Monday, May 16, 2011

Fruits and Nuts Review for Shining Dawn Books

Last week I was lucky enough to win an ebook called Fruits and Nuts to review by Shining Dawn Books.  I am so glad that I won this too!  I have read through it but let me tell you, I can't wait to try it for homeschool!

So the first thing that I loved was this was all put together with all of these different activities, before I got it!  I didn't have to plan and try to come up with activities or different materials to use.  And honestly, I wouldn't have thought of using art or music with fruit and/or nuts in it!

Having 3 pages of activities for outdoors, 4+ pages for hands on activities and just over 6 pages of writing and research ideas!  Ideas such as "Play a blindfold fruit and nut game" and the instructions are included; What is Grafting?; Which Fruits & Nuts are poisonous?" and many more!

To finish off the unit lessons there are Bible lessons, poetry, artists and picture study, books, composers & music and related internet links.  There was about 30 pages of notebooking!  Even pages to help with Nature Clubs or Co-ops and having a scavenger hunt!

Another factor that I loved was that this was perfect to use for kids of all ages.  It is extremely easy to adapt to each age group and still teach them all at the same time.

I can't wait until I can order another one of these books for a unit study.  Check them out here at Shining Dawn Books.  Fruits and Nuts is available for $8.95 and is 64 pages of wonderfully fruit filled information by Cindy West and Melissa Leach.

Marriage the Christian Way

Do you ever feel like there are times in your life when God is subtly trying to tell you something?

A few weeks ago, I took my son into the doctor for an appointment.  When I left my house and hubby, all was well.  He was going to wait for us to get home because he had a dr. appointment also.  The dr. appointment was not very long at all, one of the benefits of going in before any of the birds are singing outside. 

When the kids and I got home, we knew that Dad was gone.  We wondered where he was since he was waiting for us to go to his dr.  We searched through the house and no Dad.  I searched outside and no Dad.  There wasn't any note from him telling us where he went. 

There was evidence though that something was amiss.  His bracelets were on the table, and he wears them everyday.  Doesn't leave the house without it.  He also always is armed with his pistol, and I found that in the closet. 

I called next door to see if he was there and no one answered.  My sister-in-law lives next door.  I walked over towards the house and couldn't hear them talking.  I can always hear Greg talking through the house!  All of the lights were even off.

After searching more and not finding him, I decided that I had better start asking some questions.  I called his friend to see if he had picked him  up.  Nope, not there.  So I went over and knocked on his sister's door and woke her up.  She thought maybe he went to the hospital.  She saw that an ambulance was here, came over to see, saw Greg was sitting up and alright and went back home so he didn't have an audience.

So the kids and I came back here and called the ER by our house. 

Yep, he was there.  He had been having chest pains and called himself an ambulance.

As I sat in the hospital room with him, waiting for the results of all of the tests they were running, I was thinking about marriage.  I can be selfish a lot.  I am not always the nicest person to my husband.  There are times when I  am selfish, rude and impatient with him.  I was thinking of all these things and reminding myself that this could have been it.  This could have been the time when something went wrong and I am in this parenting thing and marriage alone. 

I started to think back to the material that I was reading from Eternal Encouragement, formerly TEACH Magazine.  I had received a bundle pack on marriage to read.  There were so many stories and uplifting articles to promote and honor marriage.  I thought back on what I had read recently and knew that I was not being the best wife that I could be.  And Greg deserved more than that.

The Marriage Bundle that I received included 5 e-books, 7 e-booklets and2 back issues from TEACH Magazine to read articles and stories about marriage, and the other 2 were audio recordings.  The value of this bundle is over $100 but you can order this for $39.99 for the electronic download version or you can order the shipped version and pay $49.99.  There are currently 19 different bundles to choose from, including topics on Character Training, Family Time, Godly Women and Homeschooling.  You can check these out on Eternal Encouragements website.

The information in these bundles are sure to be something that opens your eyes.  It is always nice to read about marriage from a Christian point of view too!  There is no slander from Mrs. Lorrie Flem about marriage.  She is nothing but positive and godly while teaching us the way to be Christian wives and mothers.  The Lord has definitely blessed her with information to share with Christian women.

I wonder if God was trying to teach me my selfishness and ungodly ways of living by Greg going into the hospital.  This event made me stop and examine my marriage and the ways that I don't live up to what God wants me to be.  My husband deserves so much more of me than I give him and this seemed like a gently push from my Heavenly Father to shape up.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Progress Is Being Made

Lately we have been quite slack over here in our homeschooling.  There is so much going on right now and I am almost feeling overwhelmed by it all.  It's not really BIG things, just little things that take a lot of my time or thoughts. 

I think for the rest of the year, I am going to concentrate on the math and english.  We do really well on the other subjects and those are easier to get done.  But we really need to do some work on the math, like memorizing the addition table for starters.  Then Bubba and I need to get going with his Hooked on Phonics and Stinky needs to scoot with her Rod and Staff English series. 

What I really need to do is get myself organized so that I can let them get their work done on their own while I'm dealing with some of the other messes going on around here.  Like I need to have their work all ready for them each morning.  Then they can do whatever they can on their own and I can help if they need help. 

I just really need to get on the ball!

We will definitely be working a little bit longer into June than I had planned.  But that's ok with me.  That's the beauty of homeschooling!