Sunday, December 25, 2016

Mouthwash!?! Who knew?


Fresh out of deodorant? Dab a little mouthwash under your arms. This will kill the the bacteria that cause odor.

Pour mouthwash over cuts and scrapes. It kills the germs on your skin the same as your mouth.

Tis the season for mosquito bites. Dab some mouthwash and hold on bite for 15 seconds to kill the itch.

Do you have dandruff? Wash your hair with mouthwash every two weeks or so to keep it at bay.

Disinfect your washer by adding 1/2 cup of mouthwash in the wash cycle.

Don't use Clorox on your babies things. Use mouthwash to wipe down toys and highchairs.

Need something to clean out that fridge? Yup mouthwash will clean it up and disinfect it.

What do you use mouthwash for?

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Who doesn't like apples?




Need a facial formula that will slough off dead skin cells, refine pores, and even out your skin tone?  In a small bowl, mix 2 teaspoons of apple juice, 2 teaspoons of red wine, and 2 tbs of ground oatmeal to make a paste.  Spread mixture on your face and throat, let dry for 20 to 30 minutes, and rinse with warm water.


How about an astringent safe enough even for sensitive skin?  Pour the following in a bottle with; 1/2 c apple juice, 4tbsp vodka, 1tbsp of honey, and 1sp of sea salt and shake well.  Apply the solution to your face and neck twice a day with a cotton pad.


Just an added tip, if you have a discolored pan you can boil water and apple peels to remove the discoloration.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

How do you save money?


Being a mother of 3 kids and a very slim income is rough.  I am also a college student, but no I refuse to eat Top Roman!  I never wanted to be an employed woman HA! My ultimate goal all through life was to get married and have babies.  I wanted to be Mrs. Clever's mom and have a cool kid like Beaver.  I never though that it couldn't happen or that it wouldn't.  I remember my first serious boyfriend's parents telling me that it was unrealistic and that I needed to be willing to work to until we got to the point that one day we maybe able for me to quit.  This came from a couple that his mom never worked a day in her life!  So yea needless to say I didn't end up with him.  Down the road I did find a man while I was already employed and we got married.  I worked for about 2 weeks into our marriage and we decided it would be best for me to become a house wife.  So I did and then started having my babies.  Life was good, we had money, a home, couple cars, and life was good.  I did end up going to Cosmetology school after my last child was about 8 months old.  However I ended up getting a divorce for several different reasons and I found getting back into the work force was a lot harder than I though.  I was straight out of high school when I got married and only had a couple piddle jobs during that time.  So at this point it was sink or swim; I picked swim hard!  My family had to make choices on what we could do with out.  Many times people look at their life and come into a rough spot when money is tight but they cannot overcome the shadow that life has put on us about what we "need".  So here is a list of the biggest cuts we made ...

  • We cut off TV all together.  At this point we don't even have basic channels because we never want to spend the extra money on an antenna. I had a huge DVD stock before my divorce so that we what we watch.  Once in awhile we will have a treat of a Redbox rental for something we really want to see.  Also when my dad buys a new DVD he gets the combo pack and gives me the blue-ray disk out of it.


  • I coupon!  I am no coupon hoarder though.  We only buy what we NEED and will USE.  I collect my coupons (ask friends and neighbors to give you theirs too if they are not using them) and I use the site A Full Cup to see what kind of deals are going on at area stores.


  • I buy my meats when they are on clearance or on sale and divide it into family servings and freeze it.  I set a food budget, generally no more than $50 a week.  With that money I may buy all meat one week if it is a good deal, next week it maybe veggies.  That way I always have a variation of foods and only have to buy a few things each week at retail.  Also always check for local farmers, many will sell you fresh produce cheap during growing seasons.


  • Now for clothes, thrift shop central!  We love hand me downs and thrift stores.  With three kids that love the outdoors our clothes get worn out quick.  Why spend so much money on new clothes when you can get them cheaper and most still look new at a thrift store.


  • Now gas is a big one.  I live out in the middle of no where and going to the store is a trip.  I always make sure I need several things and that I can do several errands on my way so that I do not waste gas for simple small trips.  Living out in the middle of no where has its perks though, as my rent is super cheap.  


  • There are always small things you can do as well to help along the way.  I am a member of Buzz Agent and get to try things out for free.  This helps me get a perk once in awhile.  I also LOVE SWAG BUCKS as I take a few minutes a day to ear points and I in turn use them for Amazon gift cards.  This helps buy my home school books or gifts for holidays.  I could spend more time on the site and make even more points but the little I do really helps.  You should really check it out if you haven't already.  It is free to sign up and you do not get spammed with mail like survey sites do.


  • One more thing I do is make my own products.  It is far cheaper for me to make things like my laundry soap, dish soap, fabric softener, kitchen cleaner, deodorant, and etc.  It is not for everyone, but I think the things work excellent and it does give me extra money saved in my pocket.

  • Internet!  I have to have internet because of my school.  I save this buy ditching my home phone and got a cell phone.  I tether my internet off of my phone with no issues.  I have done this for about 4 years now and love it.  It did not cost me more and I am able to have my unlimited internet and at a good speed as well.  This also allows me and the kiddos watch some movies and such on Hulu and Netflix when we want a lazy day.
This is not all of the things I do by far but it gives you an idea.  Hopefully it may give you some ideas to change in areas of your life.


What do you do to save money?

Sunday, December 4, 2016

How to treat bad behavior?

It seems as though every year after Christmas my kids go into war. 
They are naughty and fight with each other, mostly over each others new things.  They decide they no longer want to mind mom and do not want to respect anyone. 
After a horrible trip to the grocery store yesterday (took 2 hours in the store) I figured something had to change. 
I was trying bribing them with candy, threatening punishment when we got home, and anything else that came to mind.  They were running off from me and being loud. 
My 4 year old son has SPD and was already having an overload day which means tantrum city and lots of crying. 
Being a single mother you do not have everyone else to rely on to punish the kids from the store either.  Plus I live about 30 minutes from the grocery store so it is not like I can just walk out and leave my cart to punish them for bad behavior, that punishes me. 
So I came home and I sifted through Pinterest trying to find something that would fit our family.  I wanted a punishment warning system and also a chore chart, as Christmas left our house a mess.  So today we added these two things: Chore Chart and Behavior Chart.

I don't have a laminater so I used clear packing tape over the dots so that we could use dry erase markers and save printing.

This one I am going to work on if it works and make a better version.  I didn't have clothes pins so I used paper to make a pocket and then used mini popsicle sticks with their name.  I didn't know I didn't have clothes pins around until after I made it so the random papers are a bit silly but they will work for now to see if they system will fit us.

What types of things do you do in your home to promote good behavior and cleaning skills?  What age are your children and what is expected of them?

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

The Critical Thinking Co.™ Review

Language Arts {The Critical Thinking Co.™}

Vendor: The Critical Thinking Co.™
Product: Language Smarts™ Level E
Price: $42.99
Age: 4th grade

Language Arts {The Critical Thinking Co.™}
About: The Critical Thinking Co.™ was amazing enough to let me try out their Language Smarts™ Level E curriculum. I have worked with The Critical Thinking Co.™ before and have always enjoyed the things they offer. The  Language Smarts™ Level E is a full Language Arts curriculum geared for fourth grade students. The book comes in at 400 pages long. A great thing is that it is fully colored, which I think helps keep kids eyes on the work. The book teaches reading, writing, grammar, and punctuation skills. It also then emerges into 5th grade critical thinking and vocabulary skills. The lessons are easy to follow with no pre-prep from the parents. They also include fun activities after each lesson.

We did two pages a day during the review period. There are 258 assignments so that means we did two of those in a day.  This was just the right amount of work without overwhelming my child. Each one of the assignments are in a red box that are easy to read in a larger font and also have the directions highlighted to draw the eyes to what needs to be done. I really loved this because it helps you focus and also makes what is important to stand out. The lessons are fun as they have activities to do after them. like it he beginning we went over suffixes and prefixes as well as syllables. we had activities like word searches and unscramble of words. I think those things helped keep her wanting to continue on and get to do the fun part of the lessons. The book also covers word relationships, editing, parts of speech, using reference books, and much more. This really does teach everything that is needed to make it through 4th grade and get a good jump start on 5th grade.

I do think unless your child is firmly in 4th grade you may want to wait on the book as it does progress pretty deep but it also gives a great jump into 5th grade. I think by the end the child will be able to jump ahead in some 5th grade curriculums. Having short 1 page assignments really is good for those children that may not be easy to keep their attention. My daughter is one of those children and we didn't have to fuss daily to get a couple pages done. There is plenty to do two a day and make it through the whole year with just this book. however of you wished it could also be used along side another curriculum and be additional practice.


Be sure to check them out on Social Media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Critical-Thinking-Co/46128092293
Google+: https://plus.google.com/114500823774999703181
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/source/criticalthinking.com/

Also check out what my fellow crew members had to say about this book as well as others. They also have some great programs for pre kindergarten ages.

"Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic Before Kindergarten!™" program described here: http://www.criticalthinking.com/preschool-academics and/or our "Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic Before Kindergarten!™" described here: http://www.criticalthinking.com/reading-writing-arithmetic-before-kindergarten-bundle.html "  
Language Arts {The Critical Thinking Co.™}

Thursday, October 27, 2016

CrossTimber Review


Personalized Framed Plaque with Name Meaning and Bible Verse {CrossTimber} Reviews
Vendor: CrossTimber
Product: Personalized Framed Plaque with Name Meaning and Bible Verse
Price: $25 and up
Personalized Framed Plaque with Name Meaning and Bible Verse {CrossTimber} Reviews

About: CrossTimber is ran by The Dehnart Family. This is a Christian company providing some amazing name meanings to products. I recieved the Personalized Framed Plaque with Name Meaning and Bible Verse. This was a 5x7 framed picture that I chose to use the name Zilah. The Dehnart family is really great about talking with you personally about what each name means and how they come up with it. Or if you are like me, I enjoyed the surprise when I recieved my finished product. They have many background choices to choose from as well as a few options on frames. They also offer a a few other products thst you can personalize as well.

Ordering is super easy. I went to their page and chose the size, frame, and back ground. you then enter the name you will want the meaning for. I did not choose to talk with them about the meaning of Zilah prior to getting my frame. Zilah was a baby that was born to soon into the hands of the Lord. I have not been able to find anything that I liked enough to remember her by and when I was offered this review I instantly knew this was meant for her. So I wanted to be surprised when I opened it up and seen it.  I will just say I was in tears when I opened the package and seen her name right there in all the beauty. Also the personally pick bible verse they added was just perfect. God usually knows what you need and I think he made sure they knew what I needed as well.

This is a wonderful company to work with. It was truly a blessing to get such a wonderful frame and picture. They have many other things you can get the name and meaning on as well. 





Through Dec 4th, CrossTimber are sponsoring a Name Gift Giveaway.

You can enter the giveaway for a chance to win another free Name Gift or $10 gift certificate!

Grand Prize: The winner may choose between a: Personalized Mug OR a Name Plaque or 8x10 Plaque! --> Plus 9 more prizes: $10 Gift Certificates

Giveaway ends on Dec 4th, at this url: www.Meaning.Name/giveaway.html



CrossTimber 2016 giveaway
Be sure to check them out on Social media as well as see what my fellow crew members had to say about the company and their personalized items.

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/crosstimber 


Personalized Framed Plaque with Name Meaning and Bible Verse {CrossTimber} Reviews

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

No Rinse All Purpose Cleaner

Cleans floors, woodwork, greasy countertops, and appliances, and even kills mildew.

1 cup of clear ammonia
1/2 cup of white vinegar
1/4 cup of baking soda
1 gal. Of hot water

Mix all of the ingredientsbin a bucket. Then pour the solution into a hand held spray bottle, or sponge it on straight from the pail.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Ingredients
1 cup of Borax
1 cup of super washing soda (Arm & Hammer) AKA sodium carbonate
1 one bar of soap or one cup of  bar soap finely grated. I grate mine with a cheese grater and then use the food processor to make it even finer.

Mix all ingredients together until thoroughly blended. Use one TSP per load, or two for towels or heavily soiled clothing.


Some notes:


What better way to save money and do something better for the environment by using phosphate free ingredients.

I can safely use my grey water to water my yard and garden and save water as well.

The Zote bar soap can also be substituted with Ivory or Fels Naptha, basicly a soap with no added fragrances and oils.


Super Washing Soda AKA sodium carbonate, is very difficult to find. Summer time is the best time to get the soda porton of this and stock up. You can usually get this from hardware stores or in the pool section at Wal-Mart.  I also have Soda Ash if you can get your hands on that.

Bar soap- I have researched the best bars to use and they include; Zote (home depot), Fels Naptha (Winco & ace hardware), Ivory, & Irish spring. I would stay away from moisturizing soaps as they could leave oils on the clothes.


It can be used in in front loading washers and is actually preferred as it is low sudsing.


I sore these in the rubber made totes to keep dry and kids out of it.


I also have hard water and this works great still, as well as I only use cold water to wash in.





~any tips or variations to this feel free to comment~

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

So with my new dishwasher I have to post my cheap recipe to make my own dishwasher soap.


1 cup of Borax (this is found at Wal-Mart in with the laundry soaps)

1 cup of Super Washing Soda Or Pure Baking Soda or Soda Ash (Found in the Pool section of Wal-Mart)


5-6 packets of Lemonade Kool Aid (or something similar with citric acid in the ingredients)


Mix well

Use one TSP per load

MyFreezEasy Review

MyFreezEasy.com Freezer Meal Plan Membership {MyFreezEasy}

Vendor: MyFreezEasy
Product:  MyFreezEasy.com Freezer Meal Plan Membership
Price: Basic Membership $77 a year
           Premium Membership $95 a year

About: Erin Chase is the wonderful woman behind MyFreezEasy. She put together MyFreezEasy.com Freezer Meal Plan Membership to help make things easier in the kitchen at dinner time. Being a mom of 5 and a busy schedual I was happy to review this. MyFreezEasy allows you to make a meal plan for your family. You can choose from pre-designed meal plans for complete ease or you can do custom meal plans from their huge list of recipies.

I went with the pre-designed meal plans just because I didn't want to take the time to filter through so many tasty meals to make my own plan. The plans include 5 to 10 recipes thst can make 10 to 20 meals. The plans are super easy to read and understand. They include the recipe for the meal and how to serve or how to freeze for later. Also included is the shopping list, assembly instructions, and lables for if you freeze the meal. A bonus is that the recipes also come with modifications to make them gluten or dairy free. I have one dairy free kid so it was nice to be able to easily change a recipe for her. There are also many different plan options to choose from.

  • Traditional meals
  • Gluten Free meals
  • Clean Eats meals
  • Chicken only meals
  • Ground Beef only meals
  • Slow Cooker meals
MyFreezEasy.com Freezer Meal Plan Membership {MyFreezEasy}
So if you have found a sale, on say chicken you can check out all the chicken meals to use it up. There is also the gluten free plan which I know many people would love. 

I also loved that it is all laid out for you on how to prep to cook. This was also an added bonus to be easy for my daughters to help cook as well. Having everything there step by step they were able to make some of the meals themselves. Unfortunately Hurricane Matthew wiped out all of our meals as we lost power and still have not gotten it back on. I will be glad to get back into stocking up again though. 

Our favorite meals were the chicken recipes. We made the Baked Island Chicken last. It was a nice sweet chicken which the kids love anything sweet. That is another thing I loved is I found most all recipes were very kid friendly. Also letting your kid help you assemble the meals makes them more likely to try the fruits of their labor than if you just blindly give them a new food. 

Overall great membership to have. Great for busy mom's and dad's as well as maybe a new chef in the house wanting to try to make new foods and can help fill the freezer while doing so. I also believe this is grest for those families who may not be bus but don't have the ideas on what to cook. This really takes the guess work out of it all. 

Be sure to check them out on Social media as well as see what my fellow crew mates cooked up. 

MyFreezEasy.com Freezer Meal Plan Membership {MyFreezEasy}

Friday, October 7, 2016

Everyday Education LLC Review

Beautiful Handwriting, Literature and Poetry {Everyday Education, LLC}

Vendor: Everyday Education LLC
Product: Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwritting
Price: $27.00 digital e-copy
Age: Beginning or struggling readers, as well as any age that need handwriting

Beautiful Handwriting, Literature and Poetry {Everyday Education, LLC}

About: Everyday Education, LLC gave me the wonderful chance to review Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwritting for my struggling reader.  This program is broken up into 60 lessons. Each lesson is for one days work and the goal is to be able to read and write well by the end of the 60 days. Each lesson is a step by step tool to teach your child to read and write well. It is phonics based program at 218 pages long. I reviewed the digital version, which can be used for all in the family.

The writing portion of the program is to teach how to write beautiful. Meaning it's more italic style. My daughter loved this style. She has never been one to really care for writting, much less making it neat. I also notice the extra fancy way of doing letters helped her keep them written the correct way. She is dyslexic and still writes many letters backwards. You start out by practicing the letters in both upper and lower case. Some letters we used a separate sheet of paper to practice more. Then they have you to move on to copy work by doing a poem line for line. This section is just teaching the added italic to the letters but at a vertical position. After you finish these lessons the next move on to adding the slant. Which is a bit more difficult when you have written vertical all the time. There is more free writting in this section vs just copy work. Then to finish there is lesson on how to combine letters to make writting faster. It also goes a step further to learn to write with a calligraphy pen. We don't have one yet but we are all super excited to try it. I remember trying in highschool and couldn't figure it out. I howe very was trying to self learn.

We spent the majority of our time on the handwriting during the review period bit we are moving on to the reading portion now. This is a Christian based program and there are scripture throughout the pages. I think this would be great for anyone that wants to add some fun to their writing lessons or want to take the 60 challenge of teaching your child to read.



Be sure to check them out on Social media pages as well as click below to see what other great products my crew members have reviewed.

Pinterest:https://www.pinterest.com/janicecampbell/

FB:https://www.facebook.com/janicepcampbell

FB page:https://www.facebook.com/excellenceinlit/

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/janicepcampbell

Google+:https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JaniceCampbell

Twitter: https://twitter.com/everydayedu
Beautiful Handwriting, Literature and Poetry {Everyday Education, LLC}

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Online School

Has anyone attended an online school? If so did you like it? What school and what was your major?


I am going to Capella University for BS in Accounting. 

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Free Homeschool Books For Kids

Free Online Books for Kids

If you are looking for some free reading resources for your kids check out, Stories for My Little Sister. This cute website has several online books for kids. You can download them to your computer and print them out or read them on the screen.
The books remind me a bit of Dr. Seuss because they rhyme and I’m sure kids will think they are funny. The website is free and you can also download coloring pages and puzzles that go along with the stories.
Free Online Books for Kids
There are so many great free resources for homeschoolers these days!

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Need More Body in your Hair?

The proteins from the malt and hops found in beer coat, rebuild and repair damaged hair.
Rinse hair with beer to add body and shine!


The vitamin B and natural
sugar add body and shine.
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. 

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Great earning Sites

Synovate
Synovate is hard to get into… Unlike a lot of the other companies, they are not always taking new members. They are right now, but it doesn’t always last too long. If it is closed, just keep checking back. It is worth it! You are seldom screened out of surveys, the rewards add up really quickly, and this is one of the best for product testing.

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/StylinChick
Swagbucks is a little different, not a traditional survey site, but it seriously ROCKS my SOCKS. You install a toolbar (super easy, trust me!!) and then use that bar to search, instead of Google or Yahoo. Every so often, it pops up that you have won Swagbucks. You earn them pretty quick, and earn more by doing surveys or polls. I use my points for Amazon gift cards, and I earn at least $5 bucks a week. I just put those in my Amazon account, and let them pile up. It is awesome.
MyPoints
Mypoints sends you some surveys to earn points, but if you only earn points that way, it’s pretty slow. Take advantage of all of the other options: print and redeem coupons, shop through them, and click on the ads they send you. The ads aren’t spammy, although, the more you click them, the more you’ll get. But they are legit offers, and if you want to shop through one you get big points, if you don’t, you just click it and earn 5 points. Mypoints rewards you with FREE gift cards, I earn a $50 card every couple months. And they have TONS of choices for cards… Macy’s, Target, Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, all good ones.
Inbox Dollars

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Free Good at Long John Silver Sept. 19th




Head to Long John Silver’s on September 19th to score a FREE Fish Tender or a Piece of Chicken in honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day when you talk like a pirate! If you are willing to wear at least 3 pirate items, you’ll score a FREE 2-Piece Fish or Chicken Tender Basket! This is valid at participating locations only, so make sure to call ahead. Find a location nearest you!

Exploring Creation with Astronomy, 2nd Edition Review

Apologia: Exploring Creation with Astronomy Review

Vendor: Apologia Educational Ministries
Product: Exploring Creation with Astronomy, 2nd Edition
Age: Notebooking Journal-3/4 grade and up
          JR version- K-3rd grade
Price: Astronomy 2nd Edition Text- $39
 Notebooking Journals - $27 each
 ASTRONOMY 2ND EDITION AUDIO CD- $29

Apologia: Exploring Creation with Astronomy Review
About: Apologia Educational Ministries always has grest Christian curriculum to work with. They are also really good for use with multiplegrade levels. I was very excited to get to review
Exploring Creation with Astronomy, 2nd Edition. Included in what I received was the following:

Student Text
Notebooking Journal
Jr. Notebooking Journal
Audio CD

The student text is a hardback book that provides all the learning material for the lessons. The pictures are brightly colored and the text is easy to understand for multiple levels. One step further Apologia also gives the Audio CD option in which you can listen to the whole book on audio and just follow along in the text. This was such a great addition as it is helpful to those that are not strong readers or those that learn by auditory learning better.

The Notebooking Journal is for the older students. There is copy work as well as activities like minibooks. Then you also can use the Jr. Notebooking Journal which is for your younger kids. There is less writing in this version and more coloring. This helps the smaller ones not get so overwhelmed but are still learning the same thing.

The journals include a daily schedual on which section to read and do. This is great for those of us that do better with an already planned out schedual. I also like it because then my kids don't think I am just making them do extra work and am going by a premed lesson.
We have really loved this set and we will continue using it for the remainder of our year.

Be sure to check Apologia Educational Ministries on Social media. Also click below to see what my fellow crew members had to say about their experience with this Astronomy set. Each lesson is pretty short with great facts and learning. Then they add in an activitie like making a solar system or eclipse box.  These were fun to make and helps add to the learning with hands on. My kids are huge fans of doing "fun science" as they call it. It makes it so much easier for then to pay attention through the reading and the book work to know their will be something fun for them to work on after. The book work isn't so bad either. There is some copy work as well as things like crossword puzzles. This makes it a little fun when they are still going over the things they learned in the days reading. Apologia Educational Ministries never disappointed us in the past and they did not this time either. One of the perks of the lessons is that it is all biblical based and has scripture through out the lessons to back up the facts they are using in the book. There is such a battle with secular things that it is good to show kids the Bible we follow and love validates the way we belive the world was created and the things in it are all Gods handy work for us to enjoy.

Social Media Links:
Facebook:https://facebook.com/apologiaworld
Twitter:https://www.twitter.com/apologiaworld@apologiaworld
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/apologia/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apologiaworld/


Exploring Creation with Astronomy, 2nd Edition Review

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Household Tips 101- Cat Litter

Things with a musty smell are horrid.  From an old truck to old books.  The trick is as simple as cat litter.  For that trunk just sprinkle some in the bottom and close it up.  For those books put some cat litter in a bag with the books and seal it up. Check the book every few days and change the litter until smell is gone.

Want to get ride of the nasty trash can smell?  Things always leak in the bottom and make it smell so bad when you pull the bag out.  Just sprinkle some cat litter at the bottom of your can and it will not only deotorize but it will also absorb the grease and liquids that leak.

If you live around the coast in the south you understand about how quick mold spreads.  If you want to go on a trip you have to worry about leaving your house closed up because it will start growing mold.  All it takes is pouring at littler in a box and setting it in the rooms of the house.  It will help absorb the moisture in the home.

Odor eaters for feet are not so cheap!  Since you are already thinking you need to buy some cat litter to do some of these other tricks you mind as well place some in a stocking and tie it up.  Next place that inside some stinky shoes overnight.

Make a draft dealer for the bottoms of your door by filling up a stocking and and putting it in front of the door.

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Spiritual Circle Journal Review

Spiritual Circle Journal

Vendor: Spiritual Circle Journal
Product: Spiritual Circle Journal for Kids and Teens
Age: 8 years old and up
Price: $15.00

Spiritual Circle Journal

About: My daughter, who is 11, has started to include the Spiritual Circle Journal for Kids & Teens as part of her Bible time. This journal, from Spiritual Circle Journal, includes 3 pages of Parent/Teacher/Leader guide instructions to help parents and homeschoolers to use this tool with their children. This section just gives the parent helpful tips and some inspection on using the journal. This is intended for children that are 8 years old and up, however younger children could do this too with a bit more guidance. The journal in total contains; instructions, a sample journal (by a 12yo boy), 66 journal pages, and 15 pages for summary and personal use for a total of 94 pages.

This journal is neat because it helps children really dig deeper in their thoughts and in line with God's word. Sometimes keeps have a hard time knowing what to pray for or getting their feeling's out. This journal helps with prompts via bullets aka the bubbles.

THE NINE PRAYER AREAS ARE:


Journal Entry
- which are cloud bubbles and they ask the child what they are feeling for the day.
Lyric/Verse - Music note bubble where you put down a song or a verse that may have been stuck on your mind for the day.
Message - Bible bubble is the place to put what you have learned for the day.
Confession - heart bubbles that ask if you need to ask God for forgiveness for anything.
God Moving - car bubble where it asks if you have seen God Moving in your life.
Lesson Learned Light-Bulb Moment - light bulb bubble. Here you think of any moments you had a light bulb go off on something you have have done.
Prayer - backpack bubble where you might ask God for help with something. Maybe something is bothering you.
Thank You/Adoration - note bubble that you put what you can praise God for.
Actions - shoe bubble where you put something God wants you to do, maybe helping others.

This has really be a "God send" as my daughter is coming into her preteens and all the emotions that come with it. She had a hard time talking to me, sometimes it's just for lack of words to say. This gives her an outlet with prompts to help her know what to say and how to get out what she needs too. I really think all kids would do amazing with this but I really think this is amazing for the preteen age where they are so confused with what is going on anyways. Plus it helps them build that daily time with God and to see how they should use that time as they grow with God and in age. I think the idea point's are some thing that will stick with her for a long time to come. I also think it is a great place to keep her thoughts she doesn't want people to know. I allowed her to keep her privacy on it after we did a couple days to help show her the way it works and to help her get a feel for it. I don't think it was my place to invade on her feelings until she is ready to come to me with them. I think she loves that security that she can get it out of her mind but still know it's between her and God.



Be sure to check Spiritual Circle Journal out on Social Media as well as check out what my othere crew members had to say about their children's experience with the journal.

Social Media Links:
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/LizLassa/
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/spiritualcirclejournal/ @spiritualcirclejournal
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Spiritual Circle Journal




Ft. Stewart, GA

This past Thursday we decided to take the kids on base for a Social Studies lesson.  I thought it may be a little bit advanced for them to understand, but tried anyways.  I was please to say that they enjoyed it and they were so intrested in all of the things to see.  As you walk in there is a touch table, which lets the kids try on hats, shoes, and some of the other Army gear.  Then there were cases of different things found in countries, guns, and now and then comparisons. When you go outside they had many different machines like tanks and helicopers for the kids to see as well.  It was a fun time all around.


2012

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar Review

Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar Review
Vendor: jollyliteracy.com just2ducks LLC
Products: Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar
Age: Elementary Age
Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar Review
This review was given to me by jollyliteracy.com and just2ducks LLC. The following items were included for review:
  • Jolly Phonics Teacher's Book in print letters
  • Jolly Phonics Student Book 1, 2 and 3
  • Jolly Grammar 1 Teacher's Book in print letters
  • Jolly Grammar 1 Student Book
  • Jolly Songs in print letters
  • Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar Review
    Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar Review
    Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar Review
    Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar Review

    About: Jolly Phonics is a common core program that helps kids learn their Phonics so they can begin reading. They learn the sounds of the letters along with little reminding gestures to make it fun. The lessons are short and about a page long. This makes it go by quickly and nit overwhelming the child. The pages are full color as well. The song book comes with the CD so the kids can practice further with singing out their sounds they are learning. 

    Jolly Grammar teaches grammar and spelling rules. They do this through spelling lists and activities like unscramble sentances and maring current punctuation. 

    How we used: Since we are just learning our sounds we only used the Jolly Phonics, the teacher book, and song book. Each day we did a new page which housed a new sound. We would then listen to the songs to help enforce what we learned for the day and the past days as we went further through the book. Then their is also a color picture and word to go with the sound that I would have my son do during the day to keep up with what he learned that morning. The lesson also includes words for that sound and they get to write it. This helps teach them some basic words and understanding reading them. Letters are also taught in sound frequency vs in alphabetical order. Book 2 and three continues on with more words and then sentances. Lots of copy work for these lessons. 

    We did not get to the grammar books but we did look them over em for when time comes to use them. It goes over spelling, nouns, verbs, and adjitives in book one. 

    Overall we loved the books. The multisensory spin on learning helps retain what is taught. This is really good for kids that lack focus and getting them moving adds a new light to things to remember. I think any child struggling to read or needs help learning English would really benifit from these, either in the class or at home as a helper tool. 

    Be sure to check out Jolly Literacy on social media as well as checking out what my other crew members had to say about the program. 

    Jolly Literacy on social media:
    Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar Review