And the Dry Idea Winners Are...

Comment #144: Ticsblog75 said...Like you on fb

Comment #83:  demmi said...I like that it is ok for all skin types

I used Random.org to pick the winners and I have already notified them via email.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Dry Idea Giveaway via Our Homeschool Reviews!    

Wordless Wednesday: Manatees

College Common Sense Review

Do you have a child who is already in high school or quickly approaching it?  Or are you like me, who just realized a few weeks ago, that you have a child who is entering 5th grade next year, and that's only two years away from middle school, which is pretty close to high school??!!

Sounds silly, but I had a slight breakdown the other day when I started thinking about it!! ;)  High school curriculum choices are enough to make my head spin...but what about college?  And what about paying for college?

Thankfully, College Common Sense helps make sense of all this in their Going to College and Paying for it Online Video and Workbook!  And it's just not for students in high school, children in elementary and middle school can benefit from it too!  Actually the earlier you start, I think the easier it will be!  I was excited to dive in!

Denise Ames, a financial aid counselor at a University in Texas, developed the program.

College Common Sense has a ton of FREE information on their website!   Browse around and sign up for their Free Monthly Newsletter and Free Weekly Lesson Plans and check out all of the wonderful information and resources listed under the Info/Links and Services tabs.

After you have spent some time on the site, you can order the Going to College and Paying for it DVD and Workbook or Online Video and Workbook.  These are exactly the same, the first is simply a physical copy for a one time cost and the other is online access for an annual fee.  I received the Online Video and Workbook.

Once logged in, you have access to six videos along with PDFs that correspond with them.

I.  The Big Picture
II.  How Financial Aid Works
III.  All About the Free Money
IV.  The System that Works
V.  You in the Process
VI.  Put It All Together

Below is a sample of one of the PDFs.

Denise's system is very simple and straightforward and I believe that anyone who follows it will have success!

Funny Bunny is in 4th grade, so she obviously isn't going to be doing as much as a student in high school, so here is how I have been using it with her.

First I signed up for the free monthly newsletter and weekly lesson plans.  I then watched each of the videos and read the corresponding PDFs.  An older child would be watching these as well, but at Funny Bunny's age, she doesn't need to.  Never having been through this process before, I thought they were informative.  

The weekly lesson plans are broken down into the following sections {we followed the instructions for the Elementary School Students}.

*  Parents/Teachers
*  Seniors
*  High School Students or Freshmen - Juniors
*  Middle School Students
*  Elementary School Students

One of the tasks is to make an All About Me notebook.  You can see Funny Bunny's above.

Among other things, elementary and middle school students are asked to write on different topics in their notebook whereas high schoolers are given larger tasks like checking out different scholarship and financial aid sites, scheduling important tests, or researching different industries. 

I plan to continue using this with Funny Bunny for the next year.  I'm hoping to get her excited and interested in college and different career choices. 

Find Out More:  You can find out more online at College Common Sense.  The Going to College and Paying for it DVD and Workbook is $50 + $5 s&h and the Online Video and Workbook is $25 for 12 month log-in access. It can really be used for any age child and I was surprised to learn that children as young as 6 years old have won scholarships!

My Crewmates are also talking about College Common Sense and you can check out what they think about it HERE.

©2010-2013 Our Homeschool Reviews. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://ourhomeschoolreviews.blogspot.com/

Menu Plan Monday - February 25

My goodness, I've had a couple bad weeks!!  Not quitting though...just starting back up! 

So here's some of our dinners this week:

Vegetable and Bean Soup
Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce and Mushrooms
Big Vegetable and Fruit Salad
Tofu and Vegetable Stirfry
Pizza with this Pizza Crust

If you've missed them, here are some of my favorite websites and meals:

Favorite Websites:
Fat Free Vegan Kitchen
Chocolate Covered Katie
VegWeb
The Engine 2 Diet
Peas and Thank You

Favorite Meals:
Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili
Burritos with Spanish Rice and Black Beans
Bok Choy and Baked Tofu Stir-Fry in Ginger Citrus Sauce
Garden Vegetable and Bean Soup
Pizza Crust
Chocolate Chip Blondies

If you have any easy plant-based recipes I would love to hear them!  I've been pinning several on Pinterest so I'm looking forward to trying some new meals in the next few weeks!

Honey Bunches of Oats Giveaway!!

Honey Bunches of Oats is introducing a new flavor ~ Tropical Blends!!

Yay!!

Funny Bunny LOVES this cereal!!  It is by far her favorite! 

Tropical Blends has crispy mango flavored flakes combined with real coconut shavings and coconut flavored granola clusters.

I love that Honey Bunches of Oats has such a large variety of flavors!  Funny Bunny likes most of them and Tropical Blends is no exception!

Here are some nutritional facts:

*  10g Whole Grain
*  120 Calories
*  6g Sugar {compare to Honey Nut Cheerios at 9g}
*  9 Essential Vitamins & Minerals including 50% Daily Value of iron
*  4 Wholesome Grains
*  Heart Healthy {0 Trans Fat, 0.5g Sat Fat, 0mg Cholesterol}
*  WiC Eligible

I'm also happy to tell you about The 2013 Tropical Trio Sweepstakes!  One lucky winner will be sent on a tropical paradise vacation to Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach!  Enter to win a chance to spend your days relaxing underneath the warm, Hawaiian sun and your nights exploring Waikiki’s never-ending nightlife.

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MY GIVEAWAY!!

So, here's how TWO lucky readers will win one (1) coupon good for a FREE box of Honey Bunches of Oats (up to $4.49)!  For each comment, you will get one (1) entry.

1. Leave a comment telling me why you would like to win

2. Follow my blog using Google Friend Connect

3. Like Our Homeschool Reviews on Facebook

4. Like Honey Bunches of Oats on Facebook

5. Mention this contest on the Honey Bunches of Oats Facebook page with a link back to this post.

6. Follow me on Twitter @OurHSReviews

7. Tweet about this giveaway up to once a day:  I entered to #win #HBOats @OurHSReviews  http://ourhomeschoolreviews.blogspot.com/2013/02/honey-bunches-of-oats-giveaway.html #Giveaway ends 2/28

**Remember to please leave a separate comment for each entry**

Contest ends on Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 11:59 EST.  The winner will be chosen by Random.org.  This contest is open to U.S. residents who are 18 or older.  If I am unable to reach the winner by email within 48 hours, an alternate winner will be selected.  Your entry is only valid if you include a way for me to contact you (either an email address in your comment or on your profile).  The winner's name will be obtained and publicly announced.  The number of eligible entries determines the odds of winning.  No purchase is necessary to win and this contest is void where prohibited by law. 

Disclosure:  This product was given to Our Homeschool Reviews for free for review purposes, and I do not have to return the products to the vendor.  I have received no compensation from it and all opinions and experiences within this review are my own.

Join Me ~ An Awesome Opportunity!!!

If you have ever thought of starting your own business, now is the time!  Thirty-One is offering an Opportunity to Join from February 16 to April 1.  That means that if you sign up within that time period, and sell $1,000 in your first 30 days, Thirty One will give you your $99 investment back!

For those of you that don't know, Thirty-One allows you to be the consultant AND the hostess of your party.  That means that you can sign up and schedule an Open House for your family and friends.  From this Open House, you would earn the commission AND the hostess benefits (to add items to your already awesome Enrollment Kit).  If your Open House is $1,000 or more, you would earn at least $250 in commission, $200 in hostess credits, half price items, hostess exclusives, AND get your $99 investment back from the company.

What do you have to lose?

Please let me know if you have any questions.  I love Thirty-One and would love to help you in any way possible.  To join my team, just go to http://mythirtyone.com/103425 and click on "Join My Team!"

Dry Idea Giveaway!!

I am excited to share another giveaway with you!!   

The NEW Dry Idea AdvancedDry Fresh brand antiperspirant and deodorant offers enduring odor protection for up to 72 hours and Pulse Activated Wetness Protection to keep you dry all day long.  

Not only is it is formulated with Vitamin E for silky smooth application, it is also hypoallergenic.  

And in addition to my giveaway below, the Never Let Them See You Sweat Sweepstakes is featuring Dry Idea AdvancedDry Fresh!  One lucky grand prize winner will receive $500, while ten 2nd place winners will receive a $50 prize!!  So make sure you go and enter there too!

My Thoughts:  Dry Idea goes on easily and keeps me dry throughout the day.  I like that it is hypoallergenic because I have sensitive skin.

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GIVEAWAY!!

So, here's how TWO readers can win one coupon for a FREE Dry Idea product up to 6oz!  For each comment, you will get one (1) entry.

1. Leave a comment telling me why you would like to win

2. Like Our Homeschool Reviews on Facebook

3. Like Dry Idea on Facebook

4. Post on Dry Idea's Facebook page and mention you came from my blog

5. Follow my blog using Google Friend Connect

6. Follow me on Twitter @OurHSReviews

7. Post about this giveaway on your blog or Facebook

8. Tweet about this giveaway up to once a day:  I entered to #win #Dry_Idea @OurHSReviews  http://ourhomeschoolreviews.blogspot.com/2013/02/dry-idea-giveaway.html  #Giveaway ends 2/25

**Remember to please leave a separate comment for each entry**

Contest ends on Monday, February 25, 2013 at 11:59 EST.  The winner will be chosen by Random.org.  This contest is open to U.S. residents who are 18 or older.  If I am unable to reach the winner by email within 48 hours, an alternate winner will be selected.  Your entry is only valid if you include a way for me to contact you (either an email address in your comment or on your profile).  The winner's name will be obtained and publicly announced.  The number of eligible entries determines the odds of winning.  No purchase is necessary to win and this contest is void where prohibited by law. 

Disclosure:  This product was given to Our Homeschool Reviews for free for review purposes, and I do not have to return the products to the vendor.  I have received no compensation from it and all opinions and experiences within this review are my own.

Homeschool Mother's Journal: 2-15-13

In my life this week…  

This week has been pretty quiet, especially with Funny Bunny catching a cold, which kept us in the house on Valentine's Day.  :(  I think I was more bummed about it than her...she's pretty much a homebody so she enjoyed the day inside, even if it meant missing all of the exchanging of goodies with her friends...and Bible study...and piano...and dance.

On the up side, hubby surprised me with some wine and flowers so that made my night!  

Bingo and wine...an obvious combination on Valentine's Day

In our homeschool this week…    

We worked on Unit 24: World Religions Spread in Preparing Hearts for His Glory and finished Christian Kids Explore Biology.  My plan now for science is to go back and complete any science experiments we didn't do and work on some fun projects.  One I have in mind is a diorama of the biome of her choice.  I'm using Pinterest to find some fun projects.

Oh, we also worked through the first three chapters of Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology 3.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We are thrilled that today some extended family is coming over, including Great Grandma, who Funny Bunny is very excited to see!

A photo to share...

Made in her American Girl Book Club earlier this month

 

I'm on Pinterest!

I've actually been on Pinterest for some time but have now built up my boards and would love for you to follow me!

Wordless Wednesday: Maisy in the Morning

I downloaded a picture collage app for my phone and was trying it out this morning while Maisy was attempting to sleep.  Isn't she a cutie pie?!!!

Apologia: Exploring Creation with Zoology 3 ~ Review

Funny Bunny LOVES animals!!  I'm sure that if she isn't working directly with animals when she grows up, they will somehow be in her life. 

That's one of the many reasons I was excited to receive Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day!

If you've never heard of Apologia, they are a family-owned corporation whose mission is to help homeschooling families learn, live, and defend the Christian faith. 

We are no strangers to Apologia's products.   Their Elementary Science curriculum is wonderful!  A few years back we purchased Exploring Creation with Astronomy along with the Notebooking Journal and enjoyed learning so many new things.  Their Worldview Curriculum with the What We Believe series is also outstanding!  I encourage anyone reading this to take some time and check out their website.

This year we were already studying Biology so extending our studies to specifically include land animals was perfect!

As you can see in the above picture, Exploring Creation with Zoology 3 is a beautifully illustrated hard cover book.  It is broken down into 14 lessons covering the different kinds of land animals.  Each lesson is packed full of information, so they suggest a two-week schedule for each one.  We work on science 3-4 days a week so that allows plenty of time to read the lesson and complete the notebooking activities and experiments.

Each lesson begins with a reading of the text and includes vocabulary words in bold along the way.  Periodically students are asked to retell or narrate the information they just learned.  At the end of the lesson, students are given the opportunity to Map It, Track It, Experiment, and complete a Notebooking Activity.

The Notebooking Journal is wonderful and includes a detailed suggested schedule.  Of course, the great thing about homeschooling is you decide whether you want to follow it, but I found it very helpful.  Throughout the journal are countless number of activity pages, review pages, assignments, projects, copywork, and more.  The journal is optional but using it in conjunction with the textbook helps retention and adds some fun to the lessons!  Below you can see two worksheets Funny Bunny completed for Lessons 1 and 2.

My Thoughts:  Since we work on science 3-4 days a week we used the schedule in the Notebooking Journal as a guide and just spread the reading assignments and journal activities out a couple more days.  I would read aloud and Funny Bunny would do the assignments and/or activities and that worked well for us.  The text is really engaging and she was always ready to hear more, sometimes making it hard to stop.  It stimulated some wonderful discussions between us, which is what a great curriculum should!

Edited on 3-11-14 -  Heart of Dakota schedules Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day in their Creation to Christ curriculum, which is what we used this year for 5th grade.  Funny Bunny read it on her own throughout the year and really enjoyed it.  She was sad when she finished it.  Definitely recommend it!

Thoughts of a 9-Year Old:  Apologia: Exploring Creation with Zoology 3 is super awesome!  From silly and pretty pictures to Bible verses, it has really taught me a lot!  For instance, there are general jobs like Veterinarians and very specific jobs like Horse Farriers (people who specialize in taking care of horses' hooves).  Also, something we may not think about, but dogs and cats are canines and felines, therefore making them carnivores.  There is so much to learn in this book.  I like it!

Find Out More:  You can find out more online at Apologia.  Exploring Creation with Zoology 3 is $39.  Also available are the Notebooking Journal or Junior Notebooking Journal for younger students.  Both are $24.  The elementary series is designed for grades K-6.

To help with purchasing decisions, Apologia has made available on their site the Table of Contents, lab list, all of Chapter 1, and samples from both Notebooking Journals.  You can find those at the links above.

My Crewmates are also talking about Apologia and you can check out what they think about it HERE.

©2010-2013 Our Homeschool Reviews. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://ourhomeschoolreviews.blogspot.com/

Homeschool Mother's Journal: 2-8-13

In my life this week…  

I started looking ahead to the high school years for Funny Bunny.  She's only going into 5th grade next year but I will be switching her math curriculum {which right now is up in the air} so I was trying to figure out which math courses she would be taking in the future.  Kinda scary to be thinking of high school courses and credits!!  I think I added a few gray hairs!

In our homeschool this week…    

We are working on Unit 23: Barbarians Attack in Preparing Hearts for His Glory and we are finishing up the last unit in Christian Kids Explore Biology, Unit 8: Water Creatures.

We've also been working on Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day, which I'll be posting a review on next week.

Books Funny Bunny is reading independently...

 
Accomplishments this week...

Funny Bunny completed Alfred's Piano Lesson Book Level 3 and has already started on Lesson Book Level 4.  We are very proud of her!  She wanted to learn some different songs outside the book so over the weekend we got her a book of sheet music from Harry Potter.  :)  It will be a little more challenging but I know she will love it when she has mastered a song!!

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

Funny Bunny will be at a birthday party at the zoo tomorrow.  She's really excited!  That gives hubby and I the whole afternoon together and I thought we would enjoy a nice lunch across town but our washer just flooded so I'm guessing we will be shopping for a new one.  :/

Our Homeschool Day

Homeschooling families are always interested in how others schedule their day.  Here is a peek into ours:

Around 7:30 a.m.
Wake up and eat breakfast.  Funny Bunny likes to eat first thing.  After eating she has to make her bed and get into an outfit for the day.

Around 8:30 - 8:45 a.m.
She starts several subjects.  These are usually things she can do on her own so I can continue my household chores.

I allow her to take several breaks throughout the day between subjects.  During her breaks we either play together, she plays alone, we play with the dog, or she is doing chores.

Mid morning she continues working on subjects, either with me or without.  10:30 a.m. is usually snack time.

By about 11:30 a.m. she has finished most of her work for the day and we break for lunch.

Between 12:30 - 1:00 p.m.
This is usually about the time I will do history and science with her if we haven't already.  We sit on the couch and I read those aloud to her.  We discuss what was read afterwards.

She finishes with her school work sometime between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.  It really all depends on how focused she is on getting things completed.  If she is procrastinating or taking long breaks, it drags the day on.  If she is willing to get things done right away, it's always more pleasant and she finishes early.  :)

Of course this is an example of a day that we are home, which between 2-3 days a week.  Tuesday is a half day so we have to work fast and usually don't get to everything.  Thursday we are off because of Community Bible Study, although if we are behind, sometimes I sneak a subject or two in between CBS and dance.

You can see a list of Funny Bunny's 4th grade curriculum here.   I rotate some of the subjects, so she doesn't do everything listed everyday, but she does get to the bulk of it.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed taking a peek into our day.  I would love to hear about yours!

Wordless Wednesday: More Nature Walk

Hearts at Home News!

Hearts at Home Curriculum has some exciting news to share!  They have added a new, flat rate shipping option and a military discount (must ship to APO/FPO).

In addition, they have seen an enormous increase in sales since they marked their prices down to 30% off for over 6,000 items.  Because of that, they have decided to keep their sale price of 30% off as a permanent markdown!!

Here are some of the deals they are running right now: