CircleTime, Together School, whatever you call it, just get it together.

We received a wonderful e-book to review and put into practice, Circle Time from Preschoolers and Peace
Circle Time is a concept we had lost sight of as the boys got older. I am so grateful that we were able to bring it back with a little help from this book.
Kendra Fletcher gives wonderful suggestions for what to include in Circle Time and has lists of resources to help make this time together the best part of the day.
I can see as the boys get older and need different teaching styles to succeed the tendency to leave CircleTime, and honesty we did let it go by the wayside for too long. Coming together as a family to look at the day and give it all back to God is a huge part of making our days successful.

Above is a glimpse at what we include in our circle time. The prayer on the left by Mary Baker Eddy, is new to the boys but will hopefully stay with them . The script on the right is just some ideas of things we talk about along with a modified scripture verse that I use to help focus our thoughts together toward God.  I also try to include a game that is simple yet educational, our current favorite is Boogle Dice (using Boogle jr. dice to find words)

Having time together that is not just about academics adds a comforting element to our day. Thankfully, CircleTime is now a more solid time in our homeschool. 

I have even added elements of Circle Time to Auntie School (our homeschool meets cousins playtime). We start out Auntie School with the same idea, sitting together and talking about what we are going to do or what they want to learn that day.

No matter what you call the time together, savor it and continue doing that together time even as they get older. If I learned nothing else from this book, it is that this time together is HUGE!

The e-book is loaded with lists, ideas, suggestions, links, and more in 33 pages. There is even a printable planning page although  I don't really use a planner page for CircleTime, I can see the value in having it as a starting point. The advice from Moms that have figured out is also hugely beneficial, sometimes it takes hearing it from others that have come before you to really appreciate it all.

This little treasure sells for just $4.99 as a pdf download from  Preschoolers and Peace. On Kendra's site she also has links to all her social media spots so you can get even more ideas. While the book is meant for Moms with younger ones, the concepts can be applied to any age group and any size family. We only have 2 children but I still gleaned so much knowledge and inspiration from the book for our basic homeschool and gained even more ideas for our "Auntie" School with 4 boys.

I highly recommend this book to any homeschool mamma no matter where you are in your journey. Don't just take my work for it , check out what the rest of the crew thought by clicking on the button below.

Homeschool Programming and a lesson for Mom

This seems to be Cameron's year to learn computers, our recent HTML lessons are no exception. Thanks to Homeschool Programming for allowing us to review the program.
Homeschool Programming is a complete program to teach your child to write programs, create games, and even android apps.
We received the KidCoder Web Series a $85 computer based course for Windows or Mac OS complete with textbook and video lessons. (The full year package retails for $145 and will be available in August 2013)

I have to preface this review by saying I love the mouse character graphics, he is too adorable.
When we began the program, Cameron was given the assignment from Mommy to create a new banner for the blog, unfortunately during the process, the computer we were using the program on crashed. So during week 6 of lessons we had to stop and go back. We are still working on recreating the work. (I should have printed out the text file we were working in or saved it to his school thumb drive.)
Thankfully, near the end of the review period and after the computer crashed we received the videos to go along with the lessons. It was like learning the lessons all over again.
I love that the program teaches using a basic text editor rather than a program, something that simple and without extra cost.
I myself learned HTML in college using a text editor and it made it easier to edit.
The lessons are clear and concise. The lesson text does an excellent job giving lists of commonly used items.
The step by step simple instructions add to previous lessons in a very logical format.  I have found other programs explain ideas in such a missed match format that the students don't see the connection between concepts. Thankfully, the lessons and the videos with the KidCoder Web Series follow a logical format.
The Student Textbook comes as a 234 page pdf file and includes 13 chapters with 1-4 lessons per chapter (The last chapter contains a final project). Each lesson is complete with graphics and text illustrating the examples and ideas clearly. The mouse graphic is featured through out the lessons with variations to either stop the student with some highlighted information important to the lesson or give some extra information. The first few lessons  review some basic computer, networking or browser information making sure the student is on track.  The website contains FAQs to help parents along with a simple form to help with technical questions or course work questions. It is reassuring to know that you are not alone in this journey down the technology path in homeschool.
The Full Year course covers the following topics.

• Mark-up concepts
• Website layouts and files
• Backing up projects
• Essential HTML symbols
• Styling of text
• Using symbols and lists
• Internal and external hyperlinks
• Navigation bars and footers
• Simple CSS effects
• Spacing and positioning
• Graphics and image editing
• Tables

Some times I forget the struggles I had when I studied HTML in college, I am so very grateful for programs like Homeschool Programming for having such a user friendly homeschool product that will give my little man the tools he needs to be successful in the technology field even if it is just as my webmaster and HTML assistant.

 Homeschool Programming has more than just webcoder, they are a full service programming curriculum for a variety of ages. The Schoolhouse Review Crew received a variety of their programs to review and share their thoughts.  I know I look forward to reading their thoughts.

Couponing, some tips and tricks to keeping it real.

For readers that moved over from Mom's Spot earlier this year, some of this will be repetitive. We recently received the book, Couponing Made Simple by Christi the Coupon Coach, to review as part of the Molly Crew, so I decided to incorporate things from the book as well as some lessons I've learned over the years.

Christi talks about her system of real couponing in this 133 page paperback book. The book retails for $18.00 and if full of examples and ideas for saving money at the grocery store.

While I agree with a lot of the concepts in the book, I feel like her methods are a little extreme for new couponers.  Keeping it real, I don't buy the paper, if I do I only purchase 1 Sunday paper. I receive at least 1 or 2 copies of the coupons for my parents' weekly paper and a friend. I have a coupon binder that I put my coupons in by product type (cereal, dairy, beverages, produce, meat, frozen, health and beauty,etc...)

I do match to store ads including online deals through locations like Safeway, Albertsons,  and Roth's , so that I can stack deals. I also will take weekly ads with me in my binder so that I can have stores with matching programs match ad prices. For instance, Walmart will price match, if you have your print ad with you, they will also take competitors Catalina coupons. Which is a nice feature to save money.

Something I found in the book that really bothered me as a store blogger for a couple of grocery chains, if you purchase something buy 1 get 1 free , most stores do not allow you to use a $$ off 2 to stack. (example: recently Ken's salad dressing was B1G1 free, I had multiple $1.00 off coupons, but was limited to only using the $1.00 off on the bottles of dressing I had purchased ,not the free ones.)
I am all for printing internet coupons, but please remember you are limited to 2 per household. I have seen often people figure  out a way to print 3 ,4, or even 5 internet deals and redeem them.  Stores are often limited to the number of coupons they can redeem with the manufacturer, if they receive more than that, they have to absorb the cost.


If you don't use it or need it don't buy it. The only exception I use to that rule is, if I can pick up a really amazing deal on something the local food bank can use, this is especially good for things like beans, pasta, rice, and canned vegetables. I will try and bless them.

Now, with all that said, honestly I have been having better savings by shopping at our local Grocery Outlet store where they do not accept coupons. The one piece of advice I can pass on, now your target price for items. For me, an example is Nalley's chili, which my boys and husband love, my target price is $.86 per  can. If I can find it at that price, I purchase at least two cases. I will purchase it at $.99 if we are out and the boys have requested it for a meal, but will only pick up 2 cans.

Another tip that I always try and share, don't be afraid of the clearance aisle for meats, especially if you are going to cook it that evening. I have picked up amazing cuts of beef for as much as 50% off, then I stack a store deal with it to save even more.
If you are new to couponing, this books gives some good tips, but what she considers real couponing falls under what I call extreme couponing. If you would like to see what the rest of the crew thought, be sure to check out their reviews by clicking on the button below.

Picaboo Yearbooks, a fun project and memory

We recently built and ordered a homeschool yearbook from Picaboo Yearbooks as part of a review with the Schoolhouse Review Crew.  We put together a 20 page softcover yearbook which retails for $8.49 base price plus $8.99 shipping, additional pages can be added for $.22 each. We also received an e-book copy  of the album to download, it comes as an epub file, which is fairly easy to access. We ran into a minor issue with ordering, but the online live customer service chat feature was amazing and quickly took care of the issue.

Picaboo Yearbooks uses a web based creator to select, edit, and embellish pages. Photos can be uploaded from a computer or social media which was a nice feature. The program is loaded with a collection of papers to use for backgrounds for the pages, you can also upload papers if you would like. You can also add embellishments as well.  The cover is a wrap a round cover allowing for pictures on the front and back as well as text and background colors.
I liked that I had flexibility with the images and layout, but did run into a learning curve. As a digital scrapbooker for the past 6 years, I was a little stuck in my ways, so it took me a couple of sessions to get comfortable with the program and layout.  I had to get comfortable with the program, I'm not sure I would recommend this to an advanced scrapbooker, but to someone looking for something that is fairly easy with functionality and basic features it fits the bill.

I selected  and uploaded over 300 photos to arrange into terms as an overview for our 2012- 2013 school year. I was able to highlight some wonderful memories that we had including summer reading and a wonderful living history lesson on the Korean War with Papa.  So many wonderful memories are now preserved in a nice 8 1/2 x 11 softcover yearbook for my boys to enjoy.

When the package arrived, I was not at home, Cameron saw the label and knew immediately what it was. He opened up and saved the package and in the week since we received the book he has devoured it and loves it.  We did a matte finish to all the pages and the cover which gives a nice feature to the pictures, very realistic in my opinion. I intentionally left journal/ text boxes off several pages so that we can record the boys' handwriting on those pages. Not only will we have the memories on those pages,but also a bit of their personalities with their handwriting.

While the boys love the album, I am not sure if I would do the softcover option again, I tend to like a hardcover or traditional album when it is something that will be handled frequently. The craftsmanship of the product leads me to think that this will last for quite a while.
I think if I used the program more often ,I would get more comfortable with the program. It was nice having it  online where I could work on the project on any computer. I am looking at another project and thinking it might be fun to have the boys work on some of the pages and having it accessible on any machine would make that realistic to do.

I can't wait to see what kind of yearbooks other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew created and what they thought of the program. You can check out their reviews by clicking on the button below.

Mom Fashion goes Purple and Flexi

Mom Fashion is trying something a little different,  flexi-clips!  I was blessed to receive 2 clips to review and share my thoughts with my readers.
WOW! Finally something versatile that holds my hair and doesn't pull or fall out.

In the last month I have tried a variety of hair styles with the flexi clips and have found the side pony tail is my favorite. I can have my hair pulled away from my face but still feel like it is still down.
LillaRose is a direct sales company and I was blessed to find out that a homeschool blogger friend is a rep who loves to share ideas even on Pinterest .
I received 2 clips including a medium dragon fly and a small beaded clip with clear beads. Both have been incredibly versataile. They are sturdy, but feminine. I love that I can wear something that isn't too heavy but still acts as an adornment.
I have long hair, while it is long over the years it has thinned some so it is often hard to find something that can be worn with variety. Lately I have been wearing a twisted bun with the dragon fly along the side.
I keep the beaded clip in my purse as it is so easy to use on days I start out with my hair down but need a change midday, I can do a quick pony or half up.
The clips can be dressy or casual which is a bonus as I like to take a piece like my purple rayon blend top and dress is up with black slacks or dress it down with a simple denim skirt. With both outfits I did the same basic side pony and a flexi clip.  A little bling never hurt Mom's appearance, but not too much.
Lilla Rose being a Direct Sales company offers programs to start your own business, if that is something you are interested in be sure to check out  Jennifer's Page or the company's main page.
This review has given me a bit of inspiration when it comes to Mom Fashion posts and venturing outside my little box. Thank you, Jennifer for the opportunity to share these fun little treasures.

Skillet Sauces times 2

I love Campbell's Skillet Sauces and have been trying to use them as a way to introduce new flavors to the boys.

One simple black packet covers enough meat to feed all 4 of us at least one meal.

A simply elegant meal: Chicken Marsala tenders with steamed broccoli and herb buttered whole wheat pasta. The chicken tenders were baked in a 350' oven with the sauce until cooked through and then plated, that easy.

Leftover chicken becomes an easy pasta salad the second day.  I combined the leftover herb buttered pasta with the left over chicken tenders and some kale, broccoli, and brussel sprout salad; tossed with home-brewed cranberry vinegar and olive oil.

I love when a simple meal becomes a simple leftover lunch the next day.

25 Truths makes for a interesting dialogue @25truths

Having an open dialogue about simple truths can become an interesting dialogue when you bring the kids into the talk.
Thanks to a recent Schoolhouse Review Crew opportunity, we did just that; in reading and reviewing 25 Truths by Ed Douglas.
Over the years I've read my share of inspirational books that talk about how to be successful and happy,  but they all seemed to missing something key, the scripture to back in up.
I love the 26 chapters, yes I said 26. Each chapter focuses on a new truth with a bonus "plus one" truth.
Some of the highlights to this little treasure:
Truth  #7: Don't hate -instead forgive; sounds simple enough right? How much energy we waste hating things, events, even people in our lives. The obvious scripture quoted at the beginning of this chapter Matthew 18:21-22, think about 70 times 7. Even the discussion questions for this chapter get to the heart of the matter, "What can you do to stop hating and start forgiving?"(pg 40).
Thoughts that came to us while discussing this truth centered around loving each other especially our neighbors and remembering that God loves us all no matter what.

Truth #12: Learn What Brings True Happiness; the summary message from the chapter really nails a lot of what is wrong with society now. "Combining your talents with hard work over  an extended time to accomplish something of significance can help you find happiness"(pg 68)
My boys loved thinking about things they love doing and how that might become their career someday. Nathan  loves fixing things and is already thinking about working in his Daddy's shop; while Cameron wants to design new cars inspired by the old cars. Either way, they are being inspired by things that make them  happy.
The book has a wonderful discussion section at the end of each chapter to ask yourself, your children, your spouse, even a youth group or Bible study. This 150 page paperback book retails for $12.50 on the website
You can also find the book on Twitter.
Here is a wonderful promo video by the author,


I have enjoyed reading these truths to my boys and then having them discuss the questions as well as their own thoughts. They might be a little young for this book as a whole at 7 and 10, but I want them to start seriously thinking about their reputation, their ideals, and how important morality really is to the direction we are going.
I have also been reading this with my husband during a few quiet evenings and discussing with him, where we went wrong in our youth, and how we need to lean on the Scripture to make sure we guide our boys in the right direction.
Have you had an open discussion or dialogue with your family about morality, responsibility, or truths? If you are looking for a starting point to open dialogue this little treasure of book if your ticket. Even if you are having these open discussions with your kids, this book is full on so much love and inspiration that you are bound to find something new to add to your discussions.

I can't wait to read what the rest of the crew thought of this little treasure. You can see what they thought by clicking on the button below.

Da Planes, Da Planes

Ok if you get the joke in the title, you have to leave a comment..
All kidding aside, my boys are so excited for this upcoming Disney movie, Planes.
To tell the truth, I am looking forward to taking them to the movies next month to see it.
Opening August 9, 2013 in theaters everywhere, for those that remember the short on the Cars DVD (not sure which one..), this is sure to be a hit.

Lego time

Legos are everywhere, at least in our living room and dining room, so what better way to deal then to get on the floor and build with my boy.

We built custom trucks and trailers. Something simple but crazy fun.

Even Mommy can build a basic Lego truck. shhh don't tell the boys I use to play with Legos as much as they do now.

Nathan's truck rocked the lighting options though. He thinks of all the details and options.

Sunday scripture 7/14

16 | II Corinthians 13:14 (to 1^st .)

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.

17 | Psalms 95:6, 7 (to ;)

O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God; 

A night on the river

We decided to keep to ourselves for 4th of July
We ventured down to a quiet spot along the Willamette River for a camp fire,some splashing and some family time.
We listened to CDs from the OCEANetwork homeschool conference keynote speaker, Norm Wakefield and continued  our journey growing as a family in Christ.

I am grateful for evenings like this with my family

***any links in this post are non-sponsored and non affiliated links***

Planning with The Schoolhouse Planners: A Short Review and Giveaway

****AND THE WINNER IS****

Congratulations to Beverly Steele, I will email you shortly for your choices

While I start thinking about our upcoming school year and plan for what we are hoping to do I also pick out some of my favorite planning pages form the Schoolhouse Planner. As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, I receive my planner as part of the package. If you are a member of SchoolhouseTeachers.com you also receive it as a benefit of membership, and finally you can also purchase anyone of the 5 planners directly.

The Schoolhouse Planner is available in 5 different styles to fit a variety of ages and roles.

The Main planner , Mom's planner is actually a Home and School planner with a ton of forms for household, life, events, and homeschooling. It comes as a zip file and contains 3 folders: Household, Homeschool, and Calendars as well as a separate Start here document.  I love the variety of forms, especially when you can type in the document and save, you can also save a set of documents  as a single pdf file for the ones you reuse (especially the scheduling forms for multiple children )

We also use the Primary Planner. I like that the variety of forms and helpers are geared toward the primary ages. While we don't use all the forms or helpers, my 3rd grader is happy to have helpers that are what he needs.

My oldest son is starting 5th grade and will be using many of the helpers and lists from the Intermediate Planner this year. While he hasn't settled on the actual calendar and assignment format he wants to use, he is happy to use the helpers and lists from this planner.

I don't have any High School students yet and we don't use the Special Needs one  (although I may download it to get a look at some the behavior helpers as we are having some anger issues with one). 

Now you can win a copy of the Mother of all planners plus your choice of one of the student planners. 

This is open to all our readers with the exception of employees of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

Leave a comment below letting me know which add on planner you would like to win.

***Extra Entries****

Follow us on one of the social media links found in the upper right corner and leave us a message with which one and your user name. (You may enter once for each social media site 5 total)

Share this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus , or Pinterest  and comment with a link  to the post. (Pinterest shares please use the graphic below )

Entries accepted until midnight PST July 10, 2013. Winner will be notified July 11th and will have until noon PST July 12th to respond . (I will be leaving town on the 13th so need to make sure I can let the publisher know before I leave who the winner is)

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Teaching the teacher and then teaching the student with IEW

Institute for Excellence in Writing

Five years ago I attended a small homeschool conference in Spokane, Washington as a vendor representative, this led to a chance meeting that would leave a lasting impression. I met Andrew Pudewa and talked with him about writing and teaching writing. Moving forward to 2013 and working with the Schoolhouse review crew, I was over joyed to see IEW appear on our vendor list and was even more excited when we were chosen to review these two products. 

Teaching the teacher with Teaching Structure and Style

Are you ready to learn as the teacher? Teaching Writing the Structure and Style is a 10 DVD set (6 DVDs are the teacher's course work, 1 DVD of tips and tricks , and 3 DVD of Student Sample workshops 1 for each level A,B, and C) along with the binder full of source material, seminar materials, chart, and tools for teaching the program to your students. 

The day it arrived I watched the first 2 DVDs that afternoon and evening and started the activities in the binder. My husband even watched bits and pieces with me, finally deciding that he wanted to watch the student version with the boys instead.   The series retails for $169.00 and is more than worth the investment. I love the videos and the way Mr. P (as my boys have started calling him) breaks down each of the steps. There is still a lot of flexibility with the program, I know that some areas are going to take longer for the boys and some things they are going to get right out of the gate. 

I love getting the history of the program, it made me think of a Chemistry class I took in high School. We didn't learn a lot of chemistry but since it was an advanced class the instructor felt we needed to learn things that would get us through college and beyond (testing techniques, note taking techniques, and how to mark in a textbook for study purposes), oddly enough I still have that chemistry book (the school district was going to throw them out at the end of the year and our teacher managed to swing us keeping them).

Understanding the tricks to teaching our students and even a group of students the foundations for thinking was a huge break through for me. It isn't about writing a research paper where we hand them an idea , give them a few books to reference, and send them on their way; it is about teaching them to think and understand the why of the assignment.

Teaching our children to think, will lead them to much greater things then if we are to teach them how to rewrite what has already be rewritten.  

The boys loved the fact that Mommy had to spend some serious time working through TWSS before I could introduce them to the program. They think it is fun to watch Mommy learn something new. As I worked through the DVDs my goal was not only to do the work but to also make notes for myself as the teacher to use as we worked through the program with the boys. Knowing that I would be presenting the program to not only the 2 little boys but also my husband meant I would need to have a strong grasp of all the aspects,so with post it notes in hand and my pencil I made a variety of notes to myself as I worked through the various units. 

Units 1 and 2 introduced me to a new way of note taking as well as retelling from notes rather than having the source still with me. 

Unit 3 really gave me a way to look at creative writing differently and story telling in a simpler way.  

Unit 4 reminded me of all the copious notes I use to take and how I struggled to sort through them when it came time to use them, I am grateful for this system to teach the boys how to take notes without overwhelming themselves later.

Unit 5 I have to say at first I wasn't sure about unit 5, but as I worked through it and thought on it more, I gained more understanding of writing from pictures. I also love the handling of the "verbs of being" . Teaching  children at a young age how to use concrete verbs sets the foundation early on. Relearning this concept in college is not the way to do it.

Unit 6 Since my boys are younger I only spent a brief amount of time on this and will be revisiting it as we continue on our writing journey. Unit 6 is a continuation of unit 4.

Unit 7 This unit inspired me to change how I will be teaching creative writing in the fall to our co-op class of 3rd graders. I love the list of ideas for Creative Writing Assignments in this unit.

Unit 8 Essay writing, definitely a topic I never thought I would revisit after college, but here I am getting ready to teach my boys how to write an essay, yikes! Thankfully I can depend on IEW and TWSS to help me through the process.

Unit 9 Critiques like reviews of products and books is something I feel pretty solid in but am still grateful for the lists and technique.

I love the tips section of the binder, page after page of helpful little bits to add to the whole experience teaching the boys. Finally the binder ends with an Appendix, where I found great tips for lesson planning and expectations for covering all 9 units and not getting stuck on units 1 and 2, I will most likely make a copy of the Lesson Plan page to include in the boys' planners or at least Mom's planner for August through December.

Teaching the student with Student Writing Intensive

Now that Mom managed to learn the Structure and Style method, shall we introduce it to the boys?

Student Writing Intensive level A is a 5 DVD bundle with binder full of reproducibles and dividers. The DVD box holds the 4 student DVDs plus an Overview of Structure and Style DVD. The overview DVD is just that an overview of the methods taught in Structure and Style. Level A is appropriate for grades 3-5 or children writing and reading at around those levels and retails for $109.00.  The SWII program comes with  Teacher's Notes for each lesson that include the time stamp for various lessons on the DVDs. The time stamp notes helped immensely as we never left the DVDs in the player and sometimes watched the DVDs on the computer rather than the TV. 

Since I plan on having our youngest go back through the program again next year,  I had Cameron put the tabs and copies of certain pages into a separate binder.  The 5 tabs in the binder make it easy for the student to find materials needed: Models/ Sources and Checklists, Outlines and Compositions, Structural Models, Style Charts, and finally "Banned" Words. Not all of the accompanying pages fit under those categories so I store them in the striped binder. The Teacher's notes and the student handouts store nicely out of the way of a child who frustrates easily when it comes to writing. When Nathan starts the program I think I will use the SWII notebook and move the extras to my TWSS binder as there is still plenty of room in it.

Watching the DVD lessons with Cameron , actually Nathan and Daddy watched too was a relaxed fun way to get through each lesson, a note to self though: We need a functioning remote for the DVD player so pausing and replaying is easier. 

As we worked our way through units 1 and 2 and Cameron improved with those tasks, we decided to change things up a bit to inspire him as we worked through unit 3. Cameron loves Star Wars and has several easy readers and graded readers related to Star Wars. We used the various stories to have him summarize the stories, after 3 or 4 stories we decided to skip ahead a bit and have him write his own Star Wars story using the structure and style techniques he had learned. I had him write the Story Sequence including the Setting, the Plot, and the Climax. I added a word list for him to create so he would already have his -ly words. He included several "Who/Which" clauses as well. Thankfully he enjoyed the rabbit trail project. The program inspired him so much he has actually asked to continue using IEW products for writing including Following Narnia. Nathan is eager to start the program more seriously so he can try out the Rocket, Radar, and Robots book. I hope I don't overwhelm them but I really want to add the history series to our history shelf . 

Institute for Excellence in Writing even inspired my husband to relearn writing technique, trying his hand as retelling a story from a key word outline. He got right in the thick of it with the boys and followed all the rules, skipping lines, using a pen, drawing a single  line through words he wanted to change, and writing quickly but neatly. Some days it is a good thing having three students. 

You can find out more about these and other programs by visiting IEW on the web,, on Facebook, and Twitter

The Schoolhouse Review Crew reviewed these 2 products as well as Teaching the Classics. The various reviews can be read by clicking the button below.