In Celebration of the Launch of My Beloved and My Friend, we the review team are allowed to give away one digital and audio copy of the book. Enter using the rafflecopter below thanks. :)
 Not sure if you all remember I did a review a while back on My Beloved. Anyways, it's launching this week and so a bunch of giveaways are happening. :) You can find all of them over here. SO check out the prizes below? Rather neat eh? So come on, enter. Let's celebrate the launching of My Beloved and My Friend together! :)  For this last giveaway, we have 43 delightful gifts from our amazing publishing friends and we will have 43 winners! Here's a list of what you could win! (One prize per person) 6 Winners: Early Spring NaturExplorer Bundles from Shining Dawn Books 1 Winner: A Greek Hupogrammon: A Beginner's Copybook for the Greek Alphabet from Trivium Pursuit 1 Winner: Seasons At Home One Year Subscription from A Joyous Home 1 Winner: Excelerate SPANISH DVD from Excelerate Language 5 Winners: Learning to Treasure God's Word from The Character Corner 2 Winners: Training and Correcting the Heart With Scripture from The Character Corner 6 Winners: Young Reader's Collection CDs from Heritage History 7 Winners: Spies of the Revolutionary War Creative Writing Bundle from New Millennium Girl Books 4 Winners: Schoolhouse Expo Tickets from The Old Schoolhouse 7 Winners: Your Child's Profession of Faith from Grace and Truth Books a Rafflecopter giveaway Yeah, I know.. how totally original eh? S is for School... it's what we do around here. Sometimes well, sometimes well...not so well. I thought I'd give you a bit of a pictorial of what we do sometimes well. :) 
We have fun with food. Getting my lad to eat different food is sometimes a struggle. When we studied spiders my son learned that putting stuff on bread is a good thing.. this is a cheese spider. :) 
We play games. Games teach so much.... this one teaches taking turns, hand-eye coordination, following the rules, design etc. it's just a fun game to play. 
We do book work. All sorts of places.. in the car, on the floor, at the table, in the park, at gramma's, in a nursing home, we do book work. Sometimes he fills out the information, sometimes he narrates and I fill it out. Depends on the mood we are in. :) 
We read. Oh, do we read. Lots and lots of books. Fact, fiction, mixed. Good, bad, sad, Try it drop it books. We mix it up. We get inspired to do science, to build with lego, to imagine, to come up with our own endings, to create... it's all good. We have fun with it, and sometimes we get frustrated by it. It's all good in the long run. 
Doing experiments is fun, and it teaches us the joy of helping others as we do reviews for The Schoolhouse Crew. But we like experimenting, it makes knowledge real to us. 
Nature walks regardless of the weather are ALWAYS a good thing. Though neither of us particularly likes walking in the rain we have done so. We continue this winter to look for snow fleas to no avail. The lad's getting a bit discouraged. 
Come join us over at BenandMe as we blog through the alphabet. You have all week to come! This week we are doing the letter S. :)
My son and I are using this book as part of our bible study time. I am quite pleased with how much he is enjoying this study. We haven't finished it quite yet, but we've finished it enough for me to be able to give a review on it.  Product Details Received: ebook version Authors - Sharon Jaynes, Gwen Smith and Mary Southerland Type: Religious Devotional, meant for women  My son and I are using this study as a basis for learning more about the Names of God. As I read each chapter, written by one of the three authors, my son either stencils or uses letter print outs to put the name on a piece of wood we plan to laminate and then hang in our hall way. We put both the original language and the translation down. We expect to draw dotted blue lines to connect them to each other. My son is very much enjoying this study. The outline of the book is each week five names are talked about, with one day given for reflection on the previous five days. 40 names are talked about in total. Some of the words used are different to me than I expected, but the names are fully explained, biblical references are given, and a brief story is told about how the meaning of that name became real in the life of the author. It's a good book. My son and I are not doing the reflection page. We just talk about each name as we do it. He's learning much, as am I. Would I recommend getting this book? Definitely! It's a good read and not expensive. It gives a good basis for continuing your own study should you so desire. What would I change? More actual references to where the name is used throughout scripture. A linking of the name to Christ's work as well where applicable. But as a devotional, it's one of the better ones I've come across. :) And that fact that my son enjoys going through the book with me... how could I complain about that? :)  I reviewed this book on behest of Blogging for Books. I received the book in exchange for my honest review. Nothing more was expected of me. :) As I pondered this topic for the TOS Crew Carnival I went through the list of all the things taught regularly. Bible, Science, History, Math, English, Social Studies, Geography, and such like I thought to myself... They aren't hard. What would I choose? Some are easier to teach than others due to the curiousity or resistance of my son, but overal they aren't hard to teach. So what is HARD for me to teach?  And then it hit me... Homemaking... THAT is the subject I struggle with the most. You see I am NOT a natural born homemaker. I was taught by my mom, and taught well, but it's not a task I appreciate or for the most part desire to even do. There are so many other things in life I would rather do... blog, take walks, read a book, play a game, care for my critters, talk with hubby/son/family/friends etc. So many more appealing things so I often neglect the house. I simply couldn't be bothered for the most part. BUT... I married a fellow who was raised by a parent who thrives on the adage "cleanliness is next to Godliness" and he learned to thrive in a clean and tidy environment. He is not by nature a tidy fellow but he is less stressed when his environment is tidy. Reducing stress is an important part of this household and so learning homemaking skills is important. My son needs to learn how to tidy up the "untidyness" that he creates. :)  To that end I developed a lego organizing system to help him keep things tidy. But what does that do for other important skills? I remember teaching my replacement staff before I left my job to get married to my sweetheart... and how these 18-24 year old young woman didn't know how to sweep a floor, load a dishwasher, dust and so many other skills and I thought it was deplorable. How could they be living on their own and not know how to keep their houses in a relatively decent living condition? Not spic and span, but HOW of doing it? And so remembering that it is important to teach my son how to do certain tasks EVEN IF he doesn't want to. But to teach HOW to and WHY it is important.  It is so much easier for me to just quickly sweep the floor than to have to remember to say Here son, let me show you how to sweep the floor. But he is learning to use a dust pan. So not only is he learning the how, he learns why... if you don't sweep the floor you encourage insects and rodents to help you clean it up for you. Do you like living with ants on the floor? oh.. you don't.. well then in THIS HOUSE you need to sweep the floor. if you don't you know what will happen in the spring. :)  He makes his bed in the morning as it means there is more time at night for reading stories. :) Saves him time and vexation as a tidy bed is easier to sleep in. Do I demand perfection like my mom would have? NO. :) I don't demand it of myself (unless I'm making a bed for a guest) but regular stuff??? NO WAY. :)  Folding and putting away clothes is a skill he is well on his way to mastering. WHY? Because then you know what is clean, you know what you have available, and it's a good reminder to do the laundry before you run out. :) The washing machine and operation will be learned this year.  Likewise for dishes...he'll do the task complaining because I ask him to. But if I explain WHY we do the dishes it makes sense to him and he'll help without complaining (even though he dislikes washing them). But drying and putting away... he understands why it needs to be done. I find explanations to be important to my son. He dislikes doing stuff "JUST BECAUSE" he wants a reason. If there is no reason there is not real impetus on his part to want to learn. With reasons he gets it and it becomes more important to him. Is he going to be a stellar homemaker? I don't think so.. he's got a lot of ME in him. But he will learn the whys and hows for when he lives on his own. And that to me is important.  He learns to cook since buying ready made food is more expensive and from having our exchange student here this summer, he's learned it's a good way to impress your friends if you can bake them treats. :) Will the scene below continue to be a part of my life and his? Most definitely. :) but at least we know how to make it go away. :)  This post was written to be part of the TOS crew carnival on "The Subject I Struggle Teaching Most". It will go live on February 12. You can find that here. :)
I have to admit, that the bible intrigued when I saw it as a review opportunity through booksneeze.com (nowBooklookblogger.com). I thought to myself, this will be a good first real bible for my son. Filled with glimpses of Christ throughout the bible.  Product Details. Published by ZonderKids Bible: version NIV 2011 Hardcover This bible has book introductions, daily devotions, application notes and as promised, glimpses of Christ throughout the whole of the bible. It has more than that though it has pages to help you see the lineage of Christ, the miracles and the I AM statements and much much more. Can my son at eight totally read and understand this bible? No. :) But I don't expect him to either, but I have caught him looking through it, intrigued by the wisdom hidden within. He'll be taking it with him to church, and I'll be having him pull it out when we work on our bible lessons. I think this bible is written as a help for somewhat older children/youth, or at least children with excellent reading skills. I do have to admit I struggle with the new NIV. I dislike the inclusive language and some of the translation seems a bit "off". So when I'll have my son read it, I'll also be reading from other translations in order to give a broader and therefore more accurate scope of what the Lord is trying to say. (generally a good thing to do anyways). :) But overall, I really like what they did with this bible. I love the glimpses of Christ throughout the Old Testament, having the devotions scattered throughout the bible is a nice incentive to read more deeply and to think. Overall, good bible and recommend you getting it for your children... supplementing it with other bible versions to provide depth. I reviewed this book on behalf of booklookbloggers.com. All I did was receive the book in return for my honest evaluation. My opinions are completely my own. :)  My father's side of the family contains many people who have loved God for a long way back. From what I understand they have been driven out of countries because of their faith in God. But that was way in the past and I don't really know all the stories of it. :) Anyways, this book is about folks who, through their faith, have found it necessary to leave one country and go to another. The work of the Mennonite Central Committee and their work with refugees is talked about in this story about the Penner's and their struggles as war drives them out of their country and into another. The struggles are hard, fraught with danger, and filled with the knowledge of who God is and how he is working in the lives of his people.
It was quite an interesting read and I'm glad I found it in the box of books from my mom. :) Recommend folks read it who want to understand the effects of war on the lives of people with faith (as well as others) and how it is difficult to not be in your own country, separated by faith and fear from loved ones and neighbours. Not an easy path and this book has helped me gain empathy for those caught in such straights. Facts about this book C. 1954 by Herald Press. Renewed in 1982 by Brenneman. 250 pages. Author Hellen Good Brenneman. 
The Best Banana Bread Muffins Ever (so the recipe claims) Recipe found HERE. Makes about a dozen muffins 3 brown bananas (1 cup mashed) 2 eggs 1 cup sugar 1 cup all-purpose flour* 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon vanilla Glaze (optional): 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1 tablespoon milk or lemon juice Preheat oven to 375ºF. Get out a 1/2 measuring cup and a 1/4 teaspoon (these will be all you need to measure your ingredients). In a large Ziploc bag, mash the bananas. Add the eggs, seal the bag, and shake and squish until combined. Add the sugar and mix well. Dump in the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Before zipping and mixing them all the way in, mix them together a little with your measuring spoon. Now add the oil** and vanilla and shake and squish until well combined. Snip the corner of the bag and squirt the batter into a lined muffin tin (if you don't want to clean the pan, line it with tin liners so the grease doesn't come through). Don't make the hole very big at all because the batter is very runny. Pinch the corner between each muffin. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. To make the glaze, just mix together the powdered sugar and milk or lemon juice and spread over cooled muffins. We chose not to make the glaze, the lad had no interest in doing so. The lad found this ALOT of fun to do. :) I found I just couldn't do it.. I HAD to use a liquid measure for the oil. Felt wrong to do it using a dry measure. :) So I used one more dish than the recipe called for. It's a me thing, what can I say? I would not add the oil at the end since I found the oil did not mix well when done at the end and we had oil squirting out with the first two muffins.. and we had mixed it for quite a while and it looked all mixed in the bag. Being the Let's not waste any sort I found it a pain squeezing the mix out of the bag, but the lack of clean up was lovely (it was the lad's turn to do the dishes so that worked out really really well for him). :) The recipe called for cooking 20 minutes. That was too much for my oven and they came out a bit dark. They taste good though, the lad and hubby really like them.  Write for Five Minutes on a topic given by Lisa-Jo Baker. Every Friday she gives a single word as says write for five minutes straight, no editing, just writing. This mornings word is WRITE. Three Two One Go As i pondered this I had a few things on my mind this morning: finish my devotions, write my five minute Friday post and get out the door for my bloodwork this morning at 800. I felt like I had a full head. I didn't know what to write and then I saw this verse and I knew what God would have me say. :) And sometimes when I feel that busy I have a hard time concentrating and doing what I want to do. I like taking the time to write down some of my thoughts with my devotions, it helps me to focus. I love that I've discovered PicMonkey so I can make simple graphics of the verses I'm choosing to focus on. One of the things that I am learning to do is to include my faith in what I write and doing my devotions and writing them down is helping me to oh... get a bit clearer in what I think and what I believe. Just reading isn't enough. But I'm also learning that just writing isn't enough either. I need to be focused and clear. I need to show who I am and WHY I am who I am. It's all God you know. If it wasn't for God I simply wouldn't be. So I need to talk about him and how he affects life for me. Not only in my religious life... but in my real every day solid to earth life... in my homeschooling of my son, in my raising of rabbits, in my daily activities of shopping, meeting the neighbours, and having fun with friends. But it's not so easy you know. I so much like to keep things compartmentalized that learning to be open about my faith has been an exercise in trust, in just trusting that God will make it all okay, that I don't need to worry on being rejected. God has a purpose for my life and I just need to live it for him... and be honest about what I am doing. And so I learn to write not only about my homeschooling and my rabbits and my family... but I learn to write how my faith in interwoven into it all. Let's just write shall we? Write about the things that truly matter and our faith is part of that is it not? STOP (okay.. I went 10 seconds over). :)  So come on over and join us this week as we take five minutes to well.. WRITE. :) One rule. When you link up, encourage the person who wrote before you. Just take the time. :) You can find us over here. :)
Come join with us over at BenandMe as we blog through the alphabet. This week it's the letter R that we are focusing on. :) 
I had to admit, I really had to think about what I wanted to do for the letter R. It didn't come easy to me this week. Then today my lad was wearing his "brain" hat. Whatcha' wearing that for bud? Oh mom... do you remember when we learned about the brain? How it can get hurt if you smash it or how it has different parts to it mom? Yeah, I remember that. Well I just wanted to wear my brain today mom. Do you think it will help me do our homeschooling faster so that I can go play Skyrim??? I just snorted and said "we'll see". :) We got a lot done today, and I don't know if his brain hat helped him or not. Some of the work we did was HARD for this lad, but he did it none the less. :) Some of it was just fine, and we got done when I said we would... right at 230 so off he went to play Skyrim...he and his dad have so much fun playing that video game. It makes me head spin so I avoid it. But it surprises me sometimes what this lad remembers.. he picks things up and some of just sticks to him like glue. :) So all my reading and doing bits of this and that... I guess it does pay off a bit eh? He's learning. :) 
But I do invite you to pick an "r" word and come join us over at Marcy's as we continue to work out way through the alphabet. Come on, it is kinda fun wracking our brains for a new word each week...have to admit.. I"m kinda dreading Z though.. I don't know what I am going to do for that!
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