Author Archives: Lisa @ Me & My House

Study Bible SALE

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Before today’s post – just a reminder, get info and register for our Freedom & Simplicity™ of Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ ~ The Seminar LIVE! 2008 – coming to North Platte, NE June 27th & 28th.

I’ll preface this with – this isn’t a Bible I have, so it isn’t necessarily a recommendation. HOWEVER, it is a SUPER SALE if you are famliar with the editor and agree with his viewpoint.  Sale price of $14.99 ends today.

018030: NKJV The Legacy Study Bible, Hardcover NKJV The Legacy Study Bible, Hardcover
By Thomas Nelson

Document your legacy of faith with the Legacy Study Bible. Best-selling author and “Bible Answer Man” Hank Hanegraaff has created the perfect tool to build and pass along your spiritual legacy.

Features Include:

  • Four-color legacy presentation section
  • Book introductions written by Hank in his LEGACY acronym (Location, Essence, Genre, Author, Context, Years) format
  • Informative and educational acronym articles written by Hank include:
    • LIGHTS-How to understand the Bible
    • MAPS-Demonstrating how the Bible is divinely inspired and preserved
    • MEALS-How to grow in the faith
    • DOCTRINE-Essential Christian doctrine
    • FEAT-Apologetic on Christ’s resurrection
  • Legacy Reading Program
  • Timelines and charts
  • Extensive concordance
  • Four-color maps
  • 7“ x 93/16″ x 15/8″
  • Hardcover
  • 1664 Pages
  • Words of Christ in red

Here’s another that we do have and use, at a good price too – currently 19.99. Of course, leather bound is also available for either.

014774: NKJV Open Bible Hardcover NKJV Open Bible Hardcover
By Thomas Nelson

Over the years, the Open Bible has been loved, used, and worn out by countless students of God’s Word. Here you’ll find an excellent combination of essential helps to guide you as you learn God’s truth. This large print edition features the New King James Version, in a hardcover binding.

Includes the following features:

  • Presentation page
  • Large, easy-to-read 8 point type
  • Double-column format
  • End-of-verse references
  • Words of Christ in Red
  • Subject headings
  • Translation/textual notes
  • 300-page Biblical Cyclopedic Index
  • Christian Guide to the New Life (with notes chained throughout the Bible)
  • Visual Survey of the Bible
  • Concordance
  • Book introductions and outlines
  • Full-color maps
  • Harmony of the Gospels
  • Timelines
  • Prophecies of the Messiah Fulfilled in Christ
  • The Parables of Jesus Christ
  • The Miracles of Jesus Christ
  • Teachings and Illustrations of Christ
  • God’s Answers to Man’s Concerns
  • Prayers of the Bible
  • Laws of the Bible
  • Archaeological Supplement
  • 61/4″ x 91/2″ x 11/4″
  • Hardcover

Garlic & Leeks

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Ever get tempted to go back to “Egypt”? Perhaps you were getting free to follow God and shake off the shackles of the world’s ways and ideas of education, but … you get scared. You wonder, “Can I really do this? I don’t know HOW to do this. Is God really going to get me through this? At least I knew what I was doing in the “old way”.”

This is my general advise for getting started – or restarted – with olders and youngers – when you don’t know what to do – or are tempted to go back. (Quoted as sent to a mom asking somewhat the above questions.)

Don’t despair. God has given your children to you and He knows best for them and will work it through YOU! Some curriculum company does not know your child, your family or where God has you or is leading you. They don’t know best. God does – and He will guide YOU. When you know you are weak and inadequate, He can work HIS way through you – then you know you must lean on Him and can’t do it in your own strength. HE does it through you! I’ve also found that all those pre-packaged curricula at various grade levels and schedules to keep creates MORE burn out and stress on Mom, than just working with the children together on your own timetable. I continually hear moms saying, “we’re behind” and feeling like a failure (in some way or another) because they can’t keep the schedule, or stressing their kids out trying to keep the schedule. And I know way too many hs-ers who have quit because of this.)

What’s my solution?
Take your children – all of them. Get out the Bible – and read to them. For the little ones sake, perhaps a familiar story will hold their attention better. Talk about it. Ask questions about it. Questions that make them think about it. (Questions that make MOM think about it!) Not just who did what, but why God told us this, how does it change my life, etc. Even a familiar story has more to dig out than what lays on the surface. Then go run and jump – or sweep a floor or do some dishes, whatever. Then draw a picture of the story, or copy a verse, or make some type of project or notebook page to remember what they learned. OR just play-act the story in the run and jump time!

Next head back to the couch and grab a living book that you know they will all enjoy (not so “school-y” that the little ones won’ think it’s fun.) Cuddle up on the couch and read together again. Don’t read so much that the little ones lose it. You want your older ones begging you to go on. But if the littles are getting restless, quit. And talk about it. Same routine – dig into it. Any words they didn’t understand? Look them up. Anything they/you want to know more about – look it up. (Same goes for Bible on these.) Go back to the table to draw, copy, chart, write – whatever. While olders are working on this, you can work/play with youngers, if they don’t want to do the activity at the table. Or they can act it out again. Run, jump and play again.

Are there things you really need to work on individually? Many times even the things we typically think of that way can be done together. Spelling and reading? How about dumping a tub of letters in the middle of the floor or table, giving the first word to your older ones (to spell with the letters) and your younger can find the letter that makes the beginning sound of the word. He doesn’t know it yet? Find it for him and teach him. I made a game called “Mailman” (that I need to get redone electronically, so I can sell it again.) The children roll dice and draw a card – they are color coded for difficulty, from letters to HARD words – if they can read/spell (id the letter/sound) they can move forward. The whole family can play!

Math you can do somewhat the same in learning math basics/facts. Roll dice, littles tell you how many, olders add or multiply, etc. You can even use different colored dice for place value. “Story/Word” problems can be given throughout the day – with real life things.

You just have to think outside the box, and realize if they are learning something new – or increasing understanding of something old – or personally applying something they’ve known “forever” – they are growing in wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. And that is good and fine. It doesn’t have to be according to someone else’s scope, sequence, or time table. Things you really want them to do/learn? (think they “need” to) Include them. They will be YOUR book choices, activity choices.

If there really is more – work with big ones while little ones nap. Work with little ones while big ones work or read independently. Have one big one work with little ones while you work with other big one, and vice versa.

God always creates a way.

 

The Bible on Home Education

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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.

 

Yep Yojimbo

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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.

Organizing Your Ebooks

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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

 

The Face of Home Education

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Things have changed a LOT since we began home educating in 1987. There were basically a small handful of “biggie” Christian curriculum suppliers who had just recently began allowing home educators to purchase their resources, if they requested to do so on school letterhead. Non-traditional (read that, non- textbook/workbook) type resources were just beginning to break forth on the scene, and a SMALL market was just beginning to develop specifically for home educators. Our challenge was finding any resources to match our philosophy of education.

Today you have a different challenge. Businesses and ministries targeted to home educators have EXPLODED. Your challenge today is to wade through the thousands of choices available to you. But, aside from trial and error, how are you really going to know which ones really line up with what you are looking for?

Another thing began to grow quickly in the home education community, when we were early on our journey, the homeschool convention. There you could listen to encouragement, training, and the hearts of those that were further on the journey and those producing the resources. You could also see and touch, look through and ask questions of those who were selling the resources – and many times those who had written them.

Me and My House was there. We began presenting non-traditional resources we’d found, at home education conventions in the early 90’s. Here in the midwest, things were still in the “biggie” traditional resources mode, and we wanted to bring the newer non-traditional resources in for people to get aquainted with. As the resource business grew, so did the conventions.

And then another thing changed the face of home education, the boom of the internet. Now there were literally thousands of resources available to home educators without even walking out their doors. This changed the face of Me and My House also. It was no longer feasible for us to continue presenting at the conventions, and carrying inventory in a small rural area was not cost effective. We too turned to the internet for the bulk of our “face” to the world.

Although the internet has made getting home educating resources more convenient in many ways. It sure hasn’t solved that problem of making the right choice amongst the plethora of resources there are out there.

This week you have a unique opportunity to hear the heart of MANY home education resource producers. You have the opportunity to listen to encouragement and training. You have the opportunity to see samples of many resources, recieve articles, catalogs, and audio workshops from many companies. You have the opportunity to ask questions of many “faces” in the home education community. This week you have the opportunity to do this without leaving your home – whatever time of night or day, or whatever day this week or in the future, is convenient for YOU.

This week – and on indefinately – you have the opportunity to join the Ultimate Homeschool Expo, a HUGE online homeschool convention. Registration for the UHSE costs no more than registration for a live convention, and there are no added costs for travel, motels, meals, child care and such. AND you will receive FAR MORE than you’d get at a live convention.

You get to hear ALL the speakers and vendors, not just choose which ones you can listen to live, because you get FREE recordings of EVERY SESSION! – that you can download at YOUR convenience. You don’t get that at live conventions! You also can spend as much time at each vendor’s booth as you choose. No rush to try to get it all in, because even after the Expo is over, it really isn’t OVER! You can revisit the vendor’s booths and download all their FREE gifts and samples and audios and articles, and all the sessions ANY TIME!

It starts RIGHT NOW – so go get your ticket – $40.

Nature Notebook Ideas

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I’m not having a boatload of fun this weekend. The ballgames were cold and windy, and Sat. night, very WET. AND very little time to spend with our daughter and her husband, and our grandgirls. But I’m home now – dry and warm – and finishing my preparations for my Seminar Session at the Ultimate Homeschool Expo, the HUGE online homeschool convention that starts tomorrow morning.

As I promised yesterday, I’m sharing another of Cindy Rushton’s articles with you today. Cindy is the hostess for the Ultimate Homeschool Expo, She’s given me permission to share these articles with you. Today’s article will give you ideas for a Nature Notebook. All these ideas will work well with Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™.

So read today and tomorrow and be ready to listen, whenever you’re able beginning tomorrow.

Don’t forget to tune in on Friday, May 2 at 3 p.m. CT to listen to Me speak on Finding Freedom & Simplicity™ while Seeking Biblical Excellence (Wisdom).

And, of course, you’ll need to get your ticket to the Expo first.

It is Spring! Why Not Begin a Science Notebook?
by Cindy Rushton

Today being inside just tortures me! It is STUNNING outside! Even the little birds are begging us to go outside.

Are you like me, dying from “cabin fever” and ready for spring? This is the perfect time to begin Nature Notebooks! Not only will you have an abundance of treasures awaiting your exploration, but these are perfect days to try something fresh. Ready? Let me help…

Chances are you already have many things that could be included in a Science Notebook around your home. Look for those “goodies” that do not have their own special place and add them to your Science Notebooks. This is the perfect opportunity to develop “a place” for those “goodies” while developing a nice product for displaying all the growing knowledge of nature all while your children are keeping special memorabilia! One of the things that I like about using supplies intended for scrapbooking is that there are so many products that enable us to keep bulky materials safely inside of our notebooks. Not to mention, scrapbooking makes EVERY notebook so much cuter! J And…to imagine that we call this “school!”

Want some ideas of things to include in your notebooks???

· Sketches…Don’t forget to include date, time, place, Latin name, and common name. Oh! Don’t forget to document where you found it.

· Snapshots…Don’t forget to journal about your snapshot!

· Pressed flowers, leaves, feathers, butterflies, etc.

· Glossary of terms studied…

· Artwork… (Nature art, original drawings, coloring pages…)

· Diagrams…

· Poetry…

· Information about discoveries…

· Lists of new findings…

· Handouts from trips…

· Narrations from trips, outings, hikes, nature walks, books read about nature or scientists/naturalists…

· Timeline…Mark your excursions, inventions, famous men and women, so on!

· Instruction Sheets on “How to Care for…” or “How to Collect…” etc.

· Booklets…

· Project data…

· Bible verses…

· Journal entries…

· Details from outings…

· Favorite quotes about nature…

· Reading list…

· Research…

· Reports…

· Essays…

· Science experiment logs…

· Notes from any Science study…

You can add a lot of life to your Science Notebooks with special supplies you find along the way! I have found that the little touches have made our notebooks so much more fun and in the process hooked my children.

Encourage your children to use die-cuts, frames, stencils, shapes, and edgings galore to make their notebooks fun and beautiful! My children now beg each weekend to work on our binders/scrapbooks. We have taken these simple skills into other projects for our Science studies such as creating books or booklets…making cards with pressed flowers, sketches, poetry and Scripture verses…and displaying our collections. The key is to just have fun and enjoy making your notebooks all yours!

Happy Notebooking!

Cindy

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About Cindy Rushton…

Cindy Rushton is the hostess of the Ultimate Homeschool Expo, a HUGE online homeschool convention.This year’s Ultimate Homeschool Expo is April 28-May 3, 2008–BUT! IT NEVER ENDS because it is an ONLINE Convention! Get your ticket NOW!

History Notebooks

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I’m out of town this weekend, with virtually no internet hook up, so I’m just going to share a couple more of Cindy Rushton’s articles with you.

Cindy is the hostess for the Ultimate Homeschool Expo, a HUGE online homeschool convention that begins Monday. She’s given me permission to share these good articles with you. Today’s article will help you add some fun quick projects to your history lessons.

So read today and tomorrow and be ready to listen, whenever you’re able beginning Monday.

Don’t forget to tune in on Friday, May 2 at 3 p.m. CT to listen to Me speak on Finding Freedom & Simplicity™ while Seeking Biblical Excellence (Wisdom).

And, of course, you’ll need to get your ticket to the Expo first.

Quick Ideas for Making History Fun!
by Cindy Rushton

Want to make the new school year better than ever? Want studies
that are interesting for the whole family? I think I can help you!
How about some quick tips for making your history studies fun? I
think you will find these to make lessons fun and easy. Let’s dig
in…

* Get Out to See History as Much as Possible… Hunt up any
Living History Days scheduled in your area. Get out to all
historical sites and museums…even hands-on children’s museums.
Don’t miss any historical reenactments and plays within driving
distance! These all give wonderful opportunities to get your
children in touch with those that love History and know it best.

* Begin a History Notebook… This is the cure to dull, lifeless
texts. Let your children create their own notebooks of study!
Include anything from great quotes to poetry to pictures to
sketches to newspaper clippings to photographs to mementos from
history sites, reenactments and postcards from friends to
narrations from books read. These personalized curricula will
bring life into all areas of study.

* Tap Into Grandparents, Elderly, Family, and Friends… Our
family and friends have been a key source of finding out neat
stories that are not recorded in the history books. Sitting at
their feet, we have learned many details from history that would be
long lost without the gift of story telling. The key to making this
come alive is to listen and record their stories for your History
Notebooks. Keep this part of history alive for you and for
generations to come!

* Find Treasures at Antique Stores… One of our favorite
past-times is “junking” at antique stores, junk shops and flea
markets. Take your time to find wonderful treasures from the past,
which will breathe life into your History studies. You can find
journals, uniforms, books, dress up clothes, and even play gadgets
to make history come alive for your little ones!

* Let the Little Ones Make Up Their Own Costumes… I have always
enjoyed researching and creating authentic costumes from other time
periods. I used to have more time and energy to create costumes
for every time period we studied. Now, my children are using their
extra time and endless supply of energy to create their own
costumes. I love to see them as they pull together little things
from around the house to create their own costumes!

* Let Them Make Doll Clothes… This tangent began for us when my
daughter got her first American Girl doll. We combined my love of
creating authentic doll clothes with my deep passion for making
doll clothes. Each year for the past five years, I have spent time
each December creating matching outfits for Elisabeth and her
dolls. This is easy to do with today’s patterns. Just take basic
designs and create your own “historical” costumes for the dolls.
If you have a beginning seamstress interested in some quick
projects, this would be a wonderful way to learn the basics of
sewing while learning History!

* Make a Timeline…Timelines are priceless! We have had two
different kinds of timelines for our studies in History. We had a
huge one that took up an entire wall in our old home. It was
fascinating to watch the little ones as they would “review” and
“test” each other on history as they went by! When we built our
home, my husband would not allow that one back on the wall, so we
made our own Book of Centuries on our computer, which includes all
of our history facts. We simply developed a notebook with the dates
marked. We record key events, people we study and the key events
of their life, our family’s key events, illustrations which remind
the children of those historical figures and events, pictures that
the children have collected from books and trips that we have
taken, information from our Computer Encyclopedias and Internet
Sites, and even charts we have collected or made ourselves. These
are another “text” that we create about our studies. How priceless!

Update UHSE

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Update: The Membership Site opening has been delayed until Mon. when the Expo is scheduled to start. So no early preview of THAT – BUT you can get a bunch of  FREE OFFERS early, if you Get Your Ticket Now!

The Countdown to the Ultimate Homeschool Expo is nearly over!

Me and My House will be a Speaker and Vendor at the Expo!
Listen to Seminars, get Free Gifts, and Special Offers from
Me and My House at the Ultimate Homeschool Expo!

I have a special sale, just for members of the Expo. In addition, you’ll want to come back to that “Special” Members page, as I’ll be adding FREE downloads there JUST FOR YOU! to help you on your Journey to Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™!

(See post from earlier today for more info.)