Simple Scrubs review and giveaway

Head on over to my other blog for my review on Simple scrubs to make and give, and a chance to win an e-book full of recipes so that you can make your own too!

Favorite Baby books- and a give-away!

I just posted on our Family Bible Reading. It is important to us that our little ones hear God's word from the time they are born. Allowing little ones to touch and hold Bibles and Bible stories is helpful in teaching them to love God's word.

We've found that by the time they can walk around they usually want to cary a Bible around with them! We do let them handle our regular Bibles, but take a look at this post for one of the hazards to that (and for a good laugh). We like the "My Creation Bible" by Ken Ham that Answers In Genesis puts out. We really like that though it is not scripture it shows a more Biblical account than most "baby Bibles" do. It starts with a quick explanation of what the Bible is, and who God is and then goes on to give an account of creation and the first sin; all in a nice easy to read rhyming pattern. It also gives the account of Noah and the Tower of Babel, all while connecting sin and our need for a savior (and that Christ offers that salvation)!

Answers In Genesis has generously provided a "My Creation Bible" to give away! I'll give you a few ways to win this book.

1. Leave a comment here with your e-mail address (spelling out the "dot") so that I can contact you if you win.

2. Be a follower of my blog (leave a separate comment)

3.Facebook a link to this post/giveaway (leave a separate comment)

I'm linking to Giveaway Day at Hip Homeschool Moms

Christian Cinema review and giveaway!

For the last year or so we've been using ChristianCinema.com and I'm so excited to get to review their service and give away two free 4 month memberships!

Like other similar services out there you make up your rental list on their web site, and they send you your DVDs through the mail. No late fees, yay! The difference is that ALL of their movies are family friendly/Christian movies (some are not suitable for younger viewers due to subject matter, but for maturity reasons not because of obscenities etc.)!

There have been many times that we've heard about a certain movie that we would love to see, but it seemed that the only way to watch it was to purchase it since it was not widely available. We don't buy a lot of movies because of the expense and because it results in more "stuff" in the house, so we were missing out on some great family movies and some wonderful documentaries etc. Then we started using ChristianCinema.com's rental service (they sell DVD's too).

One aspect that we like is that when you mail in your DVD, you can immediately mark it as mailed on their web site, and they will send your next DVD right out, so you get your next movie sooner!

Some of our favorite movies that can be found on ChristianCinema.com are...

Runner from Ravenshead - "little rascals meet Indiana Jones" this sweet movie is made by a family with five children (but this is no home video!), and they ONLY use their 5 kids as the actors! We've mentioned this movie before. Rob and I enjoyed the movie and thought it was sweet. Our kids LOVED it! (Rob was also impressed by the high production value.) This film received the Audience Choice Award at the 2010 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.

The Widow's Might- A great movie about standing up for others, and for what is right. This film received the Best of Festival Award at the 2009 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.

Torchlighter series - a great kid's cartoon series of great men and women of the faith. We've seen a couple of them and look forward to seeing more!

Now for your chance to win one of two free four month memberships (at the MV2 level which is 2 DVDs out at a time!).

1. Post a comment here (with e-mail address or other way to contact you should you win)

2. Check out their site and let me know what interests you on their site (leave another comment)

3. Be a follower of my blog (leave another comment)

4. FB or blog about this giveaway (leave another comment for each one)

I'll run this giveaway for about a week.

Timberdoodle Lace-A-Shape review

I've loved Timberdoodle for years and have purchased many of their homeschooling products and toys. I was so excited when I was accepted to their review team, and I'm excited to be doing my first review for them today!

I received their Earlyears Lace-A-Shape in the mail, and it attracted the attention of my little girls right away. It comes with 12 over sized (and very colorful) lacing beads. There is a stopper and threader attached to the string for easy threading. We've been playing with them off and on for a few weeks now, and the girls still get excited when I pull them out. I've even taken them to the doctor's office to play with (their larger size makes these fairly easy to transport without much worry of losing some)!

These are part of the Timberdoodle Core Curriculum Package intended for ages 18 months through 3 years, and both of my little girls fit into that category. Miss C (20 months) was attracted to the fun shapes and bright colors and the larger size made these very easy to handle. These shapes are hollow, which is intentional to encourage fine motor skill development, however it seemed impossible for her to get the threader all the way through. She tried (she is very persistent and wants to do everything her older sister does), and I tried to help her, but eventually she would lose interest (but would have renewed excitement for them each time I brought them out). My guess would be that in about six months or so she may have more success. Miss J (3 1/2 years) was very successful with these, but they still provided enough of a challenge that I could tell they were helpful in developing those fine motor skills. We enjoyed naming the shapes and the many colors on the shapes as well as lacing in patterns with these.

The package these came in states the recommended age as 18+ months, but I think Timberdoodle has it right on as listing it as 3+ years. While the size, shapes, and colors (and even the concept), make them appealing to younger ones they will most likely lack the needed skills to be able to accomplish the task leading to much frustration. They were perfect for our home though, since we have two kids in the age range. My little one did have fun playing with them while her big sister was actually able to use them for their intended purpose.

As I mentioned these are part of the Timberdoodle Toddler Core curriculum Package; I received the Core Curriculum folder with these, and enjoyed reading through it. This is not some "make your toddler a genius" sort of curriculum. Instead it has been developed to provide a nurturing way to help parents along in developing appropriate skills and abilities for this age. Much of the focus is on relationship as well, helping parents who either just want to make sure their little ones are involved in school along with their older kids or parents desiring a bit of direction in helping their kids. I like that it comes with a simple weekly checklist to help remind you to use the various components as many of those types of things tend to slip through the cracks.

*As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received the Lace-A-Shape set and Toddler core curriculum folder free of charge from Timberdoodle in exchange for my honest review of the products.

Lamplighter book review and give-away!

GIVE AWAY IS CLOSED!

Our family loves to read. We love to read on our own; even our little ones can often be found "reading" to themselves, and we love to read together. Lamplighter books are some of our favorite books to read together as a family. These are some wonderful books!

The content quality is GREAT! They are all "public domain" books that are out of copyright, and have been rediscovered in some way or another. Lamplighter publishes these wonderful old stories filled with Christian morals and values (and often Bible verses too!). We love that these books focus on the heart, on developing character and persevering through trials. They hold the attention of everyone in the family (well, maybe not the baby). Our kids are always excited to start up a new one together!

While the content is the biggest draw for the Lamplighter books, and the reason we read them, these books are also well made. Not only is their content "old fashioned" but their look is too! These books are just dripping with charm and are so delightful to touch, or even just look at! I find that my eyes are often drawn to them on our bookshelf, and they always make me smile!

We were introduced to Lamplighter books by some dear family friends who recommended a few to us. After that we have been able to pick some up at homeschool conventions. We always love visiting them at their booth. The staff is so knowledgeable about the books! They first listen to us quickly describe the child we would like to purchase a book for and then go on to make suggestions that have always been so very fitting! It is obvious that the staff has a passion not only for the books but for sharing Christ's love and building up godly morals and character in children and families.

We own many of these books, and have read all but two that we own (we're looking forward to getting to them soon!). Not one has been a disappointment to us! These books are a bit more costly than the typical book we purchase, but they are worth it. We tend to purchase these as gifts for our children or request them when asked for gift ideas. Our children are always excited to receive a new Lamplighter!

I thought I'd list the books we own so that if you are new to Lamplighters you have a good starting place! While each of these books have been appealing to our whole family some may be more appealing to one gender over another.

General- Me and Nobbles, Fire in the Sky, The Giant Killer

Boys- Little Sir Galahad, Teddy's Button, The White Knights

Girls- Jill's Red Bag, The Little Lamb

Teddy's Button was our first Lamplighter and one that is oh so dear to us. What a treasure it is! A story of a little boy wanting so badly to be a soldier, just like his daddy who died in battle. He finds that he already had an enemy and a battle waging inside of him! He can be a soldier right now in God's army! Lamplighter has very generously sent us a copy of Teddy's Button to give away, and I couldn't be more excited to be able to pass this blessing on to another family!

I'll give you a few ways to win this book-

1. Please leave a comment including your e-mail address so that I can contact you if you win.

2. Facebook a link to this post for a second chance (and leave a second comment that you did so)

3. Become a follower of my blog (and leave a separate comment that you did so)

4. Blog about this giveaway on your blog (with a link back here!) and be sure leave another comment here!

I'll run this give-away for a week or so.

*I was not compensated for this review, though in looking up the Lamplighter links I realized that they had an affiliate program which we promptly signed up for! If you order through one of our links we will get a commission on the sale, AND you will get 15% off of your purchase (this excludes sale and pre-packaged items).

I'm linking to inashoe.com today!

Sing n' learn reviews: Classical Math & The Presidents March

Classical Math to Classical Music by Sing n' learn

I've known that Miss E (and my younger kids too) needed some work on her division tables, so I was excited when Sing n' learn offered me the chance to review one of their Classical Math CD and workbook sets! We were sent their Division version which covers Division Tables 2-12. While I did let her listen to it a couple of times on her own, the first time we all listened to it was in the car. By the second song the kids were all singing along quite joyfully!

Since the music is classical music it is easy to listen to, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well the vocals went along with the music. I love that they go through each set twice (with the answers) and then a third time without the answers. We only prompted the kids once (on the first song) "do you know the answers?" after that they sang along with each song, even my six year old was getting into these! These have great potential for helping kids learn their Math tables!

I like that this CD comes with a workbook that has information about each of the Classical Musicians and a crossword puzzle for each of them (with the answers in the back of the book). That way your kids are not just learning the math, but are able to recognize the name of the song, musician, and information about the musician! I liked this set, and I'm considering purchasing the one for Multiplication.

The U.S. President's March by Sing n' learn

This CD not only includes a song for the Presidents in order, but also the First Ladies! There is also a bonus song about the constitution (a bit of history of how it came to be). Again, the music was great, and the vocals were well done on The President's March songs. We listened to these in the car too, but noticed that no one was able to sing along. They just could not catch the words/names (but we were enjoying listening!).The CD has three tracks for each song, one is just the song, the other is a split track, and then the third is with no vocals. These will help in learning the names, and then practicing on your own.

We realized that this CD had a couple of uses, one was to just listen to it and hear the names (without the goal of memorizing, but being familiar). The other would be if you are actually focusing on learning all of the presidents and are wanting a song to sing the names by (but would have already become familiar with all of the names). I don't think this is a CD that you can just pop in and think that your kids are going to get these names stuck in their heads, it is going to take more effort than that, but it will be a great accompaniment to your plan for learning the President's/First Ladies' names.

*Sing n' learn sent me free copies of these CDs so that I could review them. I was not otherwise compensated for this review and these are my honest opinions (and that of my husband and children as well!).

YWAM book review and giveaway!

To go along with my "Summer School" posts I'm going to be doing some book reviews (and even some giveaways!) to help encourage some Summer reading!

The "Christian Heroes; Then and Now" are one of our favorite series of books. YWAM publishes these wonderful books about missionaries, and others, that have stood strong in their faith. These books are written for children in mind, however they should not be limited to children! I've enjoyed reading each one we've read.

I love that these books not only tell us the life story of a Christian hero, but they take us into the time, place, and culture in which the book takes place! My kids don't just learn the dry facts of a biography, but grow to love the people and places as well! We enjoyed reading about how Gladys Aylward worked so hard just to get to China, and the many difficulties she struggled through during her ministry, and the many wonderful ways God was able to use her! We are currently reading the Corrie Ten Boom book, which brings the struggles of those that were willing to help Jews in Holland (and all of Europe, really) to life. What a blessing to be able to share these accounts with my children through such engaging books!

I read these out loud to my kids as a group after lunch (usually after putting the little ones down for a nap). My big kids make sure to remind me to read these books to them, and after our daily chapter shouts of "More!" and "One more chapter" can be heard nearly every time. It is obvious that they love them.

There are also some similar "Heroes of History" books that are written by the same authors (Janet & Geoff Benge), and we've enjoyed each of those too. We also love that all of these books are very reasonably priced, which allows us to add them to our library regularly.

YWAM has graciously sent me a Gladys Aylward book from this series to give away! I also found that we somehow have ended up with an extra Gladys Aylward book in our collection, so I'm going to be able to give two away! Yay!

So, here are the ways you can win...

1. leave a comment here.

2. Look at the YWAM site and then come back and tell me which one of these books you would most want to read. (leave a separate comment)

3. Facebook this giveaway (leave a separate comment)

4. Be a follower of my blog (leave a separate comment)

I'll run this give away for a week or so, be sure to check back to see if you won if you did not leave contact information!

*I have not been compensated for this review, though my review would have been the same had I been compensated! ;) YWAM did provide one of the give away books.

I'm linking to Raising Homemakers

The Runner from Ravenshead

While at the homeschool convention this weekend we picked up a movie that looked interesting. "The Runner from Ravenshead" is made by a homeschooling family using their five children as the ONLY actors. This is not just this family's home videos put on DVD. This is a quality production, with a good plot, and the children really do a great job of acting!

From the web site-

"After a daring escape from Ravenshead Prison, Sam finds herself in worse trouble. Outrunning the relentless wardens seems impossible...she wonders how much longer her strength can hold out. But help is on the way - kind of. Henry, janitor for the City of Refuge Guide Service, is unexpectedly thrust into the line of duty when all the trained guides are called out on other missions. As he sets out on his long-awaited first assignment, he gets more adventure than he bargained for. Will the enthusiastic but awkward amateur guide persuade Sam to trust him before it's too late?

An allegory about finding refuge and rest from the metaphorical wardens we face in our lives, THE RUNNER FROM RAVENSHEAD is a fascinating and fun movie for all ages that weaves a profound message into an action-packed adventure."

We had a family movie night and watched this together. The fact that the actors were all children grabbed the attention of our children right away. The plot line is great: plenty of food for thought in this movie! This movie had us concerned for the fate of "Sam," but laughing all the way through too. As the movie ended "Again!" was the cry of some of our children. They are all looking forward to seeing it again. This is a great movie for the whole family! We're looking forward to the next movie that "Little Crew Studios" puts out (we're told there is one in the works).