Free Homeschool Magazine Issue

I ran across this announcement that I thought you'd be interested in. Mark your calendars!

Did you know that, while many birds build the typical cup-shaped nest on top of a tree branch, other birds build and use a wide variety of nests, from hanging baskets to rock shelves to holes in trees and even a 50-foot wide 15-foot deep compost pile with carefully regulated warm temperatures? Come explore this fascinating topic in our latest issue of Creative Homeschooled Kids Magazine, now available on the CurrClick.com newstand! With its focus on Nature (a unit study in every issue), Art (a full art course throughout the year) and Bible, this multilevel bimonthly magazine is sure to keep your children's learning interest going strong.How do you get a FREE full-color issue? Keep reading...

Don't miss our special 10-page section in this issue on celebrating Mother's Day, with ideas on how to celebrate the day and to love Mom in practical ways all year, along with a card-making activity and a Mother's Day story! We're excited to announce that on Friday, May 8, this current issue of Creative Homeschooled Kids Magazine will be FREE to all who visit CurrClick.com! So mark your calendar and take the opportunity to download this issue FREE, and tell your homeschooling friends and family so they can get their free copy, too. (This is part of CurrClick's Mother's Day Giveaway, with 4-5 free products on their site every day for seven days from May 6 - 8th and May 11th - 14th.) Be sure to take advantage of this giveaway (May 8), and of 10% off ALL of our products during the Spring Back from Recession Sale (May 1-15).

Warmly,

James & Joy Marie Dunlap

LightHome Publications

www.lighthome.net/ebooks

The Homemaking Cottage Winner!

I'm really sorry that I didn't get out the winner to the Homemaking Cottage Giveway. My sister in law gave birth to a baby boy and the week was taken up with driving to see him and visiting. A baby is born only once after all!



Without further ado, the winner is Molly! I used a very precise scientific method of eenie-meenie-miney-moe to come up with a winner. I know you'd expect nothing less than careful science from me!!!

The Homemaking Cottage

Recently I was given the pleasure of a free week of the subscription Deluxe Edition of The Homemaking Cottage site to review. Shiloah Baker is the owner and editor of The Homemaking Cottage, but the articles are written by a group of freelance writers who are just normal homemakers! Shiloah is a homeschooling mother of 7 children and an experienced homemaker.

I was quite excited as this sounded like just my cup of tea! I'm an avid magazine reader and this site was like have all the back issues of a great homemaking magazine at my fingertips. More than a magazine subscription, it was a subscription to not only what is written this year, but to all that has ever been written! It was a pleasurable week pouring through the many articles, but there were so many more I never even got to read.

There is a lot to this website and a subscription is quite a bargain at $36, about what you would pay for a premium magazine. But remember...you get to read ALL the information written for the site. User receive 24 hour a day access to the over 891 original articles/recipes/crafts and 20% off anything in the website store. Here is a sample of the sections on the website:

Home & Garden

Homemaking

Gardening

Back to Basics

Cleaning

Home Office

Laundry

Organizing

Self Reliance

Thrifty Living

Thrifty Shopping

Time Management

Crafts

Kitchen & Cooking

Family Corner

Fair Lady

Entertaining

Holidays

Health

Inspiration

Decorating

I spent most of my time in the Self Reliance section. This is a current interest of mine as my husband has asked me to help him get our family more prepared for emergency situations. The articles I read were not only informative, but practical. Plenty of wisdom to help me get started.

Shiloah was so kind to offer to let me give away on FREE subsubscription to the Deluxe edition to one of my readers! To enter, please leave a comment between now and midnight on Sunday, April 26. I will put your names in a hat and draw a winner next Monday, April 27, and post the winner here and notify them by email. Don't forget to provide a way for me to be able to contact you, either through your blog or an email address so that I can notify you if you win.

Even if you don't win the deluxe membership, be sure to visit the website, and consider purchasing a membership for yourself. I think you will love it.

Please Vote

I don't usually ask you to go vote for things, but one of my closest and most trusted friends has recommended this to me. And since it's coming from her I don't doubt that it is praiseworthy. So I ask you to please take a minute to read this and vote. Here is what my friend has to say about this:

"This is my precious friend... I met her soon after I moved 10 years ago and she quickly became a safe haven and treasured mentor/friend to me. Her husband was on staff in the missions office and now ...he works at ... the inner city arm of Kanakuk. They are an amazing couple with 3 amazing kids, 2 of which they adopted from Korea. I am asking you to vote for her to send her to the Honolulu Marathon in December. She is so deserving! Voting ends in 12 days and you can vote once a day. She also moves up in the points even more if you share her link by posting it to your facebook or twitter or blog. There is a button you can click on in the link to share/post it. Very easy!!!"

BELIEVE IN THE RUN Sponsored by Visit NIKE USA

Alleluia!

Peter and John Running to the Tomb - Eugene Burnand

Ecce Homo - Caravaggio

The Betrayal of Christ - Caravaggio

Lent

As I have mentioned previously here, I do share some aspects of the liturgical year with my children. The season of Lent is one of those times that we observe. Observance of Lent is a wonderful way to prepare the heart for what should be the greatest event in the Christian calendar...the rememberance of Christ's death and resurrection on our behalf. I've come across a few resources to help share this time as a family.

Beyond The Tomb is a free study by Amy Blevins. This is a very full study that includes daily bible verses, activities, and two other readings for two age groups of children. This study starts today and my family is planning on using at least some aspects of Amy's study.

Behold The Lamb is a wonderful 17 day study by one of my favorite authors, Ann Voskamp. Just visiting her blog, Holy Experience can bring a time of worship, reflection and refreshment. This study is free and started 5 days ago. We were planning to use it this year, but got a late start, so we will try again next year. I love this study because it incorporates scripture reading, reflection, prayer and a work of art representing the daily reading. The idea is to create an Easter Tree with the works of art. You must see it.

I've posted other ideas for Lent in the past which you can see here. One of my favorite and very easy ideas comes from my friend Rachel (check out all her blogs). She creates an Easter Garden with her children. I stole this idea from her a few years ago and it's something my children really enjoy. They ready the tomb and on Good Friday we roll the stone in front. In the past they have rolled a flower or a picture representing Jesus in a piece of cloth and placed it in the tomb. Then on Easter morning I go out and roll away the tomb leaving the empty cloth inside. It's a fun tradition.

I hope that you will share this time with your children by teaching them about Christ's life, death and resurrection. We have so much to be thankful for.

Veggie Tales on St. Patrick

Patrick, lover of God and the people of Ireland

We always celebrated St. Patrick's day in my family. I have Irish ancestors on both sides of my family and my parents loved Ireland. So it was natural for me to do the same with my children. What we celebrate on this day is the fact that God so loved the Irish (and us all) that he sent his obedient servant Patrick to go back to the people who had enslaved him in order that they might be saved. The story of Patrick's obedience is really inspiring. I only hope that I would be so willing to forgive a people who had stolen me from my home and made me a slave for 6 years.

This is an excellent video for understanding the early history of the Irish people. There is a whole series, but I've only watched this one. Patrick is discussed at the end.

Also this year I've previewed a video for children that teaches about the Irish and specifically Irish Americans. It's part of the American Cultures for Children series by Schlessinger Media. Titled Irish-American Heritage it shares information about the geography, history and customs of Ireland including the story of Irish immigration to America. There is video of a dance rehearsal of traditional Irish dance, a folktale, instructions to make a harp and lessons in Gaelic. The video ends with a traditional Irish folk song in Gaelic.

I've shared other favorite books and recipes in the past here, here and my all time favorite recipe for Irish Soda Bread here. My recipe isn't really all that authentic. More of a glorified Soda Bread which I think is appropriate for a special day.

A new recipe I tried last year was for Guinness Chocolate Layer Cake. It was so incredibly delicious. I am a huge chocolate fan and this was hands down the best chocolate cake I've ever had. I'm not sure this is any sort of traditional Irish recipe, but it includes an Irish product and with the state of their economy I'm sure they will be quite pleased if we make it. This is from Cookie Madness which is a really terrific blog for all things sweet.

I hope that in some way you'll take this day to teach your children about Patrick. Perhaps just remember Patrick and the love that God has for us and the way he is able to use anyone...even a slave...to achieve his plan.