High School To Preschool

Raising Your Kids To Love The Lord A Must Read

Finally a book that tells the truth and does not try and sugar coat what parents MUST do to have Godly children! Dave is honest throughout his writing letting you know there are not 3 simple steps to get the job done. If you are truly wanting to have a peaceful home with children that love the Lord, Dave will get you off to a fantastic start! We Need more books like this that tell you the walk will not always be easy, it takes time but the results are SO worth it. What Dave shares is not hard, but it does take time and you MUST be consistent. I would put this book at the top of the list for new parents!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Building Family Ties With Faith Love And Laughter

Building Family Ties With Faith Love And Laughter by Dave Stone is a wonderful family building book If you are a first time parent, wanting a better family life, needing help in trying to build better values, standards and family time, then this should be a MUST read! It is great to find an author that tells it like it is (these are hard to find these days). To build a strong family means YOU must take action and give of yourself unselfishly. You have to invest time in your children, the same way you would do your job to gain promotions or better pay, to build strong family ties! Dave lets you know that YES, this can be done but YOU have to put in the time and the LOVE. I feel this is a great book for ALL families!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Wonder Dads Check It Out!!

I wanted to share a great site with everyone. It's called Wonder Dads. Here is their mission statement.

Like so many other Dads, I love being with my kids, but struggle to find the right work/home balance. We are a part of a generation where Dads play much more of an active role with their kids, yet the professional and financial strains are greater than ever. We hope that the ideas in our books and other products make it a little easier to be inspired to do something that makes you a hero in the eyes of your children.

This part of our children's lives goes by too fast, but the memories from a WonderDads inspired trip, event, meal, or activity last a long time (and will probably be laughed about when they grow up). So plan a Daddy day once a week, make breakfast together every Saturday morning, watch your football team every Sunday, or whatever works for you, and be amazed how long they will remember the memories and how good you will feel about yourself in the process.

Monday Preschool Link Up Come Join~!

There are so many fun things about teaching preschoolers . . . and right here is the perfect place for us to encourage one another in this fabulous calling! Below you can share the link to a post or article on your blog about preschool or your preschoolers, whether it be about teaching, crafts, lesson plans, kids meals, a funny story about your preschooler, etc.

To share a link to your post about preschool, you can use the Linky below . . . just share your link information below (it’s that easy)!

High School Rings

WOW! It's hard to believe that I'm looking at high school rings with my girls. I still remember the excitement when it was time to order mine. I remember looking through the book wondering HOW could I decide. All of my friends were getting the traditional style ring, but I wanted something different. I still can hear my friends telling me how silly I was going against tradition, but I didn't waver from what I wanted.

I knew so many young women who had stopped where their ring for they didn't like the look of it anymore. So I wanted something that I KNEW I would wear all the time (rings were not cheap and I didn't want to waste my parents money) and that is just what I choose. I didn't stop wearing my ring till I had children. The only ring I wore was my wedding band. Rings can be hard on the hands of a mother. All the bottle washing, house cleaning, child bathing, etc.

I shared my ring story with my girls. I wanted them to pick out something they would wear for a long time and would pass down to their children or grandchildren.
Happy Homeschooling~!

Building An Alphabet Book & Preschool Link Up Monday

I just LOVED making these with my older girls and NOW I get to do it again with Christia. It's very easy and you don't need much to get started.

I like to do a letter a week. This gives us plenty of time to learn the letter (perhaps the sound) and find great items to put on the letter page. I like to build the whole week around the featured letter. Here is how I do it.

Supplies:

Construction Paper
String or Yarn
Markers, crayons OR both
Hole Punch
Old Magazines or computer print-outs

Instructions: Punch holes along one edge of the pieces of construction paper. Line the holes up and thread the yarn through the holes and tie in a bow. This makes the book.

Now let me share with you a tip. I found it better to let the child create each page first then at the end of the alphabet you help them create the book. This way if there is a mistake or say... oh I don't know, PB&J gets on it... you don't have to take the book apart.

Make sure you put in an extra page for the cover or title page. Help your child give it a title or you can stick with the old tried and true... MY ALPHABET BOOK.

Now each page will feature a letter. You can help the child by writing the letter on there OR you can go to Mr. Computer and print out a BIG letter that they can color and paste (does this show my age, we always had paste in school??) or glue on there. THEN... find things in old magazines that you can cut out or go to Mr. Computer again and print out things that start with that letter OR you or your child can draw items that start with the letter.

I would sometimes let them glue {paste} yarn or beans around the letter to give it a little artistic flair. Get creative with your book. I also tried to find a snack that went with that letter. Apple for A, banana for B. I could not find one for X so I made cookies in the shape of X. The main thing is have fun and let them show off their work to family and friends!!

Fun Preschool Games

Summer is a busy time for most families and with preschoolers about it can be an unorganized mess IF you are not a little organized. Summer is also a great time to start teaching certain skills to your preschooler. Here is a GREAT summer or anytime game to teach your preschooler counting skills.

Picking up the cherries will also help with their motor skills. Other ways to help them in this area is putting together puzzles, playing with blocks, turning pages in the books that are read to them and putting things in and out of jars {my daughter LOVES that}.

Candyland is another FUN game that can start your preschooler on the way to learning colors. Don't forget to talk about colors through out your day. Like...would you like a red apple for a snack, you have a pretty blue shirt on today, or let's go play in the green grass. Well, you get the idea.

Bingo is ALWAYS fun and it comes in so many different ways now for preschoolers. Look for ones that offer shapes, letters, numbers or picture words. There are also TONS of memory games available now which as always been my childrens favorite.

One of may favorites is the sandbox. Not only can they have a SUPER time digging and playing but you can use the sandbox to draw shapes, letters and numbers! If you don't have the space for a sandbox (I know I didn't, when my older ones where small for we were in an apartment) then I used some LARGE baking dishes and filled them with sand or salt and we sat at the dinner table with our fingers or a straw and played there.

Also another fun item that my daughter Christia LOVES is sidewalk chalk. I will sit with the baby out back while she makes a lovely picture on the patio for me. It's hours of fun for her to draw, write, etc.

I hope this will give you a few ideas to get your summer and school year off and running.

Happy Homeschooling~!

Preschool Homeschool Link Up

Our Books Are Here!

Tom and I went to the A Beka material display here in town a week ago to place our order for the new and FINAL year of our 2 oldest daughters. It was a sad yet happy day for even though it was our final year for Katie and Maryanna, Chrisita will begin her preschool and "T" will not be far behind her.

It's always "Christmas" time when our new school books arrive. ALL of us can't wait to open the box and see inside the new books. Each child starts making their "own" stack of books. The physics book looks a little scary to me...LOL~! It's as BIG as a dictionary!!

I'm so glad that I ordered Christia a book for preschool (which I almost didn't) for she was SO excited to be part of the excitment.

Here is what our high school year will look like:
1. Bible - Genesis & Revelation
2. Math- Precalculus (honors)
3. Science- Physics (honors)
4. English 12
5. History- American Government & Economics
6. Speech & Family Consumer Science

I will be teaching Christia preschool using some of the A Beka materials. You can look at my older post here to see what her day will look like.

Now that our new books are in we can enjoy the summer, but NOT for long. I want to make sure the girls (Katie and Maryanna) get a nice start this year, for we HAVE to have their reports done by a certain date if they want to attend the graduation in Pensacola, which they DO (I will be posting pictures)!

NEW Preschool Homeschool Monday Link Up

I'm so excited to let everyone know that I will be hosting a Preschool link up every Monday!! So if you blog about preschool OR homeschool preschoolers, PLEASE COME JOIN the FUN and post your link on Mondays (Don't forget to add our button to your sidebar or post). If you know of a great preschool blog, share it with us.

I'm hoping to find great preschool resources for everyone. I will be adding resources that I have used and ones that I find that may help in your journey. If you offer a preschool product let me know and send me a link to learn about your item.

Until Monday...Happy Homeschooling~!

It's Summer

Sorry I have been so quite on the bloggy. Our new student (our 4th child) for homeschooling has arrived. I'm looking forward to getting back in the saddle with preschool again and finishing our final year of high school.

I am hoping to be a little more organized with my homeschool posts so those that are looking for some preschool help can find it better. Please don't let the fact that I'm using A Beka stopping from dropping by, for I will be blogging about the things I did with my older 2 girls and I will still be using those same items with the new students. I will be offering some FREE preschool downloads, sharing some preschool snack recipes, and MORE!! So make sure you follow.

We have ordered our new school books and I can't wait to share them with you when they come in. I hope that everyone will have a great summer vacation~!

New Site Come Join Me!!

Hi Everyone! I wanted to share my new site with you. Modern Vintage Homemaking I moved to my own .com address. I'm hoping to keep thing well organized for everyone. I will be blogging about home management, family, cooking, spiritual growth, etc. I'm going to keep my homeschool blogging here though. I hope you will stop by and maybe even follow me for fellowship and turning our homes into havens for our family.

I will be offering several FREE items as well to help you on your homemaking journey.

The Principle of the Path by Andy Stanley

The Principle of the Path by Andy Stanley

Not where you want to be? Wondering how to get there? The Principle of the Path is a simple principle that IF you apply it to your daily life you will avoid life wasting detours.

I was excited to receive this book for this is the first Andy Stanley book I have read. This book was hard to review for how do you review a conversation with a friend? This is just how this book reads. I felt like I was at a coffee shop with a dear friend enjoying a wonderful conversation.

The Principle of the Path is NOT a self help book or a step-by-step guide. I found this to be a quick and easy read. If you have trip coming up, this would be a great book to read on the plane or car. Andy tells you the principle of the path but it's up to you and you alone to apply it to your life. You will come away from this book feeling like you know Andy as a friend by reading the stories he shares of himself and family. Andy brings his points to light by the scriptures he quotes. This book contains a study guide at the end as well.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255

Happy New Year!!

WOW!! What a year this has been. Sorry for being so quite on the old blogger. Our preschool is gaining a new student. Tom and I are happy to announce baby #4. It's a BOY!! Little Thomas will be due in May. Tom and I are seeing that our Highschool to Preschool will pretty soon be just preschool. Katie and Mary have one more year of highschool when they finish with this year.

It may be time for a blog name change soon... COLLEGE to Preschool, wow, that is scary!! I think with the new year coming and so many changes with our family that I made need to make some blog updates. I'm in the "blog cleaning" mood!! Is anyone with me???

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! May the light of God shine down on you and your family!!!

The King's Christmas List Review

If you are looking for a way to teach your children the true meaning of Christmas, this book is a great way to help you in that.

The King's Christmas List by Eldon Johnson illustrated by Bonnie Leick is a great stroy that tells of a girl named Emma and her little dog Shu-Shu who are invited to the King's birthday party and they must find a special gift to bring. Along the way to the party they meet with some strangers who they find they are able to help, yet when they arrive at the party they are cold and empty handed.

Wait till you read the wonderful message the King has to share with Emma and Shu-Shu. This could make a great family tradition to read while preparing for Christmas or to share with a childrens Sunday School Group. The last few pages has ways you can share in the King's party with web sites to visit as well.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

FREE Books, No Really

Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6" Display, Graphite - Latest Generation

You don't have to purchase a Kindle in order for you to take advantage of their FREE books (which are classics!!!). You can download their Kindle Ap for your computer and read these great books. Here is a link to GREAT instructions on how to do this.
How To Read Kindle Books On Your PC

This is GREAT for those homeschoolers who use:
Ambleside Online which is under the Charlotte Mason style and if you are into Charlotte Mason, here is another link for you. Simply Charlotte Mason

These links are GREAT for those of you who are using The Well Trained Mind which also use the great classics for a Classical Education this is another great site. There are SO many homeschool sites that offer great information to help you get started. If you are looking for a place to find FREE 'old' classical literature this is an amazing site here... Project Gutenburg! Hope you enjoy these links and take advantage of these to help you in your homeschool adventure.

Not Back To School A Day In The Life

First let me say that I have enjoyed this blog hop SO MUCH!! Thank you to everyone that has stopped by to get to know our family and to those who follows us. I appreciate you very much! I have found some wonderful sites myself and I will share those in another blog post.

Now for OUR day in the life... This is how I would love for our school day to go.

High School starts at 8am with Bible first. Christia and I join Kaite and Maryanna for the beginning of Bible class for Christia just loves to sing with the girls. I enjoy it as well. While the older girls get started on Bible, Christia and I go downstairs for our school time. We start our day with prayer and then we start on our colors.

9am the older girls move to Geometry while Christia and I clean the kitchen. Well, I clean the kitchen and Christia will have free play time. When I'm done with the kitchen I start a load of laundry and Christia and I will read a story or play a color game. 10am the older girls move to English and Christia and I work on her letters and numbers. By this time Christia is ready for a snack, so we snack while we learn some table manners. 11am the girls come down for a snack themselves and they start working on Chemistry. I start folding the laundry I started earlier and think about what's for lunch. At noon everyone breaks for lunch and a movie {this includes Dad}. 1pm it's time for Spanish. Christia loves to listen to Mrs. McLamb speak spanish so we will sit on Spanish 2 class for a while and I will let Christia play upstairs for a while OR we will go for a walk. We love to go on walks when the weather is good and we will go on short walk when the weather is HOT...which is MOST of the time here in Texas!! 2pm and it;s the girls final class of the day US History.

NOW for the REAL day in the life at our house...
Christia and I got up today around 8am only to find out that this was NOT going to be a day that would go by the schedule. Christia is teething and so she is running a fever and Katie and I just got finished cleaning up the floor and ourselves for Christia just threw up ALL over us and herself! SIGH... school started late so that mean it will finish late The girls eat their lunch while doing their Chemistry to try and make up for some lost time. Since they did NOT finish their history homework that put history behind as well. Christia and I just hung out on the couch for most of the day since she was not feeling well so no school work for her. It's amost time for dinner and I have yet to go to the store for supplies. Welcome to the real world. I'm hoping tomorrow will be better.

I'm Getting A Kindle!!

I'm SO EXCITED!!! I'm getting a Kindle for my 19th wedding anniversary!! I say getting for they are on back order. I have been looking at this cool gadget for quite sometime and now that they have come down to a more reasonable price I'm on the waiting list!!

I LOVE to read and when we travel it's hard to find the extra room for books. I'm thinking that if I like it and love the way it works I may get the Katie one for her 18th birthday and Maryanna one for her 16th birthday.

Amazon gives a great description about them and the things they are able to do. Take a look it's amazing!!
Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, 6" Display, Graphite - Latest Generation

They offer a TON of FREE books, which are AMAZING. Most of them are classics which is what our family reads the most of. I will let you know if it's all I think it will be.

Not Back To School Student Photos

This has been a FUN month!! I have enjoyed learning about so many new homeschool families! Thank you everyone for sharing.

Here is our school photos:

This is our oldest Katie. She is a hard worker and a FABULOUS cook. Katie is very talented in the kitchen and with a needle. Even though I have not shown her how to work the sewing machine, she made a skirt by HAND for a costume party of one of her friends ( she won first prize for BEST costume)!!

Here is daughter number 2 Maryanna. We were so excited to see her honor roll student certificate from A Beka!! She keeps my life organized (I would be under a mountain of paper work without her) and makes THE BEST homemade chocolate chip cookies!!

This is our youngest "Bean" (as we call her) Christia. She is such a wonder!! She is full of life and smart as can be. This was taken at the library. She LOVES books!! She loves to dance and sing around the house. She has made my journey with homeschooling continue...Thank you Lord!!

This is our schools {handsome} principal that we like to call Dad!! He is SUPER!!

And this is Me {Lisa} the Teacher.

Thanks for stopping by and getting to know our family!!

Not Back To School Our School Room {s}

I'm LOVING the 'Not Back To School' Blog Hop!! I have enjoyed reading others blogs and finding new cool ideas!! I'm late in posting our school room for I could NOT find the cord for the camera so that I could download the pictures. FINALLY, I found it!!

Okay, this week is about the school room. I have to say that I am VERY blessed this year. We have moved to a new home and I'm loving the space we have now. Let me just say that it was not always this way. Our family lived in a 750 square foot apartment one year and even though it was 'close living' I would not have changed a thing about moving there!!

Here we go:

This is called the 'game room' {which is upstairs} but we call it our high school!! The girls set up their tables and chairs each morning before the start of school. They have plenty of room and a nice view.

Here you can see that our little "Bean" claims every room in the house!!

This is my desk. I just love this area. I have tons of storage space {which I need to organize!!} and plenty of counter space.

This is called the 'study or office' {which is downstair} but we call it our preschool!! "Bean" and I have her school here. If I bring her upstairs she wants to play with Katie and Mary and well....they just can't get school done, so.... I thought it would be could and since we have the space to have her downstairs and in a nice little room of her own.

I just LOVE her new table and chair set. My darling M-I-L {mother-in-law} bought this for her as an early birthday gift... THANK YOU!!! She just loves it as do I. It was expsensive but this is a piece that can be passed down from family to family {I just love that idea for I have my husbands grandmothers dinning room set}. We found this at Pottery Barn Kids. Do you need this to teach your child??? NO, my older 2 did not have this and came out just fine!!

As you can see I try and keep colorful things all around. She loves to sit at her chair and read her books. No she is not reading yet, but she thinks she is...LOL!!! I have my laptop computer set up in here as well and I have Pandora playing classical music while we learn.

Here is Dad and "Bean" color sorting cookies!! We found this darling set at Lakeshore Learning. Most of their items are expensive but I will stash back extra money in case I find something really cool there.

My rooms are neat as neat and organized as I would like them to be but we do enjoy our school rooms.

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