As many of you know, we’ve been studying DINOSAURS!!!

Last week, we received an awesome green box in the mail with more…. (you guessed it!) DINOSAUR fun!

We made our own little fossils…

And EVERYTHING (even the scissors!) was included.  We all had SO MUCH FUN!  But, that wasn’t all…

Then, we made our own Dinosaur FEET and TAIL!

SHH!  We have dinosaurs in the house!!

So, what is this little box of fun, you ask?

It’s … Kiwi Crates! !!

Kiwi Crates is a company that packs age-appropriate themed activities (and all you need for them) in a box of fun!

Who is it for? 3- 7 year olds.  And, pretty much anyone!  Whether you homeschool or just want a fun activity… these boxes are great!  Whether you’re a parent, grandparent, or just the best babysitter ever…these boxes are great!

What is it? In each box comes several carefully handpicked activities that encourage growth in different development areas (the Dinosaur box covered Motor-Gross, Creating, Discovering, Motor-Fine).  Each box contains EVERYTHING you will need.  If you need scissors, it’s in there.  Clay?  It’s in there too.  Stuff to stick in the clay?  You got it!  All in the box, ready to go!

How to get it? Here comes the fun part!  (Be sure to read all the way to the end!!)  First, we have teamed up with Kiwi Crate to give away a crate of your choice to one lucky winner!  However, if you don’t win, no worries!  These great boxes are available on their website.  You can order them by the box or get a nifty subscription (only 19.95/mo + FREE shipping!) where they pack up the boxes for you and send them along each month – you don’t have to remember to do anything, they’ll do it all for you!  Great, right?  OR, you can go NOW and take a look at their newly released single boxes…only $19.95 ea with FREE shipping!  –Great for birthdays, rainy days, or…well, any other day!

So, are you ready to win?

Simply visit their website (HERE) and come back to comment on THIS post letting us know which box you’d like to win!  How easy is that??

Want an EXTRA entry?  Like Bosssanders.com on Facebook (Click Here) and leave a comment letting me know you did (these will be verified!)

Contest open to US residents 18 and older ONLY.

Deadline:  February 15, 2013 – GIVEAWAY CLOSED!!

**Disclaimer:  We received this product for review.  However, like all things on this blog, this review is honest and was not “bought” or swayed.

WINNER!!
Congratulations, Paige L!  You have won!  (check your email!)

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A Simple Woman’s Daybook for today…Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Outside my window…The sun is shining!!  It looks deceptively warm outside!

I am thinking…of lots of things.  My brain has lots going on for the past few days   1.) The kids and I are working on our Neighborhood “You’ve been Boo’ed” gifts and we are super excited!  Throwing around some ideas in my head on how to decorate the frames for the gifts so they’ll be super cute.  2.) Rora is feeling better (so it seems)… so yay!  And, the rest of us have gotten over the yuck (FINALLY)…so yay, again!  3.) We are still in our homestudy process but just scheduled our last meeting!  YEAH!  SO looking forward to having the finished thing in hand!  4.) Really wish L’s school was more open to parent-involvement… I’m really not liking this switch from homeschool to public school!  (But, she LOVES it)   I’m willing to give it more time, though to see how it progresses.  5.) about Halloween… and Christmas!!  And little guy’s birthday!  I’m starting lists for what I need for each and … well, let the Christmas shopping/crafting begin!

I am thankful…for my awesome husband, great kids, and my family.  Actually, I have a HUGE list of things I’m thankful for   I AM enjoying this weather though…I LOVE every different season and love how they change!

From the kitchen…We have non-paleo chocolate chip cookies and non-paleo pizza leftover from our treat last night (for lunch today).  And, for tonight… I’m thinking… Butter Chicken (paleo)

From the learning rooms…L is in school (it’s picture day!) and R and I are working through her Preschool worksheets.  We are practicing letters A-E and her shapes.  She’s got her colors down.

I am creating…crafts with R and our Neighborhood BOO gifts

I am wearing…My “Southern Chics” lime green LS shirt and turquoise sweats.    Very colorful today!

I am reading…I’m in between books right now… have any you’d recommend? (Quick reads…maybe fiction?  Would love a good fiction…)

I am hoping…to hear our homestudy is FINISHED soon   Other than that… just hoping for a great day for my husband at work!

I am hearing…R playing

Around the house… I’m itching to paint rooms…well, not so much to paint them, but for them to be painted so I can re-decorate

One of my favorite things…quality time with my husband… and “dates” with our kids!  We have so much fun together.

I am going…to run a few errands in a bit…

A few plans for the rest of the week…Crafting, homeschooling, a visit to the corn maze, haunted ghost tour with hubby, pumpkin patch and hayrides, my brother’s bday and making halloween costumes??

A picture thought…

R is LOVING trains right now.  So, we borrowed a bunch of train books from the library and read them in style!!  (R takes full credit for putting her hat on herself –goofy!)

A trip to the railroad museum… they were super excited.  There was an ENTIRE room dedicated to a super cool train set up for model trains… they LOVED watching the trains go in and out of tunnels and through all of the display.  They could have stayed in that one room alone, I think, for HOURS.

AJ was a trooper!  I really should buy some teething pad attachments for his carrier…

RAWR!!!

Little Red Riding Hood and her Big Bad Wolf

Science is Simple

Why, yes it can be!

With two little ones – a Kindergartner and a toddler, science needs to STAY simple.  Both of my girls are hands-on learners, so that makes science REALLY fun in our house!

Because my girls are young, and because I believe exploration and hands-on activities (especially science!) is best, Science Is Simple is a great book for us!

Written by Peggy Ashbrook and having won the Learning Magazine’s Teachers’ Choice Award, Science Is Simple divides its experiments into lessons.

What Kinds Of Lessons Will My Child Learn From This Book?

Of course, just like with any tools or curriculum, it really depends on how you present the material and their curiosity, but here are a few of the great “lessons” listed in the Table of Contents:

Magnets and Testing Hypotheses
Year-Round Gardening
What Do Seeds Need To Grow
Why Do Some Tree Leaves Change Color?
Stretch Your Senses on a Walk To A Nearby Park
Compost Critters
Spring-Flowering Bulbs…Are Planted In The Fall
Corn and an Introduction to the Globe
Winter Birds
What is Melting
What Can the Wind Do?

Why Is This Book Different From Other Science Textbooks?

Well, first off, it isn’t a textbook!  Second, it’s written for Preschoolers and Kindergartners (although the activities can definitely be altered for older kids if you have siblings involved).

Science is Simple contains over 250 Activities and each Lesson is divided into different sections that give you tips for presenting the material to your child.  And, if you struggle with what to say or the questions to ask, this book covers that too!  Also included in each lesson is a section on other activity ideas and book ideas beyond the experiments to help supplement what they just learned.

Would I Recommend This Book?

Definitely!  This is one of those resources that we’ll continue to use with all of our children.  Whether you are a home-educator or you teach in a classroom, it’s great!

Where Can I Get It?

You can find it on Amazon.com HERE.  Currently, it’s $13.57 (list price is $19.95).

PS – Want to see one of our experiments from the book?  Check out our mantis babies!

K4, Tot School, new baby, deployment, going back to college, new writing gig, new ministry… this school year will surely be an adventure!

Schedule

Because my kids are so young, I’m taking a different approach to scheduling this year.  The last couple of years, I’ve tried the nice little planners but then failed miserably.  If things came up, and they always did, I’d feel awful for falling behind and then would try to race ahead.  It just wasn’t working.  Furthermore, a 4 year old’s attention span just isn’t very long most days!

With that said, we have a basic daily routine and basic yearly schedule for this school year.

For example, every day the following happens:

We wake up
Mommy showers
We eat
…………..

……………

Nap

………….

……………

Supper

Bed

The spaces between are where the baths happen… and the learning, playing, praying, cuddling, cooking, cleaning, errand-running, etc.

Right now, that’s what works for us.  It’s enough consistency for them and we still get things done.

As far as our yearly schedule goes, I’m simply adopting a new plan:  In our curriculum, we will tackle Math, Reading, and Writing first.  Once we go through those lessons, we will move on to Social Studies and Science.  Of course, she’ll still be doing ALL SUBJECTS as she writes letters to her daddy, reads books, counts her money, etc.  Life is this cool never-ending learning experience like that!

Curriculum

Lala – K4

Rora – Tot School

These activities

and…depending on her interest and pace, we MAY move on to this (which we loved for Lala):

Random fact #223 about me:  I love learning.

I think I could be a full-time college student for the rest of my life (we might have to creative with the timing and classrooms, though) and love it.

But, it doesn’t stop there.

I also love helping to instill the love of learning in others.

Ask my students.  My kids.  My husband.  Anyone who knows me…

However, with all of that said there was one part of the learning process that made my insides cringe.  The basics.  The very first building blocks.  The Pre K and Kindergarten age stuff.

See, for me, the other stuff was easy… it was building off of this great foundation of learning that had already been poured and meticulously cared for.  But, what do you do when there is no prior foundation?  –When that’s YOUR job?

I’ve thumbed through a LOT of different Pre-K and Kindergarten “tools” and “curriculum.”  Some, I found too dry and others required me to take constant trips to the library or required more purchases that I couldn’t afford with a baby and already-stretched income.  Not to mention, some of these curricula were $50-$200 just to take the plastic wrappers off!

In my head, I knew what I wanted.  I wanted something that would:

• not kill my budget.
• offer structure but also allow me the freedom to pick and choose what we did.
• combine several learning styles and strategies to keep my children entertained and excited about learning.
• offer creative and inexpensive/free ways to demonstrate the lessons.

Early Education at Home by M. Jean Soyke proved to be just the book I was looking for.  Unfortunately for me, Google doesn’t yet have a search engine just for curriculum for me to plug in all of my wants/needs into.  But fortunately for you, after a lot of searching, none of that matters!

Early Education at Home is a curriculum guide for parents of pre-schoolers and kindergartners (ages 3-5 ish).  In this wonderful book, M. Jean Soyke bypasses the typical “worksheet-style” curriculum and jumps into hands-on learning, which is perfect for this age range.  What’s more is that the author uses common everyday materials and objects to teach lessons and leaves plenty of flexibility!

As a parent, I love that that this book can be used for both Pre-K and Kindergarten and I love that it never failed to get my daughter (and I) excited and involved in the learning activities.  Unlike some curriculum, this one can be adapted to your lifestyle.

Are you trying to entertain more than just your Preschooler or Kindergartner? Great!  These activities can be modified for younger or older children if needed to keep hands busy!

Do you sometimes run out of ideas for creatively teaching lessons? No problem!  The author gives you many to choose from!

Are you unwilling to invest in expensive curriculum without knowing what’s inside or if your child will like it? ME TOO!  The beauty of this book is that it costs around 20-40 dollars, depending on where you buy it.  Not only is the book itself inexpensive (for 3 years worth of learning: ages 3-5), but it also doesn’t require expensive materials!

Does your schedule sometimes seem to disappear into a deep, dark black hole, leaving you feeling anxious and overwhelmed about “getting it all done?” If it makes you feel better, we no longer have schedules.  We have a general routine (wake up, breakfasts, ……whatever comes…., lunch, nap, ….something else here…supper, bedtime).  And that’s about all we can handle right now!  I’ve tried planning out weekly learning plans, but every time I try, it’s like I’m just tempting fate.  Each time, some sort of plague or SOMETHING attacks!  And then, for the rest of the week or month, I’m beating myself up for not keeping up or being able to cram.  BUT, with Early Education at Home, the lessons are SO versatile.  The author provides plenty of activities to choose from but is very clear that not all of them are needed.  In fact, some kids grasp onto some of the ideas so quickly that activities can be skipped for that lesson.

Bottom Line – Would I recommend this curriculum?

Yes!  I can’t wait to use it with my other kids (when it’s time, of course)!

Approximate Cost:

Somewhere between $20-$40, depending on who you choose as your store.

View a weekly sample lesson plan.

(This is a guest post by my friend Katie, who is an excellent mother and educator – both in the public and private sector.  I value her opinions and trust her insights.)

Word Play Cafe
Written and Illustrated by Michael Kline

Cost: $10.95

Recommended Age Range: 3rd grade +

Word Play Café is a book filled with activities such as “cool codes, pricless punzles® & phantastic phonetic phun”.  Kline, a self-proposed “word freak”, has created activities to teach kids all the neat things that they can do with words.    Over all, this book would be a great resource to have in a Writer’s Workshop in a classroom or used as enrichment activities for students about mid-third grade and higher; any younger and Kline’s humor would be wasted.

Positive Points
It was an interesting read from an adult’s point of view.
The activities looked fun for large and small numbers alike.
It is filled with interesting facts and fun plays on words
Great for enrichment activities for older elementary kids (older than 10)
Negative Nellies
The lessons, while interesting, would not be able not be able to stand alone
Younger kids (or less mature kids) would have a hard time with some of the activities and understanding the humor

Would we recommend it? Yes!  It’s a great resource.

Are you an educator?  Click HERE for a free version of this book.

Free Membership Offer from Mighty Book Junior: Mighty Book, Jr. is currently offering customers a free year-long subscription to their site, which includes animated children’s books, games, songs and lesson plans. Enter the promotional code learntoread when you register on the Mighty Book site in order to receive your free membership (a $99 annual value).

I’m continuously searching for the “best” curriculum for our needs, which are ever-changing.  Unfortunately, my small town leaves a lot desired when it comes to curriculum availability.  And, because I’m an incredibly visual and hands-on person, it’s hard for me to commit to buying things that I can’t thumb through.

I was recently given the chance to take a sneak peak at the Epi Kardia curriculum.  It, along with a few others, had been bookmarked in my “check out later” file – so when the chance came along, I was giddy.  No lie.

Epi Kardia is a literature based Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling.  What does that mean?  Well, Epi Kardia uses the Bible to take your student through history.  But, wait.  If you think your student is just going to be memorizing passages, you are so wrong.  The folks at Epi Kardia have broken down a structured learning plan for each grade.  For example, if you choose the first set in the 1st Grade plan, you’re child will be learning about:  The Ancients, Middle Ages, Renaissance & Reformation.

With each topic, the Bible along with a variety of other christian and non-christian (but approved by Epi Kardia) books are used to help teach your child more about the subject he or she is supposed to be learning.  Because of it’s Charlotte Mason approach, Epi Kardia also includes a lot of copy-work and handwriting exercises.  Because it’s so impressive to see how they’ve really brought a myriad of important subjects (Bible, History/Reading, Science, English/Phonics, Arts) together in a wonderful education plan, I thought you should have a look for yourself.

Sample

Also, if you’re curious to know more, I urge you to check out their Scope and Sequence for first grade.

Epi Kardia has done a marvelous job of pulling everything together in an easy to understand format.  Their lesson plans are affordable, and very easy to use.

Quick Breakdown

Pros -

• Teaches Bible, History/Reading, Science, English/Phonics, Arts (some programs similar to this one do not teach science)
• Included is a book list, complete with ISBN numbers
• The plans leave plenty of time for “projects”
• Costs about the same as its competitors’ programs ($250 for printed, $200 for CD)
• Requires little planning as it’s all done for you!

Cons -

• It’s a Charlotte Mason approach, so if your child doesn’t learn well with this method, it may not be right for them.  (Although, if you’ve never tried it, I’d recommend it!)
• It didn’t have quite as many projects as I’d like – I’m VERY hands on and project-oriented, as is my oldest.  But, this is easily remedied, and extra project or two can be added to our schedule.  However, for those of you who aren’t insane about crafting and projects the way I am, they have the perfect amount.  Enough to teach a point without being overbearing for your schedule.
• You’re actually going to have to go to the library or amazon.com to get the books.  Everything you need is not included in these plans (meaning, you’ll have to buy or borrow books from their book-lists).

Would I use it?

Yes, yes I would.

**Sign up for their mailing list for 2 free poetry ebooks AND an incredible discount code (that will come in a second email).

Disclaimer:   As always, all opinions and thoughts on this material and product are mine and mine alone.  As a part of the review process, I did receive the product being reviewed in order to give my honest thoughts on it.  I was not (and will never be) paid for a review with a certain outcome.

When I say the words, “Christmas Adventure” – what comes to mind?

Standing in long lines at 2 am to race to the biggest deals?

Wrapping paper debacles?

Getting shocked by Christmas lights or falling off the roof while trying to secure the 100th strand?

I know we’re getting short on time, since it’s nearly Christmas (yay, flu!), but this timeless resource will be good year after year.  I’m loving “A Christmas Adventure” by Scripture Adventures - packed full of relevant and interesting illustrated lessons, crafts, and recipes for this Christmas season.    It’s only 7.99 and comes in both KJV and NIV versions!

In “A Christmas Adventure” kids will make:
Christmas Scripture Countdown Chain
Christmas Rebus Story
Popcorn Garland for your tree
Hand-made Christmas Cards
Songs for Caroling
Candy Cane Reindeer
Written Testimony of Christ
Paper Poinsettia
Christmas Greeting Banner
Merry Christmas Word Search
Homemade Wrapping Paper
Angel Bringing Good Tidings Poster
Christmas Dove Craft
Peace on Earth Bookmarks
“Stained Glass” Christmas Picture
Clay Pot Nativity
Christmas Bird Ornaments
Nativity Puppets
Holiday Spice Potpourri
9 Christmas Coloring Pages

Plus 26 easy-to-make Christmas recipes for kids:
Crispy Christmas Trees
Crispy Christmas Wreaths
Edible Cookie Wreath Oranaments
Ornament Cookies
Crockpot Carmel Apples
Old Fashioned English Toffee
Kid Friendly Fudge
Almond Roca
Candy Cane Cookies
Candy Cane Hearts
Candy Cane Cupcakes
Chocolate Caliente
Mexican Hot Chocolate Jars
Super Simple Gingerbread Kids
Frosty’s Almond Bark
Easy Scottish Truffles
Pioneer Potato Pancakes
Cornbread Rusk
Gingersnaps
Parmesan Breadstick Shepherd Staffs
Royal Chocolate Cheesecake Squares
Auntie June’s Scottish Shortbread
Chocolate Covered Peanuts
Christmas Tree Cake
Rudolph’s Antlers
Rudolph and Friends Cupcakes

Interested?  You can go here to download a free sample to try it out.

Or, you can buy it here.

Full Page Bible Verse Printable

Bible Verse Visuals

Bible Verse Copywork Tracer Pages

Coloring Pages

Freebies from Seeds of Courage