Kite Capers Week in Review

Imagination is the highest kite one can fly. ~ Lauren Bacall

This week's exciting Download N Go was new Kite Capers.

In Kite Capers, we headed over to the NASA website. We learned some of the science and math behind kites. That was mostly for older children than the littles, but very interesting.

Kite Capers' daily objectives were:
Day 1: What Is a Kite?
Day 2: The History of Kites
Day 3: Kite People and Places
Day 4: Science Secrets of Kites
Day 5: Goodies and Gadgets of Kites

I love flying kites. Right now, with a ton of snow and our wind gusts of up to 80 MPH, we aren't quite ready for kite flying. It won't be long now though and I'm really looking forward to getting a kite up again soon. Even though we couldn't fly a kite, we did head out to a helicopter and pinwheel class to make something we could fly.



National Kite "month" is from March 26 to May 1, 2011. So get your kites ready for lots of springtime fun! I'm thinking about trying my hand at this centipede kite. Or maybe I will just trot out to the hardware store and get a new dowel rod for our big kite.

And just as an aside, doesn't Alexander Graham Bell look like Santa?

(Photo removed - you can look him up yourself.)

Download N Go is a lapbooking/notebooking unit study series created by Amanda Bennett. Intended for grades K-4, my four year old loves them as well! DNGs are formatted for a five day study, but with suggested reading and your family's favorite rabbit trails, it could easily expand well beyond that. They are bright and colorful and chock full of information. One thing I really like is the special DNG video page that youtube videos open up in. DNG units each have five daily objectives with components for a smart little lapbook, clickable links to videos and websites, vocabulary, history, geography and more.

I just spend an hour or so reading the introduction and searching our library's online catalog for some books. I print some lapbook sheets, depending on our needs for the week and do some cutting. The rest is done for me!

You can purchase your copy of Kite Capers for $7.95

To see what Kite Capers every once else got into, check out the blog hop here.

I was provided with a copy to use in exchange for my honest review.

Spring in VT

Everyone got a sweet new haircut. Except for me. I'll have to remedy that soon.Yeah, he shaved again. :)

"I'll need one million helicopters and a dollar!"

Spring life in snow.
March 8.

Winner - Hoppin' Popcorn!

The winner is... Trisha! Trisha, if you are my friend, let me know! If not, I need your email. I tried to get it from your blogger profile and couldn't access it. Enjoy!

Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts Winner!

Is comment #5 as chosen by random.org. Sarah, that's you. I'll order it and have it sent straight to you. You'll get it near the end of the month. I know you'll have lots of fun with Jack.

If you didn't win, don't be blue. Enter the Download N Go Hoppin' Popcorn giveaway I have going on until Tuesday night.

Hoppin' Popcorn {{{Giveaway}}} and Week in Review

"God Almighty first planted a garden.
And, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures."
Francis Bacon, Essays: Of Gardens
An ear of corn averages nearly 13,000 kernels. That comes out to a lot of popped corn! Hmmm... I should figure that out sometime.Download N Go's Hoppin' Popcorn has five daily objectives.
Popcorn - What is it?
The Story of Popcorn
The Flavors of Popcorn
The Science of Popcorn
Fun With Popcorn

And who doesn't want to have fun with popcorn? What a yummy treat!

You'll learn the mystery science that causes some kernels to not pop. I have actually chipped a tooth on an "old maid" (unpopped kernel). I imagine dentists love popcorn even though they tell us to avoid it.

This study brought back fond memories of stringing popcorn for Christmas. I think we only did it a few times, but it was fun. Now that the birds are coming back to VT, it might be time to treat them.

This study was fairly heavy on US geography, which I love. We learned about five of the 12 states in the corn belt, which is actually not very belt shaped. Each day we took note of the state's flag, bird, flower and more. It would be pretty easy to extend this study to learn about the other states in a similar fashion.

Corn mazes and movie nights, what would we do without corn? One night, I popped popcorn for the littles while they set up their seats and popped in a movie. We turned out the lights and pretended we were at the theater.

We learned about Cracker Jacks and I was transported back to Micah's proposal. Such romance!

Download N Go is a lapbooking/notebooking unit study series created by Amanda Bennett. Intended for grades K-4, my four year old loves them as well! DNGs are formatted for a five day study, but with suggested reading and your family's favorite rabbit trails, it could easily expand well beyond that. They are bright and colorful and chock full of information. One thing I really like is the special DNG video page that youtube videos open up in. DNG units each have five daily objectives with components for a smart little lapbook, clickable links to videos and websites, vocabulary, history, geography and more.

I just spend an hour or so reading the introduction and searching our library's online catalog for some books. I print some lapbook sheets, depending on our needs for the week and do some cutting. The rest is done for me!

You can purchase your copy of Hoppin' Popcorn for $7.95

Download N Go is allowing me to give away a copy here to one of my readers.

**First, the required entry,** go to Download N Go and look around. Come back and tell me which DNG title is your favorite.

After that entry, you can get one entry for the following:
1) Tweet about or share this giveaway link on Facebook or your own blog. Must link to this blog entry, not my main page or the blog hop page. (One entry)
2) Follow my blog. (One entry)
3) Tell me your favorite way to enjoy popcorn. (One entry)

So you can enter a total of four (4) times. Post a separate comment for each entry. Be sure to include your email address or that I have a way to contact you. Otherwise I will have to select a different winner and that would be unfortunate.

Winner will be selected late on Tuesday, March 8 using Random.org.
DNG affiliates including the DNG Review Team are not eligible.

Check out the Hoppin' Popcorn blog hop for more reviews and giveaways.



***I was provided a free copy of Hoppin' Popcorn in exchange for my honest review.***

My Faith Box

I meant to tell you all about this sooner, but I just finally took some pictures. Last year, I entered a blog contest on Good Morning Girls (a group I *highly* recommend to Christian women!) to win something called My Faith Box. I was so excited to hear that I had won the contest! THEN, then, I saw that Courtney posted on Women Living Well (another blog I absolutely LOVE!) that this sweet blogger, Angela, had a conversation with her husband about how many women had entered the contest and how terrible she felt that she had to choose just one name. She had the idea that maybe they could give away TWO My Faith Boxes. Her husband said that just wouldn't do. They actually agreed to give one to every. single. woman. who entered the blog contest, over 150! That was just one of the most incredibly generous things I've heard in a long time.If you go to the My Faith Box page, you can hear a podcast about the boxes.

From the website:
A new resource for parents to guide their child's faith journey and capture spiritual growth keepsakes. MY FAITH BOX includes a MY FAITH BOX and MY FAITH BOOK. Ideal to help you create an age-specific plan on each birthday and capture memories from special milestones; while giving you resources and ideas for how to be intentional in helping your child know, love and follow Jesus.

The box is nice and sturdy. It has a carrying handle. You could even decorate it.

A few of the pages of the My Faith Book.

Each year has a 4 page spread for notes.


One My Faith Box costs just $25 or $225 for 10 boxes. Prices include domestic shipping. All of the proceeds go to LakePointe's family ministries. This would be a great Easter gift or present for a new momma.

I tagged this post "review", but honestly, this is just a way for me to pass on something that I really like.

Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts {{Giveaway}}

I am so excited to offer this giveaway! I have heard *raves* about Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts for ages now, most recently from The Old Schoolhouse Facebook page. I seriously wondered what all the hype was about. Each month (September to May) Shirley sends you a nice little box loaded to the gills with papers, a calendar, a letter of encouragement, instructions and everything you need to complete 12 crafts (craft sticks, brads, pipe cleaners, stickers - whatever the crafts require). All you need to provide is a busy preschooler and craft basics like scissors, glue, tape and crayons.

I contacted Shirley and she very graciously provided me with the February box. After some discussion with her, we decided the pack I should offer for a giveaway would be April. Stay tuned at the end of this post to find out how to enter to have the April craft kit mailed directly to your house!

February's Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts box focused on heart shape, the number seven and the color red. These were incorporated into some of the crafts. Holidays are also recognized in each box. For this package, they were National Children's Dental Health Month, Valentine's Day and President's Day. We also learned about the Armor of God with this box. The instruction sheets list all of the craft instructions with a small image of the completed craft as well as a list of items needed from the package and from your own craft supplies.


Even though the crafts are for "preschoolers", Malachi enjoyed doing some of them as well. I would think any early elementary child who enjoys quick, simple crafting would have fun with most of the crafts. Even I had a little crayon fun on a few of the pieces. A couple of crafts were altered a bit by my boys. For instance, on the tooth brushing page, Mal decided to make a puzzle out of the tooth he attached by cutting it into several pieces after cutting it out. Xavier didn't want to cut the ladybug body out of the white sheet of paper. That was all OK. They enjoyed themselves each time I pulled the craft box out. They are both still working on scissor skills, so we did sometimes help with that. Since they shared a box, they were working on different crafts at the same time and occasionally *someone* got a little ahead of me while I helped his brother.


The littles really enjoyed creating with Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts and I liked knowing all I needed to do was grab the pages and pieces needed for any project, check the instruction sheet to see what was needed from our craft supplies and gather the boys to the table. It was so easy!


One month of Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts sells for $18, including shipping. Only Minnesota residents pay tax. There are also subscription options. Receive three consecutive months for $52.50 or subscribe to the full, nine month school year (September to May) for $153.

What do we do with all of those crafts? Well, some will go in the littles' portfolios for this school year. I took photos of the other crafts and will be sending some special people a few tokens of love from the littles.


**Now for the giveaway part! Leave a comment on this post and tell me about a favorite craft that you have made with your own children or that you remember from your childhood. I will choose a winner on Sunday, March 6. I need to be able to get your address right away for the April box, so be sure to leave your email address in the comment. If, by some chance, the winner has not responded to my email when I check on the morning of the 9th, I will choose another winner. However, that winner will likely receive the May craft box. Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts only ships in the US. One entry per person, please.**


Note: Only 8 of the 12 projects from February's craft box are shown here.

I received one box of Shirley's Prepackaged Crafts free of charge to complete this review.

Xav Loves Letters!

Favorite snacking and bathing pastime?

Numbers!
Letters!




And writing his name. In his defense, Mal was holding a few important letters hostage. He is having a little trouble understanding why there is no Z in his name, Y stood in for V, and 3 pretended to be E. N? Well, I have no idea...

Homeschool Valentine

What do you do when your poor, isolated homeschooled children are denied the joy of exchanging valentines? Well, you join a swap with other homeschooling families across the nation. Over a period of about 10 days, we received valentines from Washington, Texas, Georgia and other places. We made it a geography project. Some families sent candy, pencils, stickers and information about their states. The packages we sent in return had road maps of Vermont which listed points of interest all around our beautiful state.



We needed something to hold all of our valentines, so the littles decorated these cute little mailboxes I picked up at Target.