Well, it seems my online life has been full of lemons over the last few weeks.  But, as I have come to expect with God, He has taken the lemons and is making some wonderful lemonade! So here is what is going on with me…

I am making progress at getting my blog back up and running.  It’s been a challenge, but the work I am doing is something I have wanted to do for a looong time and now it’s getting done.  I am praying that in the next few weeks I will have everything back up and running on my blog and will be able to post again on a regular basis.  I will let you all know the minute that happens!

Here is the wonderful news though! I have a new online job!!!!  I am now posting on the Trigger Memory Systems Facebook and Twitter.  It is a blast! So if you want to get great freebies, read my thoughts on creative homeschooling and chit-chat back and forth…this is your chance!  Just search for Trigger Memory Systems on Facebook or Twitter and click LIKE.

I hope to see you there!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

I got the official word today from Eric at HSB that the organizational changes I made to my blog using HTML coding will not be returning.  I thought that was going to be the answer, but I was still hoping I was wrong.  :^(  I can’t tell you how much I appreciate Eric and the time he took to understand the question I was asking.  I know I made it tricky since I had gone “outside the box” as usual and used my own HTML coding.

To try to cheer myself up I bought a new domain name!

http://www.justcallmejamin.com

I have the new address set to transfer here when someone types it in now.  So the good news is when you want to tell your friends how to get to my blog you can tell them to go to justcallmejamin.com! :^)

Prayers for my peace of mind as I process all this would be appreciated!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

MY SUBSCRIBERS ARE AMAZING AT PRAYING!

I sent out an email over the weekend to let my subscribers know about the problems I have been having since the HSB updates. I got hundreds of responses that they were all praying! Then today I finally had time to click around the templates and get creative AND I found a temporary fix for my blog! I found a template that allows me to set up something called “PAGES” in those “PAGES” I was able to post a link to my old manual categories that I had set up. So if you visit my blog you will now find:

* Who Is Jamin?
* Homeschool Helps
* Why Homeschooling?
* Outside the Box Ideas
* Crafty Things
* Fabulous Field Trips
* New To Homeschooling??
* All My American Girl Posts
* All My Preschool Posts
* All My Little House Posts
* All My Boys Book Club Posts
* All My Mad Science Posts
* Our Lapbooks
* Tributes
* Subscribe To Jamin’s Blog
* SUPPORT JAMIN’S BLOG
* MAKE A DONATION

They are not as nice and fancy as they were before AND you will have to click two places to get to them. But they are accessible again! YAY!!!!

It’s been an exhausting weekend, but I am heading to bed feeling a little less sad than I have been for the last week. I am still not sure what I am doing in the future regarding my blog. There is MUCH work to be done before all is back to “normal” for my blog. The end of the school year is a super busy time for us and I just don’t have time to really deal with all this. But, at least I can find things now when I need too. I am thinking about setting up another blog that mirrors this one but is owned by me. Then I will have a copy that can’t be changed unless I decide to do it. Of course I have NO CLUE how to do any of that! LOL So only time will tell.

ALSO I am testing to see if Feedburner will now send out my posts.

I am hoping my subscribers are reading this via email!


Thanks for all those prayers subscribers!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Breathing in, breathing out…..Trying not to FREAK!!!!

Okay, in case you don’t know homeschoolblogger.com is in the process of making some BIG changes! I signed on today to find that ALL my organizational efforts I have put in over nearly 5 years are GONE. I keep thinking of the Six Million Dollar Man…

“Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world’s first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster.”

But, can I rebuild my blog? I don’t know. I do know that I probably put too many of my organizational eggs in my homeschoolblogger basket. I have used my blog to organize everything! From meal planning to notes to someday scrapbook, I had it all in one place. And now I can’t find any of it! For now I am just going to take a break and have a good cry. I need to let them finish whatever it is that they need to do. I can’t assess how much damage has been done until it’s done.

It’s been a rough day! I am trying to keep it all in perspective. I just keep thinking…Is it God or the devil that is saying it’s time to stop blogging? I need to spend time in prayer about whatever my next step is.

I will let you know…eventually….

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

I was cleaning up my blog this weekend and I came across this post I had written back in May that I had never posted.  So here it is 7 months later!  LOL

One of my subscribers sent me a link to an article called The Baby IS the Lesson in response to my post on Deschooling.  She thought is would be good to pass along to the Mom who had written me.  After reading th article I couldn’t agree more!  What a great article. 

(Be sure to click over and read The Baby IS the Lesson.  It is really good!)

My husband and I attended a wedding Saturday night for one of his co-workers.  It was kind of an unusual experience for me because I had not had the opportunity to meet anyone at the wedding including the bride or groom!  So I found myself to be much less emotionally invested than I usually am at a wedding.  This gave me a great chance to sit back, be an outside observer, and think about marriage.

Weddings are great fun!  But, marriage is what happens when the wedding is over.  And marriage, while it can be fun, can also be hard!  Here is some of what I thought about while I was observing all the goings one of the wedding Saturday night…

When I was 8 years old I was the flower girl at my cousins wedding.  That was really the first real thought I had ever given to weddings or marriage.  I had been in wedding 3 years earlier.  But at five it didn’t have much meaning to me.  At 8 years old the wedding was like a dream!  The bride was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and the whole thing seemed like a fairy tale.  The church seemed like a castle to me and the whole thing lives on in my mind as a Cinderella story.  At the reception there was dancing and food everything seemed like magic.  I assumed marriage would be the same.

The next wedding that stands out in my mind would be my sisters.  She was married when I was 16, and while it was equally beautiful, I was now old enough to see the hiccups that happen in the actual wedding.  Of course, it was not hard to see said hiccups when the best man fainted not once, BUT TWICE during the ceremony! A member of the church who was an ambulance attendant happened to be at the wedding and the second time came forward to give medical attention to the best man.  This wedding was probably the first time I thought about the fact that in weddings and marriage things DO NOT always work out the way we plan them.

Fast forward several years with me to my husbands youngest brothers wedding.  By this point my husband and I had been married nearly 10 years and were parents to our first and only child at the time.  (He was 3.)  At this wedding I found myself thinking about what marriage is really about.  Forget about the Cinderella factor, by this time I now knew that marriage can be a lot of work!  What would this couple experience in their journey together?  I thought about our own journey with infertility and the loss of our first child.  I wondered if these types of problems would make their relationship grow and strengthen or fall apart? I thought about how hard it must be for my mom to attend weddings now that she was a widow after more then 30 years of marriage to my father. I prayed for them because I knew that although marriage could be wonderful, if could also be difficult.  Like a beautiful rose it would not be without it’s thorns.

On our 12th wedding anniversary my husbands best friend was married to his lovely bride.  This was a very special time in our marriage because after 12 years we had finally been able to have our second child!  We attended the wedding with our 6 year old and our 6 week old! This was the first time most of our family met our new baby girl and we had our own reasons to celebrate that night!  I remember thinking that this was probably the happiest I had ever been in my life.  At this wedding I thought about what it meant to be partners.  I thought about how important this person would be as she went through pregnancy and childbirth.  How they would plan together and hope for the next generation in a way they had never even understood before. I thought about how much I needed my husband! I realized that even though weddings are romantic and wonderful I was SO blessed to have the security and comfort of 12 years of history with my beloved.  How I hoped and prayed for the same blessings for our friends.

When we had been married 15 years we renewed our vows at our own second wedding.  This is a day I treasure!  After 15 years of marriage we knew what true love was.  I thought so much that day about how much more this renewal of our vows meant to me than even our first wedding did!  Not because our first wedding wasn’t real and wonderful, but because on the day we were married it was about hope and dreams.  Fifteen years later our renewal was about commitment, devotion and true love.  We knew what we had gotten ourselves into at this point and we were celebrating that we were in it together!.  I cried as we renewed our vows, which may seem weird since I did not cry when we said our vows the first time.  My mother-in-law asked me about this later when I showed her the video and I remember telling her “The first time I had no idea what those vows meant, this time I knew all too well what they were all about and that was overwhelming.”  As we renewed our vows after 15 years of marriage our 9 year old was best man, our 3 year old was flower girl and our 4 month old was my bouquet!  My mom was the entire audience!  LOL Yep, after 15 years of “trying” our family was complete!  Wow!  I still get butterflies!

So as we attended this most recent wedding we are coming upon our 20th wedding anniversary next April.  I am sure that is what got me in this retrospective mood.  LOL  So what did I think about as I witnessed 2 complete strangers promise to share their lives with each other?  I thought about what it means to hold a hand that is so familiar that you know it as well as your own.  I thought about the small creases that have oddly appeared around my husbands eyes that make him all the more handsome to me.  I thought about the joy it brings to see the man you love brush your daughters hair and to know that sharing his love with this “other woman” is the most precious gift he can give me.  I thought about my husband as dad to our boys and how the decision I made the day I married him will impact their lives forever.  I thought about how grateful I am that the man I married almost 20 years ago still makes me laugh every day!  I thought about how this sweet couple would feel some day as the attended the funerals of their parents.  I thought about how 20 years ago my mother-in-law was pretty much a complete stranger to me and now she is our beloved grammy who I miss more than words can ever express.  I thought about the times when money would be short and tempers even shorter.  I thought about job losses and job changes. I thought about moves to new States that made saying goodbye to everything familiar an adventure as you do it together! I thought about the laughter they would hopefully share and how that would get them through the tough times. I thought about how 20 years passes in a flash and I wondered if this beautiful red headed bride would be wearing “sensible shoes” (like me) to a wedding 20 years from now!  LOL

Yes, I realized this weekend that my perspective on weddings and marriage has changed drastically over the years.  I think about my two precious uncles that passed away in the last few months and left their wives as widows after more than 60 years of marriage!  I realize that even after 20 years we are hopefully only beginners at this marriage journey. We still have so much road to travel together!  PTL!

Homeschooling is SO much fun!  LOL  Friday the mailman brought us 2 boxes with new curriculum for my FRESHMAN.  Getting new curriculum is always SO exciting at our house!  I started opening the one that contained my sons Algebra 1 for the year.  The kids were all excited and wanted to open the other one.  So I told them go ahead, without thinking.  They said to me “What is it?”  and I replied “It’s Science.”  Then the screams started!  LOL

I completely wasn’t thinking about the fact that I ordered specimens to dissects this year for Biology!

:^)
Yep, there staring  up out of the box was a dead frog, crawdad, earthworm and a HUGE FISH! What a hoot!  The kids took of running and I got at least an hour of peace and quiet!  LOL  I may have to carry dead specimans around more often!

I guess it was quite a shock to open a box expecting a book and finding dead things!  LOL  One thing is for sure…It is NEVER dull and boring around here!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Today is our first day back to school for the new school year.  I got some great news about the new school year this weekend when I bought my new 2009 calendar!

2009 has TWO APRILS!!!!
I can’t think of anything I could want more as a homeschooling mom!  LOL

The kids are thrilled because this means we get to have 2 April Fools Days.  (Which is basically their favorite holiday!)  Who knew you could buy 30 whole extra days in a year for just $2.00!

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course my husband had to be the killjoy and point out that with 2 Aprils there will also be 2 April 15ths!  LOL

Just thought I would start the new school year off with a little humor.  I am humbled to realize that my oldest is a Freshman this year! WOW!  It seems like only yesterday we were doing preschool sprawled out on he living room floor.  What a blessing to have traveled this homeschooling road with him!

I know this year there will be times I feel stretched a little thin.

This year I have:

One is High School
One in Grade School
One in Preschool

What a blessed Mama I am! God is good!  And I am sure grateful for that extra April! LOL

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

My rent-a-kid makes the most wonderful key lime pie!  So of course we made sure he brought the recipe along when he came to visit!

I have been trying to come up with a good chore for my 4 year old for awhile.  All the kids help with things like cleaning their rooms, picking up, vacuuming and laundry.  But my older 2 also have some set chores they are responsible for every day.  (My 13 year old keeps the kitchen clean, which is a BIG job.  My 7 year old sets the table, cleans off the dishes after each meal and wipes down the table.)  These are chores they are responsible for without being asked. They need to be done before they can play and do other things.  My 4 year old has been wanting his own chore, but no matter what I would think of it was just too hard for him.  Then daddy picked up this little broom and dustpan at the 99 Cent store.  This he can do! 

Apparently I am the only person on earth that did not know cookies could be made from a cake mix!

Here are a few of the variations of this recipe I received after I posted about our cake mix cookies yesterday.

From my Mom:
I have used this recipe for years.  Add choc. chips to a yellow cake mix for Choc. Chip Cookies.  Yummy!   

And from an inventive reader:

This was SUPER simple and made big soft cookies.  The kids really liked them and the flavor possibilities are endless. (I am thinking chocolate fudge cookies sound great next time!) Other than mixing up the ingredients all you do is bake them for 10 to 12 minutes at 375 degrees.  We ended up with 16 cookies.

One thing we can always count on….
If we make cookies there will be a certain teenager who shows up to eat them! LOL

Click HERE to read my Cookie Update with variations of this recipe sent in by my readers.

My little ones love puppets!  We have a big bin of them and I just love to sit and listen to them playing with the puppets and using their imaginations.  This summer I thought they would enjoy making some of their own puppets, so I went out looking for free patterns. I found an awesome website!

This site has over 40 links to patterns and instructions!  You will find information and free printables to make paper bag puppets, sock puppets, hand puppets, stick puppets, finger puppets, shadow puppets and even marionettes! 

I cannot wait to get started making these with my kids!  I hope you and your children enjoy them too!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

This article is from the Home Where They Belong Blog.  If you are interested in more freebie’syou can subscribe to The Homeschool Minute as well as the Freebie Friday Newsletter HERE.  I will be passing along FREE goodies for your homeschool each week in both of these newsletters.  (Not to mention all the other great info you will get from The Homeschool Minute!)

This is completely off the topic of homeschooling…But, it’s summer so I figure it can be a what I am doing on my summer vacation post!  LOL

Cover:
To make things simple I chose one main paper and a theme of blue, white and black.  The tag on the front is something  picked up in a clearance bin for 50 cents. (The price tag was still on it.  LOL)

Other than the main paper all the accent papers are paint chips from the hardware store!
I punched them, put rub ons on them, sanded them, etc.  It was kinda fun to work with them.  (Plus they were free from my vast collection I have amassed over the years from all our decorating projects! Yeah, I don’t throw anything away!  LOL)

I also had some BIG snowflake stickers left over from a past project.  I used a lot of velum sayings that were about happiness and joy. The little trees are quilling. Quilling is something I like to use in scrapbooking but rarely do because they don’t lay flat.  With this album anything goes since it is bound with big metal rings and doesn’t need to lay flat.

My son really liked the picture of him hitting his Dad’s best friend with a snowball!  I used the scrabble tiles to draw attention to that one. I tore all the background paper because I thought it added to the soft snowy look.  (Plus if you cut you have to measure and stuff and who wants to do that!  LOL)

More paint chips, stickers, velum sayings and some snowflake punches.
On the back I journaled the whole thing with those old time office letter punches.  I really love using these in my scrapbooking!  I think it gives it a quirky retro feel.  (These would be really great for lapbooking too!  Wow, I never thought about that until now.  Stay tuned, we will be using these in a lapbook soon!  LOL)

This is my favorite type of project to do.  I didn’t buy anything special for this album, except the acrylic album itself.  Everything else is leftovers from other projects and thing I had on hand. I am very happy with how it came out!

I put a cup hook on the wall over my desk and have it hanging there.  I would like to get more of these acrylic albums to scrap. (Wouldn’t it be cool to have a whole wall of these?) Now every time I look at it I want to scrapbook more!  (Which is NOT good because I really need to get the house unpacked first!  LOL)

We haven’t had time to do this yet, but I wanted to share this free Olympic Lapbook just in case someone else is more organized than me this Summer!

My littles have been really into making sticker lately.  One of our favorite lapbooking/scrapbooking gizmos is the Xyron Create-a- Sticker machines. These are a really great tool for lapbooking!  I like them because the adhesive gets all the way to the edges and makes things lie flat.  This is great especially for the lapbooks the kids want to look at over and over.  It makes for less chance of things getting ripped or coming loose.

Here is my daughter showing off a couple of the stickers she made.

The small ones above are done on this gizmo.  It makes 1 1/2 inch wide stickers.

We have 3 of these and the bigger ones make 2 1/2 and 5 inch stickers. 

We use the 1 1/2 inch one the most.  It seems to be the most versatile.  Of course the refills are the cheapest for this one too. *Which may be why I grab it whenever the littles want to make stickers.)

These are a luxury item and not required for lapbooking.  But, we do really enjoy ours and get a lot of use out of them.  If you are looking for a fun thing to keep your kids busy and entertained this summer I highly recommend getting the little one! (BTW, the kids do the art and I run them through the machine.  They tend to waste too much sticker material when  I let them do it.)

My 4 year old has never been to a doctor.  It wasn’t that I meant to never take him.  As I have posted about recently he was born at home.  Then when he was 3 weeks old we moved to Las Vegas.  I called the insurance company a couple times and got a list of approved doctors. But, Las Vegas has a terrible doctor shortage!  Whenever I would call the doctors on the list they would all say they were not taking new patients.  I went through this several times and finally I just gave up.  We rarely go to the doctor anyway.  Since we pretty much exclusively use homeopathy it is really never an issue.

Freebie Finder – Free Curious George Study

My kids love Curious George so I was excited when I found these great free Curious George links. 

Jamin

This article is from the Home Where They Belong Blog.  If you are interested in more freebie’syou can subscribe to The Homeschool Minute as well as the Freebie Friday Newsletter HERE.  I will be passing along FREE goodies for your homeschool each week in both of these newsletters.  (Not to mention all the other great info you will get from The Homeschool Minute!)

Yesterday I took the kids to get haircuts.  Normally I take them and then go back later and get mine done.  But, this time they were having a sale and I didn’t want to miss out on the $10.00 off for my haircut.  So bravely I decided to get mine done while we were there.  We arrived and the place was empty.  (This is a good sign and a benefit of going at 10:30 in the morning!)  They took the 2 boys right away and then a third sytlist shows up and takes my daughter. It was all going well.  You have never seen 3 more well behaved children!  (Keep reading you know what’s coming! LOL)  The boys finish up and it is my turn.  I sit my 4 year old down next to his big brother and he starts asking his big brother how to spell words.  Then he happily writes the word on his paper. My daughter’s hair is finished and she joins the fun.  All the stylist are commenting on how well behaved the kids are.  I thank them and assure them that they do have their moments.  I must admit I was feeling pretty good at this point!  I relax and get my hair done.  At one point my four year old speaks up from across the salon “Mom.”  Yes honey. ” I reply. “  “I love you.”  he says.   I tell you they all start gushing at this point.  Why are your kids so sweet?  Why do they get along so well?  What have you done to have such awesome kids?  I just laugh!

So we finish up.  I pay, they all get lollipops and we leave.  We take one step outside and my four year old announces “I am ready to go to Target and get my toy!”  What????  No one said anything about getting a toy?  I ask him why he thinks he is getting a toy?  He looks at me and says “Because you said we were going to Target and I want one!”  What???  This is NOT how things work at our house! My kids get an allowance and if they want something they have to pay for it.  He knew good and well he had no allowance saved up!  I inform him he is NOT getting a toy!  (Keep in mind all the stylist are for sure watching this through the window!  LOL)  He yells, he stomps his foot he does everything he can think of short of throwing himself on the hot cement and having a full blown fit.  I end up carrying him to the car as he is sobbing in my arms.

I just LOVE being a parent!  LOL

Soooooo….Instead of going to Target and getting groceries,  we head home.  He is asleep pretty much before we left the parking lot.  We get home and he is sent to his room.  The rest of the afternoon  he was not a happy boy.  Sometimes life is like that!

I always joke that I have a theory that any child has a 30% chance of melting down at any given time.  So since I have 3 kids I have a 90% chance of embarrassment every time I leave the house!  LOL  It really isn’t that bad.  Overall my kids rarely melt down.  But, when they do it is always a good reminder to remain humble.  When I see a Mom in a store with a child who is losing his mind I like to smile at her and whisper a prayer for her.  Because I have been there!  No matter how good my kids can be they can also go the other way without a seconds notice!  Most of the time they can recover and move on.  But, sometimes the only thing we can do is go home and hope tomorrow is better. 

Yesterday was one of those days.

 You know the only people who are always sure
about the proper way to raise children?
Those who’ve never had any.

Bill Cosby

 

Okay, I admit I am not the tattooing type!  LOL  Awhile back my sister-in-law sent me information of Safety Tats and I finally realized there are tattoos I like!  These are just temporary tattoos, but I love this idea! 

Since I shared my homebirth stories a couple of days a go I thought I would share my sons version too.  This was dictated to me by my 6 year old son 2 days after his sister was born at home.

On the day she was born my Mom woke me up and said she was having contractions. It was Sunday, we were suppose to go to church, but we couldn’t because Mom had aches and pains.

I had to laugh when I uploaded this picture.  I don’t ever remember noticing before that he fell asleep that night with one of his school books!  LOL  He also has a red sticker on his nose!  Funny kid!

 

We bought a copy of the book Welcome With Love and pasted his story inside.  We also added pictures from our daughters birth.  My daughter treasures that book and LOVES to read her brothers version of the day she was born.

Tuesday we had our first swim of the season!  We have some friends we met in Las Vegas that moved here 18months before we did. They invited us over to swim! 

Little Man getting ready to dismount!

No fear!  (Although he scares me to death!!!!)

Making a whirlpool in the jacuzzi.

The whole gang! We are so grateful to have these wonderful homeschool friends in our new location. We are really enjoying hanging out together!

Since our school year has been a little discombobulated due to moving across country,  I wanted my oldest son to still work on a little school over the Summer.  One project he has chosen to do is a study of the presidents.  What we decided is that he would make a list of all the presidents and then find one interesting fact about each. The he will write a paragraph or two about the president.  Here is the list he has put together.

1. George Washington was the first president.

2. John Adams was first to live in the White House.

3. Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase

4. James Madison was called “Father of the Constitution”

5. James Monroe 3^rd president to die on the 4^th of July

6. John Quincy Adams was the first president to be another presidents son.

7. Andrew Jackson signed the “Indian Removal Act” and forced Native Americans to move.

8. Martin Van Buren first natural born American citizen to become president.

9. William Henry Harrison he died of pneumonia just 31 days after being inaugurated and giving a 2 hours speech in the rain.
   

10. John Tyler First president to become president without being elected, (Via vice presidency.)

11. James K. Polk died 3 months after leaving office.

12. Zachary Taylor was a war hero.

13. Millard Fillmore opened up trade with Japan

14. Franklin Pierce opened up slavery to any state that want to allow it.

15. James Buchanan was the only president to never marry.

16. Abraham Lincoln ended slavery.

17. Andrew Johnson was the first president to be impeached.

18. Ulysses S Grant was the only president to get a speeding ticket.

19. Rutherford B. Hayes was the first president to use a telephone. His number was “1”.

20. James A. Garfield was killed by one of his own supporters.

21. Chester A. Arthur was once a teacher.

22. Grover Cleveland was married in the White House!

23. Benjamin Harrison was William Henry Harrison’s grandson.

24. Grover Cleveland (Again) only president to serve 2 terms that weren’t in a row!

25. William McKinley was first to use campaign buttons.

26. Theodore Roosevelt built the Panama Canal

27. William Howard Taft started the seventh inning stretch at baseball games.

28. Woodrow Wilson was president during WWI

29. Warding G. Harding wore size 14 shoes.

30. Calvin Coolidge was born on the 4^th of July.

31. Herbert Hoover was president during the great depression

32. Franklin D. Roosevelt was related through blood or marriage to 11 other presidents!

33. Harry S. Truman ended WWII by using the Atomic Bomb on Japan.

34. Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill that created NASA

35. John F. Kennedy was killed midway through his term in Dallas, Texas

36. Lydon B. Johnson was president during the Vietnam War.

37. Richard Nixon was the first president to visit all 50 states.

38. Gerald Ford didn’t run for either presidency or vice presidency, but Ford gave him the vice presidents job when the vice president resigned.

39. Jimmy Carter was the first president to be born in a hospital, all those before him had been born at home.

40. Ronald Reagan acted in 50 movies before being elected as the oldest president ever.

41. George H. W. Bush survived 4 plane crashes while in the Navy

42. Bill Clinton was almost kicked out of office.

43. George W. Bush is the second president to be the son of another president.

I think the list alone is interesting and eye opening.  I never thought about what it would be like for the president NOT to have a telephone or the fact that the first presidents were not born in the United States. (And how weird is it that by the 5th president 3 had already died on the 4th of July?!?!)

I came across a brand new website for homeschoolers that offers a free download EVERY DAY! 

My four year old LOVES to tape things!  I recently discovered that if I give him the blue low tack painters tape he can play with tape completely on his own.  Regular tape is too tricky for him to get off the spool.  If he does get it off then it just sticks to itself. Which aggravates him to no end. The blue tape however is easy for him to pull apart even if it does stick to itself.  Of course it is a little more expensive than regular tape.  But, he has so much FUN with it  I think it is well worth the few extra cents!

My Mom, Sister and Niece are coming to see us this weekend!  YAY!!!!

Yesterday I told the kids we had to clean up.  They looked around with doubtful looks on their faces.  There is no chance of getting the house "Grandma clean" in less than 48 hours!  Then cautiously they asked "Does it have to be Grandma clean?"  I thought for a minute,  looked around and replied "I think this time we may have to settle for Truck Stop bathroom clean!"  ROFL!!! 

The kids LOVED that response!

Sorry Mom! 

I figure since we have moved many, many miles from our last location it is now alright to reveal where we have been living for the last 4 years.

Yep, Las Vegas Baby!  Now, I am sure you are probably wondering how a conservative Christian homeschool family ever ended up in Las Vegas!  Well, I will tell you it was NOT my idea! I went there kicking and screaming!  Everything in my mind, body and soul told me NOT to go to Las Vegas.  However, my husband had a different view.  His job wanted to transfer him and it seemed like a good career opportunity at the time. I had always told him I would follow his job anywhere since it allowed me to stay home, but I didn’t mean LAS VEGAS!!!  However, no matter how much I heard no, he heard yes and eventually I did the only thing I could.  I submitted to my husband.  So with our 9 year old, 2 year old and 3 week old we headed off to Sin City.  I was sure my children would be ruined for life!

To say I was terrified was an understatement.  I had been to Las Vegas a few time.  (My husband and I were married there 15 years earlier.) and although there were a few fun things to do is was certainly not a place I wanted to expose my children to!  However, I had to trust God and my husband. 

One day shortly after we had moved I was in my "making the best of it" mode. I took the kids to the Mirage Casino to go see the dolphins and other exotic animals they have there.  The exhibit is really nice, but of course you have to walk through the whole Casino to get through it.  After we had been there watching the dolphins awhile my then 9 year old son said to me "You know Mom, we are just like these dolphins in the desert.  As Christians we don’t really feel we belong here, but we just have to make the best of it, trust God and try to adjust."  WOW!  From the mouths of babes!  From that point on I always considered us "dolphins in the desert."  We may not feel we belonged there, but we could survive and God would provide what we needed to get us through a challenging time.

And provide He did!  I cannot say that my heart turned around and I got a good attitude about living in Las Vegas right then and there.  Trust me I continued to argue with both my husband and God about what we were doing there.  But, God did provide the most amazing people to love and support us.  It never occurred to me back then that someday when we did leave I would actually MISS people from Las Vegas!  I never imagined the amazing Christians I would meet there that would teach me so much.  I never dreamed the lessons He was going to teach me or the changes He would make in me along the way.  Much of the journey was NOT pretty.  I am not necessarily proud of my attitude or actions along the way.  But, I did learn more in those 4 uncomfortable years that I ever could of if He had left me in my comfortable place where I yearned to stay.

In the end I am glad He loved me enough to take me down a REALLY tough path. Our pastor in California use to say "God loves you just the way you are, as a matter of fact he loves you too much to leave you there!"  I am glad for the pain and sorrow.  I learned to trust and love both God and my husband in a whole new way.  I now know for sure that both of them did it for my own good.  They were doing what needed to be done, even when I didn’t want them to.

As for all the harm I thought would come to my kids?  They have pretty much come out of Las Vegas unharmed.  I have had to explain a few things to my oldest that I would have preferred not to. (But, in this day and age it is probably a blessing he learned these things from Mom and Dad!)  He did not turn into the hard core sinner I thought he would!  LOL  The Little’s are pretty much unaware of the Sin part of Sin City.  They associate Las Vegas with home, friends, church and buffets!  LOL  (If anyone asks my now 7 year old if she liked Las Vegas she says "I LOVED the buffets!" LOL)

So what did I learn in my four years in the desert?  (I like to think I am in good company with being sent to the desert by God!)

1. I learned that no matter where you go God is there.  I know as a Christian of nearly 30 years I should have already known that!  The truth is that I would have said I knew it, but now I really do know it deep in my heart
2. I learned that sometimes God does His best work when we are at our lowest point.  – Honestly, I could not have learned the things I did had we not have moved away from California.  I was so comfortable there.  I loved my life and even though it revolved around church, it wasn’t always about God.  I really thought I had it much more together than I did and I didn’t even realize how much he still had to teach me!
3. I learned that I can get mad at God and He will still love me.  I mean really mad.  There were times I was amazed He did not send a lightening bolt for me!  I learned that people in the Bible argued with God. (Moses and Lot both come to mind.)
4. I learned that I need to be less judgemental and accept and love people. Even if I don’t approve of someone actions they are just as much a child of God as I am.  Sometimes I don’t even think there is that much more sin in Las Vegas than in any little town.  I just think that when you live in a place that proudly calls itself “Sin City” is is more socially acceptable to be open about your sin.  I have seen such brokenness in the lives of so many people in Las Vegas.  It is really heart breaking.  I really did learn to see beyond the brokenness and love people in a different way during the time we spent in Las Vegas.  Not only is sin more acceptable, there is also a LOT more temptations!  Staying pure in Las Vegas is not an easy task.
5. I learned that God will protect my children even better than I can! – Wow, the fact that my kids came out pretty much unscathed from our 4 years in Las Vegas I can only attribute to Him!  We learned pretty quickly to stay away from the Strip.  (Although you can’t live there and avoid it completely.)  So many times I was amazed as I would see some sign on a taxi or billboard that horrified me and I would look back at my kids in the car and they were minding their own business blissfully unaware of what was happening outside the car windows. If that is not divine intervention I don’t know what is!
6. I learned that God will get his point across!  Even if it means your husband’s time in the desert is over, God will keep you in the desert another year to figure out what you are suppose to learn!  - After my husband left to start his new job I knew this is what God was up to!  (The humor of my husband wanting to go there and me being stuck there was NOT lost on me!  LOL) I knew as the saying goes that “God isn’t finished with me yet!”  So while the kids and I stayed behind waiting for the house to sell I adjusted my attitude!  I began to pray that God would not let us leave until I had learned whatever it was He had sent me there to learn! (YIKES)  I began to dive into Bible study and church.  I applied myself like I never had before!  And yes, I did learn what He wanted me to in that last year.  I wish I could say is was something earth shattering, well it was for me!  But, all I can say is this list is what He need me to really get into my heart.  I have no idea where God is going to take me from here.  But, I do know I am a better person for the 4 years I spent in Las Vegas.  I love the Lord even more and I love others more too!  That is a lesson worth learning!

One last thing…During the years we were in Las Vegas whenever we would travel people would always ask  me "What is the weirdest thing about living in Las Vegas?"  I would always reply "The weirdest thing about living in Las Vegas is that people who live there don’t realize it is weird to live in Las Vegas!"  LOL

If you would like to read more about what God is doing in Las Vegas I would highly recommend the book Stripped: Uncensored Grace on the Streets of Vegas.  It was written by a Las Vegas pastor and it is awesome!

If you are interested in learning about an amazing ministry that is coming to Las Vegas check out The Vegas Project!

I think it is a sure sign you are a homeschooler when you get excited over a new desk!  LOL  When we first looked at this house I knew I wanted my husband to build me a desk in the kitchen.  What didn’t occur to me until we moved in is that the Little’s would want one right next to Mom’s!  (I don’t know why I didn’t think of it since I am know as "The Kid Magnet!"  LOL)

Of course I am sure there will be plenty of this happening too!  LOL

My 4 year old has been asking for a "Robot Suit" for weeks.  Last weekend while I was out running errands he and Dad made one!

Another fun thing we did while we were in Houston was go to….

Before we go any further you have to know that I am a BIG ole’ geek when it comes to the Space program.  Being a child of the 60′s the whole going to the Moon thing was a HUGE part of my childhood.  I was spellbound by it!  I remember being 4 years old and seeing Neil Armstrong make that "giant leap for mankind" onto the surface of the moon.  News from the Moon was constantly on TV and in the newspaper.  It was an amazing to be grow up and imagine what the future could hold. 

So going to NASA is a thrill for me!  By far my favorite thing was getting to go to Mission Control!  I mean I grew up watching men being sent to the moon from that room!  WOW!!!  (This is actually the second time we have been to NASA Houston.  But, the first time we went my 2nd child was 6 weeks old and honestly I don’t remember much from that trip!  LOL  We happened to be in Texas for a wedding and I HAD to go!  In retrospect I got A LOT more out of it this time! )

Here are my excited children on the Tram ready to leave the Visitor Center and go on the tour of NASA!
Can you  tell they share my enthusiasum?  :^)

Here is the entrance to the stairs for Mission Control.  (I know right now you are all thinking…This is going to be a looooooooooooooooooooong post!  LOL)
The reason I am posting this is to reminisce about all the stairs we had to climb to get to Mission Control!  LOL  I wish I could remember exactly how many there were, but I think that Mission Control is on the 8th floor.  I can’t imagine any building being build in this day and age where you had to WALK to the 8th floor!  When I worked at ABC I worked on the 3rd floor and they had the stairs locked because it was too much of a liability to have people climbing stairs!  LOL  I wonder if that could be one of the reasons people where so much thinner in the 60′s?  (DUH!!!)

Now for Mission Control….drum roll please…
I am telling you it was like time traveling into the past!  They don’t use this Mission Control anymore.  They built a new one a few years ago.  (I am guessing they have an elevator to get to it!  LOL)  But, this is the one used through the 1990′s!  One of the cool things we got to do in this room was listen to the people on the International Space Station talking to Mission Control in  Houston live!  COOL!!!

This was something we didn’t get to see the 1st time we went.  They took us to a HUGE Building that houses a full size rocket including all it’s engines.  It was HUGE!!!
I never thought about these being so HUGE when I have seen them being launched on TV!  It was mind boggling.

Here are the engines on the back that launch it.

Here is the info on the engines above.
WOW!

My daughter LOVES to cook.  She has been begging to take over the pancake making for months now.  I on the other hand don’t like to cook.  This is one thing I would rather NOT do with my kids!  So I am always telling her "One of these days".  Well,  yesterday I finally let her make the pancakes!

I keep mentioning how we are all LOVING seeing GREEN after 4 years in the beige desert.  So I figured I should post some pictures of this glorious GREEN we are all so taken with!  LOL

My little stick collector:

So there you have it, our lovely GREEN!  LOL  It is so nice that when we need a break we can run over to such a beautiful place in 2 minutes, stretch our legs, get fresh air and be home without having to be gone all day. :^)

The kids did a GREAT job making my Mother’s Day card!

You can use most any measure when you’re speaking of success. You can measure it in fancy homes, expensive car or dress. But the measure of your real success is one you cannot spend — It’s the way your child describes you when talking to a friend. Martin Buxbaum

My oldest son completed his Election Lapbook yesterday. 

Cover
We had a lot of other ideas for the cover, but since the state of our house in currently mayhem, we kept it simple!  LOL

The How To Run A Campaign was my favorite booklet. 
My son had to think though how he would run a campaign answering questions like: How will I be know to the public?, Will I participate in debates?, How can I tell others my ideas?, etc.

In this one I really liked the Donkey and Elephant booklets.  I had never known why the parties were known by those characters.  According to what my son found out that they came from THIS political cartoon in the 1800′s

In the What qualifications do I need to run for office?  It has 3 booklets inside.  One for U.S. Representative, Senator and President.  It is interesting to see the differences in the qualifications.
In Voter’s Registration he learned how to fill out a voter’s registration card.

This is the back.  We made a pocket to include the worksheets he completed from HERE.

One thing that we learned while my son was doing this lapbook is this is the last Presidential election he will be too young to vote in!  YIKES!  I don’t know if I was ready to know that one! 

Can clothespins and a hanger help you memorize the books of the Bible? Absolutely!!!

Old Testament

New Testament
To help my daughter memorize the books of the Bible I wrote all of the books of the Bible on clothespins. On the back of them they are numbered and say OT or NT for Old Testament and New Testament. 

Close up of names on the clothespins.
Now she can sing the song she learned to memorize the books and find the right clothespins to clip them all in order.  Once she has them all clipped she can turn it over and see if all the numbers are in order.  So it’s self checking!  She can also use the pins to test her knowledge of which books are in the Old and which are in the New Testament.  I will probably hang a string somewhere in the schoolroom when we get it all set up so she can work on them their too.

After I got the Books of the Bible ones done my 4 year old asked if I could make him some clothespins.  So I did his as the ABC’s!
I put upper case at the top and lower case at the bottom.

On the back I numbered them 1-26 so he can use them to work on his numbers too!

The kids love them!  Huhmmmm, what else can I teach them with clothespins???

I just happened to come across this website the other day and learned that today is Teacher Appreciation Day.  In honor of all the AWESOME homeshcool Mom’s I know I thought I would re-post my Homeschool Teacher of the Year post…

Congratulations to the Homeschool Teacher of the Year.  This outstanding teacher is an amazing example of Homeschool education at it’s best!  This educator is confident conducting class for several grades at one time.  It is not out of the question for her to have have preschoolers and high schoolers all in the same classroom!  Not only does she teach these multiple levels, but also she trains the older student to work with the younger ones.  Curriculum selection is the sole responsibility of this outstanding educator.  Not only does she chose the curriculum used by her students, but she has to budgets and pays for all curriculum used.  Along with her responsibilities for the schools finances she develops creative solutions for teaching her students.  This includes, but is not limited to; writing songs, designing craft projects, cooking from scratch  and organizing field trips to coordinate with her lesson plans.

Kudos to all the awesome homeschool teachers I know out there!  Each of you truly are the Teacher of the Year in my book!

While I was getting my kids acclimated to staying at their Aunt and Uncles we did a couple of fun day trips in the Houston area.  The first one was a trip to the George  Bush Presidential Library.  I LOVE Presidential Libraries!  I have been to the Eisenhower, Truman, Nixon, Reagan and Bush.  There are 7 others I have not yet made it to.  Someday I hope to have visited them all!  Whether I agree with the politics of a particular President or not there is so much fascinating History along with each of the Presidents Libraries.  I really like the personal things like the First Ladies dresses and seeing things that were given to the Presidents and First Ladies as gifts while they were in office.  Each of the Libraries seem to give an insight into the personality of the President.  The kids and I had a great time at the Bush Library. 

Welcome to Freebie Fridays

Mother’s Day is a week from Sunday. Since most of us are Teacher and Mom, here are some freebie’s for your students to make YOU for Mother’s Day!

Here is a great card your kids can make.  This card will be a lovely keepsake.  There are pull out cards where the kids can write a list of the things Mom does for them.  Then, there are three other pull outs (That spell out M-O-M) for your kids to write things they appreciate about you. (If you happen to have 3 kids like I do, then each child can write you a special message.)

Here are some free Mother’s Day Coupons for you to print and your kids to fill in. These not only make a great gift for Mom, but they get some handwriting practice in, too!

This website has a lot of great Mother’s Day crafts.  There are a bunch of fun ideas like Oatmeal Soap on a Rope, Candy Roses or Handprint Magnets. Spend some time looking at this site, and you are sure to find something great to make with your kids!  (These would make great gifts for Grandma, too!)

Lastly, check out the side bar to get a free book from Gospel for Asia.  This book will bring you a radical life changing message! Don’t miss out on this exciting free offer!

I hope you have a wonderful Mother’s Day!

I’ll see you next week right here at – Freebie Fridays!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Freebie Finder
The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine
www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com

While every effort is made to ensure that the recommended sites are family friendly, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and its writers do not own the sites recommended.  Content and advertising can change without notice.  Please exercise caution when viewing websites.  Please check out the websites before allowing your children to view them.

This article is from this weeks issue of Freebie Friday.  If you are interested in getting The Homeschool Minute and the Freebie Friday Newsletter you can subscribe for free HERE.  I will be passing along FREE goodies for your homeschool each week in both of these newsletters.  (Not to mention all the other great info you will get from The Homeschool Minute!)

Last Summer when we were in California visiting friends I noticed a couple of our friends with little kids had placed dishes down low where the kids could reach them.  They both had new houses that had these cool pull out shelves in the lower cabinets.  Ever since I have wanted to get some dishes down low where my 2 Littles can reach them.  I can’t tell you how many times I have had to stop what I am doing just to go had someone a plate!  LOL 

Here is the conversation:

LITTLE- "Mom, can you get me a plate?"

ME – Did you check the dishwasher?" (Hoping there was something clean they could reach. LOL)

LITTLE – "There’s not plate in here.  I need you to get me one."

ME – "grumble, grumble, grumble…" As I stop what I am doing and go to get a plate!

My last house was heavy in upper cabinets and short on lower cabinets.  So I never found a place to put plates down low.  But this house is just the opposite!  YAY!!!

Look how my life has improved!  LOL

The Littles are thrilled.  They are both quite independent and would rather just get a snack or drink themselves.  Plus they are impatient and want things NOW!  (I wonder where these traits come from? LOL)  So here is one improvement over the last house.

Now, I figure a lot of you are wondering what we are doing for school right now.  Much can be clarified by showing you a picture of our schoolroom…
Any more questions?  LOL  The Master Bedroom looks about like this too.  It is nerve-wracking to sleep in there!

Thankfully my 13 year old is happy and learning as long as he has a computer…
It may be messy, but trust me it is CLEANER than the room he left behind.  I am still having nightmares about what we found under this child’s bed!  GROSS!!

The Littles have spent a fair amount of time on Mom’s laptop in the kitchen. 
I am LOVING having a little office in the kitchen.  I can see the family room and I am right next to the (future) schoolroom.  The washer and dryer are right behind me.  It is great!  This area still needs to be organized.  All the cupboards are empty and the counter is full!  LOL  But at least I can more around I don’t have to step over boxes!  The Littles have been spending a lot of time on starfall.com and Webkinz. For right now I am calling that school!  My daughter is really in to teaching her little brother things.  So hopefully she is reviewing and he is learning. (Oh, and my daughter follows me around the house reading to me.)

This is the best looking room of the house!  Obviously I have spent the most time in this room!
The Kitchen and the Littles bedroom were my first priorities.  Their room is coming together pretty well.  I still need to hang things on the wall.  We may need some more shelves for toys too.  We had 2 small playrooms in the old house and even though I got rid of a LOT of toys we STILL have too many!

So there is a look into the MESS that is Jamin’s life!  Hopefully over the weekend my husband and I can get things a little more livable around here!

The kids and I went out and explored 2 local parks today.  Having been in the desert for 4 years we are thrilled to be surrounded by trees, prairies, creeks and lakes.  Everything is SO green!!!!

Today it begins!  I feel like I am standing at the bottom of the last mountain between having my family all under one roof again!  The kids and I have been at their Aunt and Uncles for a week now.  Today I am leaving to head back to our new home and pick up my husband.  Then we will drive the 1200 plus miles to our old home to pack up the house and a truck.  Then we drive back 1200 plus miles to meet the truck and unpack.  As soon as I drop off my husband to unpack the truck, I will head back to get the kids.  (Another 500 miles round trip!)  All together we will be driving nearly 4000 miles in the next 10 days!  Not to mention all the packing and loading.  It is going to be GREAT fun!  LOL

My daughter and I were browsing at the bookstore the other day and I came across CliffsNotes.  That reminded me that awhile back I had come across a site that offered Literature Guides similar to CliffsNotes free online.  When I got home and started searching for the site I found that there are a TON of these sites online. 

Here is what I found:

CliffsNotes
The complete text of CliffsNotes guides.

BookRags
Research site for students, with over 5.8 million pages of literature summaries, biographies, literary criticism, essays, encyclopedias and E-Books.

NovelGuide
Educational supplement for better understanding of classic and contemporary Literature Profiles

BookWolf
FREE literature book notes and a wealth of helpful information to guide you to a year full of good grades.

JiffyNotes
Free source for study guides that focus on literary analysis.

Awerty Notes
Literature Summaries and essays to assist in studying.

Jamin

This article is from the Home Where They Belong Blog.  If you are interested in more freebie’syou can subscribe to The Homeschool Minute as well as the Freebie Friday Newsletter HERE.  I will be passing along FREE goodies for your homeschool each week in both of these newsletters.  (Not to mention all the other great info you will get from The Homeschool Minute!)

The kids and I are on the move again!  We are almost to the point of heading back "home" to pack up all our worldly belongings to move to our new humble abode.  Part of this process involves taking the kids to stay with their Aunt and Uncle for a couple weeks while Dad and I go work ourselves to death moving everything!  LOL

As you can probably imagine find books on Armenia is not very easy.  Thankfully with the internet and wonderful websites like armeniapedia.com it wasn’t too hard for my son to do his Armenia Lapbook.  I still like the idea of him getting some of the information from books though.  So the other night I noticed that our friends we are staying with had the book The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors mixed in with their cookbooks.  Low and behold the very first chapter is on Armenia!. 

Here is the recipe for Lavosh:

1 1/3 cups tepid water(barely warm, about 105 degrees)
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons sugar
1 pkg. quick-rising yeast
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk for topping
Sesame seeds for topping

Place the tepid water in your electric mixing bowl and add the olive oil, sugar, and yeast. Using the batter blade let the electric mixer blend these very well. It will take about 5 minutes on low speed. Stir in the salt. Gradually add 2 cups of the flour and beat on low speed until a thick and smooth batter forms. Change the blade to a bread dough hook and knead in the additional 2 cups flour. If you do not have a heavy mixer such as a KitchenAid, incorporate the flour witha wooden spoon and finish the kneading by hand. Kneading should take about 10 minutes in the machine, 20 minutes by hand. Place the dough on a plastic countertop and cover with a large stainless-steel bowl. Allow the dough to rise until double in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch the dough down and divide into 8 pieces. Let stand, covered, 15 minutes. Roll out each piece of dough into a 12-inch diameter circle. Working with 2 pieces of dough at a time, arrange breads on ungreased baking sheets. Brush with milk and sprinkle sesame seeds over tops. Prick with a fork many times, all over. Bake on the lowest racks in the oven, at 375 degrees, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until light brown. Rotate the pans in the oven from top to bottom, to insure even browning. Serve dry or wet. (To wet, hold the cracker under running water until lightly moistened all over, and then wrap in a moist towel for 10 to 15 minutes.) If the cracker is too dry to roll, it will crack. Sprinkle with a little more water and let stand a few minutes. If it is too wet, cover with a dry towel and let it stand.

My 13 year old hates doing anything related to handwriting.  It is almost like it causes him physical pain to hold a pencil in his hand and apply it to paper.  (He never liked to color either.) Through the years we have tried an array of things to make handwriting easier for him.  I finally have resolved that it just isn’t his thing!  Thankfully, he LOVES the creative process of writing.  He likes typing on the computer so I now just let him do most of his writing on the computer.  (Except lapbooks.  He somehow doesn’t mind the handwriting part as much in lapbooks because they are small amounts of writing at a time.)

WOW!  Every once in awhile I come across a website and I think "Is this really all free?"  This is one of those sites!  Edgezonegames.com offers 325 Bible Lessons and Activities!  The information is sorted by Old and New Testament and then is in order by books of the Bible.  I was looking for lessons on Esther and they were so easy to find because all I had to do is go to where the book of Esther is in the Bible and voila! From Genesis through Revelations all the major stories of the Bible are represented here!

UPDATE:  A reader let me know that Calvary Chapel is the creator of these and they also offer this FREE on CD.  I noticed on their website that coming soon all these pdf’s will also be offered in Spanish. :^)

This article is from the Home Where They Belong Blog.  If you are interested in more freebie’syou can subscribe to The Homeschool Minute as well as the Freebie Friday Newsletter HERE.  I will be passing along FREE goodies for your homeschool each week in both of these newsletters.  (Not to mention all the other great info you will get from The Homeschool Minute!)

Welcome to Freebie Fridays!

 A few weeks ago I had an email with a request for more freebies for teens. So this week, we are going to start off with a couple of freebies for teenagers. 

Cardamom Publishing is offering a free lesson from their book Life Prep for Teens.  This free lesson plan will lead your teen through the car buying process.  You will find it HERE.  Whether your teen has the money to buy a car or not this is great information for when they are ready.

Also for teens, HERE is a free online copy of the book Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920′s.  This book was written in 1931 and continues to be a vivid and precise account of the volatile stock market and the boom years of the 1920′s. This looks like a fun way to learn about this interesting period of History.

Next, I have something for the whole family. (Including teenagers)! Homeschoolbuyersco-op.org has a wonderful free resource for finding field trips in the United States and Canada. You will find museums, zoos, aquariums, historic houses, nature centers, cultural centers and other educational opportunities in your area.  You can check it out HERE.

Little Dozen Press is holding a writing contest for homeschooled kids to share their family stories.  Kids from 8 to 18 can submit their funny, dramatic or touching stories. Four winners will receive an autographed copy of Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled.  The deadline is May 1st.  You can learn all about it HERE. 

Make sure to check out the unbelievable contest on the Company Porch.  Salem Ridge Press is giving away  prizes for 50 winners!  You can learn all about it HERE.

Lastly, make sure to vote for your favorite homeschool products.  You will get 2 free gifts just for voting!  Click HERE to vote.

I’ll see you next week right here at – Freebie Fridays!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Freebie Finder
The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine
www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com

While every effort is made to ensure that the recommended sites are family friendly, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and it’s writers do not own the sites recommended.  Content and advertising can change without notice.  Please exercise caution when viewing websites.  Please check out the websites before allowing your children to view them.

This article is from this weeks issue of Freebie Friday.  If you are interested in getting The Homeschool Minute and the Freebie Friday Newsletter you can subscribe for free HERE.  I will be passing along FREE goodies for your homeschool each week in both of these newsletters.  (Not to mention all the other great info you will get from The Homeschool Minute!)

This is SO cool!  When I was looking for mini books for another project, I came across these free Mini Books for every letter of the ABC’s