but he just loves putting them together.

I have been feeling so disrespected lately. I did end up losing my cool. I have also been feeling stressed about many things outside of my control in my life right now.

Then Tyler got an ear infection and we are currently without insurance. My husband recently went through a job change. We couldn't afford COBRA until the new insurance starts so after taking him to the doctor and getting his prescription we had to pay $170 in medical bills and prescriptions.

We headed to Cheer Nationals for Katey.

Her team ended up winning second place which is great. I am so proud of how hard she practiced and how brave she and her team was for getting up there in front of all those people and judges.

It was at an amusement park and we had intended on taking our kids on rides and spending the day there. The problem was it poured rain. I mean poured for half the day. We decided to bag it and just have a fun day with the kids. The day seemed ruined because we were all so excited to go to this whole thing and we had planed out the whole day. I guess this is God showing us how to roll with the punches….

Here is to hoping this is our last week of full school and we can take a break until our summer schedule starts.

College Prep Genius

2013-05-19T22:16:00.001-06:00

College Prep Genius has came out with a book for kids going into high school and their parents, High School Prep Genius, An Academic Guide to Excellence. $29.95

High School Prep Genius is a 4 part book

Introduction which includes

How to Use the book
College and Career Notebook
Student timelines, both before and after high school begins. (perfect for 7th and 8th graders.

Foundation For Personal Success which includes

Personal development
Your interests and beliefs
Being healthy and having financial independence

Foundation For Academic Success which includes

Academic development, studying, tests, organization
Going beyond the basics

Foundation For Future Success which includes

College; testing, paying for it, choosing one, applying for one, and college essentials

There are also 5 appendixes with things such as How to Build A Homeschool Transcript, Talent Searches, Great Books, Reducing Test Anxiety, Admissions Terminology.

We read through the 55 page introduction at the same pace. Then I assigned out weekly reading for me and daily reading for Tommy.
The introduction has sample charts.

I appreciated how at the end of each chapter has a guide for parents.
Sometimes they have homework for the parents. The homework is often simple things that can really benefit your child.
Here is a picture of the beginnings of Tommy’s College and Career Notebook. By beginning this in 8th grade and staying on top of it each year, high school transcripts and college applications, as well as job applications or résumés will be easy to pull together.

This notebook and the how to of it all has been my favorite part of this book so far. I know as he hits older grades we will both benefit from this book immensely. I plan to have both of us finish the book (yes, all of it) over this Summer and then each year I will have both of us re-read the grade he is in as well as the future grade.

High School Prep in my 14 year olds words.
The books gives lots of good tips on scholarships and testing for college. It has a lot of life and school advice, from study skills to financial advice. It helps you understand just how important high school is, no matter what type of high school you do. [public school, private school, homeschool, etc.] I really like the book. I like how it helps me plan for my future. It shows me things to think about that I wasn’t even thinking of. I think every kid and their parent should have to read it in their 8th grade year.

While this book is intended for 9th graders there is a chapter for 7th and 8th graders, as well as there is much to do the summer before 9th grade. My 8th grade son has been so excited to read this book and foresee what he wants for his future.

To see what others think of this check out this post. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

Papa’s Pearls {A Review}

2013-05-13T01:38:00.001-06:00

Papa’s Pearls is a book written by Diane Flynn Keith about her father’s upbringing and how he raised her. Throughout the book she shares some of the many bits of wisdom instilled in her throughout her life by her Papa.
Papa was a depression era kid who was raised on street smarts and headed down the wrong path. This book shares his story how he was able to turn his life around and become a successful business owner while the odds were against him and when no one believed in him. He did all this using the bits of wisdom shared throughout this book.

Each bit of Papa’s wisdom comes with a story that shares how it came to be. Many of the stories hit close to home for me. My Great Grandfather served in the CCC, so did Papa. Papa became a successful business owner, my Grandfather was a successful business owner.
This book is a short read, just over 100 pages and 17 chapters long. Once I started reading it, I had a hard time putting it down.
After reading it I brought up some of the bits of wisdom to my family, sharing with them in my own words the stories of Papa. This was able to create family conversations on character. We were each able to form our opinions on what happened and discuss them.

I really did enjoy this book as it took me back in time and I was able to take papa’s pearls of wisdom to heart with the stories.

Papa’s Pearls can be purchased here as an author autographed copy for $21.97, which includes shipping.

To see what others think of this check out this post. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

You looking to know what I am about?

2013-05-11T11:25:00.000-06:00

Here I am in 10 words:

This was created using Wordle.

This is part of the:

Week in Review {May 3, 2013}

2013-05-08T10:09:00.000-06:00

We have come a long way this week. I have changed a few things up a bit as far as chores and responsibilities. I will write up a post about that after I have given it a few weeks to see if it holds up. But we are part way into the second week of it and so far I am pleased.

You will see a few changes that have happed throughout this post.

One of the changes is that I have the older two take turns reading Katey science books out loud. This benefits from this are many. They get a brush up on science and reading out loud as well as bonding time and Katey gets her science in.

Another change is that I had each of the kids create “keepsake boxes”. They are basic paper, filing boxes and they can put special projects or items in as they wish. We talked about how they are not to be filled with junk. The items need to actually be special to them. I have hopes that we/they will go through them when they are full and decide again what is worth keeping.

I have created rewards for Katey to become motivated to do her schoolwork. She struggles to get through everything each day. She is excited to earn this Weather Kid Kit . She has to complete all of her schoolwork for 15 days to earn this.

Other Happenings

Softball season has started back up here and Emily is playing great this year. It is really neat to see how she improves each year. It is a sport she loves playing and she got on a really great team this year. She hasn’t witnessed or experienced any bullying, which she has seen on other teams. The real team commitment shows too. They haven’t lost a game yet. (knock on wood)

I let the younger kids have a picnic for dinner one night! They thought this was so neat since picnics at our house are usually for a snack or lunch.

One day I opened my fridge to find this!

A fridge full of animals.

We went to the store one day and they had bunnies. Tyler was so excited. He kept talking about how cute they were. He had to have his picture taken next to them.

We had gotten word that the Kyle Petty Ride for Charity was coming through our town. We decided to take a lunch break and head over to that.

We got to meet Kyle Petty.

We also got to meet Hershel Walker – NFL player.

School Happenings

Katey has been making amazing strides in math, thanks to Math U See. She started the book Beta in January and completed lesson 23 this week. I am going to order the next book for her to begin in about 3-5 weeks.

While she is still not where the state thinks she should be in reading I have seen her make vast improvements since the beginning of the year. I wondered if she was ever going to read. She is still sounding out words and working on some phonics rules, as well as fluency. It will all come to her if we just keep practicing. I am sure.

Tommy and Emily both had State CRT Testing this week and we spent time each day doing test prep in place of science. We continued in our history read aloud, Sacagawea. We are taking that slow and clicking on the links and following rabbit trails as they come. This has been great.

Emily has gotten to Chapter 15 in Life of Fred--Decimals and Percents . She is Life of Fred books. This is the second one she will complete this year.

She also began Hunter Education classes.

Her book of choice to read this week has been The Homework Machine .

Tommy has gotten to Chapter 27 in Life of Fred : Pre-Algebra 2 with Economics . This is also the second Life of Fred book this year for him.

He is almost through with the first module of English Grammar 101. This course has been perfect for him. Each lesson is short and to the point.

Tommy’s favorite subject has definitely been High School Prep. (Review coming soon) He has been reading through this daily and has gotten great advice from it. I love the motivation it is giving him to plan and prepare for his future.

He isn’t really into a book right now. His daily reading has come from many places, magazines, websites, or smaller books. I am hoping next week to get him into the new book series by Susan Marlow. Badge of Honor (Goldtown Adventures)

I am trying out a Paperless Home Organization System. (Review coming soon on that too). I can already see the time I am saving. WOW!! This is one I can’t wait to tell you all about!!

Disclaimer: There are affiliate links in this post. There are also freebies. There are also just links to products without affiliate links. I'm trying to show what we did and where you can find it, not to sell you a product...although if you decide to buy one of them, please feel free to use the links and support a fellow homeschooler. Thank you!

I am so scared…….

2013-05-07T07:30:00.000-06:00

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t live my days in fear. I know I am strong and I know God is in control.

However today’s challenge is to write about your biggest fear.

My biggest fear is losing my husband or kids.

My kids are my world. I couldn’t imagine life without them. They help me want to be a better person. I want to give them the best I can!!

My husband, he makes this all possible. He works hard and plays even harder. He supports me and us. Including 2 children that are not biologically his. You wouldn’t ever know that from the way he treats them.

This post is part of the Blog Every Day in May challenge.

Mother’s Day Gift Idea {giveaway}

2013-05-04T09:26:00.000-06:00

Stay Tuned – Giveaway Below

“Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Mother’s Day is right around the corner.

Do you know what you are getting your mom yet?

How about a gift that lasts all year long? A magazine subscription?

For a mom that is hard to buy for or an offspring that has a hard time deciding what to get this is a great idea.

Magazines.com has some great Mother’s Day deals going on right now. I was just able to quickly order a magazine subscription for my Grandmother and they send her a card notifying her of her upcoming subscription.

By setting up an account I was able to take the subscription off automatic renewal. That way I can decide next year if I want to change subscriptions or do something totally different.

I found the magazine subscriptions to be reasonably priced. They also have books, journals, calendars, movies, fragrance and more.

Website: http://www.magazines.com/special-offers/mothers-day-gifts-sale,default,sc.html?origin=mdbo

Facebook: www.facebook.com/magazines.com

Twitter: @magazines

About Magazines.com offers people a fun, easy way to discover new reads and helps them track their magazine subscriptions.

Shop the great magazine subscription deals at Magazines.comfor Mother’s Day 2013! You’ll find incredible savings on Mom’s favorite cooking, celebrity, crafting magazine subscriptions and more. Don’t forget about all the moms in your life—your aunt, sister and your grandmother! Give her a gift that keeps on giving!

I have the opportunity to giveaway a $10 gift certificate to Magazines.com. You can enter by commenting who you would get a magazine subscription for. (it can be yourself too, you know.) Be sure and leave your email address.

This contest is open until May 10, 2013 and the winner will be notified on May 11, 2013. It will most likely take the company a few days to get the gift code to you.

Quotes of my most favorite-est kind.

2013-05-04T06:50:00.000-06:00

One of my very most favorite quotes is

Build A Bridge and Get Over It

I just love it because I am not a grudge holder. I move on pretty quickly from things. I realize everyone is human and bound to say or do things that I don’t find kind or appropriate.

Everyone makes mistakes,

forgive and move on!

This has been part of the Blog Every Day in May Challenge.

Ring The Bell {movie giveaway}

2013-05-03T22:49:00.001-06:00

STAY TUNED!! GIVEAWAY BELOW

Ring The Bell is a very special movie about a baseball agent and an amazingly loving small town community.

Just when Rob Decker thinks everything that could go wrong does. He learns what life is really all about.

This movie was a hit at our house. We were all cheering for Rob to ring the bell. It is family friendly and worth watching.

About Ring the Bell:
Ring The Bell shares the story of a slick, big city sports agent Rob Decker who seems to have it all. But on his latest mission to sign a high school baseball superstar, Rob becomes stranded in a small town where the simplicity of life—and the faith of the people—stand in stark contrast to his own fast-paced, win-at-all-costs mindset. Torn between these two worlds, will Rob have the courage to let faith transform his life? This heartwarming story of redemption is sure to entertain and inspire the whole family.

Ring The Bell features a host of well-known Christian music artists, such as Mark Hall along with his band Casting Crowns, Steven Curtis Chapman, and Matthew West, all who play a role in this inspirational drama. Several former and current Major League Baseball all-stars are also featured in the film: ESPN analysts John Kruk and Rick Sutcliffe (a former Cy Young Award winner), along with Ben Zobrist.
This family-friendly movie was produced by Mark Miller, Beach Street Records' founder and Casting Crowns’ producer. Miller, who is also the lead singer and founder of country music group Sawyer Brown, co-wrote the script with Thomas Weber and Weber directed the production.

Ring the Bell is available on DVD for only $19.99

DVD Special Features:
The Heart of "Ring the Bell"

Casting Crowns “The Well” Music Video

On Set with Casting Crowns

Famous Faces

A Very Special Movie

Ringing the Bell

The Artists and Music of "Ring The Bell"

Website: http://ringthebellthemovie.com

Watch the Trailer: http://ringthebellthemovie.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RingTheBellTheMovie

Are you interested in watching this movie?

If so, your in luck!

You could win your very own copy.

Just leave a comment telling me you want to win.

Be sure and leave a way for me to contact you.

This contest will run through May 12. 2013. The winner will be notified May 13, 2013.

Thank YOU so much for entering!!

This is my daughter, educating you…..

2013-05-03T15:50:00.001-06:00

How to type a blog post.

First you need a topic such as, something you do every day, or just some fun thing that want to do.

Second you need to be able to have correct spelling and grammar, also use fancy words to make yourself sound sophisticated.

Third you need to write a rough draft then do all the other spelling things.

Well I’ve decided to just write this I’m bored and don’t really write blogs I’m just wasting time until mom catches me and tells me I need to finish my school so I’m going to start writing random things uhhh

My name’s Emily and I’m just wasting time blah blah blah blah I’m 12 blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Mtn. Dew blah blah blah bacon blah blah blah blah money blah blah blah do you know how hard it is to write a lot of blah blah’s this is boring how does mom do this this is like really boring she should get paid for this I’M BORED!!!!!!!!!!!! I should probably go do hunter education now but I don’t want to it takes FOREVER but I do need to finish all my school before softball practice

Kelsie is my best friend she’s awesome, funny, weird, just like me, and just plain crazy!!!!!!!!!

ok this is getting boring I ‘m done typing random things for like 10 minutes and she still hasn’t caught me!!!!!!!!!!!!!

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blabber jabber mouth eggs and bacon eggs and bacon eggs and bacon eggs and bacon eggs and bacon eggs and bacon eggs and bacon

This is part of

Uncomfortable….. Things that make me?

2013-05-03T11:36:00.000-06:00

Let me start of by saying I am a big night owl. BIG!

I could stay up until all hours of the night and sleep. all. day. EASY.

However I have these little people who live with me and wake up before the afternoon, (Can you believe it?) therefore I must get up and moving in the mornings no matter how late I stay up.

I was going to write about how uncomfortable I am when people show up at my door before 10 am and it is obvious I am just waking up, but now as I write this, I realize what really makes me uncomfortable is…..

Getting up in the morning.

Yep, that’s it!

This is part of the

Just a little note:

I wrote this post last night. LATE!

My Life Story in 206 words.

2013-05-02T15:42:00.001-06:00

I was born in Utah, moved to Colorado at a very young age. My parents got a divorce and I moved back to Utah with my mom in first grade, moved back to Colorado with my dad in 9th grade, moved back to Utah in 10th grade. I still live in Utah. I had my first child at the age of 18. Got married to a guy I knew much of my life (not the father of my first) had my second child at the age of 20. Bought my first house. Sewed my wild oats. Got divorced, age 22. I have always had and still have an amazing relationship with my ex husband. Sewed some more wild oats. Eloped to Vegas with a guy I knew only a month – to the day – age 23. Been happily married to him ever since. We had 2 more children. Bought and sold 2 houses. We made an incredibly brave decision to move over 200 miles away from anyone we knew for a job. Now we rent and can’t wait to buy again. We decided to homeschool when my oldest was in 3rd grade and have never looked back! I love being a mom and a wife.

This is part of the Blog Every Day in May challenge!

Hey God, I’ve Got Some Guy Named Jonah in My Stomach and I Think I’m Gonna Throw UP!!

2013-05-01T22:51:00.001-06:00

~GIVEAWAY~

I am sure you have heard the Bible story of Jonah and Whale, but have you heard the whales side of the story?

We were just sent Hey God, I’ve Got Some Guy Named Jonah in My Stomach and I Think I’m Gonna Throw UP!!

Written by Troy Schmidt

Illustrated by Cory Jones

This book shares the whales side of the story in a fun, entertaining way. We had so much fun reading this book. This book helps the story be even more memorable. It discusses how both Jonah and The Whale had to be obedient to God.

The eye catching illustrations throughout the book are so cute!

The end of the book has a Parents Guide with fun suggestions to do with your children to help them realize how hard this must have been for Jonah and The Whale.

There are suggestions of things to read, think and do.

Watch for other similar titles like this too.

Hey God, I've Got Some Guy Named Jonah in My Stomach and I Think I'm Gonna Throw Up!

Brought to you by B&H Kids, Available May 1, 2013.
This book is just $9.99 and will entertain you and your kids! Available here.

Website: http://www.bhpublishinggroup.com/books/products.asp?p=9781433679643

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/troyeschmidt

https://www.facebook.com/bhpublishing?fref=ts

Twitter: @troyeschmidt

About the Author:
Troy Schmidt has writing and video production credits ranging from assignments with Disney (The Mickey Mouse Club) and Nickelodeon to Max Lucado's Hermie franchise. He is currently the lead writer for The American Bible Challenge hosted by Jeff Foxworthy on the Game Show Network. Troy and his wife have three sons.
The series: This is just the first in a series! Other books available include Hey God, Can You Stop the Rain so I Can Get off Noah's Smelly Ark? and Hey God, I'm Having an Awful Vacation in Egypt Thanks to Moses!

So for the fun to begin I have a copy to giveaway to one lucky reader!!

To enter just leave a comment telling me you want to win. Be sure and leave an email address where I can get ahold of you! This contest will end May 12th and the winner will be notified May 13th.

F is for Family

2013-04-22T10:50:00.000-06:00

My family is incredibly important to me. I am sure yours is to you as well.

Family time is one of the main reasons we choose to homeschool.

We like to learn what we call Family Style, hence the name of my blog.

Our favorite way to learn and my favorite way to teach is Family Style. I like when we are all learning together. Don’t get me wrong we do some subjects individually. Math, Reading, Language and then I have the older kids in a much higher level science. I always include my younger kids in any experiments they are doing.

We also do history together. I do a read aloud living book. We also do other family activities. In fact, each day we take the afternoons and do family subjects.

One of my favorite sayings is

“We didn’t realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun!”

You planned, now what?

2013-04-21T08:54:00.000-06:00

Let’s say, you spend your entire Sunday night lesson planning for the following week. You have everything planned out, a schedule in place, all the supplies you need (you think), and you are feeling really good. Great, in fact, like this next week is going to be amazing. I mean just look at those pretty plans. You, my friend, are going to get so much done!
It’s Monday morning, you have kept your plans realistic, so you aren’t starting school at some crazy early hour like 9 am. No, you plan to gradually wake the children, let them come down to breakfast and get ready for the day {hahahaha}, and you have set an official start time of 10 am. So far things are going good, except for you forgot to plan breakfast, so the kids all decide on something different, bagels for one, cut fruit for another, one more wants cereal and the baby wants waffles (for every meal).   Fine, since you want this week to go so well with attitudes and all you decide fine they can all eat what they choose for breakfast. Then we will start school at 10 am you tell them.
It’s now 9:40 am and you call up to the kids, “20 Minutes” then come on down to get started. That is when the fighting starts,
“She’s taking to long in the bathroom”,
“If he would quit bugging me I would have been done by now.”
“Uh Oh, Mom, I spilled juice all over the floor!
One of the girls remains quiet. You go to make sure she knows, only to discover she has gone back to bed! UGHHH!
You will not give up hope yet, after all you spent so much time and effort planning! You left some wiggle room, you do know your family, after all.
This can still work, will it really matter if you start school a few minutes late?
10:30 rolls around and you finally see all children in the same room. You have already started the 2nd grader on her morning book work, You have the baby occupied doing puzzles and the older boy has begun his copy work and is moving on to math. You are feeling pretty good. Then you realize you are still missing a child.
“Hmmm, where could she be, I know I woke her up TWICE!!”
You go up and check, sure enough she is still in bed!!
You ask her why? What made her so tired today? She informs you about how she stayed up so late reading. She begins to tell you all about the book she is in.
You decide to let it slide, since she was up reading. You let her know she has 20 minutes to begin her morning independent work or else!
Heading back downstairs you find that the 2nd grader instead of doing her math is now doing puzzles with the 3 year old. Fine, they are getting bonding time.
“I need to get this breakfast mess cleaned up!”
By the time you get much of the mess cleaned up it is now 11.
You get the 2nd grader back on task by having her read a simple picture book to her little brother while you listen and switch out the laundry (which you left off your wonderful plan!)
Finally!!! Ms. Sleepyhead is up! You make sure she gets started right away on her morning independent work.
Hmmm, where is the 8th grader. He is supposed to be doing his independent work.
You go find him, in his room, working. You think, “I wonder if he heard me coming, or if he was working the entire time?” You may never know!
Now you spend some time reading aloud a silly chapter book to the two younger kids until it is time to start lunch! YES!!! This was on the plan. You do a little WHOOP WHOOP, in your head of course.
You make an amazing lunch of macaroni and cheese with ham and broccoli. You know casserole style. At lunch you read a One Minute Mystery and discuss it while you are all eating. Ahem, also on the plan!
After lunch, you do a family quick clean. (Yep, on the plan, things are looking okay!)
After the clean you decide to do your family subjects; history reading and science experiments.
You read aloud a chapter from Sacagawea. Sometime during the reading that baby heads upstairs to play with toys. (mmmhmmm, plan!)
You all move around the table, ready for science. The kids begin reading while you gather the simple supplies needed. Like a paper cup, a rubber band, some index cards…
“Wait, who used all the paper cups? I bought those specifically for this science!”
You decide you can improvise with plastic disposable cups you find in the back of the pantry.
“Ok, your behinds are saved. I think these will work.”
Yea, NO, they don’t. They are much to big and they crack to easily when the pressure that you need to apply is applied.
“Fine! Do you guys understand what this experiment is trying to teach you? Do you see how this could have worked?”
They say they do. You hope they really do.
The baby has joined you sometime in all this. It is nearing 3 pm and you decide it is time for a break.

You begin to play outside with the kids. (not on the plan, but it’s okay!)
You hear a scream!
You go running in the house!
Your 8 year old is crying, you try to figure out what is wrong.
“What? Where did you get hurt? What is going on?”
Between sobs you get out of her that her butterfly cage with the butterflies she has been raising for the past 6 weeks was tipped over and it’s not looking good. (NOT ON THE PLAN!)
You run upstairs and sure enough, tipped and the feeder leaked everywhere. 4 of the 6 butterflies did not survive what is now known as the butterfly massacre.
The 3 year old comes and says “Whoops, sorry.” as you are cleaning up the mess. Ah ha, a confession. That’s what he was doing.
After cleaning out the cage, and letting the survivors know how sorry you are, you go back outside.   Then the neighborhood kids begin to come out to play. You decide to head back in the house and switch that laundry again! (yes, on the plan!)
Your husband arrives home from work and wants to go to the store right then. You would love to go with him, so you do. (nope, not on the plan)
You head out to the one store in your small town, you look “real nice”. Real nice as in sweats and frizzy bun hair and no makeup. (betcha know what store I went to, huh?)
Of course, we run into someone he knows. (NOT ON THE PLAN!!) You try to act busy and hide. Not wanting to be seen. Then they acknowledge you.
“Hi! How are you doing?”
“Me, uummm, I’m good, just real busy!”   bye now, you think.
You are done – hungry and just want to go home and hide under your covers of embarrassment.
Your husband gets what he was after and you head home.
You keep your menu plan flexible so you choose a quick and easy dinner for tonight from it.
While cooking your 3 year old has an accident, in his underwear. (NOT ON THE PLAN)
You get him upstairs, give him a quick shower and get him in pajamas. Then the smoke alarm goes off. You realize you forgot to turn the heat down on the stove. CRAP!!!
“Honey, let’s just go get something to eat.”
You go to your favorite little Mexican Restaurant and everything is great.
You come home and get everyone ready for bed and clean up from the dinner you cooked.
You get the kids in bed. Being quite sure to inform them not to read past 10pm.
You sit on the couch and think, what can I write that has to do with plans failing.
Hmmm.

You see I know nothing about plans not falling apart.
No matter how hard I try, life happens.
Something I have come to realize is that the less I plan, the better off our days actually are. The more we actually get done, or so it seems.

Click to read more stories about what happens “When Things Don’t Go As Planned”

This post is part of

A little note for you: Not everything in this story is true. Some of it is fictional. Yea, yea, that’s it. : }

E is for Exercise

2013-04-20T09:12:00.000-06:00

Well, here it is. It’s that time of year again for me. I want to be more in shape and healthier. I don’t know why I don’t feel the same in the winter. I always tend to eat more fruits and veggies in the spring and summer. I also have somewhat of a desire to work out. I have been struggling with that this past little while.

I will start out really great. Doing about 30 minutes of hardcore – to me – exercise each morning. Then something comes up and I take a day off.

One turns into ummmm, a long time. Then the cycle starts all over. I even joined an online exercise support group and they encourage me and let me know that it’s okay to fall. Just get back up and try again.

That is what I am here today doing.

I will begin exercising each day for 20 minutes of focused exercises.

I will exercise 20 out of the next 30 days.

That has to be doable for me. HASTA!!

Anyone have a routine they recommend?

Hopefully next week for F I am not writing about Failure!!

This is linked to:

Check out what others are blogging about for the letter E.

Sacagawea {an interactive e-book review}

2013-04-19T00:07:00.001-06:00

Knowledge Quest is a fairly well know company in homeschool circles. They are most well known for the vast variety of maps and history resources they offer. We were lucky enough to be able to use a new product. We received Sacagawea (Brave Explorers Every Child Should Know) Complete PDF e-book. Ages 10+ ($4.97) Written by Karla Atkins.

Now this isn’t just any old e-book about Sacagawea. This 4 part series has been put together to make one complete book. The book takes you through the beginning of Sacagawea’s life to her death. This book has interactive links, clear throughout the book. Many words take you to great websites or pictures or even just descriptions. This created rabbit trails for us and left my children wanting to know more.

This 16 chapter book is 112 pages long in iBooks. The interactive-ness of this book has made it so it has taken us a lot longer to get through then regular books. We only clicked on links that interested us. It was very convenient to have them there.

My family did enjoy this book, including my 8 year old.

To see what others think of this check out this post. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

This is Our Time {Giveaway}

2013-04-18T12:24:00.000-06:00

My family recently had the a wonderful afternoon. We spent it watching a great movie, that was family friendly too!

We watched This is Our Time a movie from Pure Flix. This movie is about 5 recent college graduates that head out into the “real world” to do what they THINK God has planned for them. You follow these five people each going through different things. Marriage, charity work, corporate America, as well as one who just doesn’t know what his God-given-purpose is. He feels left behind by God.

These 5 people make an incredible impression on you about how life happens how God wants it to, not necessarily how you want it to.
Website: http://www.christiancinema.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=4565

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisIsOurTimeMovie
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmjQe2onm6s

Check out the Rafflecopter for how to win a copy for your family!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

"Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

The Homeschool Mothers Journal ~ Turkey Hunt Edition

2013-04-18T07:24:00.000-06:00

In my life this week… We have been gearing up for the opening of the Turkey Hunt. My son drew out on an early season tag. We spent the first part of the week schooling packing and getting our trailer ready to go camping. Tommy and I had to fix a broken water pump. After research and trying a few things we figured out it was just a blown fuse. We were able to fix it quickly. The second half we went up camping. It was cold the entire time. The first night we just chose a quick spot and set up for the night. BIG MISTAKE!! Since our trailer wasn’t level our furnace didn’t work properly. BRRR. It was cold all night. It was opening morning and as soon as the boys got back from hunting we decided to move the trailer to a better camp site, one where we could level the trailer. We moved and had a great rest of the day. The boys were back and forth between camp and some hunting spots. It was so cold and windy that we decided to head home that night after dinner. No turkey yet. They are blaming it on the weather. Yea, that’s it, the weather.

In our homeschool this week… We have been really slacking in our formal schoolwork. We are sure to fit in the reading, and math each day. We were lucky if we were able to get much more done than that. I figure a little easy week is good for us sometimes. We are getting back at it full swing slowly this week. We did get a few Physics Quest lessons in.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… Slow times are okay. There are times like today that one of my kids goes through 5 math lessons in one day. Other days we are lucky to get through 1/2 a lesson. It all ends up working out in the wash.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… Camping and Turkey Hunting.

My favorite thing this week was… The fact that even though conditions were definitely not perfect, my family and I were able to enjoy the adventure.

My kiddos favorite thing this week was… Katey’s favorite thing this week was that she started her Handmaidens of Virtue class. She has been so excited and patiently waiting for it to start. She is even keeping track of it on a calendar. Emily had her first two softball games this week. A double header. Her team won both, and Emily played like a champ!

Things I’m working on… not getting angry so quickly. I am also supposed to be working on getting up earlier. However as I sit here typing this at 1am. I see the flaws in staying up late.

I’m cooking… Soups and Bread. We are just in a soup and bread mood around here with all this cold weather.

I’m grateful for… shelter and heat!

I’m praying for… My father-in-law. He had hip replacement surgery this week, all went well and he his healing great! Of course all the people affected by the bombings in Boston and around the world. Our Soldiers. The people in West Texas. My husband as he travels through some pretty rough storms.

I rewarded my kids this week by… letting them have an easy week.

Something I am ogling or have my eye on…

I really want to make this Sopapilla Cheesecake. I had it at a funeral a few months ago and I can’t get it off my mind.

Leadership Garden {A review that changed my life}

2013-04-16T22:22:00.001-06:00

I was recently sent a kit from The Leadership Garden.

Included in my kit was:

The Leadership Garden Guidebook $18.95
U.N.I.Q.U.E. Growing the Leader Within, paperback $18.95 and audiobook $14.95
U.N.I.Q.U.E. KIDS Growing My Leadership Garden, paperback $18.95 and audiobook $8.95
U.N.I.Q.U.E. KIDS Activity Guide & My Leadership Garden Journal - PDF Downloads $8.95

Check below for a discount code good for my readers!

What is The Leadership Garden?
Leadership Garden empowers young people and old six leader-friendly gardening practices.

Be nonjudgemental
Do not enable
Use empathy
Prune gossip
Eliminate blame
Eradicate victimization

These six practices are the core of The Leadership Garden Legacy. Imagine a world where people like this are the norm! How great would that be?
The acronym U.N.I.Q.U.E. is used often.

Understanding

Nurturing

Inventive

Quality

Unstoppable

Expression

U.N.I.Q.U.E. KIDS Growing My Leadership Garden

This book is written for 8-12 year olds. A lost sheep named Hugh meets a gardener named Leda. Leda shows him how to “plant a courageous seed”. Annabelle is a Border Collie that takes him on tour around the farm where Hugh meets other animals that help him plant other leadership seeds along the way. Hugh uses experiences from his past to help him change into the leader and sheep (person) he wants to be. At the end of each chapter are “Hugh wants to know”. This is where Hugh asks you [the reader] questions about your experiences and thoughts.

U.N.I.Q.U.E. Growing the Leader Within

This book is written toward adults and is somewhat similar to the kids book about as using Hugh, the sheep, and other animals along with the gardener to go through all of the different parts of the garden. This book uses the authors real life (sometimes traumatizing) experiences. You still apply the things to your own life and there are questions and activities to for you to personalize and act upon. These build upon one another.

The Leadership Garden Guidebook

This book is more of an activity workbook to go along with both of the above books. It is written so that it can be used interchangeably with both the books above. There are still tidbits of information and writings in this book along with the worksheets.

The U.N.I.Q.U.E. Kids Activity Guide and Leadership Garden Journal

This PDF book was full of activities that will hit home for the younger ones. It relates the message of how to reach your full potential in a fun kid friendly way. Some of the fun activities are taking a Brain Field Trip, a You Presentation and more.

What I thought and how it has already changed and is changing my life!

For me and us this came at the perfect time. I was at a slump in my life. Don’t get me wrong I am happy. It is more of a slump within myself. I wanted to be proud of who I am, what type of mom, friend, wife, teacher, etc. that I am. Using these materials has showed me just who is in charge of that. I am! I make me who I am. I cannot let anyone else decide who I am. I choose how I act and how I react. I am in control. That has been so empowering for me.

I have been doing this right along side my children. I have been reading the adult book and they have been reading the kids book. We have all been doing the activities out of the adult guide book. We I do not make them share their experiences or feelings unless they choose to. I do glance at their writings, more of a journal throughout this process, to be sure they are participating. I think that them knowing that I am not going to be reading what they write they are able to be more open and honest. They are teenagers after all.

We decided to make this simple quote poster. We are just jotting down quotes throughout these books and this process that stick out to us. Everyone is allowed to add quotes to the board. This was it when we first started it.

It is so empowering to know that we are using these tools to better ourselves. It is nice for us all to know we are all on our own journey, together.

Here is the discount I told you about earlier!
Leadership Garden Legacy is offering the TOS Community a “Spring Special Discount” of 20% on all their Empowerment Tools. This is in addition to their already discounted Tool Kit bundles.
To receive your discount, enter the discount code: TOS-SS20D upon checkout. This code will expire on May 31, 2013.

To see what others think of this check out this post. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.