Things I Learned at VBS

I am still mentally and physically recouping from VBS last week, LOL!  The children weren't the only ones learning last week, I learned a few things myself. 

I am so thankful that I am able to be home with my children.  To be able to raise them myself and to be home is really a BLESSING!  Even though VBS was only a half day, I got a pretty good taste of what it would be like to be working away from home each day.  Working moms really have a ton on their plate.   I was not able to keep up with my home as usual and I don't think I felt like making dinner even once last week.  I was sooo- tired!  So, kudos to working mamas!

Another thing I learned is that we mamas need to be TRAINING OUR CHILDREN so that they can go out into the world!   Please don't get me wrong, I was very glad to be able to share the Lord with these little people BUT it was very obvious that several of these children ran the roost at home and were not being trained.  I was not expecting perfection by any means and I know that foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but some of these children just did not listen. 

The Lord used all these little ones last week to show me some areas that I need to be more consistantly working on at home with my little ones.  There are some things that I have let slide and the Lord opened my eyes to this.  Thank you Lord!

The VBS program at our church was great, it was called Genesis 1: Space Probe.  All the little VBS'ers became "astronauts" for the week.  The kids had a great time!  We all learned memory verses, heard the gospel, met new friends and learned some really cool new songs.  Not sure how long I am going to be walking around the house singing "Count to 10" and "Noah."  I think my kids are already getting tired of it! 

TOS Crew Blog Walk - Week 2

Please join me in the TOS Crew Blog Walk!  Feel free to stop by and visit my fellow TOS Crew Mates this week.  So many Blogs, so little time!! 
1. Second Star to the Right and Straight On Till Morning

2. Surviving The Testosterone - Gotta love the name!!

3. Family Style School

4. School Around The Bible - I am really diggin' her layout.  Very Nice!

5. 1628 The Story of The Goebels 5

6. Morris Family Madness

7. Homeschool Musings

8. Homeschooling (and then some!)

9. Heartfelt Homeschooling

10. Following Him home

My Lord I Did Not Choose You

Words by Jo­si­ah Con­der

My Lord, I did not choose You,
For that could never be;
My heart would still refuse You,
Had You not chosen me.
You took the sin that stained me,
You cleansed me, made me new;
Of old You have ordained me,
That I should live in You.

Unless Your grace had called me
And taught my op’ning mind,
The world would have enthralled me,
To heav’nly glories blind
My heart knows none above You;
For Your rich grace I thirst;
I know that if I love You,
You must have loved me first.

The Little Green Books WINNER is...

Melissa said...


I'm a follower :) and became a fan of S&S on Facebook
June 21, 2010 11:27 AM

Thanks to everyone that entered!  I plan on another great giveaway next week.

The Backseat Drawing Junior Game WINNER is...

Congrats to Terri G. over at Accidential Homeschooling. 

TerriG said...

I am a new crew follower.

Terri, please email me with your address so that we can get your game out to you. Hope you enjoy it!



Thanks to all of you who entered.

Blog Walk

Remember how I told you all that I was going to be joining the TOS Crew this year, well things are just starting to get under way.  I am so excited and I hope that I am able to share some great products with you all.   

I think there are about 200 Crew members this year and alot of my fellow crew members are doing Blog Walks.  So I thought I would join in.  Each week I am going to list 10 of my fellow Crew Member's Blogs for us to check out.  I am hoping to find some great new blogs to follow.  I am a little late in the game so I am going to double up this week so I don't miss anyone. 

Hope you join me in the walk....

1. Alane Abbett's Reaping a Harvest

2. Alexis Green's Pink & Orange Coffee

3. Alina Neuberger's Live, Laugh, Learn!

4. Amanda Bowen's Mrs. Mandy's Musings

5. Amber Hockman's The Fantastic Five

6. amberschoessow's Refined Metals Academy

7. Amy Henn's Just A Moment in Time

8. Angela Greenwell's Providence Farm

9. Angela Richter's My Journey

10. Angie Wright's Petra School

Menu Plan Monday

This week is going to be a little busy for us, it is VBS week at our church.  I am helping to teach the four year olds this week, and oh yeah, there are S E V E N T E E N of them!!  Extra B vitamins and coffee is definitely on my menu for the week.  So, in other words dinners this week are super simple for the LSG household! 

Here goes...

Meatless Monday
Grilled Cheese & Tomato w/ Green Beans

Tuesday
BBQ Chicken Legs w/ Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Carrots

Wednesday
Tacos, Corn and Black Beans

Thursday
Chicken Parmesean over Noodles w/ Broccoli

Friday
Pizza

Saturday
Deep Dish Taco Squares - this is my new favorite!  If you haven't made these before I highly suggest you add them to your menu real soon! 

Sunday
Pan Roasted Chicken & Veggies
(This is simply oven fried chicken with potatoes, squash, zucchini and onions arranged around the edges of your baking sheet)

Rock of Ages

by Au­gus­tus M. Top­la­dy

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.


Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyes shall close in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.

The Boy Who Wouldn't Give Up WINNER is...

michelle said...


I think we would enjoy Rowdy Raccoon and the Turtle Who Wanted to Fly

Little Green Books Review & GIVEAWAY!

A few weeks ago we were blessed with 7 Little Green Books from Simon & Schuster. Little Green Books are a line of books that focus on environmental awareness, recycling, endangered animals and planting. These books are made from recycled materials, which we thought was REALLY COOL!

Easy to Be Green by Ellie O'Ryan -This is a activity book that is filled with pages to color, a word search and loads of information. Lots of things for the kids to enjoy! I love how they even talk about natural cleaning products in here. I learned how to make an all natural furniture polish!

 

This is Our World by Emily Sollinger - This is a really neat board book. On each page of the book there is a puzzle piece that the kids collect and at the end of the book the kids can put together a double sided puzzle. This book talks about the environment, pollution, gardening and recycling. This book even gave us an idea to make a recycled bird feeder!

 

Don't Throw That Away! by Lara Bergen - This one is also a board book but this one is a Lift the Flap book. In this book we learned several ideas for recycling common household items into something new, instead of throwing it away.

The Adventures of an Aluminum Can & The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle by Alison Inches

These books are super cute, I think these are my favorite! They are written in the form of a diary. They talk about how aluminum cans and plastic bottles are made and recycled. Did you know that plastic came from crude oil? 

Dora Celebrates Earth Day!  - In this book we learned about conserving energy, gardening, recycling and keeping the Earth clean.  The kids of course love Dora, although the girls won't always admit it!

Watch Me Grow! Blue Plants a Seed - This was a great book. We learned about gardening, planting seeds and how they grow. We planted seeds this year and started our own garden so the kids were really able to relate to this book. We really liked this one too!

The kids putting the puzzle together in the This is Our World book.

This is the completed puzzle, cute isn't it!

Overall, the children and I learned many things that we didn't know before about caring for the Earth, recycling and reusing.  I believe reading the Little Green Books helped to give us a better understanding of things that we can do to be good stewards of the Earth that the Lord has given us.  We have not started recycling yet but I plan to real soon! 

To purchase any of these great books please visit Simmon & Schuster Kids.

Simon & Schuster has offered the same great book bundle to one of YOU!  The WINNER will get all 7 Little Green Books that we reviewed.  The GIVEAWAY will run until June 25th.  Please leave a SEPARATE COMMENT for each way that you enter and you EMAIL ADDRESS!  Here are the ways that you can enter:

• You must be a Follower or Subscriber of LSG to Win! Please leave me a comment and let me know you follow.
• If you have just become a new Follower or Subscriber please tell me how you heard about this giveaway.
• If you blog about this contest please come back and leave me a link to you post.
• Go check out the Little Green Books website and have your kids play some of the games.  Come back and tell me which game your kids liked best.
• Facebook or Twitter about this giveaway and leave me a comment to let me know about it.
• Become a Fan of Simon & Schuster on Facebook.

I am Just Wondering...

If anyone would be interested if I started a Fabulous Friday Giveaways Link?  Anyone else have giveaways that they would like to link up on Fridays?

By the way , if any one was wondering, we did find the rebel hamster alive and well.   The Hubs found her running through the family room and scooped her up.  I have to admit, I am not quite rejoicing over here, mentally I already had her replaced with a friendlier hamster : )  The kids are very happy to have her back!

Backseat Drawing Junior Review & GIVEAWAY!

My kids love to draw, especially the girls so when I came across the game Backseat Drawing Junior, by Out of the Box, I had a feeling it would be a hit.  Mama's intuition was right on!  They have played this game countless times and it really has become one of their favorites. 

 In Backseat Drawing Junior there are two ways to play, as teams or everyone in.  Either way you play the game, each round has a Director and an Artist.  The director looks at a picture card and directs the artist on how to draw the picture WITHOUT saying what the picture is.  Everyone, including the artist, has to try to guess what the picture is.  Each picture card is double sided, one side is a little more difficult then the other.  This game is geared toward ages 7 and up, but we have played it as a family and just helped the little ones. 

Each round is played until the picture is guessed or everyone agrees that they have no clue what the picture is of, yes this has happened to us a few times.  The silly unrecognizable pictures just add to the fun! 

Backseat Drawing Junior is one of the MANY wonderful games that Out of the Box carries.  You can purchase your own for Backseat Drawing from Amazon for about $15.00, what a deal!  This game is perfect for Family Game Night!  I love how it gets everyone involved as each player tries to guess the picture first.   

Draw 2 small circles.

Draw 2 lines that are connected to the 2 circles.

Now draw 2 ovals on top of the lines.

  

Pretty close!

Yes, even Little Bits had a turn.

Out of the Box has offered to giveaway a Backseat Drawing Game to one of YOU!  This giveaway will run until June 23rd.  Please leave a SEPARATE COMMENT for each way that you enter and you EMAIL ADDRESS!

• You must be a Follower or Subscriber of LSG to Win!  Please leave me a comment and let me know you follow.
• If you have just become a new Follower or Subscriber please tell me how you heard about this giveaway.
• If you blog about this contest please come back and leave me a link to you post.
• Go check out the Out of the Box site and tell me 2 other games that you would like to play!
• Facebook or Twitter about this giveaway and leave me a comment to let me know about it.
• Become a Fan of Out of the Box on Facebook.

Super Yummy Taco Bake

This is one of those recipes that is pretty adaptable, depending on what you have on hand.  Do you all remember that goofy friend of mine that went to the zoo with me?  Well, she blessed me with several freezer meals when Little Bits was born and this was one of them.  I remember asking her why she had been holding out on this recipe!  This has been one of my favorites every since.

Here is the original recipe.  The sausage really does make it yummy but I usually make it with out it.

1lb. Ground Beef
1lb. Ground Sausage
1 medium Onion
1 pkg. Brown Rice, cooked
1 28oz can of diced Tomatoes
1 can of Black Beans
1 pkg, of Taco Seasoning, or to taste
1 Tbsp of Cumin (I used about a half a jar of this stuff, because, well I just love it!)
1 pkg. of Frozen Corn
Shredded Cheddar Cheese


Toppings can include any of the following:
Sour Cream
Chopped Black Olives
Shredded Lettuce
Fresh Diced Tomatoes
Salsa
Tortilla Chips




Preheat to 400 degrees.  Brown meat and onion ,then drain.  Mix in rice, diced tomatoes, beans, corn, taco seasoning and cumin.  Dump everything into a 9x13 pan, top with cheese and bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted. 


Plate up and then add fresh tomatoes, shredded lettuce, sour cream and tortilla chips.  I am now a big fan of Multi-Grain Tortilla Chips, thanks to Aunt Candy Lou, who shared some with us at the beach.

Taco Bake is great to make ahead and freeze, kid friendly and it is definitely a crowd pleaser.  Thanks again Deleaware Girl, for the meals you blessed us with or for the awesome recipe!

Down By the Bay

A close friend of mine lives walking distance to the beautiful Chesapeake Bay and we went over to spend the day with her at the beach. It was such a beautiful day and we pretty much had the whole beach to ourselves.

This is Aunt Candy Lou. Thanks for having us over, we had lots of FUN!

                     Alpha Boy & Little Bits diggin' for clams, sand crabs or whatever they could find.

  This was one of those moments when mom (me) makes the kids stop playing so that she may get a picture. Smile purdy and say CHEEZ.

Little Bits was not very fond of the water so he stayed on land and harassed Aunt Candy Lou for snacks.

We were blessed to see a mama duck with her ten baby ducks. We couldn't believe how close to land they came.

The Lil Chef and Computer Girl were really enjoying the water until they saw....

These guys! Mating horseshoe crabs. I think that I will have water shoes for our next visit, thank you very much!

These kids were WIPED OUT!

And so was their mama!  I was super thankful to have a frozen Taco Bake ready to throw in the oven.  Recipe to follow tomorrow...

Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim it!

by Fanny Crosby

Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child and forever I am.

Refrain

Redeemed, redeemed,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed, redeemed,
His child and forever I am.

Redeemed, and so happy in Jesus,
No language my rapture can tell;
I know that the light of His presence
With me doth continually dwell.

Refrain

I think of my blessèd Redeemer,
I think of Him all the day long:
I sing, for I cannot be silent;
His love is the theme of my song.

Refrain

I know there’s a crown that is waiting,
In yonder bright mansion for me,
And soon, with the spirits made perfect,
At home with the Lord I shall be.

Refrain


This is a long time favorite for me.  Just reading the words makes me so thankful for my Redeemer, Christ Jesus!

Saturday Solutions: Paper Clip Book Markers

As I have said before, I LOVE books!  However, the strange thing is that I am one of those people (assuming there are others out there!) that rarely read one cover to cover.  I guess mainly because I like reference type books, cookbooks, and books about Christian wisdom, homeschooling and raising kids.  I am always in and out of several books at a time. 

After being in the Barnes & Noble lines a few times I decided I really liked those cute little packs of book markers.  You know the kind, they are usually either a magnet of some sort or a clip.  Any who, I really didn't want to spend $10 for 3 tiny clips so I came up with a super simple little idea.

This works especially well for those of you that scrapbook and have otherwise useless little pieces of ribbon laying around, like I did. Of course, cute ribbons make a cute book marks. 

You simply tie a little knot around the end of a paper clip!  And BAM!  You have lots of little cutesy book markers for all of your unfinished books : ) 

Grammar Jammar GIVEAWAY WINNER!

Thanks to all of you that entered!  According to http://www.random.org/ the winner is comment # 9

Joyce said...
Became a fan of Grammar Jammar on FB:)

Congrats Joyce!

For those of you that did not win, you can purchase the Grammar Jammar video HERE!   Don't forget to check out my new giveaway for The Boy Who Wouldn't Give Up!

Olivita Oink's Bilingual Barnyard Review

I have never really taken the Foreign Language plunge with the kids, I think it was because I have felt they were kinda young and truthfully, I didn't want to add anything else to our homeschooling plate.  Then one day, I came across Olivita Oink's Bilingual Barnyard, a Spanish Program that looked different then anything I had ever seen before.  The program's creator, Jackie Payne, is a homeschooling mom who wanted to teach her own children Spanish in a way that was enjoyable for them.  The program is designed for children 10 and under and is based around an adorable little Piggy named Olivita Oink.  There are 40 DVD classes, each  one is 10-15 minutes long and has 2 worksheets that accompany them.  By viewing each class at least 2 times, the program would run for one semester.

The Lil Chef, Computer Girl and even Alpha Boy have been hanging out with Olivita for a few months now and they LOVE it!  This is one of those things that the kids bug me to do always ask for.  We have been doing the program twice a week and they are really retaining what they are learning, they still sing the song they learned from the 1st or 2nd class.  The classes were filmed in Colombia and are done is a very creative and enjoyable way!  There is singing, field trips to different places and lots of learning.  The children have learned how to greet each other, colors, family member, body parts, and common household objects in Spanish, among other things! 

You may view samples classes on the Olivita Oink website.  Olivita Oink's Bilingual Barnyard is available as a DVD and Workbook set for $129.99 and additional workbooks may also be purchased.

Wright On Time Books - Review

One thing that we love around here is books!  I am always on the hunt for good books for myself and the kids.   I was very excited to finally come across books about homeschoolers, I know that they are few and far between. 

We were blessed with the first two books in the Wright on Time Series by Lisa M. Cottrell-Bentley.  The series is about a homeschooling family that RV's together and each book takes you to a different state.  Book 1 takes place in Arizona and is filled with facts about the state as well.  In Book 1, Wright on Time: Arizona, we meet Nadia and Aidan (my daughter pointed out that Nadia is Aidan backwards) who are the kids in these great adventures.  They enjoy exploring caves for various rocks, minerals and of course bats!  In Book 2, Wright on Time: Utah, the kids continue there adventure as they search for dinosaur bones.

The Lil' Chef read both of these books in record time, she LOVED them!  She really enjoyed reading about kids that homeschool just like her.  She really liked the story lines and all the different things she learned about caves and fossils.  She can't wait to read the rest of the series.  Book 3, Wright on Time: Wyoming, is due out in July and it is available for Pre Order.

On  the Wright on Time website they have lots of fun stuff to go along with the books like games, coloring pages, lapbooks and Flats!  You should check it out!

The Boy Who Wouldn't Give Up Review & GIVEAWAY!

In teaching and training our children, one of the things that I like to instill in them is perseverance.  Many times over, I have told my children to press on, don't give up and you can do it.  Especially with schoolwork and chores, children, well my children anyway, like to give up when things aren't going as smoothly as they would like.  I am going to venture out and say that even as adults, we can tend to give up when the going gets tough too!

So, when I was given the opportunity to review the audio book of The Boy Who Wouldn't Give Up by Janet Clark Shay, I was pretty excited.  It is a blessing to find things that teach the values of God's word in a way that kids can really relate too!  The Boy Who Would Give Up is about a little boy named Jacob that is trying to learn how to get some perseverance after hearing that his older sister was going to get some!

Jacob really struggles with understanding what this new big word, perseverance really means.  Through puppies, piano practice and playtime at the park, the kids learn what perseverance is and what it isn't! 

Jacobs tries to get perseverance by not giving up or giving in, but instead, what he does get is a few life lessons.  With the love and encouragement from Grandma Alice, Jacob finally gets it!  Jacob and his siblings learn what perseverance is and that Whether therefore ye eat, or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God (1Cor10:31).

This was a really a great story, the kids and I really have enjoyed it.  I hope that there are more coming in the series (Janet: Hint, Hint!!)   The audio book on CD is about 15 minutes long and has some wonderful illustrations inside the CD case.  Sable Creek Press is the publisher of The Boy Who Wouldn't Give Up and they publish several other books that have a Christian Worldview.  You can purchase your own copy of The Boy Who Wouldn't Give Up for $7.95.

I am very excited that Sable Creek Press has offered a copy of The Boy Who wouldn't Give Up to one of you!  This contest will end on June18th. 

There several ways to enter, please leave a separate comment for each way that you enter.

• If you are a Follower or Subscriber of LSG please leave me a comment.
• If you have become a new Follower or Subscriber please tell me how you heard about this giveaway.
• If you blog about this contest please come back and leave me a link to you post.
• Facebook or Twitter about this giveaway and leave me a comment to let me know about it.
• Visit Sable Creek Press and tell me what other books or audio books interest you. 

What a Week. And it's ONLY Tuesday!

So far this week I have given myself a bloody nose, had my computer ruined by Little Bits and lost one of our hamsters.  I am ready for the weekend, is it almost here yet??

I can laugh about it now, but yes, I busted my nose Sunday evening.  How did I manage such a thing you might be wondering.  Well, the homeschool group I belong to is having their once a year used curriculum fair today and I wanted to go thru my books to see what I needed for next year.  I was in the garage pulling down boxes and one of them was an old Pampers box.  The handle broke and my hand flew up and busted my nose.  I immediately felt the blood dripping down my face.  The hubs was upstairs helping the kids get ready for bed so I go to the steps and scream up to him.  He of course doesn't hear me because the door is closed, the kids are running around and the tv is on.  I am thinking, are you serious right now, this stuff only happens to me.  I hollered again and he finally heard me.  I am a sissy when it comes to blood BTW, hence the screaming for the husband.  He comes down, hears my story, plugs my nose, and tells me he thinks it is broken.  Praise God it wasn't.  After the blood stops he cracks up and says "Ha ha!  I am going to have to facebook this one!"  Have I told you how much I love this man??!  Anyway the nose is still a bit sore but no big deal.  Who knew homeschooling could be so dangerous!

As far as the computer, I was checking my email yesterday morning while drinking morning coffee and Lil' Bits decided it would be lots of fun to take a cup of water and DUMP IT on my laptop!  HELLO, doesn't he know I need my computer, I have a blog to run!  : )
I thought it was a goner!  My friend said it would be an act of God for it to start working again.  I guess it was the Lord's will for my computer to be in working order because this morning I tried to turn it on and IT WORKED!  That was a HUGE BLESSING!  The Lord did however show me few things in the mist of this little situation.  One was that I need to seek Him before I seek my email. 

As for the hamster, did I tell you we got a third hamster?  This one is so NOT like the other two.  This one is mean & bites everyone.  We can't even hold her.  I have never had hamsters prior to now.  Beings that the other two are so friendly, I just assumed that most hamsters were the same.  Big fat N O T!!! 
I have just gotten to where I can pet her on the back for a second or two before she tries to chomp my finger off - this is a HUGE improvement.
Last night I had decided that I was gonna hold this thing whether she liked it or not.  I put gloves on, because one injury was really enough for me this week, and picked her up.  I think I held her for a whole 15 seconds and then put her back.  Evidently, I someone forgot to close the cage door last night and this morning she was gone.
We spent half the morning looking for the rebel hamster and finally gave up.  A little later I was changing Lil' Bits and there she was!  As we tried to catch her she almost got eaten by 2 of the dogs and the family room got rearranged but we were so happy we had found her!  Now ask me if we caught her??  Not yet, but hopefully, she will turn up again soon.

Don't you love it, NO yellow spelling blocks!

I Was a Little Embarrassed, But I Got A Good Laugh!

Whoopsy Daisy, as my momma used to say!

Today I got a friendly, very appreciated email from another blogger mommy to inform me about how I could make the yellow spelling blocks go away from my posts.  I just really had to laugh because I truly thought that I was the only one that saw them! 

For a while, I didn't have spell check, honest to goodness it was simply not there!  Then one day out of no where, there it was, WHAT A BLESSING!  I am a craft & history girl, math & spelling, not so much!  Yes, I homeschool my children and I Praise the Lord for Teacher Manuals and Teacher Keys!

Not sure which is funnier to me, the yellow spelling blocks that I thought only I saw or the fact that my non bloggin' sister thought I actually got up at 6am to post blogs and called me to chat!  So, from this day forward, I promise (Lord willing) to not have anymore yellow spelling blocks or misspelled words on my post. 

Thanks again Joyce (Joyful Creations) for your willingness to politely correct me!

Be Thou My Vision

by Mary E. Byrne

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee, Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle-shield, sword for my fight,
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight.
Thou my soul's shelter, Thou my high tower.
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'ns Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.



This is of my favorite hymns!  Just reading the words brings joy to my heart.

Saturday Solutions: Loaf Pans

Ok, this might be a little cheezy but it worked out great for me, so I will share.  We have a rather large drawer in the kitchen that is a catch all for everything, I must admit, I am the main culprit.  I like my house neat and tidy, my family would probably label me as a neat freak. But I do, however, have certain areas in my life that do not display this character, like my van, the garage and the kitchen junk drawer! 

So, I decided to clean out the junk drawer before it drove the Hubs insane!  As I am sorting and weeding thru it I got a great idea, loaf pans!  You know the 3 to a pack tin loaf pans.  I had some from a cooking project that did happen.  Believe it or not Tin Loaf Pans make great drawer organizers and they are cheap too!

See, aren't they great!

Grammar Jammar Review

This past year was Lil' Chef's first year to really be heavy into grammar and it has been a bit of a struggle to be honest. Trying to remember all the different parts of speech has been a little difficult for her (and me).  I have been on the look out for a different way to present grammar to her, so when I came upon Grammar Jammar I was pretty thrilled!  Grammar Jammar is a video for children that was created by a school teacher, Crystal Huau, to help her students better understand the different parts of speech. 

We were blessed to be given the opportunity to do a review on Grammar Jammar and after watching it with the kids, I was really impressed.  Grammar Jammar was done in a very creative and entertaining way.  The video starts off by the teacher, Mrs.Wow, daydreaming about how she can help her students better understand grammar in a fun way.  With some help from some friends, the class goldfish, the clock, ruler, and a dictionary Mrs. Wow teaches her students the different parts of speech by using songs.  Our favorites were the goldfish, the clock and the dictionary, but they were all very cool!

Songs always help my kids to remember things.  The kids really enjoyed all the songs, even Little Bits and Alpha Boy were getting into it!  This is a great way to reinforce what our kids are learning in grammar. 

Jammar Grammar has 13 fun songs included to help kids learn they are:

Gammar Jammar – Ready, ready, ready or not it’s grammar jammar time. This song introduces the dream world of Grammar Jammar. The class is transformed into eager children who are ready to learn.

Vowels – The class is transported to the playground where the dictionary covers the vowels as well as the long and short sounds for each.

Consonants – The dictionary explains that if it is not a Vowel then it must be a Consonant.

Sneaky ‘e’ – The clock sings about a particular vowel “sneaky E” that likes to add itself onto the end of a word and change things.

8 Parts of Speech – This cabaret song describes the eight parts of speech that are needed for proper grammar.

Nouns – The fish, who is the teacher’s pet, transports the class to the fishbowl to teach them about nouns.

Verb is the Word – The ruler sings and dances to a rap song about verbs.

To Be or Not To Be – As the most used verb in the english language, the flag conjugates “to be” in this short catchy tune.

Adjectives vs Adverbs – The adjectives and adverbs take it to the basketball court as they battle it out for supremacy.

Subject Predicate – This song takes place in a 50’s sock hop and explains that there are two parts to every sentence: the subject and the predicate.

4 Kinds of Sentences – The crayon croons about the 4 types of sentences, Declarative, Interrogative, Imperative, and Exclamatory.

Compounds – In this rock song, Miss Wow shows how compound sentences, subjects, predicates, and words are formed.

Ain’t Isn’t Ain’t – The flag sings this country song that describes how contractions are formed.

Now for some really great news, the creator Crystal Huau, has graciously offered to giveaway a copy of Grammar Jammar to one of my readers.  The contest will run until June 11. 

There several ways to enter, please leave a separate comment for each way that you enter. If you are a Follower or Subscriber of LSG please leave me a comment.

• If you have become a new Follower or Subscriber please tell me how you heard about this giveaway. 

If you blog about this contest please come back and leave me a link to you post.

Go check out the Grammar Jammar video and tell me which character and song you like best!

Facebook or Twitter about this giveaway and leave me a comment to let me know about it.

Become a Fan of Grammar Jammar on Facebook.

This is truly a great educational video that your kids will love, if you would like a copy of Grammar Jammar, it is available for $20.

Homested Blessings 10 DVD Set GIVEAWAY!

Found a new blog that I am diggin'.  It is called Raising Homemakers.  They are having an awesome giveaway for a Homestead Blessings 10 DVD Set.  Can I just tell you how long I have been drooling over these wanted to add these to our library.

We watched the Art of Bread Making when we did a studied baking and the West Ladies inspired me to make homemade cinnamon rolls (I will post these soon), which turned out great.   

The contest ends June 4th, so enter now!

Keys For Kids

A while back a friend of mine had told me about this bi-monthly devotional for kids called Keys for Kids, it is put together by CBH Miniistries.  After checking it out,  I ordered Keys for Kids but when it arrived it got put on a shelf.  Since we are finished with MFW, I wanted to find something else for us do for Bible over the summer, so one day I decided to try reading it with the kids to see what we thought, well we've been loving it ever since. 

Each day there is a portion of scripture to read and then there is a little story that revolves around the scripture passage, an application and a memory verse.  It also has a few fun games and puzzles.  You can order them, view or listen to them online.  Sometimes I read them and sometimes I will read the Bible portion and then we listen to the story part online.  We really like the narrorator. 

If you are interested you can order 1 subscription of Keys for Kids online for FREE, otherwise they are $.50-$1.00 depending on the quantity you order.  They have really been a blessing for us.  Hope that you all check them out and are blessed too!

The Scramble Squares WINNERS Are....

Dawn said...

We love puzzles! These look like a great activity for us to do on a rainy day. Since we have 4 dogs, we have to go with the Puppy Scramble Squares! Thanks for a fun contest! kimdken@aol.com

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Sara @ Embracing Destiny said...

There are so many neat ones to choose from, but I think I would go with Maine lighthouses since those are near and dear to my heart!

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Mel said...

I heard about the giveaway through the Workboxes group on Yahoo! Thanks for sharing! :o)


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Debbie said...

I posted about it on my blog... finally... busy day!
http://debbiesdigest.blogspot.com/2010/05/giveaway-on-blog-i-follow-scramble.html


 
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jkmom said...

I also signed up for your rss feed.
donjonna@embarqmail.com


I have sent each of the winners an email, please respond no later than Friday, June 4th.  Thanks!