From the Inbox

Here is what was in my in-box today, I have only included the items I thought were blog worthy.


First up the the weekly freebie from Currclick the Joy of Handwriting Bible Copywork - Cursive & Manuscript by Teach me Joy."This set of copywork worksheets is designed as handwriting practice work for both manuscript and cursive writers. It is a companion to The Joy of Handwriting handwriting program, which teaches both lowercase and capital letters."


From Connect the Thoughts free spelling courses starting Wednesday June 29, 2011 until late Friday July 1, 2011. Chose from Starter ages 5-6 pre-literature, elementary 7-8 for those who are developing literacy and lower/upper school ages 9-adult. These links will not work until tomorrow. I will check them to make sure they are connecting properly tomorrow.


News from the Homeschool Lounge a recently new language program Speekee's Special Spanish Homeschool curriculum. Two weeks free after that it is $7.50 per month.


From Maria's Math author of Mammoth Math comes a newsletter packed with reviews on some useful math products. Also a free trial for AdaptedMind an online math program for K-6 with a cost of $9.95 a month if you wish to continue. You need to scroll down to activate the free trial.

I'm glad I was unable to publish this blog yesterday because some individuals were having problems with the Tux Math download, if you have this problem please use this link for the download. This is one of the products Maria had list in her newsletter.


One of my favorite blogs Jimmie's Collage contains some great information on teaching math. If you don't subscribe to this blog you should, Jimmie has all kinds of creative ways of teaching along with posting reviews and more, all geared towards homeschooling. The one area that stood out the most was the living history for math. What a great idea incorporating the history of math into your math curriculum. I think this would allow a greater understanding and maybe even retention of concepts.


From Pillsbury, I always try to keep crescent rolls on hand because I can make various dishes with them. While this recipe for Sloppy Joe Casserole uses the bread sticks it can easily be adapted to use crescent rolls instead. A nice quick and easy meal, substitute ground turkey for a healthier dish.

4th of July Fun

Today in my email I received various copies of the newsletters I subscribe to. All had products geared towards the 4th of July, Independence Day. While some of the information was good and useful, I want a break from school. I need it just as much as the kids do and anything that resembles school is unwanted at this time.


However, I am all for fun learning along with occupying the kids with fun activities for the 4th of July. When I was young we had a block party every year. Families would come together outside of their homes, the street was blocked off and us kids had a blast. There were all kinds of activities such as the bike parade, my favorite, I remember spending the day before decorating my bike for the event. Prizes were awarded for various areas and ages, I won two different times. Younger children decorate or their parents did pedal cars and wagons, so if you are thinking about doing something like if it has wheels it's a go

There were all types of games for the youth and the adults. The fire truck would come out, open the fire hydrandt and hook up one of the hoses to the top of the truck somehow and it was a great big shower of fun. Men would grab the children's wagons and drag their wives out of the house and down to the fire truck for a shower. We had a blast, while you might not be able to have a block party you can still have fun with your family and friends.


Family Fun has some great ideas for the 4th July including parade wear.

4th of July Games includes other pages for food and more.

4th of July for preschoolers

More 4th of July for preschoolers

Hot Dog eating contest

4th of July Games

4th of July front porch ideas.

This post linked to No Ordinary Blog Hop

New Picture Books From Kane Miller

Kane Miller is one of the and more in Usborne Books and More. Their books feature authors from all over the world, many who write about their country and have won awards, like Anna Hibiscus.

While considering prices please realize that all books are hardback and are good quality books that your family will cherish for years to come.

THE BIG SNUGGLE-UP
Hardback $15.99 ages 4-8

Brian Patten, a celebrated contemporary British poet, fashions a rhythmical tale, made even more sublime by Nicola Bayley's exquisite illustrations.

* A beautiful holiday gift
* Just right for bedtime
* Classic artwork by award-winning illustrator
* Lyrical text with a cumulative refrain
* One-on-one or storytime read-aloud

ACORNS AND STEW, TOO
Hardback $15.99 ages 4-8

Originally published in the 70s, Ruth Orbach has updated her text for a modern audience.

* Artwork with retro flair
* Empowered, action-taking heroine
* Adorable ducks!



ANNA HIBISCUS' SONG
Hardback $15.99 ages 3-7

Atinuke's Anna Hibiscus stars in a her own picture book gloriously illustrated by Lauren Tobia!

* Award-winning Anna Hibiscus series
* Brilliantly colorful illustrations
* Splendid storytime read-aloud
* Feelings, family, multiculturalism, Africa


IT'S ALMOST TIME
Hardback $14.99 ages 3-7

Debbie Bernstein LaCriox makes a spirited debut with this exuberant picture book illustrated by Sarah Chalek.

* Rollicking onomatopoetic text
* Lively vibrant illustrations
* Delightful read-aloud
* Conducive to listener participation


A HOCKEY STORY
Hardback $10.99 ages 4-8

Son of a Hockey Hall-of-Famer, Richard Torrey launches a new day-in-the-life

sports series for the youngest sports enthusiasts.

* Emphasis on teamwork and friendship
* True-to-life
* Whimsical, child-friendly illustrations


MY ANIMAL WORLD
Hardback $18.99 ages 2-4

A collection of 15 tiny board books enclosed in a sturdy case make for a perfect introduction to favorite animals!

* Sized just right for little hands
* Simple and appealing illustrations
* Perfect for lap-time sharing
* Cover images in case encourage matching skills

Space Camp Unit Study

Here is one of the new products that got me excited, the Space Explorers Camp Kits. While these kits are geared towards use during the summer, I feel from a homeschoolers perspective they would make a great unit study.

There are three kits, the Junior Astronaut kit is geared towards Pre-K through 1st grade, Discovery Astronaut Camp kit is for 2nd-3rd graders and the Apollo Astronaut Camp kit for 4th through 6th graders.

Each kit is $80.00 and comes with five books and an official camp notebook, note that the Apollo kit comes with six books. There are eight missions which take about three hours to complete. These can be completed once a week or dragged out for a week.

With a focus on physics students will engage in reading, writing and drawing while following the 5 E's of the learning cycle. They will be engaged, explore, elaborate, explain and evaluate. This is all done through Usborne Books and More and experiments. The notebook has pages for recording the students findings as the work through each mission.

This program has various up points, it is simply and easy to implement, various books are internet linked allowing the student to explore topics of interest in more depth and can be used with multiple age/grade levels. You can purchase mulitple kits at discounted prices, for instance purchase Junior and Discovery kits for $115.00. You can also purchase additional notebooks for $15.00 which would be great if you wanted to use the program for co-op.


You can view the overview along with samples here and scroll down to Usborne Books and More. These are PDFs and I have not figured out how to attach them here, if it is possible at all.

Celebrating With A Giveaway

Oh my books and felt galore, so much excitement with these two great companies. I blog, conduct research, have a web site with links for homeschoolers, free lance and am an independent consultant with two great companies. I don't make a lot of money doing what I do, but I love what I do. So, what is it exactly that I do? I aid in the education of the world's greatest natural resource, the children.


The Lord spoke to me one day and said "I want you to help every child be what I have created them to be." So, this I try to do to the best of my ability.

Usborne Books and More and Story Time Felts and More both seek to aid in educating our future. I just recieved my newsletter from Usborne and I am so excited by all the new titles they have recently released. While new titles are coming out all year long, twice a year is the mother load.

Story Time Felts also released new products along with new consultant web sites. I chose to customize mine so it will be a while before it is up and running. For those who are not familiar with this company the biggest thing that impressed me was that fact that it is run by a homeschool mom. Who better to put out educational products than a mom who was going to use them her self.

This is not a regular blog for me, but it has not been a regular day either, I am bursting at the seems with all the opportunities these companies not only for those who seek the products, but for those who sell them also.


Because I know what great products these companies offer I want to do a giveaway. Yes!!! What a way to celebrate a new web site, new titles, new felt products, new fundraising opportunity, new consultant opportunities and I know there is more.

Here is how you can win the Old Lady Who Swallowed the Fly items pictured above.

1.) Email me at edjumpoff@yahoo.com and ask to recieve the newsletter for one or both of these companies, each newsletter counts as two each.

2.) Comment that you share on Facebook and/or Twitter each one counts as one.

3.) Comment that you posted on your blog counts two.

5.) Leave a comment stating why you love Usborne or Story Time Felts counts one.

6.) Comment that you are now following or do follow counts five.

Drawing will be held on June 22,2011



This post is linked to No Ordinary Blog Hop.

Stocking the Shelves

I love, love, love books and have raised all my children to love them also. Since the beginning of my homeschool days I have stocked my book shelves with educational books for the children. Of course they have their own stock of books they like to read, but none are educational. Which is fine with me I don't mind supplying them.

However, most of the books have sat beind deemed boring. Boring there are award winners on those shelves, Call it Courage and The Sign of the Beaver, just to name a few. There are also books on figures from history, poetry and science all deemed borrriiinnnggg!!


Up until recently there have been two books on those shelves which have been used over and over agian. The dictionary and the Chidren's Atlas of the World which I first discovered at a local library. While it I feel it is too young for the boys, they love looking at the maps and seeing the images of the different things each country/state has to offer. Brett loves that he can easily find out quick facts by using the fact file in the back of the book.


When I first started homeschooling I frequent a variety of message boards gleening all that I could. One book that was talked about a lot and which I purchased is Tom Brown's Field Guide to Nature Observation and Tracking. Brandon discovered the book about a year ago and learned a lot from it. The other night Brett wanted to go to bed early and asked Brandon if he had anything boring to read, Brandon handed him the book. As Brett was leaving the room Brandon made this comment, "But, it is not boring." Brett confessed he stayed up until 2:00 AM reading the boring book and shared with me yesterday all he had learned.

Stock those shelves, you just never know what they will pick up. Oh and the other books were ones we had used for school and I saved, so I did not spend extra money.

This post is linked to No Ordinary Blog Hop.

Five Question Friday June 3, 2011

Click on the button above to see how everyone else answered the questions or copy and paste the questions into your own blog and just link up.

1. If you had to choose, how would you prefer to choose to spend money...on landscaping or a pool?
While I would love to have a pool with this Louisiana heat and humidity, my husband says it costs to much to maintain. Party popper!!! It would be great to have someone else come and do my landscaping and I would pay to have it professional done. If I have to do myself, that could get scary. I'm definitely all down with pool.

2. (Scott likes to get things stirred up...) Death penalty, yay or nay? This is a very controversial question one which we all have strong opinions about either way. For me I feel there are those who should get the death penalty, so I'm a yayer.

3. What's the worst thing your kid has gotten into when you turned your back/blogged/showered/blinked?
Both of the boys have gotten into their sisters stuff, who by the way is 5 years older than one and 7 years older than the other one. Brandon now 14 got into some hair dye she had, it was the temporary kind, but it was kinda like a paste type stuff which he had all over the bathroom toilet, floor and wall. Brett one time decided to see what lipstick would like on the bottom of his foot. So, there was lipstick foot prints through out the bathroom.

4. How often do you REALLY go to the dentist?
I was good for a while about going on a regular basis. After we left Chicago six years ago I have not been at all, is this bad?

5. What is your favorite animal (doesn't have to be a pet-type animal)?
Cats, I love cats both domestic and the big cats. If I could have a panthar for a pet it would be a dream come true.

Activity Cards

Usborne Books and More has a variety of activity cards and flash cards, great for vacation time, lengthly car rides, doctor visits or learning on the go.

All cards are double sided, some use a dry erase marker such as the Math Puzzles and the Animal Doodles. There are Touchy Feely cards, Spanish, ABC, Animals, Phonics and much more. Those which require a dry erase marker do come with one however, you can use any dry erase marker.


Others are spotter cards great for those with an interest in Rocks and Minerals, Dinosaurs, Animals, Horses or the Night Sky. These are fact based cards with an image on one side and facts on the other.

Cards can be hole punched and placed on a ring making it nice for travel instead of carrying around a box. It will also make it easy for children to share by dividing up cards, say five to a ring. Nice because once they get bored you can just pull out another ring.


This post is linked to No Ordinary Blog Hop.

Knowledge Quest Facebook Party

This coming Monday, June 6, 2011 at 8:00 PM EST Knowledge Quest will hold a Facebook Party to celebrate their 10th anniversery. There will be door prizes, guests from various homeschool publishers and also a drawing to take place on their blog.

The newsletter says everyone who comes will get a prize which will start shortly after the hour. This party lasts for an hour come and stay how ever long you want. Mingle or don't mingle, you will also have an opportunity to ask questions of the guests. So come and join the party even if you are just going to be a wall flower.

Knowledge Quest web site.