Sun Tail Mermaid

Make your little girls dream come true! Sun Tail Mermaid has created the world's best swimmable mermaid tails and mermaid flippers. Their mermaid tails are soft, comfortable, and come in a wide variety of designs and colors. They are made of high quality swimsuit fabric with 4-way stretch.

Sun Tail Mermaid's monofins are extremely comfortable and virtually unbreakable. Their patented monofin is several steps ahead of everyone else in engineering, durability, comfort, and functionality. The propulsion and control is exceptional. The monofins come in a wide range of beautiful colors, so you can match your mermaid tails or look amazing wearing it alone.

10% discount - Receive a 10% discount on your order at www.SunTailMermaid.com by using coupon code: BestGiftEver

http://usfamilycoupons.com/coupon.php?regionid=75&bid=13540&dealid=3452 .@usfg

SmitCo LLC Cheap Christmas Gifts

Quality, affordable gifts for girls ages 2 to 12. SmitCo LLC has several different locked diary sets for girls in Emoji, Diva and Mermaid themes, as well as scrapbook, nail and play dress up sets and party favors that can be used as stocking stuffers to provide hours of fun.

SmitCo products also include rose gold, gold or rhodium plated jewelry and sets, as well as very popular stretch sets for little girls - all packed in cute gift boxes. 

Find all the great products here:

http://amzn.to/2a3d3v8

We trust you will find some or all gifts here for the princesses on your list!

My readers get to save!


Get 20% Off Entire Cart Of Gifts! Go to: http://amzn.to/2a3d3v8 and use coupon code N3CQD6AE on checkout

Reading Eggs Review

Vendor: Reading Eggs
Product: Free 4 week trial (Offer expires November 30, 2017)

Ages: 2-13 or up to 6th grade

About: Reading Eggs has a few different levels to start at depending on your childs skill level.  This is an online program that uses games, songs, and rewards to help your child read. The levels are; Reading Eggs Junior, Reading eggs, Reading Eggspress, and MathSeeds. The reward system is golden eggs that are used in games. 

Sometimes the hardest part of teaching your children is teaching them to read.  There are so many ways to teach a child and you needs lots of reinforcement and repetition to make it through sometimes.  Reading Eggs helps you do this.  

Reading Eggs teaches your child to learn letters, the letter sounds, reading skills, spelling, language arts, and comprehension skills.  There is some early Math skills through MathSeeds in there too. 

There is a placement test to take when you start using the program.  This gets you started right where your child needs to be.  The test is really short and doesn't take long to finish.  Your child then gets placed on a level, each level has about 10 lessons to complete to  move on to a different level.  Each of the levels is teaching a new sound or word and vocabulary words.  Reading Eggs has 120 lessons total in it.

We used reading eggs for my children that have learning disabilities and have a harder time learning and retaining the things they learn.  Reading eggs did really well helping reinforce repetition to learning the letter sounds for my son. He almost has all his letters learned now because this made it fun for him to want to keep practicing even outside the program.  My kids are gamer's so the use of games to help teach was a huge hit with them both.  My daughter enjoys trying to read the digital books and do the quizzes to earn rewards for her games. I think this program along with MathSeeds is great for those kids that do not do as well with other curricula.  The kids are self paced learning and can go at their own pace and go further once they have really learned the lesson.

Reading Eggs also has printable worksheets.  These are good if you need something for your portfolios.  There is also lesson plans if you want to use it for a full stand alone program.  A perk is it is mobile friendly so it is great for on the go learning or if you travel a lot like we do. Plus my kids think anything they can do from the tablet is more fun than pen and paper learning. Also it is affordable at 6 months for $49.95 or you can get Reading Eggs and MathSeeds for a full 12 months for $59.00.

We also looked into Reading Express. My dyslexic daughter knows her letters and sounds but still isn't great at reading the words. So we tried this program too.  It is geared for 7 to 13 year olds. This has more reading and language art skills which is a little bit of a difference pace to work with. It also has worksheets you can print as well too.

Be sure to check out what my other crew members had to say.

Silver Dollar City Festivals

SILVER DOLLAR CITY FESTIVALS TO COME:
FALL: NATIONAL CRAFTS & COWBOY FESTIVAL (September 13 - October 28)
For fall, Silver Dollar City presents the National Crafts & Cowboy Festival, featuring some of the nation's finest craftsmen and authentic cowboys. The festival presents a Wild West Show with trick riders, ropers and a world-champion Native American Hoop dancer; Western music; a barn dance, and 125 visiting craftsmen. Best of Missouri Hands juried artists demonstrate their art and fall harvest foods are served up September 13 - October 28 at the Branson, Missouri theme park.  

NATIONAL CRAFTS & COWBOY FESTIVAL BULLETS:
The Home of American Craftsmanship presents the nation's largest festival of demonstrating craftsmen, with entertainment and activities saluting the Great American Cowboy:

Over 125 visiting craftsmen from around the country demonstrate their art, including Best of Missouri Hands juried artists, all joining Silver Dollar City's 100 demonstrating craftsmen.

Silver Dollar City's Wild West Show features trick riders, Native American dance with 8-time World Champion Native American Hoop Dancer Nakotah LaRance, comedy canines, and trick roper and bullwhip artist A.J. Silver.

Legendary Western actor and watercolor artist Buck Taylor hosts "Buck Taylor's Cowboy Emporium," featuring a variety of Western crafts.

Plus Chuck Wagon & Food Network Chef Kent Rollins and Extreme Mustangs are featured in the Red Gold courtyard.

A Western Barn Dance presents kick-up-your-heels fun, with a live band.

Western music with groups including The Malpass Brothers, The Home Rangers, Belinda Gail and Kristyn Harris, 2016 Western Music Association Entertainer of the Year.

NEW: The nation's pioneer culinary heritage comes to life with campfire cooking and cowboy cuisine, including Cowboy Beef Stew and Dutch Oven Desserts.

This event draws approximately 300,000 visitors each year.
Images at: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a9lsvzqpg4bua8m/AAB0rh4aEfOMjLWFjK1VLC5Na?dl=0
Website: www.silverdollarcity.com.
Online press room: http://press.sdcphotos.com


Festival history: Silver Dollar City began the fall crafts festival tradition in 1963, bringing in visiting craftsmen in addition to the park's growing resident crafts colony, with the goal of showcasing the makers along with the finished artwork. More than half a century later, a unique feature still is that all visiting crafters, as with the park's own, demonstrate their work so guests see the process, the skill and the creativity of true craftsmanship. This became the nation's largest festival of demonstrating craftsmen. The focus on authentic craftsmanship was one of the reasons the U.S. Congress in 2010 proclaimed Silver Dollar City the "Home of American Craftsmanship." In addition to craftsmen, Silver Dollar City added features with another American icon several years ago, the cowboy, to carry on the festival as The National Crafts & Cowboy Festival.


AN OLD TIME CHRISTMAS (November 4 - December 30)
Our An Old Time Christmas festival, this year adding a huge new area: Christmas in Midtown, with towering light displays 9 stories high, animated figures in lights, and 1.5 million additional lights, bringing the park total to over 6.5 million lights! Christmas in Midtown is our largest single lighting expansion in the past 20 years of this festival. Details below:

BULLETS:
One of the nation's most acclaimed Christmas festivals, profiled by USA Today, CNN Travel, The Travel Channel and Good Morning America, is even bigger and brighter this year with an all-new area:

NEW: Christmas in Midtown, a 70,000 sq. ft. area filled with new light displays 9 stories high, including 30 angels, animated reindeer pulling a sleigh, 3 light tunnels, two 40-foot long moving trains, dozens of stars and snowflakes, and a 50-foot tree, all created at Silver Dollar City. Christmas in Midtown, the largest single lighting expansion to date in the past 2 decades of the festival, adds 1.5 million new lights, bringing the park's total to 6.5 million lights!

Rudolph's Holly Jolly Christmas Light Parade, led by the most famous reindeer of all, features musical lighted floats with 200,000 lights accompanied by 33 costumed characters.

Rudolph's Christmas Town, where kids can meet Rudolph, Clarice and Bumble, also includes activities from Reindeer Games to cookie decorating.

Two original musical productions present Broadway-style experiences, with elaborate sets and talented casts: It's a Wonderful Life, adapted from the Frank Capra classic, and the acclaimed production A Dickens' Christmas Carol.

The Christmas on Main Street light & sound show features the 5-Story Special Effects Christmas Tree with over 350,000 colorful LED lights.

Tinker Junior's Toy Shop is an interactive show for kids featuring a 12-foot talking and singing Christmas tree.

Kids can meet Santa in Santa Claus Lane, illuminated in colorful lights.

Plus, the festival presents holiday shows, a musical Living Nativity, shows, rides, shopping and new Silver Dollar City dining specialties. 

During An Old Time Christmas, Silver Dollar City is open Thursdays - Sundays, plus Wednesdays Nov. 22 and December 20, and open after Christmas Dec. 26-30. Hours and schedules are at http://www.silverdollarcity.com/theme-park/Festivals/An-Old-Time-Christmas

Christmas images & B-roll: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0es9g0jqpobe3yb/AADDArChF5VdFJ9n42dVY_IIa?dl=0

CTCMath Review

Vendor: CTCMath

Product: CTCMath's Family Membership

Age: K-12


About: I was thrilled to receive CTCMath's Family Membership with my kids, and homeschoolers can get 60% off + 6 bonus months.  You can also try out their free trial. CTCMath is an all online math curriculum that is for children from kindergarten through 12th grade, which is through Calculus.  We were using this for my 7th and 3rd grade students. Each lesson starts with a video, each video is fairly short but do get a bit longer for harder subjects and higher grade levels. After the video there is a quiz to test if you got it. Then there is a worksheet they do online. You get instant scoring so that they can see how well they did and if they need to work on that area more. From the parent portal I can assign whatever topics and grade level things to each child or they can just progress through on their own. I am also able to see their progress and scores. Each week I get an email that gives me a PDF of their weekly progress, which is good if you have a state that requires some information like that.

We really enjoyed this program. I liked the video lessons to start. I think it helped my kids understand better than just a written out explanation of the problems. I did find some areas were still confusing and the video lessons were a bit to short to fully explain so we did have to look up some further explanations on some areas. Overall it met our needs and I think with any program sometimes you will have to look at other ways to solve problems as well. I do suggest have a few hours to be able to navigate the parent portal to find everything and to figure out how to set everyone up and assign things. It took me a bit but I’m kind of slow at figuring all that stuff out. There is also the option to print some of the worksheets out so your child can do them by hand. Which is nice if the child needs some extra help in areas or prefers to work problems out that way.

Overall  I think this is a wonderful product. I think it is very helpful for homeschoolers to be able to have their child to work more independently.  I also think this would be a great curriculum for children that just need extra help in certain areas. You can log onto the parent portal and be able to assign specific areas so you could assign the problem areas to your child to be able to work on those. You can also go back and re-assigned areas that your child needs extra work on if they are doing this as a full curriculum as well. I do think that this would be a great full curriculum to start your child on and go all the way through high school with.








Social Media Links:

CTCMath (US and Canda)




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Twitter: https://twitter.com/ctcmathofficial

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Pinterest: https://au.pinterest.com/ctcmath/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWn5e6974bpIEAe46VnovZw




Maths Online (Australia Only)




Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsonline.com.au

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MathsOnlineAU

Six Flags Read to Succeed is Back!

The registration for the Six Flags Read to Succeed is almost back up.  If you want free tickets for you (teacher) and each student you have then be sure to check it out and apply.  We have done this for 2 years now an it is very simple to do.

https://feedback.sixflags.com/rts/default.aspx

Talking Rock Caverns Branson MO Trip

Where: Talking Rocks Cavern

              423 Fairy Cave Ln

              Branson West, MO 65737

Hours: Monday-Sunday 9:00am-6:00pm

About: Talking Rocks Cavern was named Fairy Cave by a cave developer by the name of Truman Powell. However in 1969 Silver Dollar City bought the cave and renamed it Talking Rocks Cavern. The cave is a vertical cave and is constructed with concrete walkways and railings. The cave sits at a comfortable 62 degrees year round. The tour consists of lots of stairs and about an hour long exploration. Each group has a tour guide that tells you about the history and the development of the cave. There is also miniature golf, walking trials, gem mining, and some speleo boxes. 

Our Fun: we arrived to Talking Rocks Cavern and checked into the desk. Each tour leaves every 30 minutes and so we had time to have a quick lunch at the picnic tables. No food or drinks are allowed inside the cave, with the exception of bottled water. They give you a brief about the cave and how there are lots of steps and some tight spaces. So if you are claustrophobic you may want to second going in. Then the tour begins. It is a downward hike to start but there is lots of stops with the tour guide to talk to you about the cave. This helps if you need a rest going down or even back up. 

Our tour guide was amazing and he added some fun humor to keep everyone on their toes. We took all 9 kids with us ranging in ages from 16 to 1 and everyone enjoyed it. 

The beautiful cathedral that you actually get to walk through as well. 

The tour was amazing and some amazing views. At the end they turned off all the lights and they had different spot lights pointing to different views which was magical. At the end of the tour,while still in the cave, they do take a photo of your group that you can purchase for $10. I of course got one because it isn't often you can get a whole family picture with 11 people and everyone looking forward. 

Once we finished up inside we came out and let the kids explore the speleo boxes. There is a smaller one inside the building and one outside. They are fun for all ages and most sizes. You just have to think about how to move and twist to get through some right spots. 

I think the kids went through these each several times. It was hot out but it didn't stop them from enjoying every minute of it. 

We then got to enjoy a fun game of miniature golf. It is a nice little set up and a fun way to wind down from all the excitement from our trip. 

This is also fun for all ages, even the young ones that carry the ball to the hole when they can't hit it there. I don't think anyone left without having a good time.

My family and I would have to give this place 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Be sure to set a day aside so you can enjoy all the perks that this place has to offer. Bring a picnic lunch to enjoy. Their are restrooms as well as a water station to get a drink if needed. If you want to walk the trails you may want to choose a day that isn't so hot. Just remember anytime of the year the cave is going to be great. If you love caves you need to make sure you get this one of your list of to explore ones. All the staff were very friendly and inviting. They welcomed my big family in with no issues and we had no issues our entire day. 

There is also a gift shop that has a large variety of things. They have toys for kids and amazing gems to so much more. 

Relationship Memes

Relationship goal memes are all the rage on Facebook these days. The response to them are generally mixed with love and hate. Some people in this world have been lucky enough to find the love of their life, who treats them like royalty. You also have some that have lived in the dungeons of hell and couldn't imagine anything more. As most of my readers know I am one of the latter. I had been abused for many years before I was able to get away. Things still are not easy and those fears always loom in the back of your mind. The above meme is one I always see and I always pray that I will experience. 

Though it is hard to learn you will see that only you can love yourselves that much. I am never going to find anyone that will heal me. No one will ever be so magical that my world instantly goes perfect. I am damaged from my past so I have to heal myself. Well it is going to take a lot of Jesus too. I do hope that my partner in life will be by my side cheering me on with my battle. That is all I could ask for. 

So if you need your broken pieces to stick back together, you need to pull out some self hugs. Love yourself and know that you are good enough and worthy of the world. When you do you will be able to strive and choose a better mate and you will also not settle for less than the best because you know how to make yourself happy. 

Talking Rocks Cavern Branson Missouri

FAMILY FUN at Talking Rocks Cavern! Explore the world underground in "Missouri's Most Beautiful Cave" where fun, knowledgeable guides take you along lighted paths to view amazing crystal formations. Budget friendly Rock/Gift Shop, gemstone mining, and Cave Country Mini-Golf. Enjoy the nature trails, lookout tower, picnic areas and indoor and outdoor SpeleoBox cave crawls, which are free to our guests.

$2.00 OFF EACH CAVE ADMISSION - Save $2.00 off each regular price admission. Not vaild with other offers. Valid for up to 10 people!
http://bransonkidsguide.com/coupon.php?regionid=75&bid=12885&dealid=2801 
@usfg

Get to the Garden!

It is time!

It is time!

It is time to get to planting.  The kids and I went and got some seed to plant in the house until we get the garden tilled up.  Some things we will buy that are already grown though.  

So we picked out:

Cantaloupe

Watermelon

Broccoli

Squash

Zucks

Corn

Spinach

We all love to garden. It gives us something to do together as a family as well as feeling like we done something great when we pick food WE grew.  Not to mention it is cheaper to feed us during garden time!

I was working hard sitting on that ground in the sun!

Any time she can stick her hands in dirt and not get in trouble this girl is there!

All of them planted!

Now we wait for them to grow!

Do you grow a garden?

ACTIVA Products Review

Vendor: ACTIVA Products
Product:
Rigid Wrap and CelluClay Quik Sculpting Kit

ACTIVA Products' Favorite Sculpture Kids Craft Ebook
Price: $11.90
Age: School age but parental help maybe more oress depending on age

About: ACTIVA Products gave the wonderful chance to review their Rigid Wrap and CelluClay Quik Sculpt Starter Kit.  This is a paper mache kit that comes with the rigid wrap cloth and the CelluClay. Also included is 12 ideas on products to make with your kit. You can always choose your own if uyou wish as well. This however helps those less artistic parents or those that are not good with ideas for things off their heads. The CelluClay is 8oz and the Wrap comes with 2 which are 4" rolls. I think this would be a fun family art time. Younger kids can use this with more parental help and older kids can do this all on their own.

The Rigid Wrap is super easy to use and not messy. It is like cheese cloth like material that is already been dipped in plaster so all you have to do is cut it in strips and soak in some warm water and apply into the form that you want it for whatever product you are making. Now the CelluClay is a powder substance that you have to mix water in and make to the desired consistency that you want. This is more of a messy option but you have a bigger range of things you can make with it. The ebook has Loran's of additional ideas on things to make. Like a beat cake which would be fun to try, except in not that artistic haha. The ebook is definitely homeschool friendly as it does give each steps so it can be taught easily or learned easily for the kids.

We made a volcano. My kids can't resist making something we can make into an explosive. We used the Rigid Wrap which was easier for us to form the volcano.  We did use some of the CelluClay at a real thin consistency to go over it to make sure that it was all covered well and thick and sturdy so when we did make a volcano it would last for a few tries. I think you could have made some just out of the CelluClay but we made a prettt big one. We ended up going over it with some basic paints to liven it up some.


I think this would be fun for all. From those not good with art or those that love it and just want to try something new out. I am sure you won't be disappointed. And be sure to check out the ebook as well because it has some pretty neat stuff in it as well.


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YWAM Publishing Review

Vendor: YWAM Publishing
Product: Heroes of History - Benjamin Franklin
Study Guide
Price: $7.50
Age Range: 10 and above


About: YWAM Publishing offered us several choices from their Heroes of History series of books and we chose to review Heroes of History - Benjamin Franklin. YWAM Publishing is a wonderful Christian company that makes lots of amazing activities and books for homeschoolers.

This book is paperback and 108 pages in length. The book is only $7.50 currently. YWAM Publishing also has a Study Guide that goes along with the book, if you wish to further explore the study. This guide is over 80 pages of wonderful topics to dive into. The study guide has some of the following sections:

Key Quotes
Social studies
Display options
Books and Resources
Community Link
Student exploration
As well as 6 related questions to each chapter.

Each section dives further into learning from having essay practice, art, drama, geography, and etc.

The book I read out loud to my 10 year old. She is dyslexic and has issues processing what the book is saying if she tries to read it alone. The book goes over the life of Benjamin Franklin starting from when he was a boy. Full packed with lots of amazing facts this book continues on through the death of Mr. Franklin. Though this is a study book and one packed full of all those facts, it is written in a story format. This helps engage children in the story versus just trying to just them full of a list of fact about Benjamin Franklin.

I think this was a fun and wonderful book. I really think this book and study guide would be great for someone that is going to be doing a report on Benjamin Franklin. There is so much good information in the book and there is some great starter topics in the study guide. Would work well for a homeschool student or a public school child that needed to study more on him.

Social Media Links: 

• Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/YWAM-Publishing-482973445102/   
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• BLOG:  www.ywampublishingblog.com

Pizza Hut Book It!

I was not homeschooled myself so I remember being in public school and having the joy of reading to get pizza!  We did not eat out a lot as a family because it was not very affordable either.  I also hated reading so it was great to finally have an incentive to actually do it.  Well after some thinking about it and looking it up I finally seen that Pizza Hut also supports homeschoolers!!  How cool is that?!  So if you have children in K-6 grade then you need to head over to http://bookitprogram.com/enrollment/homeschool.asp and sign your kids up for this wonderful program.  My packet should be here anyday and let me tell you my kids are so excited!  Kids love pizza and it is a free treat to give them for doing some school work!  Check it out and get into the program!

Binder love!

So I finally got a binder put together for us this year. I first started out with a list of our main books, even though we use many random workbooks as well. Then I put in our schedual followed by the lesson plans. Next, I put a picture of each kid with their attendance behind it. This will also be where I will put assesments and sample work. I figured that way I won't be tempted to have a huge binder of all work. I do keep most work but in seperate subject labled binders. 

Ichetucknee Springs, FL

This was one of the most beautiful places I have ever swam in.