Thursday 31 October 2013

Scratch Art {Virtual Fridge}

This Week


I loved doing these at school so it was time to introduce this technique to Sir N.  He loved doing it too.  We did this over a couple of days using Colorix. 
 We started by dividing a blank page into areas to colour in.  Do not use black when colouring in the background. We left it overnight to dry/set if you use it straight away the colour scratches off too.
When ready to scratch your picture. Colour with the black and scratch, if you let the black set then you can't do the scratch picture.  Have some fun together and see what you can draw

Featured This Week
 

This weeks feature is from over at He Cares for You.  Janis has done a complete tutorial for you on Mixed Media Tadeo Turtle.

Your Turn

I invite you to take some photo's of your children's artistic pursuits put them in a post and link up with me I would love to come over and see the wonderful art your children have enjoyed doing.
Virtual Fridge Link Up

Blessings
Chareen




The Virtual Fridge a weekly art meme where we can hang our children's art on a virtual fridge. This meme was started by Jennifer over at A Glimpse of our Life who kindly invited three other bloggers to co-host this weekly meme.

Your hosts are



Wednesday 30 October 2013

The Force Has Arrived


A couple of weeks ago I shared a link to a FREE book on Amazon called The Fourth. Kingdom

Last week the sequel launched. The Force  is currently available FREE for your Kindle from now until 2 Nov. These two books are a part of The Kingdom Chronicles by co-authors Joyce and Alexandra Swann.
Details
  • Paperback: 358 pages
  • Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (October 21, 2013)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1493524607
  • ISBN-13: 978-1493524600
  • Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Kindle
  • Paperback

About The Force
Someone is murdering the world’s most beautiful women—over and over and over. When Jarrod and Joshua Sinclair are called in to consult with the FBI about the Hollywood Starlet murders, they immediately suspect their old nemesis Josef Helmick of creating clones of famous women for a visiting Saudi prince. Wasting no time, they hire retired detective Fred Kowalski and send him to Dubai to uncover Josef’s base of operations and build a case against him for the murders. But Fred soon discovers that Helmick Enterprises is harboring a secret much darker than human trafficking. Fred must stop Helmick before he resurrects an ancient, diabolical Force in order to bring the entire human race under his control.
This book has it all, for me it was a real sit on the edge of your seat read. I just could not put it down. I finished it in less than two days. It is an A+ Christian Sci-fi thriller and would fit very well on your book shelf amongst your Frank Peretti and Left Behind books. The author's have done a magnificent job of building a plot of intrigue, mystery, power, justice, mercy and suspense with a twist at every corner. It is a vision of the future and possible outcome of the technological age of cloning ...

About the Authors:

Joyce and Alexandra Swann are mother and daughter. Joyce homeschooled her ten children from the first grade through master’s degrees. She is a well-known author and speaker on the subject of homeschooling. For nearly a decade she was a popular columnist for Practical Homeschooling Magazine. She now blogs regularly on parenting, homeschooling, and Christian lifestyle issues.

Joyce and Alexandra have co-authored two other novels, The Fourth Kingdom and The Twelfth Juror, both of which were published in 2010. Joyce’s personal story of her experiences raising and educating her family is chronicled in Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother, published in February of 2011. Her novel, The Warrior, which tells the story of one woman’s ten year prayer vigil for a man she has never met, was released in May of 2012. She is also the author of two children’s books, Tales of Pig Isle and A Horse Called Lightning/A House of Clowns (The McAloons), which began as stories that she told to entertain her grandchildren.

Alexandra is author of No Regrets: How Homeschooling Earned me a Master’s Degree at Age Sixteen and Writing for Today. She has been self-employed for over fourteen years and was the 2011 Chairwoman of the Board of the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. She writes a regular blog, Paying for Protection, about the consequences of over-regulation and over-reaching government. Her novel The Planner, which is the prequel to The Chosen, was published in June of 2012.

You can read  Interview with an Author~Joyce & Alexandra Swann over at Following in His Footsteps.

Connect

Blessings
Chareen

Monday 28 October 2013

Trim Healthy Mama {Review}

I have a confession to make.  I started hearing all about Trim Healthy Mama on Facebook, my friends in the home education support group I attend and on Pinterest in the middle of last year.  I finally read Gwen's review and took the plunge, I purchased THM in January and when it arrived it sat on my bedside table for six months (this is my biggest regret... to think I could have been eating on plan for the last ten months and reached my weight goal by Christmas !?!)

I liked them on FB and read the testimony of an older lady whose health had been turned around and I shared that with my Mom and gave her my copy of the book. She has many health issues and has struggled to loose weight for the last few years, in fact she has steadily gained weight... Slowly slowly she has tried and applied the principles.  The weight numbers started going in the right direction and the inches are falling off of her. One day I noticed that she looked different and finally asked and her reply 8 kg (17.6 pounds) with THM! I was shocked. Now I knew I couldn't ignore my own weight/health issues any longer I needed this book too...

I so badly wanted to try what she was doing so I contacted THM to see if they had any review copies available.  Within hours they had responded and blessed me with a pdf copy of The Trim Healthy Mama.  I have put it onto my Galaxy Tab 2 but was finding it slow reading on there.  Thankfully this week a friend explained to me how to email it to my Kindle.  So much easier to read.

About the book
To be honest I have not finished reading this book.  It's 600 pages of information. I'm a fast reader but this stuff is paradigm changing and I find I need to re-read in order to grasp some concepts.  It's not hard it's just loads of information shared in a conversational tone. Pearl and Serene share their journey honestly and openly and are not afraid to say when they have a difference of opinion or experience in a certain area. 

I'm a tactile book girl so I took my pdf and printed the recipe section and had it spiral bound at our local stationary store.  I chose to print them single sided so that I would have the blank sides to write up my tweaks and the new recipes that I find over on {Trim Healthy Tuesday} a weekly blog hop where many Trim Healthy Mama's are sharing their creations.

I am in the process of saving to purchase a paperback version of the book in order to use tabs for easy reference as suggested by Gwen's Trim Healthy Mama Quick Start Guide.  I will be keeping it on my Kindle for easy portability and am pleased that I will have both the digital and paperback versions.

Our Experience
I am not a fan of coconut.  Period.  I really struggled with the concept of using so much coconut based products.  My mother wisely came over with some bread in a mug for lunch and needless to say the rest is history.  It was delicious and oh so very satisfying.  She made one batch and it was enough for the two of to enjoy.  That was all I needed in order to pluck up the courage to purchase ingredients and start my journey. I have made this for Paul and he is super impressed with how satisfying it is to eat.  He thought he would get hungry and have to eat but was pleasantly surprised that he did not.  I gave him bacon and eggs on bread in a mug. 

I then tried my hand at cheese cake.  Next time I will make this with more stevia. I served him this for breakfast with cream and berries.  Neither of us were hungry all morning.  He was rather surprised that this was diet food (and sceptical until I told how much weight I had lost in the first week ...) !

We are still in the early stages of using THM and I will write a follow up post after I get my head around the method. Now let me think there is something about S meals, FP meals, E meals and cross overs.  Once I get all this untangled in my head I will share more.  It's not difficult it's just a new way of classifying your food in order not to create a weight gaining environment in your body.

I was a sceptical because I was under the impression that I would be constantly counting carbs, points or something but I was encouraged to  “Never include large amounts of both fats and carbs in the same meal unless you are trying to gain or maintain weight. In other words, don’t tandem fuel.” Page 64  and "We don't want you doing a bunch of carb counting , which only leads to needless obsessions and detracts from happiness." I am pleased to say that the THM have done this work for you already by labelling the meals in the the recipe section with the letters S, FP and E.  I just haven't quiet understood how to use them yet.


I purchased
Australian THM products
  • Coconut oil
  • Flax meal
  • Almond meal
  • Cocoa
  • Coconut
  • Baking powder
  • Vanilla Essence
  • Happy Cow Cheese (full and reduced fat)
  • Barley wraps
  • Coconut cream
  • Onion flakes
  • Eggs
My grocery cupboard is being transformed.  My cravings are diminishing.  I used to crave chocolate and thought I would miss it.  The truth is I'm not.  Yes I do love chocolate but I don't have this driving urge to purchase and eat it all the time since I started THM.

Some people complain that it's expensive.  We are on a very tight budget.  There is no room to sneeze.  Yes some things are expensive and I will need to save for two or three paydays in order to purchase them but having said that the ingredients last because they are not things you need to stock up on every week.  So all I am doing is purchasing one to two items to add to my cupboard a fortnight and that is completely doable.

My numbers
  • Week 1 - 1.3 kg (2.87 pounds)
  • Week 2 - 1.4 kg (3.08 pounds)
  • Week 3
  • Week 4
I have a very long way to go but this will be a good journey.  I know that I am not going to be hungry and am not going to spend hours counting calories, points, carbs etc. I am going to enjoy becoming a Trim Healthy Mama! I will update here over the next few weeks with my numbers as I use the plan more and more foods as well as share some recipe's.

Some tasty easy recipes to try
What some others have said

Resources
Buy the Book
Connect with THM
I just want to say thank you so much to Serene and Pearl for giving me this opportunity to shout out for your book and blessing our family.  For my readers I would love to encourage you to save up and purchase this book it is well worth it's investment.  It is a book full of helpful information, an abundant recipe section and tons of encouragement.  It is not full of difficult jargon and is a book that will transform your life and your body whether you have lots to loose or a little, whether you are pregnant or breast feeding or just needing to get healthy this book is for you. You can use all the recipes and start at any point.

Be blessed and I look forward to reading your experiences with Trim Healthy Mama.
Blessings
Chareen 


Saturday 26 October 2013

HSMJ the scales ...

In my life this week in the past two weeks…
Grrr I'm feeling a little frustrated with Pinterest's latest update preventing me from pinning more than 15 pins from the web at a sitting.  It's so annoying!
I have recently started investigating The Trim Healthy Mama and so far both Paul and I are impressed with how satisfying the meals are.  I have been inspired by my mother ... This week Sir N has been sampling THM foods with me.  He has been tasting my Singing Canary drinks I have been making each day.  I am trying to tweak it to my personal taste ...
I am also enjoying the photographs and video's that are being shared on the Prince William and Kate Facebook page.


In our home school this week…
  • Sir N so enjoyed that Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle that we are off to the library to borrow another book in the series.
  • He is also enjoying The Usborne Time Traveler so much so that he can't wait for us to go to Rome!
  • I'm so enjoying listening to him read I Can Read It! Book 2 to me.  
  • Today Sir N and I are going to the library to get some books to continue our Expedition Earth journey.  He loves traveling the world.
  • This week we have been working through triple digit subtraction with borrowing.
Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
I am inspired by…
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
  • Tennis
  • A play date with a friend.
  • Driving teenagers around to appointments all week ...
  • We went to the bank and opened a savings account for Sir N.  So much fun.  Sir N wants to save for a digital camera that has a good zoom lens.
My favourite thing this week was…
  • Climbing on the scales and finally seeing the numbers go in the right direction.  I've been watching my Mom and sister in law start on The Trim Healthy Mam so I started using some of their recipes last week.  (More of my story later ...)
  • I'm so proud of my daughter she has been saving up to purchase a car and finally met her goals.  She went to pay and pick up a beautiful Nissan Micra on Wednesday.
What’s working/not working for us…
  • Earlier bed times ...sometimes
Things I’m working on…
On my bedside table
  • Trim Healthy Mama
  • At home in Dogwood Mudhole by Franklin Sanders. I'm enjoying this book. Beautifully written.
  • The Fourth Kingdom really enjoyed this book.  Great read.  I'm even more pleased that I had the sequel to jump straight into.
  • The sequel to The Fourth Kingdom The Force. This book is a sit on the edge of your chair thriller. Loved every minitute of this read. Challenging topics and thought provoking information
In Bloggy world I’m reading…
I’m cooking…
  • Bread in a Mug
  • Singing Canary - definitely trying to tweak this so it tastes better!  I like the positive health benefits and it's better than the amount of tea I normally consume but I need to tweak it to be a little more sweet.
  • Cheesecake Really like this.  Will be adding this to our diet regularly.
On Pinterest I found...
I’m grateful for…
  • People who are willing to talk about things truthfully, that are not worried about political correctness.  I really enjoyed what Tim Elmore had to say in this article: How Adults are Stealing Ambition From Kids.
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
A New Perspective For Moms from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

Blessings

Chareen


Photo collages made with: Photoscape a FREE photo editor

Friday 25 October 2013

Schoolhouse Review Crew taking applications

Oh my I'm so excited.  I can't believe it has been a year since I first filled in an application to join the Schoolhouse Review Crew!  From today until November 8th the Schoolhouse Review Crew are accepting applications for the 2014 review year beginning in December / January.  Being a part of this crew has opened many doors for me and I have been mentored and encouraged every single week on my journey with these wonderful ladies. I have enjoyed this year and so has Sir N.  When I asked him whether he wanted to do it again he said yes please.

It has been a great learning curve and I am looking forward to the possibility of doing a second year with the crew. All of these things were optional and none were obligatory.

Are you a homeschool blogger?
Are you a curriculum junkie?
Do you enjoy writing reviews?

Then you might be perfect for the Crew! 


Some requirements for being a part of the Crew include the following: 

  • First of all you must be a homeschool mom or dad. You don’t have to homeschool all of your children, but you must homeschool at least one. 
  • You must be willing to use the review products for about six weeks in your homeschool, before writing your review. Review periods have deadlines and requirements for the reviews. You must be willing to follow these requirements. No, that doesn’t mean you must write a positive review. But it does mean that there are certain elements that are required. And the deadlines are firm. If you are often late for deadlines, the Crew is probably not for you. 
  • You must have a blog on which to publish your reviews, and be sure you have an active blog with a following. By active blog, I mean that you should be blogging regularly, at least weekly, about your family and homeschool (in addition to your reviews). Your blog should have followers — RSS feed or email subscribers, as well as in social media. The Crew does not accept brand new bloggers who just set up their blogs for the purposes of applying to the team. 
  • Are you using social media to promote your blog? Activity on at least one social media platform is a requirement to serve on the Crew. Which one is up to you — Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Google Plus are the options. You will need to be willing to promote your reviews there and post a widget or plug-in publicly on your blog, indicating how many followers you have in social media. 
  • You must be willing to check into the Crew's Review Management forum. This is where information is disseminated to the team. The leadership does everything possible to make things easy for us, outside of writing the actual review, but you need to be willing to participate by checking in almost daily. 
  • Sample reviews are helpful. If you’ve never written a review on your blog, go ahead and write one for curriculum you are currently using in your homeschool. This will help the leaders see how you approach writing reviews. 

Why should you want to be a part? 
Our Crew of over 250 review bloggers has been serving the homeschool community for more than 5 years. As a respected review team, we take this job very seriously and will insist you do as well. The leadership provides an incredible amount of assistance to help us be the best bloggers, homeschool parents, and of course, reviewers we can be. They provide a mentoring program for new members, a social media networking group, many blog and social media tutorials, and lots of incredible opportunities for our team, including blog carnivals, the opportunity to guest post on the Crew blog, and the blessing of some incredible friendships. You can read more about what being a member has meant to ten of the crew over at the crew blog.


Some of the opportunities I have had this year 

How can you apply? 
After making sure you meet all of the requirements, if you believe you would to an asset to the Schoolhouse Review Crew and wish to join us, please click over to the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog to apply.

Come be a part of The Old Schoolhouse family! I will be handing in my application to return to the crew for the year ahead and look forward to meeting you on board the 2014 season should I be selected.

Blessings
Chareen
Photobucket

Thursday 24 October 2013

God is My Lighthouse {Virtual Fridge}


This Week
God is my Lighthouse

God is my Lighthouse with blacklight

In May this year we had the wonderful opportunity to use and review a marvelous product by See The Light called Shipwrecked.  Sir N really enjoyed drawing and painting this.

Featured This Week
This weeks feature is from The Deliberate Mom Paul Klee Inspired "Rainbow Squares". 

Your Turn

I invite you to take some photo's of your children's artistic pursuits put them in a post and link up with me I would love to come over and see the wonderful art your children have enjoyed doing.
Virtual Fridge Link Up

Blessings
Chareen




The Virtual Fridge a weekly art meme where we can hang our children's art on a virtual fridge. This meme was started by Jennifer over at A Glimpse of our Life who kindly invited three other bloggers to co-host this weekly meme.

Your hosts are




Tuesday 22 October 2013

From School to Homeschool

This weeks topic is: Your Top 3 Suggestions for Someone who Pulled Child out of School Mid Year.  Earlier this year I worked with two students (aged eight and ten) who came home to home educated for a couple of months.  This was an interesting experience.  In New Zealand our home school support group leader often would counsel mom's to simply leave the academics on the shelf for the first few months and settle into being at home full time.  I now know why. It was a lot more tricky than I anticipated.  School method was the norm and made sitting and learning together a challenge. Doing written work was done with the attitude to tick the box get it right and move on rather than learn. From this I learned the value of taking time to Detox from School

When bringing a student home from public school to the home school environment it is a time of transition.  They are accustomed to doing things in a classroom setting and learning in order to pass a test.  Home Education does not function in this manner and as such can be a challenge and or a frustration for a public school child to adjust too.  There are so many factors that change in their world. There are many things that they will be learning and the first of these things are new relationships and learning to acquire knowledge.

Benefits of time off
  • Take time to Detox from School
  • Build new routines. Take time to work together on running the home and learning to slow down from the hurry from here to there. Learn to live outside of the 'school run' rhythm. Your children need to find a healthy pace and you need to discover what the best is for them.
  • Get to know your student.  While you think you know them and they think they know you, you will only begin to know each other after the honeymoon period ends. Spend time cooking, cleaning and playing educational games together.  Find what clicks for your child.  Through simple acts of shopping (adding up what's in the trolley) paying for groceries etc you will quickly learn where your student is performing mathematically. Going to a few museums will soon enlighten you on what they do or do not know. Read a few books and gain a feel for where their personal learning curve is.
  • Character Counts.  While at school our children are not always in the presence of someone in authority who has the same values that you do in your home.  It will take a while to reestablish good healthy habits and strong positive character.  Only by spending time with your child will you find out what they need help with.  Is it being kind ? Obedient ? Gentle ? Generous ? 
  • Have fun together :)
 Things to do before coming home
  • Find out about the laws in your country and fill out the correct paper work (Read Here for Australian requirements)
  • Find a mentor who will support and encourage you
  • Get a few books and educate yourself (here are my top 5)
  • Don't buy the first curriculum you find! Take some time to become acquainted with some of the methods and curriculum out there.  Remember Curriculum is your SERVANT not your master.
 On the Web
I have never had a student in the public system and only helped home educate two young friends for a limited time.  Please take some time to read what my friends have to share

Blessings
Chareen
This post is part of the Homeschool Help series brought to you by a group of home school Mom's from around the globe.  Do not forget to visit and read their inspirational insight.



This week
 ---ooOoo--

Monday 21 October 2013

Compost in a Bottle {Science Experiment}

With Fall  on it's way for my friends in the northern hemisphere and spring down here I thought I would share this easy experiment any one can do any time of the year. Earlier this year Sir N and I spent a delightful day out at Barwon Waste Management Education Centre where we helped in an experiment called Compost in a Bottle.  This is a wonderful experiment you can do at home and watch over the year to see what happens.

You will Need
  1. Strips of news paper
  2. Blood & Bone (garden fertilizer)
  3. Bread
  4. Grated Carrot
  5. Grated Potato
  6. Soil
  7. Two or Three 2.25 Lt cold drink bottles (we used Coke bottles)
Method
  • Clean the plastic bottles well. Cut the bottle around the top leaving a small part to act as a hinge.
  • You will need fruit, vegetables, soil, paper and fertilizer.  In order to make all the bottles identical I chose to grate carrots and vegetables and use a cup measure when placing into the bottles.
  • Follow the recipe (a picture recipe)
  • Layer soil, vegetables, fertilizer (only a tablespoon per layer) and paper. Each bottle needs to be identical.
  • Spray each layer with a little bit of water.  Do NOT soak.  Only a fine mist spray.
  • The original experiment required two identical bottles. We made a third bottle without fertilizer because we wanted to know how well compost worms work in comparison to fertilizer in a compost bin.
  • When the bottles are full tape them shut.
  • Mark the side of the bottle with a permanent pen showing the different layers.
  • Place one bottle on the windowsill, and one in a dark cupboard.  We placed the one with the worms in the dark cupboard as well.
Seven Months Later ...

Left - Windowsill bottle
Middle - Dark Cupboard with worms
Right - Dark Cupboard.
What experiments have you done with your families recently ?
Blessings
Chareen

This post is part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew Fall into Nature Blog Cruise. (Goes up on Tuesday 22 October)

Saturday 19 October 2013

Coming Soon! 2014 Crew Applications


For my blogging friends who are considering joining the Crew for the 2014 season there are a few tips on the Schoolhouse Review blog for you.

Blessings
Chareen

Thursday 17 October 2013

Paper Mache Masks {Virtual Fridge}


This Week
A while back we had fun making a paper mache mask.  Sir N did not like the feel of the flour glue mix but he persevered.


I found some great tutorials on YouTube
Featured This Week

Pop Art Mona Lisa Style! over at Too Many Flower's Travels. Cath has done a great tutorial and show and tell.

Your Turn

I invite you to take some photo's of your children's artistic pursuits put them in a post and link up with me I would love to come over and see the wonderful art your children have enjoyed doing.
Virtual Fridge Link Up

Blessings
Chareen

The Virtual Fridge a weekly art meme where we can hang our children's art on a virtual fridge. This meme was started by Jennifer over at A Glimpse of our Life who kindly invited three other bloggers to co-host this weekly meme.

Your hosts are