Monthly Archives: October 2008

Great deal from The Old Schoolhouse

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Christmas is just around the corner. Fall has led to cooler evenings and mornings and last night our family just had some yummy hot apple cider! It was delicious. What does your family do to enjoy fall and the days leading up to Christmas?

Did you ever dream of getting a horse for Christmas? You can get a sneak peek of The Old Schoolhouse’s Fall issue and see Nancy Carter’s first horse! Oh, and she’s not the only one sharing her childhood pictures. You’ll see photos from the 50′s through the 80′s.

But, you’ll need the Fall issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine to go on this walk down memory lane.

Plus, do you like to create holiday memories? The brand new TOS holiday E-Book can be yours, too. It’s all about the fall and winter holidays – mainly Thanksgiving and Christmas. But it’s not even for sale yet. This is your chance to get it first - for FREE ($12.45 value)!

Normally when a person subscribes, their subscription starts with the upcoming issue which can take a while. But, TOS thought about that when they planned their Fall Special.

If you subscribe now with their Fall Special, you’ll get

Almost 50% off the cover price for 2 years The current Fall issue as soon as it is ready

6 Bonus gifts

12 months of Teacher’s Toolbox, which contains a FREE E-Book every month PLUS, the new E-Book, Homespun Holidays for FREE!

This is over $250 worth of product for only $39!!

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE NOW!

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All About Spelling Giveaway

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This giveaway is now closed! Winner will be notified by email and announced in separate post. Thanks for entering!

Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival Button

How much fun are these bloggy giveaway carnivals? I have never participated in one by giving anything away, but I sure do hope that someone will be blessed by what I have to offer. What am I giving away? The complete Level One set for the All About Spelling program. This program is especially great for homeschoolers and includes the following:

  • One teacher’s book
  • One student material packet ( four sets of flashcards: phonogram cards, sound cards, key cards, and word cards; labeled index card dividers; tokens; progress chart; completion certificate). You can learn more about the material packet here.
  • Letter tiles
  • Phonogram CD

Priced together, this giveaway would be worth around $55 before shipping and tax.

All you have to do is leave a comment and on November 1st I will use the random generator to choose a winner. I will announce the winner that afternoon. I will then contact you by email and you will have 4 days to respond with your address. If I don’t hear from the winner after those four days, I will pick the runner up.

*Update! I am giving you all a way to earn two more entries! For bonus entry #1 all you have to do is subscribe to my blog and leave a separate comment saying that you are a new (or old!) subscriber. For bonus entry #2, follow me on Twitter and leave another separate comment saying that you are now (or have been!) following me on Twitter. You can see my twitter bar on the left side, bottom, and follow me that way. If you leave a regular comment, plus the two bonus entries, that is a total of THREE entries! *
* NOTE: This is only open to US residents. Sorry! *

Also, as a gift to my beloved readers, Malia Russell, of Homemaking 911, is giving every one of you a free copy of her mp3 audio workshop entitled The Joy of the LORD is My Strength and Keeping Young Ones Happy and Occupied During School Time. In order to receive this free gift, visit this site and enter in the coupon code KWRUSS. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

For more great blog giveaways this week, visit Bloggy Giveaways.

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My blog is loved. I love your blog, too.

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Michelle, a bloggy friend, who shares my love of brown Crocs, and also understands my frustration with toasters, bestowed an award upon my humble bloggy home. As part of the award I am to present the award to seven other blogs that I particularly like. It sure is hard to pick only seven. If you look at my blog reader, I like a lot of blogs. I did my best, however, and here they are. In no particular order of course.

A drum roll, please?

* Coach Mom Says . . .

* Teaching Diligently

* i have to say . . .

* Counter-Cultural Mom

* A Frog in My Soup

* Praise and Coffee

* Love’s School

Now, the above seven need to:

*display the award on their blogs
*link back to the person who gave it to you (that would be me!)
*pay it forward & nominate 7 blogs
*add links to those seven blogs
*leave comments on their blog telling them you gave them an award
*enjoy the award

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Sharing the Love

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We all know we just dig the traffic from other blogs. Come on. Admit it.

So, in celebration of the fact, I’ll be starting a blog link section in one of my sidebars. If you want the link love, leave a comment. I will, of course, have to check out your blog and make sure it isn’t anything “scusting” – read “disgusting” in 3 year old language.

And shamelessly, I do appreciate my link being added to your blog.

Happy Monday!

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Got Books?

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You are such great bloggy friends that I wanted to share with you a great website: Homeschool Library Builder. And for those of you who do not homeschool, this site is still a good find. We all like books, right?

Here are a few descriptions of what this business can do for you:

“Our Purpose: Although we happen to be homeschoolers, please do not be misled! Our books are excellent choices for anyone, regardless of age or chosen educational path. Our desire and delight is to assist you by offering selections to enrich your child’s education, from preschool through high school, and beyond. In addition to books recommended by highly-respected and widely used homeschool curriculums, we offer titles specifically chosen to supplement unit studies, promote sound moral character, and provide knowledge of truths for curious youngsters. We want to help you build your own excellent library and create memorable reading experiences for your family!

What we sell: We stock new and used, hardcover and softcover titles. Most of our new titles are publisher’s remainders and overstocks. Our used books are rated by condition and priced accordingly. Most of our used titles are in very good or better condition. Additionally, we are always on the lookout for hard-to-find or out-of-print titles. For more information on book condition ratings, click here. “

They also have a really cool HSLB Book Points Membership Rewards Program. You can check out the info on that here. (By the way, if you join, please list your referrer as Kelly Russell. Thanks so much!)

One of the things that really caught my eye when I first visited this website was the fact that you can search for books based on the following curricula: Ambleside, Beautiful Feet, Five in a Row, Sonlight, Tapestry of Grace, and Veritas Press. This is a real time saver when you are looking for specific books.

I have not shared with you the best of all, however. Right now they are having their “Big Bin Blowout Sale.” This means that hundreds of the books in the $1, $2, $3, and $5 bins on the left-hand side of the screen are marked down to even better prices. You can be sure I will be shopping their today.

Happy book hunting!

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Filling up the landfills, one paper plate at a time

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After having had my fourth child, these are things I have learned are not so bad:

- Ready-made frozen pie crusts

- Disposable diapers

- Not doing all of the recommended activities in my oldest daughters math curriculum. Amazing concept! She still gets what she needs to learn. Took me long enough to figure that one out. Ahem.

- Paper plates. I heart paper plates.

- Charlie and Lola.

- Wrinkled clothing. Smooth, neat clothing is so overrated.

- Overdue library books. I haven’t had one yet, but it is going to happen. I can just tell. And amazingly enough, I don’t think I’ll be any nearer to a prison cell.

- Hot dogs. (Actually, yes, hot dogs are still gross. Eww. But man, they are just so easy!)

- Pancake mixes.

- Sam’s Club

- My Maryjane-style Crocs. Did you know you can wear them to church, too? I know. I know. I think I just heard some people gasp in horror. I have not yet worn them to church, but, like the overdue library books, I know it is going to happen. I also heart my Crocs.

- Dirty floors.

- 15 passenger vans. I can tell it is in my future.

- FLYlady. I am now a flybaby.

Now that I have divulged all of my deepest, darkest secrets to you, share with me what you learned after having your child(ren).

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Total Randomness

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* I get to try out and review this art curriculum. I. am. totally. excited.

* I have got a total case of momnesia. I had a great idea of what to make the kiddos and the hubby for lunch today. And now? I have no clue what it was. At least it doesn’t involve a toaster. (Probably only Michelle will get that one. Right, Michelle? I guess I should dedicate a post entirely to my toaster problems)

* This is why I love to homeschool. I get to see these all day.

* This post I had about our solution to colic? I expected to receive lots of nasty grams for taking my baby to a chiropractor, but instead I got lots of emails wanting to know more about it. Parents of colicky babies, unite!

* Fall is here! And while it is still hotter here than a really yummy four-alarm chili, I want to know y’alls bestest, yummiest soups and chilis. Share away, bloggy friends! I’ll even put on a sweater and pretend it is nippy outside while I try them out.

* Did you know you can get a Joann Fabrics Teacher Discount Card? Did you also know it is still better to use your 40% off coupons? I don’t get it.

* I need info from my great online friends about kids with wheat allergies. What kind of foods do you feed your kids?

I think that is all for now. Hugs all around!

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Works For Me Wednesday – Colic

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I have not done WFMW for quite a while now. This is mostly due to the fact that I rarely have anything to share that many people do not already do. In other words, my creativity is lacking. Ahem.

Today is really no different. But because I am struggling with a blog post right now I thought I would take a break and share something on WFMW. Hopefully it will assist someone!

My fourth child is one of those babies. You know. The ones that cry for hours on end. Yep. She has colic. I have never understood parents who complained of colicky babies. My reasoning was that all babies cry to some extent. What is a little bit more?

I now know. And boy oh boy, do I feel their pain!

I was sharing with my midwife a little while ago how my littlest one is so fussy and cries so much. She told me to take her to the chiropractor. Her granddaughter was a colicky baby who wouldn’t sleep at night and was immensely helped by a chiropractic adjustment.

If you are like I am, your immediate thought is: What?! Take a baby to a chiropractor?

Yeah.

Let me tell y’all, folks. It works. I took her to the chiro on Monday and we already see a great measure of improvement. As in, she is sleeping through the night. Yep. She only gets up once now to eat.

Our chiropractor, who is qualified to treat infants, does not use the usual way of adjusting infants as she does for adults. It is very gentle. And it works.

Our little Sweet Pea will probably need another adjustment or two. She is well on her way towards being much more comfortable and dare I say it, the rest of the family is, too. This is truly a blessing from God!

If you would like any more info, please feel free to email me at mamarussell at gmail dot com. (Replacing, of course, the word “at” with an “@” and the word “dot” with an actual “.”)

For more Works for Me Wednesday ideas, visit Shannon.

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The Old Schoolhouse – Fall Promotion

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If y’all have read this post you know that I love The Old Schoolhouse magazine. Homeschooling can seem like a daunting task unless you have support and fresh ideas to help keep things moving along smoothly. The Old Schoolhouse has both. I know I appreciate reading the issues and learning from others who are veteran homeschooling parents.

Because of this, I am so excited to share with all of you the Fall Promotion for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Here are the nitty-gritty details about The Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Fall Special. You can get two years of the magazine, 6 fabulous physical gifts (no downloads!) worth over $120, plus the current issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine that is full of ideas for the new school year, so you start receiving your magazine in a flash!

It really is one of their best deals ever and you don’t want to miss out. In fact, they’ve got a really cute Homeschooling with Heart tote bag (valued at $13.95) for the first 1000 to subscribe. About half of them are gone, but you should still be able to get one if you hurry!
(They will remove the info from the subscription page when the bags are all gone.) The total value is over $212, but you receive it all for only $39 – 50% off of cover price! Plus subscribers get their online monthly Teacher’s Toolbox which focuses on a different topic each month, giving you words of encouragement, hands-on teaching ideas, book recommendations, field trip ideas, and a bonus download item.

So really, this is such a great deal and I know you all will be as encouraged by this great magazine as I have been. In His grace,

Kelly

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