Today at My House.
DD16 calls from friend’s house, half-way across the country: "Mom, you want to hear really bad news? — I forgot my math book at home." "You want to hear even worse news? —
For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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Please take a moment to read Dick Jones’ article at American Vision – Today. Here’s a brief quote:
… Discipling, conversely, is a dual approach. The child is still presented with academic as well as biblical facts, stories, and examples. Let’s call this collection of material our “tools.” But in the discipling approach these academic and the biblical tools are carefully woven together into an integrated, coordinated whole. And it’s done daily on a subject-by-subject basis. When done well, this composite will give your children what is called a “biblical worldview.” Once ingrained, it lets the grown child see that, when applied daily to all of life (and unto God) it will provide a practical foundation for managing every situation at work, in marriage, at home, at play, at church, in illness, in one’s planning and ambitions, in political contributions to the community, etc., every day, forever. …
This is what L.E.D. is all about.
For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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This week I’ve been experimenting with pdf organizers, to see if they are really an improvement to my folder hierarchy system I’ve always used. Out of the 4 options that sounded like most likely candidates, 2 were eliminated early on. iTunes (free and a great app for your music collection) is not a good organizer for a large collection of pdf’s – (that’s not what it was designed for, but I can be used for a small number of pdf’s.). And Papers is geared toward scientific/academic/medical journals – so a little more feature specific than normal home ed needs.
Of the remaining 2 apps, already I am leaning toward Yep. I love the visual lay out. Like it states, it is like iPhoto for your pdf’s. But Yojimbo seems to have more features. You can organize more than just pdf’s – notes, images, bookmarks, web archives, passwords, and serial numbers in Yojimbo. It also has a little tab dock that sits on the edge of your desktop that you can drop files into, so you don’t have to switch back and forth between programs. That is handy. (But Yep automatically adds your new pdf’s so you don’t need that drop feature - for the pdf’s anyhow.) You are able to color code and flag files if you want. I really like those features too. But I’m not sure they outweigh the icon/preview of Yep. And ….
I don’t like that Yojimbo imports all my pdf files rather than just finds them. It crashed on me the first 2 times I tried to use it. I have a large number of pdf’s and it won’t import them all at once. I’ll have to bring them in a few at a time, which will take a LONG time – and take up more disk space (having 2 copies). Then they will view in Yojimbo, rather than my default Preview. In Yep it automatically searches my computer and finds all pdf files and shows them to me – quick and easy.
In both apps you can add tags, and notes/comments, and create smart folders. In Yojimbo you can also encrypt your files – perhaps helpful if you are putting in passwords and serial numbers. Yojimbo looks and functions much like a cross between Mail and Preview. Yep looks more like iPhoto – but… You can view in list or image mode. You have 2 sidebars, in which you have listed – on the left, changing your view to: 1) all your tages, 2) all your Collections (folders you’ve organized into Smart or regular), 3) all the folders on your user name. On the right: if you have no file selected – total document count, page count, tag count, as well as most popular tags. When you select a file, the right sidebar gives you the info about the file – all the general finder info, tags – you can add these here, name – you can change here, original creation date – you can change, author – you can change, description (same as notes/comments – Add anything you want. This is a handy feature for me in both apps.), location (folder hierarchy), URL – you can add one, and a preview pic.
Yep also has a magnifying loupe. And also when you double click on a file, it enlarges to fill the window, and gives you the options of hand or text tools, print or email, rotate, open with (Preview or other viewer), or view full screen.
The costs of the apps are within $5, so that isn’t much of a deciding factor. Yojimbo is priced at $5 more, but you can get the educational license if you are a home educators, which makes it $5 less. So we’re talking between $30 and $40 for either program.
You’ll have to decide for yourself. Both are available for a free trial period. So play with both and see if a pdf app might be helpful for organizing all your ebooks and other pdf files.
P.S. Another feature I’m exploring. In Yojimbo I can add "Notes". I experimented with copying and dropping from Emails I want to save. I am on several home ed elists, which have many helpful tips I like to keep – and organizing by subject, etc. is a great help. In Yep I can do this too, by printing as "Save pdf to Yep". Then I can tag each and quickly search and find all the emails on a topic. Yojimbo also has a "Save pdf to Yojimbo" feature.
BTW, these are both Mac apps. I got started on this by the recommendation from Michelle Gefflin for My eBook Library (found the link) 
which is for Windows XP and Vista only, but will organize ALL formats of ebooks, and is more feature specific to ebooks – not just pdf’s in general. I’ve haven’t found that in a Mac app yet.
For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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Last year I wrote a post or two (1, 2, 3) about using ebooks. I am not against ebooks, I have found them very helpful in our learning. But my conclusion was, I am not out to piece together all our learning through free ebooks. That would limit us beyond what is acceptable to me for our home.
2 weeks ago I wrote about organizing your ebooks and free downloads, in conjunction with the UHSE which will give you plenty to organize. I recommended a basic file folder hierarchy. It works.
However, after reading Michelle Gefflin’s ebook about organizing your ebooks, (received through the UHSE, but you can get a free copy too, even if you aren’t a Member of the Expo) I am experimenting with pdf organizer apps. These may have some advantages over just the folder method.
Michelle recommended ‘My eBook Library’, which is only for Windows XP/Vista. (I don’t see a link to it in Michelle’s book, and am not taking the time to look it up since I’m a Mac user.) I am a Mac user, and Michelle didn’t have a recommendation, so I went on a search. Here’s what I’ve found so far, and I’ll write more after I experiment with them a bit. ‘Yep‘ and ‘Yojimbo‘ seem to be the best options. There is also a way to use iTunes, which would be Free, but I’m not finding it very viable if you have a lot of pdf’s/ebooks. ‘Papers‘ is another option, but is specifically for scientific articles so has features applicable to that, and may be too genre specific for your general home ed use.
Michelle also recommended the Kindle, eInk ebook reader. I have ignored it up until now, but am giving it another look. Even though I’m now intrigued, it is still way too pricey for me to think seriously of getting it. Perhaps the next gen will come with a reduced price.
More about Michelle’s ebook:
Do you find you enthusiastically download the latest ebook deal or free offer, then promptly forget you have them? Do you even wonder how ebooks can benefit your busy homeschool life, especially when you have a growing library of print resources already?
Learn how to manage all those elusive files and actually use them! You’ll be astonished at how easy it is with a free downloadable tool you’ll find all about in this helpful resource from Yes, You Can! Publications.
http://www.yesyoucanpublications.com/manage-ebooks.html
For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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Homeschooling Today has been the FAVORITE home education magazine of Me and My House for MANY years. We’ve been with them since the original publishers, and joyfully stuck with them through those in-between and now and loved them all.
Today I’m passing on a GREAT offer they have for you. But this one doesn’t even involve subscribing to their magazine – which I HIGHLY recommend that you do, too. This weekend, they are offering over $300 worth of FREE GIFTS from some of your favorite home education and family ministries and businesses, just for subscribing (or re-subscribing) to their FREE monthly email, Homeschooling Helper.
SUBSCRIBE to Homeschool Helper, the monthly encouraging email from Homeschooling Today magazine. Even if you have previously received Homeschool Helper, you must resubscribe/update your subscription to continue receiving it.
Subscribe by Monday, May 12, and choose any or all of the following FREE gifts:
Subscribe here: http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1101704465489
And Enjoy! the Homeschool Helper AND Homeschooling Today magazine!
Me and My House does!
For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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Our Anniversary Tax Sale ends tomorrow! But we won’t leave you without any great deals from Me and My House.
The Ultimate HomeSchool Expo is over. This month’s newsletter is out. And I’m heading off the internet to try to get some work done on our book on R Road to Biblical Wisdom.
But I’m leaving you 2 things to do today or tomorrow. 1) Take advantage of our Anniversary Tax Sale now. It ends tomorrow! 2) Then head on over to our Silent Specials and Free Gifts page to get a Sampler of our "customer’s favorite", Freedom & Simplicity™ in HisStory, just for trying out our newsletter. Offer for this Free Gift ends May 31st.
Or do them in reverse order. You may read through the Sampler and then want to purchase Freedom & Simplicity™ in HisStory. You might as well do it while you can get it as part of the Anniversary Tax Sale.
For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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Is it over? Yes and No. Yes, the Live Seminar Sessions are over. No, the Ultimate Homeschool Expo isn’t over.
Listening to the Seminar Sessions Live has been a treat. Being able to ask the speakers questions about their session, on the spot. Building relationships with the other attenders. Winning unannounced Doorprizes. That part of the Expo ended yesterday. And now we got back to our regular routines in our families and homes.
But the Expo isn’t over. It never ends. The Members Site remains open indefinately. You may browse the Vendors Booths, Download the Free Resources in the Mommy Grab Bag and in the Vendors Booths, and Download and listen to ALL the audios from ALL the sessions whenever it is convenient for you. You can go back over and over and over. It never ends.
In fact, if you didn’t get your ticket yet, you can STILL become a Member and have all the benefits of listening to the Speakers Sessions, visiting the Vendors Booths, and Downloading more Free Resources than you’ll know what to do with. You’ve not missed the Expo! Just the live recording of it.
Tickets will remain at the Introductory Special Price of $40, that includes ALL the above, until all the audio sessions are uploaded. After that you can STILL buy a ticket, and STILL have all those great benfits, including having INSTANT access to the Seminar Sessions, that will be gradually posted over the next few weeks, as they are edited. But on July 1st, tickets will return to the regular price of $99.
In other words, between now and then Members will continue to browse the site and download free resources, and ALL the Preview Chats, (which are all there now,) and will get the Seminar Sessions from this week gradually, as they are edited and posted. AFTER July 1, everything will be on the site for immediate download – as if you could download and listen to it all that fast. As I explained in a previous post this week, the absolute BEST way to get ALL the audios (and not risk either downloading some twice or skipping some) is to subscribe to the RSS feed in iTunes. Then all audio sessions will automatically be added to your Podcasts section of your library, all nice and organized. From there, you know you have them all and you can see them organized and delete those you don’t have interest in. MUCH easier than trying to get the ones you want from the site. In fact, go back through ALL my blog posts this week to find many tips for helping you navigate the Expo.
So what now? My Live Blogging UHSE comes to a close with this post, and life moves on. But if you are already a Member, and if you have listened to any of the sessions, Preview or Seminar, so far, your life has probably changed a bit, and you probably won’t go on just as it has been. You grow, you learn, you keep moving forward, following the path God has laid out for you to become more conformed to the image of His Dear Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is the goal anyhow. To continue this Journey of Life, forward, growing closer to our God and more like His Son daily.
If you attended any of my Sessions (or listened to the audios) and want to learn more, please consider taking advantage of the offer I extended to Members on my Private UHSE Members page for Freedom & Simplicity™ of Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ ~ The Seminar, at 40% OFF!!!!! That will give you a full day of teaching, filling in the gaps from the individual sessions at UHSE. If you are able to travel to North Platte, NE in June, please consider joining us LIVE for this year’s Freedom & Simplicity™ of Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ ~ The Seminar LIVE! 2008.
If you aren’t a Member and want to take advantage of this GREAT deal – a home school convention that you don’t have to pay gas, motel, and meals for AND don’t have to choose which sessions to listen to, AND don’t have to pay extra to get ALL the audios of ALL the sessions, get your ticket now. It’s never too late.
If you really don’t want to become a Member, but would like to know more about Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™, I have an offer you can take advantage of too. Check out our Anniversary Tax Sale that continues until Friday.
Be blessed. Relax today, resting in the Lord. And begin tomorrow, renewed for Journeying with Jesus on this path of Life.
For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
coming alongside as a "helper of your joy"
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After all the gearing up we’ve done, we are now winding down to the end of the Ultimate Homeschool Expo. Whew! The live sessions end today. But even when it is over (live), it isn’t over. It’s NEVER over! You can still get your ticket and browse all the vendors booths, and download all the FREE resources AND audios of all the sessions. This is the homeschool convention that keeps on going on! For ONLY $40! And, unlike other conventions, if you miss any of the live sessions, you don’t have to pay anything extra to get the audios. You get them ALL FREE, included in your $40 registration! Home ed bargain of the century!
My morning yesterday was spent finishing things around here, to be able to present my session at 3 – getting children, home, handouts, and notes all in order. As a final "run though", I reviewed with my children, the aspects of biblical education that I was planning to share at the Expo.
I’d like to thank all of you that attended to hear what I had to say. And a special thanks to those of you who wrote to let me know what a blessing it was to you. I didn’t even take time to scroll through to see who all was there, so unless you posted in the text chat or emailed me, I missed you. Sorry, I get a bit preoccupied when speaking. I even forgot to hit record until I was well into my topic. Good thing Cindy does the primary recording of the sessions, and praying she won’t need my backup. But please drop me a note if the session encouraged you.
I was able to stay for Amy Pak’s session. She always has such creative ideas for history. Amy runs Homeschool in the Woods. Be sure to listen to her sessions. It just may spark your creativity.
Last night the ladies were given a break while the men had a session. Although I have not been at most of the live sessions anyhow, last night was my opportunity to catch up on some of my own writing. Lord willing, our monthly e-pistle (newsletter) will go out in a few days. So if you aren’t subscribed to our FREE Me and My House musings, sign up now before you miss another issue.
I sat with my family last night, me writing and they watching a movie. Throughout the movie I heard, "That isn’t how that happened." "Oh, now they’re going to…" They were watching The Alamo. And their comments were spurred from our study of it about 3 month ago. Even our 5 year old was commenting. I asked him how he knew that, and he replied, because it was in our coloring book. I guess they were paying attention and internalizing after all. Honey to a mother’s heart!
For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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Yesterday was a low day for me at the Ultimate Homeschool Expo. I spent more time refining my own session for today than listening to others Live. I did catch part of Kathy Butryn and Cindy Rushton speaking on Helping Your Children Find their Life Purpose. However, in the midst of it I was helping my children find their breakfast, so I don’t really have anything coherent to share.
Don’t forget to come listen to me this afternoon at 3 CT. I will be speaking on Finding Freedom & Simplicity™ while Seeking Biblical Wisdom (Excellence).
If you don’t have a ticket to the Expo yet click here or on the banner.
Before I share my Expo tip for today, I just want to remind you that our Anniversary Tax Sale is still going on for another week (since that’s what I originally announced, even though we should get that rebate today!)
Expo tip:
If you’ve subscribed to the RSS feed of the UHSE, your audios are all neatly sitting in your Podcasts folder of your Library (if you’ve opened your iTunes and updated your subscriptions). And all future audios will be added as they become available. But handouts and Text Chat notes and links are somewhere else on your computer. Here’s how I link them together.
You won’t be able to do this until after the audio has been uploaded, so for the sessions you listen to LIVE that are not yet posted, you’ll have to wait a bit to do this. In iTunes click on the audio you have other files for. Then go up to the Menu and click on File > Get Info > Info. Here you will be able to add Comments.
Here I note any other corresponding files and where they are located. such as: URLofTheSpeaker.com, or Edu > Misc > Topic > Handout-Name (the folders location that the file is in on my computer), or Edu > Misc > Topic > Free-e-Book-Name, or Edu > Misc > Topic > Text-Chat-Notes-Name or whatever. If I have more than a few things by an individual, I usually make their own folder, putting all their things together. Yes, I have a HUGE Cindy Rushton folder.
This is a big help when wanting to see all the things that go together. All those "files" above would be in the same folder. And any notes I put in there would have the name of the audio session as well as the speaker’s website listed, so I can find corresponding audio easily from the files too.
HTH
Winding down at the Expo.
For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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Yes, still live blogging. No regular L.E.D. articles this week. But I’ll be back to my normal irregular self next week.
If you aren’t a Member of the online Ultimate Homeschool Expo, you’ll either have to remedy that by clicking on the link or banner and getting your ticket NOW, or continue to be encouraged to do that through this blog through the rest of this week, or ignore my new posts this week. I’m guessing you haven’t read all the OLD posts, so you could catch up on those. Or I’m also guessing you haven’t visited EVERY page on my website, you could browse there too, if you aren’t interested in the Expo. But remember my live session is Friday at 3 CT, and I’ll be talking about L.E.D. and Biblical Principles Education there.
Yesterday I turned on the audio for the first session with Malia Russell on From Chaos to Order, 15 minutes early. The room was already full of chatting. I left the audio going, but got busy with my family and didn’t get a chance to get back and listen. 
Sounded like a great topic.
I caught most of the last half of Maridel Willer’s session on Creative Playtimes. She gave some good suggestions for games and thinking activities for children. I hadn’t planned on staying for Eric Novak’s Blogging with a Purpose, but my family was otherwise busy, (dh took all the boys to one’s baseball practice) so I ended up listening to most of it. Great info for those wanting to get started in blogging. Molly Evert encouraged us in following God’s design for women last night in the Value of Motherhood. I heard that the session the night before lasted 4 hours. I had to leave after 2 hours last night, so don’t know when they got out of there. But they were having a great question and answer time when I left.
I want to pass on another organization tip for ALL your UHSE stuff you’re collecting. Another thing I’m "organizing" from this Expo is the Text Chats during the live sessions. I am not good about going back and re-reading them, (I heard the night before last’s was 97 pages long!!) but there are good things in there – like links! – that I don’t want to miss. And also some of the ladies are GREAT notetakers. (Thank you to Joie and Michelle and others.)
I copy the things (links and notes) I want to save, as they are put into the Text Chat. Then I paste them into an open text/doc file. If you use Notepad or Wordpad, your links won’t be "live", you’ll have to copy and paste them into a browser when you want to visit them. Word hogs more RAM from your computer (which may be taxed anyhow) but does create live links. So if you can use it without crashing, it might be more convenient later.
I just regularly save this file throughout the session (so I don’t lose it to a glitch), rather than the whole Text Chat, and at the end I have everything I need from the session – in a handy condensed version. (If I ever need something more from the Text Chat it will be posted online and I can get it later.)
Since the sessions are on my "other computer" (PC), I have to email these notes to my "real computer" (Mac). Then I file them with the speaker’s other materials/ under the "topic" they pertain too.
More tips and updates tomorrow, Lord willing.
For Me and My House ~ At Jesus’ feet,
Lisa @ Me and My House ~ Discipleship for Life!
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