To My Kind Commenters

This is for all of you dear folks who take the time to leave a comment here.

I am slowly but surely working on responding to each of you at your own blogs.
I really do appreciate it when you leave me a note here. Doing life often prevents me from being a timely correspondent.

Thanks so much for your patience and understanding.

Blessings,

TOS Homeschool Crew Review: The 2009-2010 Old Schoolhouse Planner

Summer is officially here, and for a lot of homeschool Moms (including this one) that means it's time to plan and organize! One of my favorite past times is sitting down with pen and paper to make a plan for the upcoming school year, and since I love all things organizational, I was excited to have the chance to review The Old Schoolhouse Planner.

First of all, this is a home and school planner that has been "supersized". It comes in downloadable pdf format (e-book form), and it's chock full of more resources and forms than you can imagine. Take a look at the Table of Contents here.

See what I mean? When you purchase this planner you'll have access to over 300 pages of planning forms for school and home, calendars, recipes, must-know information lists, helpful articles written by well-known homeschoolers, and more than I can list here. This planner meets so many needs, even for someone like me who usually likes to design there own planning book.

So, what are my favorite features of the 2009-2010 TOS Planner?

-It's Customizable: I can tailor the planner to meet my needs by printing only the forms I need.

-It's Type-able: I can type in my information right into the PDF planner document on the computer and then print it out.

-It's Pen and Paper Friendly: If I don't wish to do my planning on the computer, I can just print out the blank forms I need, put them in a binder, and write out my plans the old-fashioned way!

-The Recipes: These dishes look delicious and easy to prepare - the kind of recipes I'm always looking for. :)

-The Educational Information Sheets: I like the idea of having a list of the Presidents, planets, states and capitals, famous artists, a history timeline, and other basic reference information right at my fingertips.

-The Goal Sheets: I like having goals written down for each student right where I can see them everyday. These help me to see the "big picture" and keep things in perspective.

-The Homeschool Book Inventory: I have needed this for a long time! You can list your homeschool library contents alphabetically or by subject - no more digging around looking for a certain book.

-The Homeschool Supply Inventory: A great checklist that can also serve as a shopping list for things you need to stock up on.

-The Wish List: Of course, we all need one of these. Now when I read about a cool product on a blog or see something in a catalog, I can jot it down in my planner and note the price and where I can purchase it.

Is there anything I would change about the planner?

Yes, just a couple of things:

-For me, the weekly lesson planning pages have more subject rows than I need, making the boxes that you write in smaller than I'd like. This might not be an issue for other people. I really like to make and use my own special weekly lesson planning forms. I don't think any company could ever produce one that would please picky old me! :)

-The price of the planner is $39.00 and you really do get a lot for your money. However, I'm not sure if I personally would pay quite that much for it. My issue here is more with e-books in general - not just this particular product. I think that each individual has to take a look at what you get for your money, decide how much of it you are going to use, and then figure in the cost of printing (and possibly binding) to decide if the price is right for you. Again, I think this is the case with many e-books I've encountered, and I'm still not quite sure how I feel about pricing on digital products (because of the printing and binding that I'll need to pay for). *However, there are some of you out there who may not even want to print it out, but will use the type-able features and view your planner straight from your computer monitor. If you're one of those folks, then obviously you won't need to figure in the cost of printing.

Overall, I think that the new 2009-2010 Old Schoolhouse Planner is a very well-done organizational tool and time-saver that will meet just about everyone's needs.

I encourage you to read more about this product and view some of the sample pages over at The Old Schoolhouse Store where you can purchase the planner as well.

Also, you can click on the TOS Crew Banner below to read more reviews of this product.



I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the planner after you take a good look at it.

Friday Favorites on Saturday

The blogs I subscribe to had oodles of terrific ideas this week. Several of these will make great additions to our workboxes, and the rest will make for some plain old summer fun!

Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations makes the most wonderful learning tools and shares them for free! This is a great beginning spelling resource with pictures of three-letter words and letter tiles that you can download and print onto cardstock.

Jimmie's Collage shares how she uses mini-books not only in lapbooks but also as reference tools like this parts of speech layer book.

Chasing Cheerios shows how to use an old calendar to make this new twist on a matching game.

This q-tip counting tray at Mama Jenn's will make a great workbox activity.

Let's Explore shares a great tangram activity bag with links to templates.

Little Hands Big Work has created a wonderful play and learning tool for littles. You've got to check out her Big Busy Book and her Bitty Busy Book.

Also at Chasing Cheerios, a Sweet Pea Tee-Pee that any child would have a ball playing in!

Crazy Kings shows how to give your children a secret message using a white crayon and watercolors. You could use this in so many ways.

Oh, the simple joys of childhood...I remember walking on tin can stilts like these that Zakka Life shares.

This Lemonade Art caught my eye because we're going to set up a lemonade stand this summer.

The 4th of July is right around the corner, and it's one of my favorite holidays to celebrate. The sisters at Roots and Wings are having a family July 4th Carnival and share all of their wonderful games here! These are terrific and would be easily adaptable to any theme.

I'd love to see what you found in your blog reader this week!

St. Simons Island Lighthouse

Now that I've scaled our post-vacation mountain of laundry, I finally have the chance to upload our photos and blog about our trip!

I've mentioned before that St. Simons Island, Georgia, is one of my favorite places on earth. I visited family there nearly every summer of my childhood and looked forward to it each year. I fell so completely in love with the island that I moved there my first year out of college. I only lived there for a year, but returned to visit a couple of years later as a new bride, and later as a new mother. Superman, Giggly Girl, and Sweet Pea each experienced the ocean for the first time at East Beach on St. Simons.

Aside from the personal memories that this place holds for me, the island is steeped in beauty, romance, and history.

One of the island's most famous landmarks is it's lighthouse. Built in 1872, it replaced the original light that dated back to 1807, which was burned during the Civil War by evacuating Confederate soldiers so that Federal troops could not use it as a navigational aid. It stands 104 feet tall on the south end of the island and continues to serve as a fully functional lighthouse, shining seaward every night and during inclement weather.

This is only the second time we've climbed the light as a family. The last time was when Superman was three years old and not so much the history buff that he is now. (Any guesses on where he gets that from?) Needless to say, we had to visit the lighthouse, and the kids were begging to climb it.

Here are a few pictures from our day:
In front of the Keeper's Cottage at the base of the light. Inside we got a glimpse of how the lightkeeper and his family lived.



From the looks of the parlor and bedrooms, and from seeing pictures of the elegantly dressed families who lived in the house, we got the idea that this was not a bad job to be had in the 19th century.




After our tour of the home, it was time to climb!

This was Giggly Girl's and Sweet Pea's first trip to the top, and they had a ball!


One-hundred twenty nine steps later - we made it! This view is looking east out into the Atlantic.


This marker at the base of the lighthouse marks the site of an old British fort. I'll post later about our visit to Fort Frederica, which is mentioned on this sign.


This cannon is similar to the ones that were used to defend Fort St. Simons. For some reason, our kids love to crawl all over cannons. You'll see similar pictures in another post!


A walk on the beach with Daddy after our tour.

This photo is from last summer, but I wanted to give you an idea of how the lighthouse looks from a distance.

Thanks for indulging the nostalgic, history-lover in me. I hope you've enjoyed your tour!

Making Time for Fun

As much as I love our homeschooling lifestyle, I feel like some of the fun, silly, just-being-a-kid stuff gets pushed aside for school and housework. This summer I really want us to enjoy some playtime together without necessarily looking for the learning moment.

These are some things that I've read about or the children have asked to do, and I just haven't gotten around to them. Well we're making time now!

1. Ice Block Treasure Hunt

2. Make Ooblek

3. Trace around each child's body on butcher paper and let them decorate with markers or paint or however they want.

4. Make a growth chart. (We're going to make one that looks like a gigantic carrot to go along with one of our favorite books, The Carrot Seed.)

5. Have a lemonade stand on our street corner.

6. Sit down and look at baby photos and other family photos together.

7. Paint with pudding. (We did this when Superman and Giggly Girl were toddlers, but we haven't since, and they still ask to do it!)

8. Make mud pies. (We've done this once, but Sweet Pea was a baby and didn't get to join in the fun.)

9. Wash the car together.

10. Play the Wii with them - instead of letting them play it while I cook supper.

I'll keep you updated on how we're doing with our list!

Daddy Built A Sandbox!

I've been meaning to share this for over a month and keep forgetting to post it.

Recently the kids and I were gone most of the day on a field trip, and when we returned home this is what we found in the backyard!



I knew Kurt bought the materials awhile back, but I didn't know that he was going to build it that day.

The kids were ecstatic! They got in there and played for two whole hours - fully content. I love it when my kids are thrilled by the old-fashioned, simple things in life...like playing in a sandbox. :)

Thanks, honey, for such a wonderful surprise. You're the best!

The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew

While we were on vacation, I found out that I will have the opportunity to be a part of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew this year. This group of homeschooling parents reviews products for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and shares those reviews on their personal blogs and on the TOS Crew blog.

I am excited that I'll be able to share my thoughts on a variety of different products with you, and every now and then I'll have the chance to offer a product in a giveaway for my readers!

The Crew officially sets sail in July, but in the meantime you can sail over to the Crew's Official Blog and check out some wonderful reviews that these ladies wrote last year. Also, you will always be able to access the Crew Blog by clicking on the TOS Homeschool Crew button in my left-hand sidebar. Enjoy!