A couple of time-sensitive Spring "e-nuggets" for you (Devotions and Beatrix Potter!)

Today I have a couple of quick items for you to check out~ not "free," but certainly inexpensive.

I love Beatrix Potter's stories and artwork. The complete collection, in large hardcover is a little bulky for everyday reading, and I don't own all the stories in individual books at this point. When I saw that there was a collection of her works on sale in the kindle version for $0.99 at Amazon, I decided to SPRING for it (sorry, bad pun, but bear with me). Beatrix Potter Illustrated Collection: 22 Books, 660 Illustrations, Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny and Many More! is a perfectly lovely version, with all of the illustrations and text, and the bonus is that I don't have to find space on my bookshelf for it right now. While nothing will ever take the place of a real book in hand, this is a great option for reading on the go.

There is another nugget I wanted to mention~ this one the price may be good only for today, but for only a penny you don't have much to lose, as possibly a lot to gain. Old Story New: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God is only one cent TODAY!

I haven't used it yet, but I am looking at the "Introduction" and "How to use this book" and so far it looks great. This is the 2nd of two devotional books by Marty Machowski, and it covers the New Testament. In each lesson in this New Testament focus, the question is asked "Where is the Gospel?" with the answer pointing either forward or back to Calvary.

The first book in the series Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God, goes through the Old Testament and asks "How does this passage point forward to Jesus?" Using both books as written will provide your family with 3 years of 10 minute devotions.

Ten minutes isn't a huge investment of time, but is far more than no minutes~ it's a good starting point for today's families who are being pulled in so many different directions, especially if the family has more than one child, who may be involved in extra-curricular activities.

I hope that you find these nuggets worth your time. :)

Blessings~

Homeschool Mom ~ Needs a Break?

Have you ever felt like if you didn't get a break you might expire?

photo courtesy of MG

How about getting a break, and coming home with.......this? ^

Back in March 2013 an email showed up in my inbox with a deal that sounded too good to be true. "The Landry Academy's amazing Homeschool Moms' Retreats are for the incredible all-inclusive price of only $25 - which includes 2 nights, all meals, and all sorts of science and fellowship to the glory of God!  I know... it seems to good to be true!  BUT IT IS TRUE!!  Only $25!!" 

I was certain there had to be a catch. I googled the retreats, and ended up at a post from a blogger who had attended a retreat in March. I posted on her blog, asked a few questions, and once I was convinced that this was a real deal, I signed up.... the same day, before I even spoke to my husband about it! ;) 

Fast forward to September~ I received an email, confirming my attendance, with more details~ My friend MG decided to go with me at the last minute when some spots opened up, and off we went! 

Doesn't it look delightful here? Our "Bunking Cabin" at the retreat center (Berea, in Hebron, NH) overlooked Newfound Lake. Simply lovely!  We shared our "Room" with a couple of ladies, and the room next door was populated with a friend of mine from years past with ladies from her support group/co-op. Not "luxury" accommodations, but certainly reasonable! (I understand that the newer cabins across the way didn't have the lakeview, but they DID have double sinks and radiant heat in the floors). 

 It turned out that we were sharing the retreat grounds with a group of teens from RI, but other than some rambunctiousness between 12am and 1am, and some rather loud team shouting outside our lecture space (in the chapel), we didn't really notice them that much.  

The dining hall fed us decent "Camp" food (Yummy fajitas the first night, and salad as an option for every lunch and dinner), and lit a fire at night in the Lodge for the moms to enjoy (In addition to the ping pong, pool, foosball and carpet ball tables that were there for our use). 

Now that I've talked about the "Relaxing/Retreat" aspect of the weekend, let me tell you about the Landry/Science aspect of the weekend. This is one side of the "Chapel" where we met for each session. Loads and loads of lovely ladies!

Greg Landry, of Landry Academy understands homeschooling, and homeschool moms (Since he and his wife homeschooled their two daughters) and he believes in giving back to the homeschool community. See that roasting tray? It is filled with Lindt, Ghiradelli, and Hershey Chocolates.... and there were TWO of them filled to the brim. 

But chocolate wasn't the only thing that Greg was supplying. He spent Friday, and most of Saturday giving us tips on teaching science, applying for college, and doing a variety of experiments with us~ we found out if we were "tasters" or not, did DNA extractions (using cells from our cheeks) ...

Mad Scientist look? (My DNA was NOT so towering)

Towering DNA!

We did Blood Typing

Can you figure out which card is RH-??? (hint... if you have the antibody, your blood clots, if you don't and are "negative" the blood doesn't clot) Note~ that spiral bound notebook you see is filled with pages from a variety of the Landry Science Intensive notebooks, and we didn't get to all of them, but made it through a fair number~ but when you have chatty homeschool moms in a "classroom" sometimes it's hard to reign them in from Q&A, so we weren't *quite* as productive as we might have been~ certainly not for lack of preparation by Mr. Landry! We were also provided with a pack of colored pencils for each person, because COLOR is important! :)

We even did a sheep uterus dissection (Not my favorite part, but a highlight for many~ I am refraining from posting any dissecting pictures because I don't like to look at them myself... not my forte' ... give me botany dissections any day!) 

Greg gave away at least 100 books/science supplies/kits (MG and I came home with blood typing kits so that we can type our daughters, since the doctor's offices don't do that any more...). I saw Owl Pellet dissection kits, scientific thermometers, a chocolate making kit, Keva Planks, Mento geyser kits, and books like these: 

We also were given a Landry Academy Homeschool Mom's Retreat T-shirt in a selection of colors! How fun! (And I can't believe that I didn't get any pictures of them!)

What might seem like a funny item to some ended up being one of the fondest memories~ we were all given plastic "Frog Anatomy" dissection aprons, which we were instructed to decorate with the sharpies at our tables... Sunday morning, after the presentations by Debbie Stokes (who might stoke your interest in biology and chemistry), and Julie Rapleje, who good-naturedly put up with the "gross anatomy" discussions before sharing her "Science of Color" talk (and hey! we got to use nail polish, too!), we had an "Apron Contest"

The prize for the best "apron" was the lovely Sally~ full-sized biology skeleton! Wow! And what an adventure!

Sally and her "Roomates" 

Julie Rapleje and Sally

Getting Sally to the car (She is HEAVY!)

Sally's ride home~ she even had a pillow for her head! 

On the way home we stopped at a neat little country store, and had some yummy ice cream at this stand that a few other moms had snuck out to Saturday night~

Check out the flavors! Oh MY! We tried Mixed Berry Rhubarb Sorbet (Which was really yummy!) but I ended up with Coffee and Cinnamon, and my friend MG had Ginger and Cinnamon.  Oh My! They were all scrumptious, but the Cinnamon was my favorite this day!

I hope you see how much FUN this was, AND how great the resources were, and WHAT a generous gentleman Greg Landry is. If you have the opportunity to sign up for one of these, you can right here... Landry Academy Mom's Science Retreats (Scroll way down the page to find the open locations). I'm here to tell you that this is for REAL ($25 covers a full weekend away, meals included, giveaways for everyone, great science tips, fun and fellowship with other homeschool moms... AMAZING!)! No "Selling" of anything, but the offer to sign up for lessons at a greatly reduced rate for retreat attendees.

Blessings~

Disclaimer~ this was a totally unsolicited review of my weekend at a Landry Academy Homeschool Mom's Science Retreat. 

A look back at "First Day of School" in pictures

BACK TO SCHOOL ~ Pictures from 2002-2012, and a GREAT T-SHIRT SALE! 

2002
Not actually 1st day of school, but my favorite picture of the 2 oldest
right around when we started our homeschooling journey.
I just love everything about this photo. :) 

I know some of you have started back to school already, and some are going to be starting back soon. We won't start back in earnest until at least the 2nd week of September, especially since my kids have been doing "Review School" (various Old Schoolhouse Review Crew Curriculum) this summer.

2003 ~this WAS the first day "back-to-school"~
Eldest was officially "Reportable" as a 1st grader. 

However, I wanted to share some of our "back-to-school" photos through the years, 

just because it is fun! 

2005 ~ Youngest(At the time) was "K" age!
(Don't know what happened in 2004... gone missing... :/) 

I also want to get the word out about a great "back-to-school" sale that I have taken advantage of MANY times, as you will see in the photos to follow.

2006 was the first year I heard about Great Products  and their $5.99 "back-to-school"
t-shirt sale. What a great way to "advertise" that my kids weren't skipping school when we were out and about, but actually IN school!

I decided to purchase tote bags to coordinate with their shirts. I put some new school supplies in the bags, and something of a tradition was born...

Although Eldest didn't wear her shirt that day (She had already chosen her 1st day of school outfit with care... and didn't know about the surprise), it did make an appearance at our first Homeschool Field Day!

This has now become something of a tradition whenever I have the cash available (and my bad, sometimes when I don't!), to pick up new t-shirts for the kids for the first day of school. I figure that it it's a lot cheaper than most "back-to-school" clothes shopping, and it has always been fun to surprise them with a fun new design.

In 2007 I purchased a matching purple shirt for myself (Not pictured...).



2008 brought our first "When you're homeschooled you never know WHERE you'll end up" shirts...

2009 

We didn't get all new homeschool shirts (Because we happened on a cool stripy cotton sale with appropriate sizes for all), but littlest wore his all cotton "homeschool wanna be" at our fall field day.

The bane of mom's 1st day of school~ the sun is too bright! No one can handle it except the youngest. :) 

A little bit of information for you all regarding the Great Products t-shirts:

Most of the designs are on a poly-cotton blend, with the exception of the "cream" color option, the tye-dye shirts, and and the new Ladies v-neck shirts. 

If you prefer 100% cotton to a cotton/poly blend, you will be happy to know that you CAN order shirts in 100% cotton. However, it does cost a bit more ($2.00) and you have to either email or phone the order in. It is totally worth it to me to take the extra steps! 

2010 brought one of our favorite sets of shirts, and some fun bags for the kids~ 

I love these shirts, and so do the kids~ they get worn with great regularity! I don't have a picture of MY shirt, but it is a matching Tye-Dye color, with this graphic on it... way too much fun!

2011 was one of those years where the cash flow wasn't optimal, but there were still great homeschool shirts being worn~ (Littlest is in the hand-me-down purple shirt that his brother wore in 2007...)

2012 brought the new "Homeschooler by Day, NINJA by Night" shirts and bags. Unfortunately, everyone was feeling crummy and not terribly photogenic on the first day of school, so I didn't get a photo of THEM, but I do have a photo of the bags, and a later "park day" where Middlest wore his Ninja shirt. BTW, we still need to take a family photo, because we have the "homeschool mom by day, and homeschool dad by day" shirts as well.

Just for the fun of it, here's that "first"  first school year photo again... my haven't they grown?

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this little time capsule of our first days. And now, for the first time ever, I'll be able to do more than share about the sale (As I have done in years past... simply because we love the shirts and bags so much). It runs from August 15th to September 15th. All regular T-shirts are $5.99, and the tote-bags are $4.99.

Keep your eyes open for a giveaway for a free t-shirt here on my site, and in the mean-time, you might want to browse around the Great Products website, visit the Great Products Facebook page, and even follow the Great Products Twitter page.

Blessings~

Disclosure~ I have received nothing from Great Products for this post other than "Exposure" for my blog. I have purchased products from Great Products since 2006, and plan to continue to do so. Great Products simply offers "Great Products" and with the $5.99 ($7.99 for 100% cotton) T-shirt sale, they are available at a very reasonable price. This is especially helpful for those who are on tight budget. Enjoy!