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Download N Go Correction

Posted by html404 on May 27, 2010
in Downloads

Just wanted to let you all know that I used the wrong graphic and link in my Download N Go reviews, so be sure to check out their current contest and prize offering on the Whale Tales and Davy Crockett posts, ok?

Or I can just post the contest and prize here:

THE PRIZE:

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and Amanda Bennett Unit Studies have teamed up to celebrate the successful launch of Download N Go™ with a Sweet Treat Prize Package in The Adventure Begins … Giveaway!

They’re offering one lucky winner the SWEET chance to go EXPLORING this FALL!

The entire FALL curriculum lineup of Download N Go™ (Wow! That’s 19 studies!).
A $25 gift certificate to Baskin-Robbins (yummy ice cream).
A $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com (for those back-to-school supplies).
A $15 gift certificate to Starbucks Coffee (a special treat just for the teacher).
A full year’s subscription to The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine (encouragement and resources all year long).
A “sweet” blue and brown Homeschooling With Heart tote bag (THE must-have accessory for FALL!).
ENTER HERE!

For more information just click on the icon above! Contest will run May 24 and through June 12!

Sorry about my mistake and I hope one of you will be a winner!

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Download N Go Davy Crockett Blog Tour

Posted by html404 on May 27, 2010
in Downloads

I received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

DC_header

Davy Crockett was another hit with our children. They have seen a movie about Davy Crockett and knew quite about him already, but we still enjoyed doing the review of Download N Go’s Davy Crockett as there was still much more to learn in this 5-day unit study.

Again, this unit study is set up much like the Wale Tales one that I just posted a review about earlier this morning. It utilizes a lapbook to keep all the information and activities in one place. The unit study itself contains activities for the children to do, links to online activities/articles, as well as a list of suggested books to read to learn more about Davy Crockett. It covered Davy Crockett’s life on the frontier, history of Texas, patriotism, geography, vocabulary and more!

This was another positive lapbooking experience for our family. Our children had fun doing the activities and using their creativity to create their own unique lapbook. They were asking to do more each day so that shows you how much of a hit it really was!

As much as the Download N Go products were made for homeschooling families, they would be a great supplement for families using alterative schooling methods. Such as summer enrichment or just a fun learning activity to do with your children.

Don’t forget about Download N Go’s special offer to you below:

DNG has decided to offer a coupon code for 20% off multiple packs of the DNG units! The code is: DNG20PKS – just use that code at check out and receive 20% off any multiple pack purchase.

Purchase now at for only $7.95 plus your 20% off! AND another contest for you to enter…

THE PRIZE:

They’re offering one lucky winner the SWEET chance to go EXPLORING this FALL!

For more information just click on the icon above! Contest will run May 24 and through June 12!

http://www.facebook.com/DownloadNGo

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Download N Go Whale Tales Blog Tour

Posted by html404 on May 27, 2010
in Downloads

I received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

WT_header

We received a free copy of Download N Go’s Whale Tales Lapbook Unit Study. It is a 5-day unit study about whales. If you are new to lapbooking, that’s ok because we were too. Download N Go provides links to video and article resources to teach you how to put your lapbook together.

Our children loved the hands on activities of coloring, drawing and assembling their lapbooks. They also loved the videos of the whales that the study provided. The unit study even included a list of books to read, as suggestions. We basically only used the online activities and that was plenty to keep my seven children busy for a good half hour to an hour, if not longer on some days. That included printing off the sheets from the unit study too since I never seemed to get them done ahead of time.

We not only enjoyed the educational facts of the whale study, but also the biblical study of Jonah and the Whale that was also a part of the unit study.

The unit study covered a different type of whale each day or at least a different aspect about whales and had plenty of activities within the download itself or online. The suggested book list was extra for us that I hope we can go back through and print off and see which books our library has or can get for us. Due to the ages of our children, it will be easy to cover the same material but in a different way the next time around.

The great thing about unit studies is that they are suitable for a multi-age group. We are quite familiar with unit studies as we have done those a lot over the years.Overall, we really enjoyed our first experience with lapbooking and with Download N Go.

Purchase now at http://downloadngo.com/WhaleTales.htm for only $7.95 plus your 20% off!

http://www.facebook.com/DownloadNGo AND another contest…

THE PRIZE:

They’re offering one lucky winner the SWEET chance to go EXPLORING this FALL!

For more information just click on the icon above! Contest will run May 24 and through June 12!

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What Happened to My Life? Revell Book Tour

Posted by html404 on May 26, 2010
in Books

I received the following book in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the book.

What Happened to My Life

What Happened to My Life? was written by Danna Demetre. It is a book about finding new passion, purpose and joy. Mrs. Demetre’s introduction includes these questions:

~ If you are discontent with your life today…this book is for you.
~ If you are bored, angry, or frustrated…this book is for you.
~ If you are stressed-out and running like a hamster in a wheel…this book is for you.
~ If you are unhappy, but don’t know hwy…this book is for you.
~ If you are discouraged beause life isn’t fair…this book is for you.
~ If you have had more heartbreak than one woman can handle…this book is for you.
~ If you have created more heartbreat than one woman should…this book is for you.
~ If you are living in mediocre complacency…this book is for you.
~ If you cannot find joy and purposse most days despite your circumstances…this book is for you.

In the first half of the book, Mrs. Demetre shares some of her personal story, as well as stories of about six of her friends. Their stories made my life seem like a piece of cake compared to what they have gone through. Yet parts of their stories I could definitely relate to and I am sure most women could.

The second half of the book is a 40 Day Journey or plan to reclaim your life. It is forty short devotionals that do require some effort on the part of the reader, but is meant to help us slow down, make wise choices, assess our lives, have more realistic expectations, recoginze the lies we are believing and start pursuing God’s promises with renewed vigor.

I cannot say that I have arrived, however, the book certainly made me think and I am convinced that the way I think is the biggest influencer in my life right now. Mrs. Demetre talks quite a bit about how God has changed her thinking patterns over the years and I believe it may be a life long process for me.

This is definitely a book to be read by those struggling with contentment or for any of the reasons stated in the opening paragraph from the introduction to What Happened to My Life?

“Available May 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

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Wordless Wednesday – Little Helpers

Posted by html404 on May 26, 2010
in Wordless Wednesday

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Necklace and Earring Gift Set

Posted by html404 on May 20, 2010
in Handmade Items

The following product was received in exchange for writing a review. While it is a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

My daughter was actually sent this gift set from Cinderella’s Jewelry called, Pearls and Glitter in exchange for a review. Since I am the one with pierced ears, I thought I would also give Cinderlla’s Jewelry some exposure by writing a review. This set is very nice and priced just right; only $18.00. It would make a wonderfully affordable gift for daughter, mom or grandma. But it is a pierced earring and necklace set. This particular set is sold out but Cinderlla’s Jewelry has other styles available. Custom orders are also available upon request, so please contact the owner for details.

The earrings did not make my ears sore and are made with little posts. They are very comfortable to wear. The necklace looks elegant and wears well.

Pearls and Glitter (I used most of her description with my opinion sprinkled in since she describes it to a “t”)

This elegant pendant is a splash of light purples/ pinks, light sprinkled glitter throughout, with is a cluster of diamond- like gems in the center as the “pollen”, strung on a 16 inch strand of natural fresh water pearls and a few silver rhinestone spacers.

The clasp is different from what we’ve seen before, but I find it much easier to clasp and unclasp than the usual clasps on necklaces. Each piece is well made.

Cinderella’s Jewelry – Fairy tale jewelry with a timeless touch – http://CinderellasJewelry.blogspot.com

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Farming and Farmer “Bob”

Posted by html404 on May 20, 2010
in Family Stuff

Yesterday’s Wordless Wednesday picture is of my husband using a little John Deere tractor at our growing field. We had our tractor lesson last Tuesday evening and yes, I even drove it, but have left the rest of the tilling to Robert as I can live without running a machine as long as I know I can drive it. There is something about machines and mechanics that fascinate both my husband and boys.

We started planting on Saturday and have continued each day this week. We are beginner’s, especially on this scale, so we are finding that we probably could use some more seeds depending upon how much of our direct seed planting yields in plants and produce.

We had a little mishap when we went out to the field on Monday – some transplants were pulled up and some rows were trampled on. 🙁 Talk about a bit of a discouraging start! We think we know what happened and are hoping and praying it won’t continue throughout the growing season. Perseverance is needed, that’s for sure. If it isn’t birds, pestilence or some plant disease it is sure to be something else to challenge our learning curve!

Robert is pulling double duty working nearly full-time hours at work and then getting up early in the morning so he can get off early so he can go out to the growing field with us. It is such a blessing to have his support, help and involvement. We are hoping and praying for a bountiful crop, but only time will tell how this first year of growing goes.

If you look at the green grass in our growing field that tells you how much the weeds had gone to seed, so we are trying our best to weed out the rows before we plant in hopes of hindering how much they come back. We are seriously considering straw or landscaping fabric to aid in the amount of weeding because I fear we won’t be able to stay on top of them as my pregnancy advances.

I have more photos, just not on this computer, so I will try to post more of our journey into farming either on Wednesdays or in another post.

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Understanding Large Families

Posted by html404 on May 19, 2010
in Family Stuff

My midwife send an inspiring and encouraging link to a few of her clients and I so appreciated what this mother of 15 had to say, so I decided to share the link with all of you in hopes that those who do not understand large families might get a tiny glimpse into our hearts and lives:

http://ladyofvirtue.blogspot.com/2010/05/when-to-stand-and-when-to-hide.html

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This Fine Life – Revell Blog Tour

Posted by html404 on May 19, 2010
in Uncategorized

I received the following book in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the book.

I enjoyed the book, This Fine Life. It is a book about growing up and in Christ. It shows real characters struggling to find out who they are in Christ. The story is set the deep South in the late 1950’s and reveals the struggle of a young lady, Mariette Putnum, who doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life after high school graduation. Each of her parents have their own ideas as to what she should do, but she is quite undecided. The book takes a turn when Mariette is changed by one event. From that point on there is excitement and strain in relationships, which affect each of the characters’ decisions and emotions .

Based on the description of the book, the story was different than I expected in many ways, so I am hesitant to give away too many details because if you choose to read the book, I want you to have that same element of surprise of the unexpected.

I was able to take something from the real life struggles of the characters in This Fine Life. It really made me think through life’s trials and how we can always see the “finer” side of things if we try, if we persevere and have faith that God has everything under control.

“This Fine Life proves that growing into love can rip one apart, quitting might be the easiest thing, but walking away is out of the question. I bled with these characters as they struggled to become who they were meant to be. So real and so true to life.”
—Lauraine Snelling, author, Daughters of Blessing

Eva Marie Everson is a successful speaker, a popular radio personality, and the award-winning author of Things Left Unspoken. She is coauthor of The Potluck Club series and The Potluck Catering Club series. She lives in Florida.

“Available May 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

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Camping

Posted by html404 on May 19, 2010
in Camping

This is a sponsored post.
a lot. Every summer my mom would take my sisters and I camping at favorite campsites around Nova Scotia and even to some new ones that eventually became favorites. My dad would usually join us wherever we were in the evenings, over the weekends or would be with us if he had taken vacation time.

Camping Tents

We were a bit pampered as my parents always had a camper, but we also owned camping tents over the years. Tenting was fun too. Camping tents are usually not as comfortable or dry as a camper, as you can imagine. And we didn’t have fancy camp beds, just our sleeping bags, a tarp to help keep us dry and the ground.

My husband’s idea of camping is in a camper too or a hotel. 🙂 Since we don’t own a camper, we save points to use towards hotel stays which certainly saves us money. But my husband does enjoy cook outs and since our family has grown so much, eating out is a rare treat. Therefore, when a homeschooling friend offered us her Coleman grill for free, we felt very blessed because we could take it on day trips or vacations and have something to eat other than sandwiches on the road.

perfectflow portable grill

However, we were missing a few parts when we got the grill home. We alerted our friend to this fact and she said she would look for them, but she hasn’t found them. So yesterday, I spent some time looking for the needed parts and ordered them. Now we are anxious to use our camp stove to grill on when we are at our growing field, as well as on trips. Can’t you smell the hamburgers and hot dogs now? 😉