Check out the new Schoolhouse Library!

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine now has another great resource for homeschooling.  It is called  Schoolhouse Library!  For a very sweet price of $25 you get access to all of the following topics:

Art and Crafts

Bible

Economics

Electives

Encouragement

Geography

Government

Grammar

Spelling

Reading

Organization (with several planners)

Nature Study

Special Needs

And many more!

You will have access to 175+ ebooks and/or audio books all of which will help and encourage you through your homeschool journey.  Also pay attention to the fact that the $25 is a ONE TIME fee, you buy it once and its yours for as long as you want to use it!

Times are changing

So I found out I was pregnant the day before Mother's Day!  I was not expecting it at all but still is a welcomed surprise.  But it made me stop and see again that I am not in control of my life.  I do have free will, hence why I am an unwed pregnant mother at the moment, but there is still a power greater than me.  I think sometimes things happen so I will open my eyes up and reevaluate my life and my doings and get back on the straight path that I am supposed to be on.  I am not perfect Christian by any means, I make mistakes and one could argue that I make a lot of them. :)  I am still human and I know God still loves me.  It is funny to me though how many negative reactions I get from people because this will be baby #4 for me not because I am unmarried.  I do not like that I am having a pregnancy before I got married again but it happened.  Though I know that is the way it should have been.  However I have never seen in the Bible where God talks about the limit of kids one should have.

Just a thought...judging never gets you anywhere.

Papa's Pearls Review

I was very excited to read the book Papa's Pearls: A Father's Gift of Love and Wisdom to His Children and Grandchildren by Diane Flynn Keith.  You can buy a signed copy of this book through Homefires for $21.97 which includes shipping or you can get it on Amazon in paperback for $13.97 or Kindle edition for $6.97.

The book is 17 chapters and 112 pages of pure enjoyment.

This book really hit home for me.  Growing up with a father that lead a rough life which lead him to make some wrong choices in life and the things he did.  This is how "Papa's" life started as well. My dad as well as "Papa" made a big change for the better in life and become great men of wisdom and love.  "Papa" worked hard to because successful in his work in order to care for his family.  This words of wisdom were coined to be called Papa's Pearls.  They are what gave the family their strength and encouragement.  Diane is Papa's daughter and she writes about how it was being his daughter as well as some views from his grandchildren.

The book is a great inspirational read.  I did read some parts to my kids that I thought they would understand and enjoy.  They also call my dad Papa and look up to him greatly.  I would have to say he has given us all some Papa's Pearls in our life as well.  I think more people should read books like this to know that some people that come from the worst of ways can emerge into one of the best things on Earth.  We fall short when we look at someones past or their flaws at times and forget to see what they truly are.  I think Diane did an amazing job showing how her father became one of those people.  I am forever grateful to her for sharing her story with me.

Literacy Soft Review

I was given the chance to try out the Phonics and Reading with McGuffey program made by Literacy Soft, for the iPad.  

This program is 52 lessons to get your child reading up to the 1st grade level.

The price is $19.99 in the iTunes store.

The best thing about this program is that it is an app!  Really my daughter has issues with dyslexia and she hates doing anything with books and paper.  If I am ever given the chance to do something using the iPad I jump for it.  She thinks of it as a game instead of homework.  

We used this app everyday because she could not get enough of it.  She still hasn't mastered it all yet but some of it is because of her issues with dyslexia not with the lessons.

When I asked her what her favorite part of the program was she said it was making her own words.  She was given a list of letters then some vowels so she could make up words and make new words.  This was also my favorite part because what ever combos she used it made a word.  She is very soft hearted so when missing something or getting something wrong she gets really discouraged and doesn't want to work anymore.

This app also allows for you to use it with multiple children. They each have their own spot to click their name to get into their lessons they are working on.  I only have one child that needed to be using this so we did not use that feature but it is great for those that have multiples or kids that are learning at the same level. 

The only issue that we had was figuring out what all the lines above and on the letters were.  I had to go in and go through the program to figure it out to let her know what they meant.  Like the c that sounds like a k has a line through it.  It threw her off at first but really helped her out in the long run when sounding out the letters.

Need some body in your hair?

Go out and buy you a 40! lol  No really go buy some beer.

The proteins from the malt and hops found in beer coat, rebuild and repair damaged hair.

1. Simple Beer Rinse

Once a month use a can of flat beer after shampooing. Choose a beer that does not have a strong odor. Shampoo and rinse hair as usual. Pour the flat warm beer on your hair and work it through. Rinse with lukewarm, not hot, water. 

When things get rough

When you have certain things going on in your life how do you get through them?  I have a busy schedule already and then when something abnormal happens it really throws me off.  I have a hard time with wanting to have everything planned out and even if those planned this are a little off as long as it is on the general time line I do fine.  However when something out of the ordinary pops its head in I go nuts.  

My biggest thing is I always make a budget.  I sit down and write out when I get paid vs what bills are due and which need to be paid out of said pay day.  With life throwing me a curve ball I have really screwed this up and got behind.  Now I am struggling to get caught back up and get things paid in their place.  It does not help that I just recently moved and have to readjust due dates for things like electric and water. 

I used to use an excel worksheet on the computer and it worked great for years.  Now I find it harder to get on my computer unless it is to do work, school, or log a kid on.  So I am trying to get back to the old paper and pen method and calendars.

What do you use to do your budget?

Math Rider Review

Math Rider is a computer based math program that helps with math facts.  This was something I wanted to really work on the kids with as they both need some practice in the speed department.  They suggest using it three to four times per week.  We do math in our home every day so we added the drills into our morning warm ups.  It was a way to get our brains going with a fun game and some quick thinking.  It geared us up for our daily lesson.

 The program is a downloaded and costs $47.00.  While the program is not geared to a certain age it is for those that are doing subtraction, addition, multiplication, or division.

Pro's

It is a game so the kids are more excited to try it out.  
There is a story line with goals that you work at.
You are on a horse jumping over the problems as you get them correct.  The quicker you answer them correct the faster the horse runs.  If you miss one the horse slows down some again.

Con's
The accent was something my kids were not used to and had a hard time understanding it.  We are used to a southern drawl so it was a big change :).
Even on easy level I felt the horse was going to fast for my first grader and she got really frustrated with it.  There was also no room for error if you hit the wrong key.  My kids are not fluent on the computer so they had to look each time for the number they wanted and so they missed several just because of that.  I did help them some by letting them yell the answer and I would punch it in to help them. 

Overall I think this was a great program for kids that know how to use a computer.  I wouldn't try to use it as my main drill instruction if the kids were not fluent on the number pad as they may miss some and get frustrated.  Also I noticed that it took a long time to level up and progress in the game and that kind of took the fun out of the story line.

I loved that there was a statistics page that I could go back and look at and see where they may need a bit more practice on certain problems they may have been continually missing.

Also you can try it out for free for 7 days to see if you like it. Check it out here at Math Rider Trial

For more reviews check out the other crew members pages.