What's for dinner at your house tonight? Is anyone actually cooking, or are you all going to snack around the clock until the New Year?

I'm going to make turkey burgers. I am not fond of the frozen beef burgers you can find in the store, and I don't like making burgers from scratch, because I like mine perfectly round and just the right thickness, and well, I can't do that!

Have you heard of La Cense Beef before? Well I had seen them on the web, but have never ordered from them. Lisa Cooking, is giving the bloggers and commenters out in cyberspace a chance to win, 2 lbs of ground steak and 2 petite sirloin steaks from them. And while, the ground steak won't make it to burgers in my home, I'm sure it would make a yummy meatloaf!
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If you come back tomorrow and read my blog, you will see a post on how we plan our Disney Vacations.

One of the biggest things, is just the waiting. The booking, and pricing, and scheduling is not nearly as bad as the waiting. One of the things that helps me "get through" is making lists, and thinking of all the things we'll need to get, to make it through a couple of weeks away from home.

With a transatlantic cruise on the horizon, a few extra goodies, for that 24 hour trip home from Barcelona, will likely be needed.

A Little Bit Nutty; has a great giveaway going on at their blog, that I would love to win. They are giving away one of the new Zenses games for the Nintendo DS, targeted not for kids but for women over 25 (yes, that would be me!).

I think that would help whittle away the hours tediously waiting in airports and on planes!

If you too would like a chance to win, head on over to A Little Bit Nutty for your chance.
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One of my favorite stores to buy clothes for Genius is The Children's Place. Their prices are fantastic, and the quality is decent for the price. For some reason she is in love with the running shoes we can get from there, and that's all she'll wear on her feet most days. The only sad thing is, that in a couple of years she'll probably have outgrown their sizes :(

But I'd love to be able to buy a couple of new things for her right now, including a pair of these very cute Glacial PJs. Genius loves pajamas, and can often be caught wearing them all day......

If you go to "Stop Looking At Me" and leave a comment about your favorite pjs available at Children's Place on her post, you can be entered to win a $30.00 gift card for Children's Place, so you can pick up those much coveted pjs or something else your kids need!
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By now if you are a regular reader of my blog, you know our family loves all things Disney! When we were on the cruise, we were treated to a special digital 3D showing of Bolt. What a great movie!
The songs in this movie, like most Disney ones, were great and I love soundtracks like that, our whole family can enjoy them.

Momsational and Walt Disney has put together a prize pack of cds that you can win. They include, the soundtracks from Bolt and Camp Rock as well as the Disney Box Office Hits Compilation.

If you want to enter this giveaway, head over to Momsational today!
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I was fortunate to receive the Building Thinking Skills - Level 3 Figural, from the Critical Thinking Company to review, as part of the TOSCrew.

This book has not remained untouched, since the day it came into my home! Genius immediately gravitated towards it, and started doing the workbook pages. "This is a real fun thing to do Mom" she said. GASP! Of course that left me beaming!

This particular book, has a whole slew of higher order thinking activities, that help students work out problems and questions in reading, writing, math and science.

I personally am not new to The Critical Thinking Company. Because of the design of their books, and that some of them have photocopy permissions, it is perfect for homeschool co-ops as well. I have been a helper in a class that used earlier levels for both 3&4 and 5&6 graders. The kids have all loved it, and have said that critical thinking has been one of their favorite classes.

The Level 3 Figural book, covers grades 7-12+, so there are a variety of difficulties in the assignments, and fortunately for mom and dad, there is an answer guide included as well!

This is definitely an area that I feel homeschooling has an advantage over public schooling, as there usually is not enough time in a public school day, for students to engage in activities like this, that are (as the name implies) critical for life skills.

If you've never tried one of these books before I encourage you to go to their website, and pick one up suitable to your family. There are so many neat products there, you may be browsing for a while. I hope you will be as impressed as I have been, they are the #1 selling thinking skills program in the world, and with good reason!
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With rigid discipline Genius goes through her math assignments each day. She has always liked, and excelled at math, which has made finding a good math curriculum difficult, since I suck at math.

Math Mammoth, is one of the many vendors, who has generously let me try out their curriculum, for the TOSCrew. I was given to use with Genius, the Grade 7 worksheets Pre-Algebra. A little bit of a misnomer, as while some of this is grade 7 math, a lot of it is 8th grade math. Which makes sense since Math Mammoth's next workbook after that is Algebra I, which most students take in 9th grade.

This past month has been a frenzy of activity for us. (I'm sure a lot of you are nodding at this point!). Being year-round schoolers, I did not want to put school aside every time something came up. Math Mammoth has been perfect for this. Since I received the pdf version of these workbooks, I was able to print off a couple of sheets when I knew we would be out and about, and take them with us for Genius. (All the workbooks are available in a print form as well.) While Genius was about as excited as a storm trooper to be doing math on the plane and in the airport, it made me feel good, as I knew there would be a lot of wasted time if I didn't put her to work! (haha).

The sheer number of problems in these two workbooks are astounding. Every topic within 7th and 8th grade math is covered. I know, because of switching schools 3 years in a row, Genius has covered 7th and 8th grade math a couple of times or more! But what is ever so helpful to me is....the answer key! Which every parent who is not good at math, will hold dear to their heart.

The only con for me, as a parent who is not good at math, is that the gold workbooks that we reviewed, or just that workbooks. Nothing else. There is no teaching involved in these. There are no examples or explanations either. Now Genius is quite adept at math, and has been one or two grades ahead of herself since 5th grade, and she thought some of the problems were hard, not necessarily because they were, but because of the wording Maria Miller uses in the word problems, that she was not accustomed to. I too after looking over a question, and then checking the answer key, thought some of the problems were worded in a way that one may interpret them differently than what was intended.

Now, that is limited to the gold workbooks, the blue series and light blue series, all are teaching curriculum. I suppose students who start with those, would have no problems using and completing the gold worksheets.

In any case, Genius prefers we use something else for her math lessons. But this mom, will keep these on hand, for the inevitable time that more practice is needed for a certain topic that she is struggling with, it is a nice handy backup for that. I am always searching over the internet when that happens, and this will for sure get used in the future, saving me a lot of time and grief!

The Math Mammoth pdfs are available for almost instant download at a number of retailers, and are very affordable. The ones we reviewed are $6.00 & $6.50 respectively and the answer keys are only $2.00 more. Maria has a number of packages on her site, that make it even more affordable if you are bundling products. I really recommend these as backups to your current math program, since you only have to print the ones you need it is economical, and reusable for future students. If you have a younger child in elementary school, the blue/light blue series books, may be worth trying for a whole curriculum option.
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This Destination Disney is all about being "Decked Out"

Heidi encouraged us to make the theme "our own" so this is my take on "Decked Out" Disney style.

A Decked Out Castle.

A Decked Out Pirate. (Elizabeth Swann's Chinese Pirate look)

A Decked Out Gingerbread House. (Complete with Hidden Mickey on the back roof).


How about two mice on the deck, does that count as "Decked Out"? lol maybe not

I'd love to see your pictures capturing the theme "Decked Out" come join us at Destination Disney hosted at Reviews by Heidi.
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National Security Mom: Why
National Security Mom, a brand new book authored by Gina Bennett, mom of 5, and senior counter-terrorist analyst, explains why going "soft" will make America strong.

From the preface: The strength and security of my family is not dependent upon our home security system. It stems from the good example my husband and I set for our children and the unconditional love we consistently demonstrate. Our nation’s security is not dependent upon the lack of terrorist attacks. Our security rests with the endurance of our values and principles of democracy and our commitment to them. Our strength is not the projection of power or the absence of challenge. It is the character our nation demonstrates when challenged that makes America strong and secure.

Don't we need more of that in America? The book is currently available at Amazon.com, both in Hardcover and Kindle. You can get to the hardcover book, using the link at the top of this post.

The publishers of National Security Mom, are allowing me to give away the following:

I'm giving away one copy of Everything We Need To Know About National Security We Can Learn From Kids.

This beautifully illustrated 20-page book brings kids into the conversation, empowering them to teach adults how to be good citizens.

To win this great children's book, not available in stores, leave a comment telling me about a time you had to deal with a security issue, whether it be at an airport, with police, or something else. That's it!

All comments must have an email address in their profile or included in their post.

This giveaway is open US addresses only.

Giveaway will end January 21st @ 10:00 am CST.

One winner will be chosen randomly and will have 5 days to claim your prize.

Comments not adhering to the rules, will be deleted.

By far my favorite park of the 4 Disney has to offer, this is the day we went to Epcot. Because it is so educational, we counted it as a day towards our 180 that the state requires us to have for schooling. What a hardship!

At the entrance to the park they have a cute group of topiaries decorated for Christmas!

We made our way around to Mission Space. I have never ridden this before, but took a chance at taking the "green" flight, as opposed to the "orange flight" that Genius and Hubby took. Then we headed over to Test Track (I love that ride!). Went through Ellen's energy dream with Bill Nye, and then headed over to the Living Seas with Nemo. Personally I was disappointed with that. The last time we were at Epcot, they were renovating it into the current ride. I much preferred the Living Seas as it was before, as an underwater sea base. Oh well, I suppose families with younger children will get more out of it the way it is now perhaps.

Had to take a Journey into the Imagination with Figment, and then we made our way to the World Showcase.

As a family we play WoW, a massive multiplayer online game, which just game out with an expansion which is situated in a land called "Northrend". Which mimics Norway in places quite a bit. We had to take a picture of the Norway pavillion, rode the Maelstrom through the fjord, so we could tell all our online buddies that we went to Northrend for our vacation lol!

A stop at the China pavillion was very cool. Seeing the stone guardians, (which in reality would have been taller than me!), and watching the acrobatics of the child troop was phenomenal.

We took in all the countries and then rounded out the day at the Canadian pavilion. Mostly because they FINALLY have a new movie in there. The last movie was so outdated. Martin Short makes the movie a lot more interesting. However, I have a huge complaint with the department of tourism though. The last time I checked, Canada has 10 provinces, the movie completely overlooked two of them, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The latter of which we are from. Hmph. Oh well, I head over to the gift shop to get some yummy MacIntosh Toffee, the best Canadian treat there is, and THEY DON'T HAVE ANY!!! agh, those Canadians (roll eyes here). lol.

Well back to the hotel. We must pack for the magical Disney luggage team, will pick up our luggage early tomorrow, to take it to our stateroom on the ship. We can hardly wait!
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Last spring, when I was choosing a spelling program for Genius to use, I felt discouraged, like walking on a treadmill and getting nowhere. There was plenty of curriculum for spelling out there, but none that jumped out at me and said "use me". But then I didn't know about All About Spelling at the time.

Spelling is a sore point with Genius. She does not like it. This program actually made it fun she said.

When it first arrived, and I opened the box, I was very busy. I wanted to be sure I had everything ready for our first lesson. That required a lot of cutting. A lot. However, let it never be said that the customer service of All About Spelling is lacking. So many of the reviews that have already been posted from the TOSCrew said the same thing, and they decided to have the cards that we needed to cut, will be now "perforated" instead, so if you decide to use the program, your hands won't ache like mine did! What a great company. In any case, the next day we started All About Spelling.

There are four levels to the program (with a fifth level to be released in 2009), and while Genius has mastered the words at that level, we decided to start with it anyway. Using phonogram cards, sound and syllable segmentation, manipulatives, flash cards and more, your child will be well on the road to spelling phrases such as "the pink pig" and "big clamshell" by the time they have finished level one.

There are a few things I really like about the program.

The first one is the Key Cards. Rather than just giving the student a list of words, having them memorize them and calling it a day. All About Spelling teaches Spelling Rules. Why we spell words the way we do (kind of like the "i before e, except after c, or when it makes the sound ay"). What I found so interesting is that before using this program with Genius, I didn't even know some of the rules. How neat, that even I was learning something at such a basic level.

The second thing I really like about this program is the review. All About Spelling, is constantly reviewing phonograms, words, key cards, from lessons before to make sure the student is mastering the concepts, and retaining them. I love that in any curriculum.

There is a nice little reward chart included, made to look like a honeycomb that has a spot for each of the 24 lessons. When a child, finishes the lesson, they can put a stamp or sticker on it. Genius at 12 still thought that was fun, and eagerly waited each day to fill it in!

The packages are complete for the All About Spelling material - each level costs $29.95 and has everything in it for both the student and teacher. If you want to teach the program to more than one child at a time, then you will need to buy and extra set of manipulatives. An additional material packet is $12.95, and extra letter tiles are $9.95. If you are unsure of what you will need in your home or what level to start in, the customer service at All About Spelling is sure to help you out.

The fact that after finishing this review, I will continue to use the All About Spelling program, shows that it has my endorsement. We are part way through the level two book now, and Genius does not dread spelling lessons anymore!
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As the year draws closer to an end, I have much to be thankful for - one of those things is having been picked to be on the TOSCrew. I have been able to see and use hands on so many products and services for the homeschool community that I otherwise would never have been introduced to.

One of the services I was able to access was Puppetools. This is a for fee website that offers a lot of help when it comes to making and using puppets. With a big resource center for educators, you can learn about construction and design of puppets to the science of puppet play and much in between.

Kids, love to learn using puppets, and you can see this by the videos and puppets that the site shows. With hundreds of pictures of puppets made by real kids, the imaginations can soar!

With 37 puppet patterns and a unique hinge design that can all be downloaded using Adobe to make your own puppets, this could have your children busy for hours, making and playing out many of things that they have been taught during their school day. Or you could use them as part of your curriculum, to spice up that math or social studies lesson!

Unfortunately, while we as a homeschool crew were able to review this, the site itself for the cost options is designed more for a larger group such as a co-op, church or a school to use. While the subscription to the site has a lot that goes with it, a year membership to access it is $99.00. However, up to 30 users can share that subscription so again, it may be worth it for a larger group to use it. They also offer a $20.00 trial subscription where you would have complete access to the website and everything on it for 60 days. There was some mention on our Crew front that Puppetools was going to offer a family/homeschool subscription rate for the same cost as the trial, but as of right now, it is not offered on the site. If you are interested in that you could use the contact us button on the left side of the screen on Puppetools homepage and inquire about that.

So if your children or students at your co-op perhaps like to make believe, act out stories from books, learn from shows like Sesame Street, or enjoy crafting this may be a website you'd like to try. At the very least go check it out and form your own opinion! Read the full story

I had not mentioned up to this point about the new banner at the top of my page. Yep, when we were on our past cruise, we booked a Transatlantic Cruise for 2010 where we will leave from Port Canaveral and sail all the way to Barcelona, Spain on the fabulous Disney Magic!

That will mean some new luggage requirements though, as we simply don't have enough for a two week journey like that for the three of us, and the stuff we do have right now is looking kind of ragged.

Lucky for me, I entered the Land's End Giveaway at Petit Elefant blog. The winner will have their choice of three different items (hee hee, sounds like my blog!), one of which is a rolling duffel bag, which would be perfect as a carry on for Genius on our next vacation.

Hurry though the contest ends at Midnight EST tonight!
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Have you seen all the new "attachment" products out there? There are Jibbitz to add to your Crocs, PackNacks to add to binders and bags, well Ficklets is one for glasses!

I love them! With three eyeglass wearers in the house - and only one new pair a year for each - it's easy to get tired of your "look" a few months into wearing them.

Very inexpensive, you could change the look on your eyewear to please your mood, more frequently than you can afford a new pair of glasses.

Lisa reviews is having a contest on her blog to win three sets of Flickets. Hurry though it ends today at 8 PM CST. Read the full story

Formerly known as MGM Studios, Disney Hollywood Studios is where the movie magic comes to life!

Every trip to the park has us starting at Star Tours.

This being one of our favorite rides when Genius was younger....has now been replaced with more thrilling stuff like the Rock n' Roller Coaster. (not for me though, I'm not going upside down, nope!)

I got the coolest t-shirt in the gift shop there though, It is black and in large white letters on the front it says "Judge me by my size do you?" and on the back it has a picture of Yoda, with a mickey hat on, eating a Mickey Bar trying to get on a ride, but he's too short! LOL. For all of you who don't know me in person I'm 4'9" tall, so I get a lot of "would you like the children's menu?" stuff, and now that Genius is growing, I'm often regarded as her "sister".



A view back in time -- this is a great way to chronicle a child's growth, if you frequently visit the same places. Take a picture at the same spot, and watch them grow!

A tour of some of the props used in Prince Caspian, was a little disappointing. The movie was great though, we saw it for the first time on the Cruise Ship (Hubby and myself that is, Genius had already seen it with Youth Group). == The broken stone table.

The most impressive of all though was The Osborne Lights - we have never seen them before, and I think I liked them more than the fireworks at Magic Kingdom.


Since we would be leaving in just two days at this point for our cruise in the Disney Magic I couldn't help but take this picture of one of the shop facades.


What a wonderful day it was, and thankfully a little warmer than the past two had been. Tomorrow we head to Epcot, stop by and see all the fun we had there!
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Are you looking for something entertaining yet still educational for your children to do, while you are busy trying to get all those holiday things done?

Check out my post at The Homeschool Classroom, to find out where you can surf to get it!
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I don't know what exactly it was that I was expecting, but never having been to Disney over the holidays, and Disney being Disney, I expected more....more decorations that is. Don't get me wrong Main Street looked beautiful, but I found the rest of the park really lacked. I had heard that The Haunted Mansion and It's a Small World were decorated differently than their normal facades at Christmas, but either we were there too early or they did not do it this year, or....it was done very subtly and I missed it. Oh well. It sure felt like Christmas, it was cold, 57 degrees. How disappointing.

The characters doing a show for the park opening.

We headed to Tomorrowland first. Rode Space Mountain, and then grabbed Fast Passes to ride it again. Then headed over to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Took in the new Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor, where Genius got to take part in some of the audience participation. She got to tell them where she lived and the monsters pointed out the highlights of our great city (wrongly I might add, however that was what made it so hilarious!) That was fun...Buddy, a monster in there is both psychotic and telepathetic (I mean psychic and telepathic....lol). Interestingly enough, the Timekeeper which occupied that space prior, is a show that we never went to in all our years of Disney going. Strange.... Took a ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and then headed over to FantasyLand.

I am not a Teacup fan, so Genius and Hubby did that one alone.

We did Mickey's Philharmagic show which is one of my newer favorite attractions. Rode It's a Small World, where Genius was frightened that the dolls would come after her...(it's a long story, but basically part of Kingdom Keepers, The: Disney After Dark
, based on what Disney is like at dark when the park closes. I suggest if you are a Disney fan that you read it, it's quite good!). Made an excursion in flying boats on Peter Pan, and rode Snow White.

A trip on the Thunder Mountain Railroad came next.

It was just to cold to brave Splash Mountain, the thought of walking around wet in that cool weather, did not appeal to me! The Hall of Presidents (much to Genius's relief, she didn't want to do anything "educational" that day!) is under refurbishment, probably due to the new president to be inaugurated.

Off to Adventure Land. Pirates of the Caribbean, the Tiki Room, Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, and the Jungle Cruise rounded it out, before we stopped for dinner.

Another trip on Space Mountain and a stop at the Carousel of Progress before making our way to find spots for Spectromagic Parade and Fireworks.

Here was the first highlight of the evening - Cinderella's Castle with icicles!

Spectromagic was awesome. Peacock Float and Fish Float.

See how chilly we were? Gloves in Florida, how absurd is that? lol.

It was a great day with (what else? lol) lasting memories, that we will cherish for a long time.

Stay tune, because Day 3 is all about Disney Hollywood Studios! Read the full story

Orlando, Florida - December 2, 2008

I really don't want to stand in line, but if you've ever been to Disney you know that is unavoidable.

We arrived at Orlando Airport before 11 AM, stood in line to get tickets to board, Disney Magical Express...stood in line to get on the bus for the resort....stood in line at the resort to check in....ah it's the only place on the planet that you will spend a lot of money to say your having a good time, and then stand in line for most of it LOL!! BUT WE LOVE IT!!!

For the first time ever we stayed on property. We chose the Port Orleans French Quarter for its smaller size and for the pick up to Port Canaveral.

They have a convenient boat that shuttles you over to Downtown Disney, so we went to ...yep...stand in line... (lol) to take that, since it was already by this time almost 2 pm.


Views from the shuttle boat of Downtown Disney - the first shows Fulton's Crab House and some of the shops the second shows House of Blues and the white building in the background is Cirque de Soleil.

Downtown Disney is so fun to walk around, there is so much to see and unlike most anything else related to Disney...no entrance fee so it's FREE!! The only unfortunate part of this day was the weather it was a frigid 52 degrees. EEK...



These pictures show the giant Tinkertoy structure outside the Toy Store, and also the "Toy" Decorated Christmas Tree in the same area.

And then since Genius is obsessed with both Stitch and Pirates, (not necessarily in that order some days). We needed to capture the memories outside the World of Disney store, which I believe (correct me someone if I am wrong), is the largest Disney store anywhere.



Not long after this, we decided to just head back to the hotel to grab some dinner, since we were tired and cold. Tomorrow we would head to the Magic Kingdom!


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Hi Ya'll! I'm back from the magical vacation! Our flight came in at 8pm tonight, and I'm just getting caught up on my email. Between catching up on reviews and laundry, I'll try and post in the next few days about all the fun we had. (Did you notice the change in banners at the top....yep....counting down to another one! More on that in another post!)
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Don't you just love it when you see the light bulb flick on in your child's brain with a concept they have been struggling with for a long time? For many children, they just need a fresh new way to learn something in order to understand. Trigger Memory Systems understands that. Their motto is Education Through Imagination. They offer many products on their site, but there are a couple that through the TOS Homeschool Crew they were generous enough to share with me, that I'd like to tell you about.

The first one is Times Tales: Times Tables Made Easy! - This was such a fun product to review. Since Genius knows her times tables quite well by this point, it wasn't so much a learning venture for us, but we so enjoyed the creativity that went into the making of this product.

This program uses mnemonics to help your child learn the more difficult times tables without tears and while having fun! Using the digits 3 -9 each number represents a picture. Each times tables fact has a story attached to it. Using the picture numbers and the story together, children easily remember the facts as they picture the digits in their heads. Let me give you an example: Mrs. Snowman is represented by the number 8. A chair is represented by the number 4. Mrs. Snowman stood on a Chair to reach her 3 buttons and 2 mittens. 8 x 4 = 32. (The pictures in the book, make this more visual trust me!)

After the teacher has read the story the students discuss the story, and then the student tells the story using the Flip Chart provided. There are Flashcards, with the pictures as well as regular digits, and tests. There are also division flashcards provided.

Genius agreed with me that this was cool, and that she would have benefited from this when she was younger, when learning her times tables. It just occurred to me that it is the same way she learned how to read. When she was in Kindergarten the school used a program called "Animated Alphabet" which used pictures and songs to learn phonics. So I'm sure this Times Tales would have been great!

The whole program costs $29.95 which includes all the teaching supplies you need. It is also non-consumable so you can use it with your whole family, over and over again!

I know this post is getting long, but hang with me, I know you'll be glad you did.

I also had the privilege of receiving a set of the Clean N' Flips. Clean N' Flips are fun, step by step, systems of cleaning the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms and laundry for kids! Divided into three different flip charts, there is Zone Cleaning (Living spaces/Kitchens/Bathrooms), Bedroom Cleaning and Laundry.

We evidently needed this; as just today a friend asked Genius how her room was decorated, and I replied "is messy a style?" ha ha! In any case, these are great charts for kids to clean on their own, stay on track and accomplish the tasks.

My favorite by far is the laundry one. We had to do some major changes to the chart, and essentially made a whole new one up on our own (it is stated at the beginning that it is only a general guide). But it gave me a start, where I would not have even tried to have Genius do it herself prior to receiving this. Genius after using the chart we made up, based on the Laundry for Kids Clean N' Flip, is now wholly in charge of washing the towels on a weekly basis in our home. If you knew my child, that is endorsement enough for any product!

The Bedroom Cleaning, is great, Genius has not embraced it yet, but she will. This one for the most part is very generic and most families will not have to do much changing to it. I'm looking forward after our vacation to seeing Genius's bedroom decor change from "messy" to "clean"!

The Zone Cleaning chart is unique in that it is laminated, so you can assign different chores to different children. Using a dry erase marker, the kids can rotate chores and do them as fitting their ages or just as a change of pace. This covers most living areas of the home, including the kitchen, family areas and bathrooms. We have not used this much yet, although Genius has enjoyed following the vacuum cleaning chores on this!

I just may have to change Genius's nickname to Molly Maid! hee hee. The full set of Flip Charts costs $29.95 or you can buy them individually as well.

Trigger Memory Systems has done a great job, with their products from helping kids learn everything from math facts to household responsibilities. If you are interested in any of the products I've mentioned check out their website, there are plenty to choose from!
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Any number of questions rage through Genius's brain in a given day. When she wants to know something she will generally look for information on the Internet. She is a product of this generation through and through, and knows how to work around technology at its best.

When we started homeschooling I hesitated bringing computer curriculum into our days, because Genius spends most of her time outside of school on the computer, and selfishly I admit, I prefer books. The paper and ink kind!

Through the TOS Homeschool Crew, we were able to try out Time4Learning, an Internet based approach to educating.

We opted of course for the Upper Level of teaching, since Genius is in 7th grade and up in all of her subjects. I will also tell you that we primarily focused on the Language Arts section of the site, just because our other courses are so intense this year, I didn't want to dabble with other curriculum choices at the moment.

They offer the core subjects of Language Arts, Math, Social Studies and Science, from K through 8th Grade.

The one thing I did not like about it at all, is that in order to see your child's report you have to log into their account to see the activity. I'd much rather see a parent account where you could monitor that information from.

That aside, Genius really likes using this. She thinks its fun, and giggles a lot. It's a pleasure to see her learn and have fun at the same time!

Time4Learning uses the The Learning Odyssey as their gateway. The lessons are quite interactive and appeal to the visual learner.

The lessons have type and audio files to give instructions to the students and explain the concept. My only complaint with that is the teaching is done mostly through "cartoon characters" who have different voices. While Genius was doing a lesson the other day, both my husband and I understood the word "ferrets" as being said as "parents". Yes, both of us. If Genius had not seen the word in text, I wonder if she would have thought the same....

The lessons are somewhat short, an introduction to the concept, some questions (due to the nature of the program most being multiple choice), and perhaps an additional section of questions to review and then they're done. Genius finishes about 2 or 3 sections a day in 30 minutes.

For some of the sections you need to identify words in a box, if a student accidentally clicks on white space it is counted as wrong. That was quite discouraging to Genius, as she was trying to choose the correct answers but the mouse was being flaky...

While most of the material surrounding the teaching topic is benign and we have what might be considered an immature sense of humor in our home ( so we laugh a lot at the jokes that others may think are silly or inappropriate to discuss such as burping and what not), there are things that we chose to skip due to the way it was presented. One of the middle school simulation tests on reading comprehension was about Hip Hop Artists. While I'm sure there may have been nothing wrong with the test reading itself, I pulled my daughter out of public school for just such "fluff" and felt no need to have her do it at home either. There was also a vocabulary section that dealt with the word "Subterranean" that they felt the need to explain and illustrate using zombies. Not up our alley.

In any case, this program has made me rethink about bringing computer activities into our homeschool anew. I really think that for the right student, computer based learning can be as beneficial as a paper and ink book.

While it is stated that this can be used as a core curriculum, I would hesitate to use it as that. For our reasoning, it would be due to the fact, that it is patterned very much after a public school approach. We decided to homeschool Genius because we thought we could offer her more at home than the school system was able to, so this program while great for supplementary activities wouldn't cut it for us as a complete option. If one would choose to use it as their entire curriculum, it is affordable priced at $19.95 per month for the first child, and each child you add is only $14.95 a month. They also offer a "hiatus" program, where if you know you won't be using it for an extended amount of time you pay less, but the status and reports of your children will be kept, so when you do return they can start where they left off.

If you are willing to spend the money for a supplement to your main curriculum, and monitor the lessons while being taken or in advance, I'd say Time4Learning could be a great addition to your homeschool. If you are interested in this program you can try it for 14 days risk free, and they also offer some lesson demos for you to see.

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For as long as I can recall, Genius has been coloring, drawing, sculpting, cartooning, and most recently graphic designing, whenever she has a spare moment. The thought of teaching art, beyond the construction paper and paste though, made me slightly nauseous, and so since it is not a requirement in our state until high school, I put it aside.

However, that all changed when the package from Spears Art Studio Inc arrived. If you are looking for a curriculum to teach your children art from a Biblical World View, you need look no further. This one’s gold.

The curriculum comes in either a hard copy version or a cd-rom. And one copy will serve you teach your children from grades K – 8. So whether you’re multi-level teaching, or want to use the curriculum year after year, Spears has you covered. What a great investment.

This is so well laid out and organized for the teacher; it would make a perfect art class for a homeschool co-op as well. There are 35 weekly themes, and the activities vary by age, however they all stem off the same theme, so it’s easy to adapt or adjust depending on grade or ability level. The curriculum is packed with Scripture, art history and core subject connections, all tied together by Diane who is an Ed.D. Christian Education Artist.

A typical lesson starts with the thematic Scripture verse; art term vocabulary and teaching a concept. One of our favorite lessons was one that dealt with monochromatic color tones, templates and the color wheel. Using few materials we had a great learning experience and created a work of art. (Okay both of us learned, but Genius created!).

Here are two of the projects she did –

From the unit titled Color Studies – the project is Painted DesignAnd from Trees of Righteousness – the project Pointillism Trees
I was also blessed to receive the High School Art Survey to review.

This is a full year course with accreditation option, so perfect for that fine arts course credit that your high schooler may need.

This course is so much more than art for the student, the Scripture and themes that run through it are an awesome spiritual teaching tool as well.

The instructions to the assignments are clear, and while there will be some parental involvement required (gathering materials and what not), really it’s pretty minimal.

Divided into 36 weeks, a typical lesson will have the objectives, Scripture, vocabulary, art history, sketch book, visual memory exercises, techniques of the lesson, supplies and activities.All of the lessons are done so at the end of the course the national standards are met.There is also provided tests for each unit, and answer keys for the teacher.

In case you haven’t figured out by now, that I am absolutely in love with this curriculum, let me state it again….I LOVE THIS ART CURRICULUM. I am no longer overwhelmed by the thought of teaching art, and Genius is thrilled to be doing it! I feel confident that the work is up to the standards that are expected, and with a Christian emphasis and focus it is even better.

If you have been struggling with art lessons in your home, or just haven’t been doing them because you have no idea where to start, I suggest you pick up this curriculum.The Cdrom in pdf is $39.95 for the K-8 version and $29.95 for the high school. If you prefer hard copy curriculum, it is available, but at a steeper price. Diane also offers package prices if you order the elementary and the high school curriculum together. If you are interested in viewing some lessons there are some links to the pdf documents on her site to show you how the program is set up.

Thank you so much Diane, for making art come alive in our home, we have one happy middle schooler because of it! Read the full story

Hubby was raised in a home where it would have been a foolhardy act to spend money unwisely. My father in law worked at a job with a salary that was under the poverty line, and my mother in law worked hard at home raising five children and making ends meet each month. Hubby has said that he never felt deprived, that there was always enough to eat, and most importantly always felt loved. Sure he had to share a small attic bedroom with both his brothers, but it never scarred him either.

I on the other hand grew up in relative luxury, with a stay at home mom as well, but we wanted for nothing. I too shared a room with my sister, however, it was larger than most master bedrooms, so it certainly was not cramped. Video console systems, trips to Europe and eating out were a regular part of my childhood, and while we weren't given toys and goods on a daily basis, Christmas and birthdays were lavish events.

How do you reconcile two such views when a marriage occurs? Fortunately, we were able to. Even though I was accustomed to a different lifestyle than Hubby was, I have always been a saver, and a frugal shopper. Before Genius was born, we had decided that I would stay at home with any children we had, as we both had moms that stayed home and loved it. So the first two years of our marriage the paycheck I brought home was play money. We used it to buy a car, go on vacation and eat out. When we needed to go down to one income, it never really hurt us, as Hubby's paycheck always paid the bills, and was put away for savings. We knew the weekly outings to the movies and restaurants would be gone, and we had enjoyed them while they lasted.

Almost 15 years later, I still am a stay at home mom. With small stints here and there, working outside the home, we felt as a family, the extra income that was coming in, never made up for the family stress it caused.

Is your family like ours? Or do you wish, you had a better handle on your finances and where your paycheck goes? Do you have the desire to quit working if you are a two income family, but don't think you can?

Take heart -- The Old Schoolhouse Magazine has a new e-book coming out on December 1, 2008 entitled Living and Learning On One Income.

Chock full of ideas to make living on one income more manageable the 12 families featured come from many different backgrounds and lifestyles. With money management tips and savings, to recipes and encouragement, this book has it all. Within the pages, I felt myself warming up to many ideas that even myself as a frugal thrifty person thought preposterous previously. I also agreed with so many of the tips that I follow myself, and know that they work!

With the current economy in a slide, and many families not knowing whether they will be a two income family from one day to the next, this e-book would be a great start to check out, the reality that more income, does not necessarily equate to a happier, more wonderful life. It just might make you quit your job before the pink slip reaches your desk!
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Have you seen all the new "attachment" products out there? There are Jibbitz to add to your Crocs, PackNacks to add to binders and bags, well Ficklets is one for glasses!

I love them! With three eyeglass wearers in the house - and only one new pair a year for each - it's easy to get tired of your "look" a few months into wearing them.

Very inexpensive, you could change the look on your eyewear to please your mood, more frequently than you can afford a new pair of glasses.

Peanut Butter and Pickle reviews is having a contest on her blog to win a set of Flickets. Hurry though it ends today at Midnight EST. Read the full story

Wow, it's been too long since I posted - but I've been busy! The TOS Crew, where I'm able to try out and tell you all about great homeschool products, has been taking up quite a bit of my time. Which is what this post is all about!

Genius and I had the opportunity to read The Missing Link: Found, part of The Truth Seekers Mystery Series published by Media Angels.

Written primarily by Christina Gerwitz (with help from her mom Felice), a homeschooled student, when she was a teenager, this book is inspiring for all would be future writers! The book based on Creation Science, is a great read for 11 - 14 year olds, full of action and adventure.

Would you like to know what Genius thought of it? -- Read on!

Genius is here again with another book report! This time the book is "The Missing Link: FOUND", written by Christina and Felice Gerwitz. It's a youth fiction book and has 208 pages, and it was published by Media Angels, Inc.

The book is about the Murphy family and their adventures at Arcadia. With a sinister plot that goes deeper then meets the eye, the Murphys unfortunately get stuck in a crime chase with the FBI. After that, Mr. Murphy gets an e-mail from his brother that he has to come right away to the archeology dig by the Peace River. When the Murphys arrive, they learn that the so called 'missing link' has been discovered, proving that evolution really happened! As the mystery unravels, the Murphys will have to rely on God to find the answers.

The main characters in this book are Anna and Christian Murphy, the oldest children of the family. Both children are take-charge kind of kids, God dependant, and are courageous.

I liked this book because of the mystery and excitement in it from start to finish. Also, it has an appendix for all the words I didn't know. One thing I didn't like was that they spent a lot of time on the archeology information. I really think this book is meant for 12 -15 year olds.


If your children like good action reads, and you want safe books for them, I suggest you check out the Media Angels website for not only this series, but many other homeschool curriculum choices as well. Read the full story

Well Genius and I are back from the Girl Scout trip to the Mall of America

We didn't buy a lot, but had fun anyway.
Saturday evening we ate at The Rainforest Cafe.
We had fun checking out all the creations at the Lego Store.
On Sunday Genius and Smart Girl had a blast playing at Nickelodeon Universe, while Smart Girl's Mom and me hit the ground running to cover as many stores as we could!

Unfortunately after this point no more photos could be taken as Genius's camera went kaput. The lcd screen is completely scrambled, and on Wednesday we will send it back to Fuji in order to get it repaired.

I have one very sad tween on my hands at this point, as we're pretty sure it won't get fixed and arrive back before our Disney trip in three weeks.

A hard introduction into the world of adulthood, where when things break down, we have to fix them or replace them. *Sigh* if only we could shelter them forever.....

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