A few weeks ago I reviewed two new DVD's from the series, "The Nature of God in Nature." I enjoyed the DVD's, as did my family. I wanted to give another family the opportunity to see these DVD's, so I am giving away the two copies that I previewed.

To enter the contest, please copy the following paragraph to your blog or send it to your email list. Come back to this post and leave a comment and a link to the post on your blog or leave a comment that you sent a note to your email list.

"Discount Home School Supplies is giving away two DVD's this week. You can win a copy of The Nature of God in Nature: Hawaii and The Nature of God in Nature: Lake District. Read more about these DVD's on Tami's Blog. "

I will leave the contest open until next Monday night (October 13) at 10:00 pm EST. At that time, I will pick a random number from the number of entries. The contest is open to residents of the United States. I am sorry that I cannot send this internationally at this time. If you are from another country and can have me send the DVD's to a US address, you are welcome to enter. I have had some bad experiences lately with custom's tarriffs.

This is a new product by a Christian publisher. Please take a moment to check out his website at www.onemustardseed.com.

They are also available on my website for $12.95 each.

Have a blessed day! Tami

 

EDITING on 10-8-08 to say that I had a problem with comments coming through yesterday. The problem is now rectified. Sorry for any inconvenience!

Our little guitar player!

Welcome!

• Read my Bible daily and pray without ceasing
• Get an adequate amount of sleep at night
• Drink plenty of water daily
• Exercise
• Eat a balanced diet
• Take my daily medications and vitamins

 

You can find the full-length DVD on my website with an introductory price of $12.95!!!

 

Have a blessed day! Tami

If you don't have the money to travel to Hawaii or Chile, I have a great new product for you! A Christian publisher has created a series of DVD's called, "The Nature of God in Nature." His first two installments in the series contain footage from two beautiful places in the world. The first DVD that I watched was the one on Hawaii. And the second one was on the Lake District in Chile. These are two places that I would like to visit some day in person, but, for now, I enjoyed his travelogues.

I have an introductory special for the DVD's. You can purchase them for $12.95. That is $2.00 off the regular retail price. You can also watch a sample video on his website at www.onemustardseed.com.

Have a blessed day! Tami

 

There are several things that I could list today for my "Works for Me Wednesday" post, but the one that is most important to me is a verse that I have been praying as I pray for our upcoming Presidential election:

Proverbs 29:2. "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn."

Since we, as Christians know, that prayer works. I thought this was my best tip of the week!

Have a blessed day! Tami

In conjunction with the release of two new DVD's, there is a contest for you to enter to win a set of Signing Times DVD's. I don't know about you, but we love to teach our little ones sign language.

Here's a quick clip of one of the new DVD's:

 

Today is Frugal Friday over at Biblical Womanhood. I always enjoy reading the posts over there.

A few weeks ago, we went on a family vacation with our extended family. We had a large group of people, so we needed a large house. We had 5 bathrooms in the house. So we needed to have paper products in each bathroom. The house was a rental house, so we had to provide these paper products. Since there were that many bathrooms, none of the paper products were completely used. So at the end of the vacation, I asked my son to bring me all of the partially used rolls, so we could bring them back home with us. A few years ago I might not have asked him to collect them. I am sure that the housekeeping ladies collect these after vacationers leave, because I have never checked into a rental house that was stocked with paper products.

Now I have those partially used rolls in my cabinet, and we will be using them as needed in our house. I really could add more to this post on frugality on vacation, since we did a lot of little things to save money on this trip. We had 17 people in the house, and we spent less than $100 in groceries for a 3-day week-end's meals, and we did not eat out. We utilized our well-stocked pantries from home to supply a lot of basic items.

Have a blessed day! Tami

Isn't there is a song about "my mamma told me there would be days like this?"

Well, I am having one of those days/weeks/months/years. I am not sure which at the moment. But today's fun has been for me to figure out where some of my shipments are. Usually, I order items to fill my internet orders, and they arrive rather quickly. In the past two weeks, I have had THREE packages that defy the odds of making it to me in a timely manner. Two of the packages have gone to PA. They originate in TN, and they are coming to NC. Hmmmmmmmmmm, PA is a little out of the way. Then today I find that yet another package is coming to me the long way around. It left TN for a side trip to MS, and then it will come to me in NC at some point. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I have orders that need to go out today! And, now, I will just have to wait and see if they make it to me tomorrow.

So that's my day. How is yours going?

Have a blessed day! Tami

This week I am pulling my content from my email newsletter. If you aren't a subscriber, you can see what you are missing.

Can we talk a bit about handwriting? I have seen numerous customers in my store lately who have questions about handwriting for their children.

A popular homeschool curriculum introduces cursive handwriting in K4. That is preschool, folks!

My personal thought is that a child needs time to develop their manuscript handwiting before he/she moves on to cursive. Let me explain why.

As an adult in a computer-age, I do not use my cursive handwriting like my mother or grandparents. Our children are not going to use cursive handwriting like their grandparents either. Of course, they need to learn cursive, and they need to have a legible way to communicate. But, what if they never fully master manuscript?

What do you do when you fill out a paper at the doctor's office or bank? When you fill out a job application, do you print or write in cursive? (Well, some people use computers to apply for a job.)

Cursive is faster to do, of course. But most "official" forms ask you to please print neatly.

Our children need to learn how to master the printed word, and then they can move on to cursive handwriting.

I recommend one handwriting program above all others. And it is actually a product line that I do not make but pennies on the dollar. But I believe in it. I was introduced to Handwriting Without Tears by our occupational therapist back in 2000. And it has been the program for my children ever since. It works, and it works well. I have even had older children use the Can-Do Print and Can-Do Cursive books even without using the previous books. They are designed to fine tune handwriting in children in grade 5 and up.

That's my two cent's worth on the whole handwriting scope and sequence. Any thoughts?

If you have any questions or comments, I welcome them at orders@dhss.com.

Have a blessed day! Tami

We are going to tackle this topic this fall. I hope to get us started next week, as a matter of fact. We studied it 4 years ago, but my boys were younger then, so it is time for a review. It also works as part of a high school student's government and civics credit.

 

You are probably aware that I use the unit study KONOS to tie my school day together. The election unit is no different. I am going to be using the book, "Electing America's Leaders." And this year I am able to offer this book on my website. (I love being able to sell products that I believe in!) And I am going to go a step further and sign up for the online tutorial at www.homeschoolmentor.com. For $30, Jessica Hulcy will give me the training and background I need to do a bang up job this year! I am a lillte short on time to research and dig deep, so why don't I pay Jessica to tell me what I need to know! So for a paltry $45.00, I will be able to teach my children about the electoral process. Sounds like a GREAT deal to me!

 

I am also going to use a resource I found from Time Magazine for Kids to have a brief biography and picture of each of our Presidents. It's aptly named, Presidents of the United States. Another cool resource is a Fandex of the United States Presidents. I got one at Barnes and Noble during the last election, so I am going to use it as well.

Hope this helps you in your quest this year!

Tami

 

I found the comic strip 'Luann" by Greg Evans to be quite funny today....

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/luann

You can search for it by date if the link does not take you right to it. (September 7, 2008)

Have a blessed day! Tami

Last night, I found myself thinking of a great article for my blog just as I was going to sleep. Do you think I remember what that great article was? No, of course not!

Since I can't remember my middle of the night brilliance, I thought I would share a funny story with you. Last week-end, my husband and children and I went on a long week-end trip to the beach. We went with extended family and friends. At the high point of the week-end, we had 12 children and 5 adults in the house. Not too bad when you consider that 6 of the children were our children and 2 of the friends came with us.

We had several people depart on Monday, since they either had to be at work or school on Tuesday. I planned the extra night there, so that no one would have to leave for an early Monday morning check out. And it also gae me an extra day to take my children on a field trip on Tuesday to the NC Aquarium at Ft. Fisher.

So Tuesday morning, I wake up and know that I have a lot to get together and packed in our van, and I was the only adult left, and I had 8 children to get out the door. Fortuunately, I had 4 teenagers, so I had a lot of help. We were able to get everything loaded into the van before 9:00 am, and we had the housekeeping things completed as well. The house we shared with family was large, so I did not walk through every room to check for missing items. My goal was to make sure I had 8 children in the van!

So we left our little beach getaway and checked out with the rental agency and were on our merry way to the aquarium. Everything went so smoothly, and we finished touring the aquarium around noon. And we started our long ride back across our beautiful state.

After a 6.5 hour ride home, we unloaded our van. My 5-yr-old was missing his pillow after we had everything carried in. I didn't think leaving a pillow behind was a big deal. So we found him another pillow for the night.

On Wednesday morning, I received a phone call from our rental agent. The housekeeping ladies found my 5-yr-old's pillow, suitcase of clothes, and bag of toys in one of the bedrooms. If you know me at all, you know that I *used* to be really good at keeping up with *stuff.* Now that I have 6 children, I am not as good at it. I am just thankful when I count all six children in their seats when we load up the van. In this case, I had 8 children to be accountable for!

I don't know how many times we have forgotten the diaper bag, or pacifier, or shoes for the littlest one when we go somewhere. I am becoming quite unemcumbered of *stuff.* Sometimes this is a good thing, and some times, it is not a good thing.

Fortunately, my rental agent is sending a package to me with my 5-yr-old's belongings. And I am thankful we are all home safe and sound minus a little *stuff.*

Have a blessed day! Tami

Hello,

Having just returned from a long week-end with my family, I am busily trying to catch up with all the things on my "to-do" list. I will say that I spent time taking care of the most important things on my list over the week-end. I was able to spend time time with the Lord in His Word. He really used Scripture to speak to my heart. There has been a lot going on in my life, and I needed this time with Him to be reminded that He is in charge of those forces that are persecuting me.

I also spent a lot of quality time with my husband and children. The Lord has blessed my business in the past month to the point that I have worked a lot of extra hours. So I was happy to have some time to focus on my family.

I found time to just relax, too. And it was much-needed on my part. Some small stresses were becoming big stresses. because of all the busy-ness of my life. So I am feeling much-rested in body and spirit. And it is a good thing. I have a lot to accomplish today!

We are enjoying a break from school this week. I planned it into our schedule, since we started school way back in early July.

Have a blessed day! Tami

This blog will be silent for a period of mourning for the family of Dozer, aka Christian Drews. My heart is simply broken for this lovely family, and I am going to spend the time I would use for blogging in prayer for the Drews family.

Tami

This post is in the celebration of the life of Dozer, also known as Christian to his family. Marsha and David, my heart is just broken for you. God is a mighty God, and I am lifting you up to Him.

As I was reading through the blogs about Dozer's home-going, I was listening to my iPod, and the song that was playing was, "I Miss You" by Miley Cyrus. It was written in honor of her grandfather who has gone on to be with the Lord as well.

Tami

 

As my week goes on, I have been so filled with the Spirit of God, and I am glad He has my back all the time.

He is the same God on the mountain tops with me, and He is the same God in the valleys with me.

Have a blessed day! Tami

How many times have you heard that said? We are literally having a very rainy day in NC. And I am so busy with my business that I feel like God is just raining His blessings down on me.

And there are always those little "things" that happen all at one time. For me, I was expecting an order to come in today, so I could fill some orders. Somehow my order ended up in another state. So, that means I will be playing catch up when those books arrive!

And I am also having good things happen and not-so-good things, too. And it is just a part of my life right now.

For now, I am praising God for the rain showers and showers of blessings. How about you?

Have a blessed day! Tami