Review: Virtue Flash Cards

Hi all,

i have another review for you!
This one comes from We Choose Virtues! You can see their link on the right--------->

They have many wonderful products to help you instill character in your children.
The Virtue Flash Cards are great! There are twelve of them in the pack and they are made of heavy card stock. Each card has a saying on the front: "I am Honest", "I am Content", "I am Obedient" and a picture of a cartoon kid in the background. The pictures are precious! i love the illustrations! On the reverse side of the card, there is a more detailed description and a Bible verse. For example, on the card for honesty, it says "I am a truth teller". "I am NOT...a liar, a thief or a cheater, and I don't change the truth to get my way!" Great ways to think about honesty, right?!

Along with the cards, there are instructions for how to play games with them. There are three games listed, Flip, Charades, and The Race Against Time! The only thing extra needed for any of the games is a stopwatch. That's it!
The games are so fun and very easy to play! Even if you have a mixed age group, all of the kids will enjoy them. We played it with my two youngest daughters. Although Baby isn't at the reading level yet, she was able to play Charades with just a bit of instruction. Flip was easier as she just had to figure out the first letter for the virtue she was looking for. :)

At the We Choose Virtues website, you will find two very valuable freebies that will work wonderfully with your Virtue Flash Cards. One is the "Kid's Memory Verses, Bible Heroes and Truths" sheet. The other is the "Family Character Assessment" sheet. The memory verse sheet has a Bible hero or heroine or a Biblical truth,for each virtue. It also has a Bible verse listed for each. This is great for a morning devotional to start the day. We can read the story about each hero as we are working on that week's memory verse. The character assessment sheet helps each child track where they are in their character. This helps Mom and Dad know what virtues need to be worked on. Baby has a bit of a problem with honesty. She doesn't like it when anyone gets upset with her, and is prone to tell them what they want to hear, rather than what is true. We are working on that with her. Bitty is working on her attitude. She can be a bit unkind and unforgiving at times with Baby. Kindness and forgiveness are the virtues we are working on with her.

Both of my girls have been enjoying the Virtue Flash Cards. Our plan is to work on one virtue a week until we are sure that it is instilled in their character. Both the assessment and the memory verses are helping with that.

Be sure to check out all the wonderful products at We Choose Virtue. They are wonderful for helping you instill character in your child that will last.
You can visit them by clicking on my link on the right, or by clicking here:
http://www.wechoosevirtues.com


Blessings!
Alycia

Review: "Educate the Home Educator Crash Course"

Choosing to home educate your children can be an overwhelming experience. There are so many questions that need to be answered; What do i need to cover? How do i plan all these lessons? What do i do about grading? What about support groups? Can we afford it?
These are just some of the questions that i had when we chose to bring Lady home from the private school she was attending in fourth grade. i wish there had been such a extensive resource as this when i first started. "Educate the Home Educator, Crash Course" is subtitled with "How to Homeschool in 40 Easy Lessons". Angie McFarren, a home educating mother, and Homeschool Consultant, writes in a way that is easy to understand. She gives the reader lots of great information and includes resources too.

The "Crash Course" is just that, a crash course in everything you need to home educate your children from the beginning through high school. Angie starts the book by covering the legalities in home education. She then helps the reader determine their teaching method, and understand their child's learning style. This was a welcome help for me, as i am now educating two, very different types of learners. Angie also gives tips on how to prepare high school courses, preparing a transcript, and helping your child find the right college. i have not seen such a thorough and well written book about how to home educate. It is an invaluable tool.

This e-book has tips on saving money on curriculum, lesson planning, grading options, defining course descriptions, helpful links, field trip ideas, and much, much more.
An added bonus to "Educate the Home Educator Crash Course" is the forms that go along with it. Angie has included forms for planning your year, curriculum planning, school schedules, and more. She has included printable grocery lists, report cards, unit study planning forms and even lapbooking templates!

What is my honest opinion of this eBook? i think it is one of the best resources for home educators that i have ever read. Seriously. It was hard to keep this review short, as this book has 331 pages of very helpful ideas, tips and links! Whether you are a seasoned home educator, or just considering home education, this is the resource you need.
Right now you can order it through Angie's website: http://www.hopehomeschoolconsulting.com
If you decide to buy a copy, i know you will be just as delighted to have it in your library as i am.


Blessings to you all!
Alycia
P.S. Make sure you sign up for Angie's free tips, emailed to your address every other week. You can sign up by visiting: http://www.hopehomeschoolconsulting.com/free_homeschool_tips.htm

OOPS, (an apology)

Dear friends,

i really must apologize to you. i have not been a good blogger. i have 3 reviews to finish and post. i want to tell you what i have been doing in my homeschool, and some changes we've made. i found some wonderful things on Pinterest to share with you too.
However, since my grandmother passed in September, i have been in a bit of a fog. There, i've said it.
So, really what this post is about is to apologize for not posting more. i have some great things to share with you, to include a review on "Educate the Home Educator Crash Course" by Angie McFarren. That review will be posted later tonight.

Please pray for me to be diligent in my blogging. i want so much to be a blessing to all other home educators.
Thank you.

Alycia

E-book Review: "Christ-centered Christmas"

Wow! That is the first word that comes to mind when i think about this book. Wow!
What a treasure trove inside "Christ-centered Christmas"! This book is chock full of wonderful ideas for keeping the true meaning of Christmas; Jesus, in focus. The ideas in this book include tips for celebrating Christmas eve, menus, shopping lists for Christmas baking, words to familiar Christmas carols, and recipes... lots of yummy recipes! There are also ideas about gift giving, caroling parties and even decorating your house for Christmas. It is full of many of the Young Family's favorite traditions. "Christ-centered Christmas" is truly a gift from their family to the readers.

This book was written by Hal and Melanie Young of "Raising Real Men".
This is how they describe themselves, as copied from their website: "Hal and Melanie Young have been involved with parenting, political commentary, writing and homeschooling from coast to coast, including California, Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina. They have eight children from 20 on down and have homeschooled them from the beginning. The Youngs live in North Carolina, learn everywhere, and believe true riches don’t involve money."

i love the last line. They believe that "true riches don't involve money". That kind of motto is hard to find nowadays. It is evident in "Christ-centered Christmas". The Youngs have wonderful family traditions that focus attention on Christ. This book is their way of sharing that with the reader.

"Christ-centered Christmas" has a chapter about the Christmas story, and the prophecies about Jesus' birth. This is much needed for me. Tonight, while watching an old Christmas program from my youth, i realized that although i know the names of all Santa's reindeer, i cannot name all of Jesus' disciples that easily. How much i want things to be different for my girls when they get older! This year, we will be memorizing prophetic scripture about Jesus' birth! (and the names of Jesus' disciples too!)

Hal and Melanie share about how their family celebrates Advent, Christmas and "Old Christmas", or the time between Christmas and Epiphany, or January 6th.
They provide menus and ideas for Christmas eve dinner, as well as Christmas day dinner. It is full of yummy recipes to go along with the menus, like "Granny's Fruit Cakes". These sound amazing, and nothing like the fruit cake we are used to seeing!
There is also a recipe for a delightful sounding Christmas tea that i cannot wait to try!
This book will bless your heart, and give you some wonderful ideas for creating new traditions with your own family. One of my favorite ideas is the ornament of the year idea. This is an ornament you buy that represents what God has done for you in the past year. Every year as you unpack the ornaments to decorate the tree, you can tell your children the story behind the ornament. What a godly heritage we are leaving for our children in reminding them of God's goodness through the years!

If given the chance to buy it, i highly recommend that you do it! i don't think you will be disappointed. Probably, you will say, "Wow!" just as i did when i first opened it.
You can buy it online at their website. Just visit: http://www.raisingrealmen.com/2011/12/announcing-christ-centered-christmas/

A special thank you to Hal and Melanie Young for the honor of receiving this book to review. It was a blessing!

~Alycia

Lapbook review!

If you look over there, on the right side of my blog, you will see a link to a wonderful lapbooking site called "A Journey Through Learning". ------------------->

In September, Baby and i were privileged to review a wonderful lapbook called "Todo Acerca de Mi (All About Me)". It was a lot of fun for both of us. As you probably figured out by the title, this lapbook is written in Spanish! Thankfully, there were English directions and translations throughout, as i am not fluent in Spanish.




The book is made up of three different folders. It covers a lot of basic information for the child to fill in, with help from the parents if needed.



The first folder asks the child about their name, address and name of parents and siblings. The second folder asks about themselves; things that they can do alone, like tie their shoes, snap, and button. It also talks about their favorite color, and gives a place to record their height and weight.
The third folder talks about their favorite things; foods, toys, books and best friend's name. It also has a part about what they can do in the kitchen. Can they chop things, stir, knead, or bake? There is also a maze that they can do and put into the lapbook.

Baby and i enjoyed doing this lapbook. It is perfect for little people. Although Baby is 6, she just learned English about a year ago, so the Spanish was a bit difficult for her to understand. She did learn her address and phone number from working through the lapbook. She will gladly tell you the city that she lives in too.
When her Daddy came home from work, the day we finished it, she was thrilled to show him what she had done. Now she enjoys looking at the book and uses it to "play school"! She is very proud of it, and loves to show it to everyone who comes to visit.

Thank you to "A Journey Through Learning" for this wonderful opportunity!

Definitely check out all that they have to offer, whether it is in English or Spanish.

Blessings,
Alycia

Gift Guide and Giveaways

Here is a link to the 2011 Homeschooler's Gift and Educational Resource Guide.
It is put out by Homeschool Enrichment Magazine. Really a great find!
Make sure to check it out!
http://homeschoolenrichment.com/goodies/GiftGuide/2011/

Don't forget to enter their giveaways while you are there!

Blessings,
Alycia

About Halloween, or why we don't celebrate it.

i am a Facebook fan. Did i tell you that? If not, well, there it is.
Problem is, Facebook, like most other internet entities really goes all out for Halloween. i just recently posted to my friends that i couldn't help them with getting Halloween items for their games, because it is against my religion. While i was making light of it, i was very serious. i do not celebrate Halloween. i used to, when my oldest, Lady was little and i mean little. i think the last time we did anything with Halloween, Lady, was 4.
People, especially my Christian friends who do not feel convicted about Halloween, get irritated at me. They must feel that i am trying to judge them about their participation in this "holiday". i'm not. i guess i am just trying to be clear on where i stand. i firmly believe that Christians have NO BUSINESS celebrating this day.
There is nothing about it that glorifies God in any way. In fact, you could say that it is Satan that is being glorified. Does that make you uncomfortable? i think it should. Jesus said that the light should not have anything to do with the darkness. Halloween celebrates darkness. Really.

Here is an article i found on a website about real witches and their beliefs.

"Samhain(pronounced Sow-in, Sah-vin, or Sahm-hayn), known most popularly as Halloween, marks the end of the third and final harvest, is a day to commune with and remember the dead, and is a celebration of the eternal cycle of reincarnation. Samhain (once again Halloween) is the most coveted sabbat by the Wiccan (and many Pagan) religions.

In the European traditions, Samhain is the night when the old god dies, and the Crone Goddess mourns him deeply for the next six weeks. The popular image of her as the old Halloween hag menacingly stirring her cauldron comes from the Celtic belief that all dead souls return to her cauldron of life, death, and rebirth to await reincarnation.

Halloween, plain and simple is our favorite time of year. A true time for witches, Witchcraft itself, and Wiccans alike who feel that on this night the separation between the physical and spiritual realities is it's least guarded and it's veil the thinnest. It is a time for dimensional openings and workings, it is a somber holiday, one of dark clothes and thoughts for the dead, it is said to be the time when those of necromantic talents can speak with the dead and it is certainly a time to remember ones own dead. Witches believe it is a time of endings of relationships and bad situations and it is the time when one can see the glimmer of hope in the future. There are as many concepts attached to this holiday as any other, truly a time of remembrance of our ancestors and all those who have gone before."

Time for those with necromantic talents to speak with the dead? Really? And this is okay how? Jesus said that the dead have no part of the living, or rather nothing to do with the living. Do you really think that necromancers speak with the dead? According to the Bible, they are actually speaking to demons, or fallen angels posing as the dead. Creepy, huh?!

One friend asked me what religion didn't allow pretending and eating candy. i don't think any religion is against eating candy or pretending. BUT, (and this is a big ol' but!) i do think that "trick or treating" and dressing up for Halloween is not a good thing for Christians to be doing. Why?
Here is a good answer gleaned from another website:

"Some trace the origins of present day "trick-or-treat" to Samhain, which was the supreme night of demonic jubilation. Spirits of the dead would rise out of their graves and wander the countryside, trying to return to the homes where they formerly lived. Frightened villagers tried to appease these wandering spirits by offering them gifts of fruit and nuts. They began the tradition of placing plates of the finest food and bits of treats that the household had to offer on their doorsteps, as gifts, to appease the hunger of the ghostly wanderers. If not placated, villagers feared that the spirits would kill their flocks or destroy their property."

The problem was... if the souls of dead loved ones could return that night, so could anything else,human or not, nice or not-so-nice. The only thing the superstitious people knew to do to protect themselves on such an occasion was to masquerade as one of the demonic hoard, and hopefully blend in unnoticed among them. Wearing masks and other disguises and blackening the face with soot were originally ways of hiding oneself from the spirits of the dead who might be roaming around. This is the origin of Halloween masquerading as devils, imps, ogres, and other demonic creatures.

Others trace "trick-or-treat" to a European custom called "souling". Beggars would go from village to village begging for "soul cakes" made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers could guarantee a soul's passage to heaven.

In many parts of Britain and Ireland this night used to be known as 'Mischief Night', which meant that people were free to go around the village playing pranks and getting up to any kind of mischief without fear of being punished. Many of the different customs were taken to the United States by Irish and Scottish immigrants in the nineteenth century, and they developed into 'trick or treat'".

i never realized that as a kid, never even would have given any thought about it. Actually, it kind of bums me out that i know about it now. Of course the Bible has an answer for that too: " ... Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act ..." ~Proverbs 24:12 (thank you to my friend Tanya, who doesn't know that i spent an entire day looking for that verse before finding it on her blog!) So that means that now that i know the truth, i cannot act as if i don't. i am not a great Christian by any means, but, if i know that something is glorifying the enemy of our souls, i don't want to participate. Someone used to say, "If the devil was throwing a party, would you go?" Nope. i wouldn't.

So, those are just a couple of the reasons that we don't celebrate Halloween. It is dressed up to look like harmless fun. It isn't, and now you know.

Blessings to you for a wonderful November!
Alycia