TOS Crew Blog Walk

We are still going to visit our First Mates this week. It is always a treat for a newbie like me to glean some little nugget of wisdom from those who have gone before!
I am a little behind on these so here is weeks 8 and 9.
So here is week 8:
1. Ramblings from the Crazy House 2
2. Chicagoland Homeschool Network
3. Marine Corps Nomads
4. Faith, Family and Fun
5. Books and Bairns
6. Chatter, Clatter and Things That Matter
7. Canadianladybug Reviews!
8. Life at oak Grove
9. Home Sweet Home(school)
10. a glimpse of our life
And week 9
1. Creative Learners
2. The Homeschool Desk
3. Ramblin' Roads
4. The Stewards Steno
5. Mama Manuscripts
6. Train Up a Child
7. We Love to Homeschool
8. Day by Day in Our World
9. Acorns - or Homeschooling Nuggets of Gold
10. The Berry Patch
Mandy

100 + Followers Giveaway

I promised to let you know what my giveaway was today so here it is. I have been putting together something special to offer as a printable possibly to sell. Nothing huge, mind you, but as my husband will be losing his military enlistment in a week or so, something that might help us bring in a little extra $$$.

As a homeschooling family sometimes finding that quick extra to aid in learning can really take a long time.  As we are going to be learning about Geography this year with My Father's World I thought landforms would be something we might want a little “more” of.
I had my boys take some index cards and tape them on our map as land-form labels last year. I kept those up for a good length of time this year as an introduction. I realized my youngest had no idea what those words meant and then it hit me to use those labels as a match game.
I hope to be able to continue to be inspired to make things like this (and to have the time) and that you enjoy my work. I have added place names to the picture cards so you can have fun identifying places that have that particular land-form as a part of it's geography.
Please note I spent my time and energy creating these and request you not attempt to resell it.Any questions please contact me at http://www.emptymelord.blogspot.com/.
So there you have it. A sneak peek at my first product, now time for the contest. All you have to do is leave a comment with your thoughts. Please be gentle!
Add 1 entry for each of the following, leaving a separate comment:
1. Follow my blog
2. Share my contest by posting about it with a linkback.
I will choose a winner by random.org at 10pm on Sunday Aug. 29 and announce it on Monday morning, Good Luck!
Mandy

I’ve reached 100 Followers

I want to thank all of my friends who follow my blog and share in this crazy, wonderful life I call ours.

You all know how to help me keep perspective and how to always remember to take it to My Father’s Feet! In honor of my blog reaching 100 followers I will be having a give away. Be sure to come back Monday August 23 to find out what I will be giving away!

Mandy

Starting out slow

We began our first day of school this past Monday and already I have figured out 2 things. I am trying to do to much and my kids are such awesome angels! I really wanted to do our 50 States Under God curriculum but realized quickly it just isn’t going to work. It means I have to buy another book and with hubby losing his enlistment in 2 weeks we just can’t do it.

I contacted Joy Dean from A Helping Hand about using the 50 States Geography with multiple students and she told me their copyright prohibits photocopies even within the family. She did graciously extend me the offer of what I paid for it at the convention back in March. However, I still won’t be able to do it.

I also think it was just trying to add to much. We use My Father’s World and after some prayer about it I think I just need to focus on it this year. I was hoping to be able to do both, but it seems overwhelming now.  My boys have been so great while I tweak and fix this and that. They have not said anything about having so much to do or that I was trying to do it all at break neck speed.

I have been forced to slow down due to some mystery pains. I hope to know more after this weekend and we will be continuing next week with Week 1 continued. I just need a few days to rest. I think I originally knew this when I felt so very unprepared to start on our first day.

I am one of those women with a high tolerance for pain and tend to push through a lot. My children and husband finally wore me down to see a doctor so I did that today with no answers only tests. They are checking for liver or kidney issues but mainly my white blood cell count.  I hope come Monday (or perhaps tomorrow) I will have some good news.

Pray for a quick resolution and full recovery while I wait, please. Especially since I am trying to start fundraising for the JDRF Walk here for my son. I am hoping to raise a few hundred dollars and walk in the mile long with my son and whoever wishes to join us.

Mandy

I’m so excited…

and I just can’t hide it! The Schoolhouse Expo is coming up in October and you can get your tickets now.

I loved going to my local area expo back in March of this year. Even though I bought some of the recordings of the talks I missed, I still hated not being able to really sit in on all the great sessions.  I just could not afford to buy all the recordings, but now I have found an awesome affordable way to go to a homeschool expo AND get all the recordings if I need them in one package. 

Enter The Schoolhouse Expo, the answer to my prayers, and registration is open for the online Schoolhouse Expo, October 4-8. It's five days of top homeschool speakers, fellowship, and fun door prizes.

Save $5 per ticket! Register between August 16 and midnight August 22, and you'll pay only $19.99. Plus you'll receive over $200 in free E-Books.
You'll be inspired by speakers including: Zan Tyler, Dr. Jay Wile, Jeannie Fulbright,Carol Barnier, Diana Waring, Todd Wilson, Davis Carman, Kim Kautzer, Lee Binz, and many more!
A special teen track is planned--the entire family will definitely want to listen to these special sessions. We've also planned a special focus on a topic that touches every homeschool--writing. Plus, an array of other topics that will inform and inspire you throughout your homeschooling years.
Don't forget, MP3 copies of each session comes with your LIVE event ticket.
Two special preconference shows on August 24 and September 21 with Dr. 
Jay Wile, Jeannie Fulbright, and Kim Kautzer!
 

Register starting 12:01 a.m. on Monday, August 16.
The theme this fall is "Celebrate Homeschooling!" We're going to celebrate the unique blessings of homeschooling, the beginning of another school year, our families, and the freedom to tailor our children's education to best meet their needs.
If you cannot make the Live event,  then the October Expo To Go is just your ticket! You'll reserve MP3s from all of the workshops. This week only, pay just $14.95!
You can visit either of these links to get more information.
http://www.SchoolhouseExpo.com
or
http://bit.ly/aWHFiL

Hope your year is off to a great start!

Mandy

Disclaimer:I received a free Expo-To-Go ticket as part of promoting TOS’s Schoolhouse Expo.

Monday August 16 - Friday August 20 Student School Pictures Week

Take a glimpse of our first day back at Home Schooling here at Miskatonic Prep. I had the kids sit for Mommy Professional Pictures and I think they did very good. For some reason though my camera started acting all wonky for B-Rad’s and I really do not like his. I know he will love it when I tell him it’s re-take time, being a teen boy and all!Miss D was less than thrilled but gave me some precious looks which I managed to not really capture (if only the camera was as fast as her mood swings).



Mandy

Planner Blessings

Can I just say how much I love TOS’s Planner this year? Well I do, I love it! It has blessed my life in so many ways. How can that be you ask, how can a planner bless me?

I have always felt the need to organize and re-arrange EVERYTHING! My life is in constant chaos because I am never satisfied with where things are. Someone once told me that as a military wife you know it’s time to move when you move the furniture all around. I was born to be a military wife, LOL.

I am a home school mother to 3 and this is only our second year. As you can well understand I am still in the getting my feet wet stage. Not sure what is our niche but starting to figure out what doesn’t work for us. I am also starting to accumulate curriculum and understand what others say about being curriculum junkies ( I like to say I have a book fetish)!

So you get a clear picture, lots of books + lots of movement =

I came across the 2010-2011 Planner back in March purely by accident God’s mercy. It was during the pre-buy and a good price and since I so obviously couldn’t think in my current state I agreed with God and said “well it has 600 pages I am sure I can find something in it worth using!” Boy did I, I have been able to think clearly about starting our school year, have plans for meal times in place, and no more wondering how to keep the toddler busy.

I have a place to put all those thoughts down that I spent so much time worrying about. You know the ones I mean, where you are doing something and stop because you had another thought and if you don’t go do it you’ll forget, but then you forgot what you were doing before. No that’s just me, oh well!

No more will I spend more time with books and papers than my husband (and he won’t have to dig through them to find me either)! I have a place for everything in my planner and that lets me put everything in it’s place. I have been blessed by a planner, it gave me my brain back!

"TOS Planner Show"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

 

It’s an amazing product all in PDF form so you can print as a paper planner for those like me who change things often, but it is also a  fully interactive digital format so you can just use it on your computer if you wish. What would you be willing to pay to get your life back? Homeschooling, housekeeping, budgeting, health, setting goals and assessing your progress are covered!  All this for $39 e-book or $44 CD, better hurry it won’t last long! Get yours now!

Mandy

Disclosure: I am a member of the TOS Crew. I am posting this as an advertisement, not a review, for The Old Schoolhouse’s 2010-2011 Planner. I bought it, I use it, I love it, I’m biased. It works!

TOS Blog Walk Week 8

This week we are back after a little break to visit some more of the First Mate blogs. These are some of my favorite blogs so enjoy and make sure you look around.

 

1. Ramblings from the Crazy House
2. Chicagoland Homeschool Network
3. Marine Corps Nomads
4. Faith, Family and Fun
5. Books and Bairns
6. Chatter, Clatter and Things That Matter
7. Canadianladybug Reviews!
8. Life at oak Grove
9. Home Sweet Home(school)
10. a glimpse of our life

 

Mandy

Monday, Aug 9 – Friday, Aug 13: School Room Week

 

 

I am just about finished with all my planning, only a few more details really before we start next week. So I though I’d repost my School Room here for the Not- Back-To-School Blog Hop…

I am excited to finally get around to planning out our school year but have had something else weighing heavily on my mind about feeling ready. You see I am one of those people that just sets things down with good intention to find it a home later only I never do and only set it somewhere new. So needless to say our school room was a bit of a wreck. I am still trying to finish my youngest son’s portfolio so things were very much piled all over.

My main issue was this enormous desk I inherited from my aunt and uncle when they wanted to rid themselves of it for a bit. It is great to store things in but it’s just so big and our basement is not! It had to be replaced with something though because I needed to have storage.

  A place to pile everything

 

 

 

    Nowhere to put it all!My hubby helped me to reorganize which is my weak point but after a couple very long days we did it! I felt so disorganized last year I knew we needed to change something before I began this year.

As you can see quite cluttered and we did school on the couch with tv trays alot!

We moved the Bowflex to the garage and bought a few more bookcases and 2 student desks over the last part of the school year so I really only had to get things in order and figure out how to work it with this desk.

So this is what we ended up with.

---

My little sweet girl’s desk and the basement entrance.
See the hooks above for pocket charts to hang from? The schoolhouse chalk wall is from Upper Case Living.

 

Messy during purging phase,lol! Going to the left in the pic.

Oh looky there…some workboxes have gotten a new and better home. Much better.

Now coming across the far wall… more Upper Case Living Art! 

          My favorite Bible Quote!

 

 

 

Overview of the back of the couch facing back wall.

Bookcases and the boys desks.

We color code our kids Oldest is Orange/Yellow and Middle is Purple (or in this case blue since purple was not an option) and little miss is our youngest and only girl so she is red or pink…of course!

Like the cushions? Walmart for about $9 each, not what I wanted to pay but they are rubber backed and do not move so it’s worth it to me!

And back to the other side of the basement which is our family room. See our oodles of board games on the shelves?

Our School name above the workboxes.

 

 

 

 

My sweet hubby also had a little surprise of his own for me! He created this little sewing area for me in our laundry room (which is on the other side of the wall that our workboxes are on). Isn’t he the greatest?

So have you changed where you home school or re- arranged the area you use? Let me know what you think of our space.

Mandy

N Style Giveaway Ending

My giveaway will be ending in just 24 short hours so be sure to visit here to enter!

 

Mandy

N Style Review and Giveaway

About a week ago I ordered my son’s new medical alert Id from N Style Id. I got it rather quickly in great condition seeing as it was sent post. I absolutely love what we chose.  Customer service was great, I had gotten some incorrect information from another site and it only took 2 prompt emails to correct one of which was a generous offer you will benefit from.

I sat down with Brad to choose one, and since he is 14 I thought he might want to really decide on his own what he’d like. He did decide on his own and to my surprise picked a really beautiful classy bracelet.

 

 

 

 

                                             

Monday, Aug 2 – Friday, Aug 6: Curriculum Week

I have already done a post on our curriculum for the year but I really want to participate in the Not Back To School Blog Hop.

I have decided to go ahead and do some images of our curriculum to go with my never ending (or so it seems) list! We have decided to put our 2 boys (Connor 8 & Brad 14) together this year for much of their school work.  This is only our second year Home Schooling and from our experiences last year we discovered I was spending too much time planning (even though I enjoyed that) with trying to do it free. So we bit the bullet, had a fundraiser (which helped us afford about 50%), saved our tax return money and purchased:

Coming Soon

We will soon be doing a couple reviews

Time 4 Writing

 

Pre Algebra 1 Tutor

TI-83/84 Calculator Tutor

 

Keep watching!