TOS Writing Contest

Exciting News from TOS!

Attention writers! Grab your pencils and get those creative juices flowing!

The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine is hosting our second Storytime Writing Contest! We have two creative fiction categories: adults (16 and up 2,500 words or less) and children (15 and below 1,500 words or less).

Deadline to enter is March 16, 2009. $7.95 fee per entry.

Grand prize winners in both the adult and child categories will receive prize packages valued at over $1,000, publication in the Summer 2009 issue of TOS, and publication in our Storytime 2009 Compilation E-Book.

Eleven Honorable Mentions from each category will also be included in the E-Book in addition to receiving gifts from top homeschool companies.

We look forward to reading your entries!

For a detailed list of prizes, official contest rules, to meet our judges, and to upload your story, please visit: www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com/Short_Story_Contest.php.

Need help teaching writing? We have over 200 writing products in the Schoolhouse Store!

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WiiTastic!

Our kids don't watch a lot of t.v. or play a lot of video games. I think this is the main reason that my mom and stepdad decided to go a little "extravagent" with G8's birthday this year. They bought him (well, the whole family really) a wii. G8's birthday is on Thanksgiving so many of the Christmas gifts were "wii themed"...you know, wii games and controllers and such.

Actually though, I am really glad to have it "for the kids" now. Sometimes Chad and I play it after the kids go to bed...hehehe...I always wondered what parents would do after bedtime. However, I am the Wii Master and Chad is unable to beat me at 99% of the games, so we haven't played in awhile. **smirk**

We quickly discovered how dangerous Wii play can get, especially when involving a hyper active 5 year old. Of course we make sure to have the wristbands secured, but E5 needs a little extra precaution put in place.


When E5 plays the wii, he has a tendancy to run....towards the t.v.....without stopping. So someone has to sit behind him and hold onto his belt loop (or pants, which is the case here).


These pictures were taken on New Year's Eve. We were playing the boxing game.


Here's this little gem of a picture...family fun or demon possesion? You decide.

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Kinderbach

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the next several months. I feel truly blessed to be participating in this review group and I'm looking forward to trying out the products and giving you my honest opinion.

I have to tell you, I have been excited about Kinderbach from the minute I received an email from Karri Gregor, the creator of the program, asking me to review it. We have wanted our children to take piano lessons for about three years now, but it has simply never been in the budget. Kinderbach not only makes it affordable to teach your 2-7 year old beginning piano lessons, it is also makes it so, so easy!

Kinderbach's lessons can be viewed online or by DVD. We received our lessons online. You will need access to a keyboard (or piano), but any 36-48 key keyboard will do. I found one on ebay for $10. They are also sold at Wal-Mart for around $20. If you are viewing your lessons online, you will need high speed internet. (I would personally recommend purchasing a set of speakers for your computer if you don't have them, as the sound is a little low without them...at least on my computer it is. I bought speakers for $15 the other day and they work perfectly.)

Kinderbach offers 60 weeks or two years of lessons. Each week has 4 short lessons. The lessons are taught by Miss Karri with the help of her friends...adorable cartoon characters. Miss Karri engages the children in a way that makes it feel like she is in your living room with you. Your children will learn so much from her! Here is a quote from their website:

"KinderBach not only teaches piano, but other factors of music. Music theory, note reading, rhythm, ear training, hand position and much much more!

KinderBach was designed to give your child the over all music foundation. Your child can take everything they have learned from KinderBach and apply it to another instrument or continue further with piano. KinderBach was designed to be a spring board, taking this information and just going to endless bounds with what they have learned!"

This program moves pretty slowly, geared toward the pre-schooler/kindergartner, but even my 8 year old enjoyed it. I was afraid he might think it was too "babyish", but he didn't have time to think that as he got caught up in how much the other kids were enjoying it! I would gather my 3, 5, 6, and 8 year old all around the computer screen. Generally we would watch 4 lessons (one week's worth) in one sitting. The lessons are only about 8 minutes long and you can view them over and over again for review. There are also worksheets that correspond with some of the lessons that you can print from your home printer. You can totally let Miss Karri teach your students without being involved in the teaching. Even so, I had fun watching the videos too, so I learned right along with kids.

I was even pleasantly surprised to find that A6 has quite an ear for music...well, not so surprised since she's been clapping the beat and singing in tune to songs since she was two. But now I have evidence...one day after our Kinderbach lessons, A6 was playing on the keyboard. She came to me excitedly and said "Listen!" Then she promptly began playing a tune from the Kinderbach lessons...one that had not been taught! As a matter of fact, in that point in our lessons we had not yet learned to play any tunes on the keyboard, but just to keep the beat to the song by pressing two keys over and over. I was quite impressed with my little musician!

You can purchase the Kinderbach lessons on DVD in sets of five weeks or get the entire first year (30 weeks) for $197.95. Or you can have access to all 60 weeks worth of lessons online for just $85.95 per year. I think that's a pretty sweet deal when you figure piano lessons usually cost no less than $40 per month per child. Kinderbach also offers a 30-Day money back guarantee and you can try the first two weeks for free! So with the risk of sounding like a corny, late-night infomercial...what are you waiting for?!

Check out other reviews of Kinderbach at the TOS Crew blog.
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Accountability

I realize this is utterly generic and somewhat pathetic to do this on January 3rd, but...

I have a scary new widget at the bottom of my blog.

Yes, you have to scroll all..the...way down.

Go ahead, I'll wait.

(Drumming fingers...)

Did you see it? Scary, huh?!

Yes, it's time to lose the weight I've put on from having 6 children in 8 years. I don't plan to stop having children, but I desperately want to do it in a healthier way. I have accountability from a trainer who put together a workout and diet program for me. I'll be only meeting with her once a month (as long as our budget allows). So feel free to keep me accountable. I'm planning to post a weekly update here.

My goals are:

1700 calories a day (a little on the high end since I am still nursing)
Lots of water
3 days a week of cardio (45 minutes each)
2 days a week of strength training (45 minutes each)

I plan to break this up throughout the day and include the kids as much as possible.

I've actually done this before with great results, so I don't feel like its impossible. I'm trying to be motivated by a healthier lifestyle and not just by pure vanity. I'm certain God will bless my efforts if I have pure motives, but its hard to not be driven solely by the fact that I have a meltdown every...single...time I try to find something to wear when I am leaving the house. I know that true beauty doesn't come from outward appearances, but it's still a struggle, ya know? Pin It Now!

Memories of Christmas

A few years ago my aunt asked me to share my testimony and sing "Mary's Prayer" by Bebo Norman at a family Christmas party. Believe me when I say my singing voice is NOTHING to brag about. But it was an honor to share my testimony with my extended family at Christmas and this year I taught the song to the kids to sing at each of the Christmas parties we have went to. Here's a very blurry video of them singing it to me at home...

I got very few pictures on Christmas Day. I always get a little caught up in the rush and excitement of Christmas and forget the pictures. And to be honest, I've never really cared for photos of the kids opening presents. I can never seem to get the right lighting or angle. These pictures were taken on Christmas Eve when we were dressed up. We go much more casual on Christmas Day.

Isn't Baby L just the most adorable thing you've ever seen?! My dad and stepmom bought the girls Christmas dresses and I think Baby L looks like an adorable snowflake in hers.

This was also my first attempt at making her a headband and matching bow. I love putting baby headbands on her, but since she's past the newborn stage, they are all getting a little tight. I found these free instructions on how to crochet the headband and this site that shows how to make bows. I think it turned out cute and I can't wait to make more.

I'm still really trying to digest Christmas and how it went. Our Christmas morning was really nice. We read the conclusion to Jotham's Journey (our advent story), we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, read Luke 2, and gave presents to Jesus...a tradition started when our oldest was a baby...we each write down (or draw) a gift for Jesus on a piece of paper. These are basically promises or resolutions for the upcoming year. In the past I have promised to read the Bible in a year, to pray more, to find more opportunities to serve. This year I have made a commitment to "choose love". Then we slip our pieces of paper into a wrapped box. We each took turns opening our presents. G8 told me that his favorite gift was a set of three chapter books we got him...can you believe it? Amidst wii games, an erector set, remote control cars and more, he chose books as his favorite...oh, my heart swells!

But I can't seem to get a few moments of deep sadness out of my mind...a wife celebrating without her beloved husband, a father who grieves each year for a brother lost on Christmas Eve, and then this moment...

I absent mindedly ask my cousin's wife if she will see her family for Christmas. I have forgotten that she has told me before her family doesn't celebrate it. I have become fast friends with her since she joined the family and Chad and I really enjoy getting together with her and my cousin, though it doesn't happen nearly enough.

"Oh, my family doesn't celebrate Christmas," she says.

"That's right," I say as I shake my head for forgetting, "I knew that."

"I really don't like to either," she continues. "I mean I like the family and the food, but I don't get into all this." She points to a Santa decoration nearby. "You know, the whole Santa thing...and the Jesus thing..." she trails off.

I pause for a moment. She knows of my faith. I smile and say as gently as I can, "Perhaps we can change your mind one day."

You can't see a wall being built up, but you can feel it. "No," she says. "I don't think you could ever do that. Just like I could never change your mind about your faith."

How my heart breaks for a heart that seems so hard...so unchangeable. Am I obedient enough to make a difference? Am I bold enough to speak when God tells me to and humble enough to be silent otherwise? Am I committed enough to pray for her as fervently as I should?

If He can change the heart of this sinner, I am certain he can change her heart as well. What a day of celebration that would be. Pin It Now!

One year in 40 seconds.

Don't worry...God really does make all things new. Pin It Now!

Peterson Directed Handwritng

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I have been given the wonderful opportunity to review many homeschool products over the next several months. I feel truly blessed to be participating in this review group and I'm looking forward to trying out the products and giving you my honest opinion.

Peterson Directed Handwriting has been teaching handwriting since 1908...now that in itself is quite impressive! Using this program you can teach your child fluent print and cursive handwriting.


The complete packages include Teacher's Manual, Student workbook, Peterson's triangular pencils, Audio CD and CD-ROM and cost around $38-45. If you are ordering for multiple children, you can order additional basic packages that are only $15.05 that don't include duplicate Audio CDs and the CD-ROM.

If you are looking for a very thorough program to teach your children handwriting then Peterson Directed Handwriting is the perfect option. Each of the lessons took us about 20-25 minutes to complete. You can even teach your child handwriting using your computer with Peterson's animated letter cards. (Click the link to see the animation samples.) Teaching letters is broken down into four steps:

1. Illustrate and Describe
2. Airwriting
3. Finger tracing
4. Write and Say

Peterson's site is plum full of research articles to help you with all of your handwriting needs from choosing the right program to helping your left-handed child. You can even meet live online with Mr. Pencil himself (Randy Nelson) for one-on-one help.

I won't go as far as to say that my children enjoy our Peterson Handwriting lessons, but it has not been a struggle to get them to complete it. However, I will say that this program is not one that I just love to teach. Broken down, each lesson is pretty easy to follow, but as a whole this method is a little overwhelming. Plus, we really haven't encountered any major struggle with pretty handwriting yet, so it hasn't been a priority for me. While I am confident that this program would really help the child who is in need of more structured handwriting instruction, I'm just not sure we are quite there yet.

Don't just take my word for it though...check out the TOS Crew blog and I encourage you to read Jenn's review as well. She seemed to feel the same way as I did, but toughed it out a little longer and saw some pretty amazing improvements with her boys!


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