The kids and I have been reviewing a fun book called Star Chronicles: A Bible-based Study of the Stars by Dawnita Fogleman. We are learning a lot about the constellations with this book! I am looking forward to sharing my full review with you soon, but for today I am sharing with you a really great giveaway from the Star Chronicles launch team. Enter the giveaway for a chance to win $275 worth of prizes, including a telescope to help you get a closer look at the stars you are studying :)
Did you know that March 14 is Pi Day? If you are like my husband when I told him it was Pi Day, you will expect me to bake a pie for you to eat. Sorry to disappoint you (and him), but I'm not talking about that kind of pie :) Pi is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter and is approximately equal to 3.14159. (*Taken from Wikipedia.) Since March 14 is the 3rd month and 14th day, it is 3.14 = Pi Day :)
(*Make sure you go all the way to the end of this post to see the great giveaway we have to help you celebrate Pi Day!) I told the kids that we were going to have a geometry day and explained that we would be learning about shapes. My 9 year old informed me, "We already know our shapes!" To which I replied, "Oh, do you?" They know their basic shapes, but we haven't done much with shapes with more than 4 sides. So, by the end of our geometry day, even my 9 year old had learned something :) Are you or your child an aspiring writer? All my life I loved to write! When I was a kid I dreamed of being an investigative reporter, but I loved all kinds of writing! When I was a teenager I was blessed by a man with a local paper who allowed me to get some experience by writing for his Free Press. I wrote human interest stories, which I loved doing! I also wrote the Teen Chat column for awhile. When I was pregnant with our first child I finished my first, and only, novel, and sent it away to a writing contest. I did not win, but it was an amazing experience, just to know I actually finished writing an entire novel! That manuscript was mailed just a few days before Princess was born. After becoming a mother, writing definitely went on the back burner :) It was not until September 2013, when I started this blog, that I became serious about writing again. I wish I had worked harder at it when I was younger. I still dream about being published somewhere other than my own blog, and am hoping to branch out more by being a contributing writer with other blogs, but it is still something that has to sit on the back burner for me. Being a wife and mother comes first, and everything else just has to wait, for now :)
My oldest daughter has an incredible imagination and makes up stories all the time! She is my daydreamer, and is very much like I was when I was her age! I want to encourage that creativity in her and have been trying to help her get her stories down on paper (or the computer). If writing becomes a passion for her, I want to encourage that and do what I can to help her become a published writer, if that is what she wants. For the last couple of weeks Princess and I have been reading through the book Asia: It's People and History. It is a wonderful book and we are learning so much about Asia! Princess is fascinated with China and we have studied a little about China before, but with the help of this book, now we are learning about China's neighbours! We are really enjoying it... But I will have to wait until it's time to do my full review before I tell you anymore about it :) For now, here is a chance for you to win, not only this great book, but a whole lot of other great books too!
I was blessed to be able to read the devotional book, Putting on the Spirit: Ten Minute Devotions for Busy Moms by Katie Hornor. It came right at a time when I had been thinking about how I really need to find more time to be with God. As a busy, homeschool mom, I found this month long devotional book refreshing!
Do you ever use audio teaching in your homeschool? Or ever just listen to audio stories in your home or vehicle? It's not something I've thought much about until the last year or so. Last Christmas Munchkin received a collection of Curious George stories with the stories in a book and on CD. I was amazed when my 4 year old and my 6 year old actually sat and listened to every single story from the CD in one sitting! (My kids are not the type to sit for hours at a time! They are very active children! Anything that can make them sit still is a wonder in my eyes!) At our homeschool convention last year Hal and Melanie Young were the main speakers and they were selling CDs with G.A. Henty stories on them. They talked about how they listen to these stories as a family and how important it has been for their boys to grow up listening to such heroic tales. Recently I read the ebook Listening to Learn by Amy Blevins, which talked about how useful she has found audio learning to be. So, when I heard that one of my favourite sites for getting learning resources from had some audio stories that they were looking for people to review, I jumped at the chance :) I have not regretted it! My children love The Adventures of Mrs. Claus from Little Learning Lovies!
In my last couple of posts I have focused on giving gifts with your children (here and here). The book, Celebrate Jesus - Light of the World is another wonderful resource not only for gifts you can make with your children, but also other ways to focus on keeping Christ in Christmas!
In my last post I shared with you some ways my kids want to give to others this Christmas. I also promised that I would share some ideas with you of things you and your children can make to give away for Christmas too. Here are some of the cute crafts that my kids have made that your kids might want to try making too :)
I was blessed to receive a copy of Putting on the Spirit - Ten Minute Devotions for Busy Moms by Katie Hornor! This devotional book has been such a blessing to me! It has helped me understand the fruit of the Spirit better, and learn how I can help the fruit of the Spirit grow in my own life, even with all the crazy busyness of being a mom. I am looking forward to telling you more about it in another post when the book is released on December 9 :) For now, let me just tell you that if you are a busy, Christian mom (and aren't ALL moms busy moms?) this book will bless you too!
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