Some Handwriting direction

Debra Reed has a great website with lots of resource for the notebookers, and notebooker wannabes among us. I have enjoyed many of the resources that she has made available, many of them free!

She recently sent out this email with some links to a site with lots of homeschooling resources including a number of books specifically for handwriting and copywork.

Here is a snippet about the site and the family behind it:

Bogart Family Resources loves providing busy homeschooling moms with convenient, practical, multi-sensory, skill-building resources that save time while building Christian character.

Our popular Christian copywork titles are an excellent example of our approach of combining practical skills with character training and Bible memory work.

Read more about them and Debra’s article about their handwriting tools.

Everyone needs to learn how to write, so why not make is a little easier on yourself and take advantage of all the legwork that this family has done. Also, if you sign up for their mailing list they will send you a certificate for $5, basically a free book to get you started.

Did you need a reason to rationalize buying more curriculum? How about because it is free? Go on, check ’em out.

The e-Iditarod is coming

Walter McKenzie has put together an online forum for following the Iditarod. From the website:

As classes prepare to follow the Iditarod Sled Dog Race this year, why not consider joining the eIditarod (electronic Iditarod) project? We would love to have you join us!

Participating classes will

study the trail and musher biographies
create a wall-sized map of the trail
select a musher to follow in this year’s race
track the selected musher’s progress as the race occurs
follow the musher reaching each stop on the trail using Twitter and Blogger
complete the problem solving tasks you find at each checkpoint’s
arrive in Nome vicariously with your selected musher
receive an official 2010 eIditarod class certificate for completion of the trail!

If you are interested you can check out his website:

http://surfaquarium.com (click on the electronic iditarod button)

Or email him: walter@surfaquarium.com

The Iditarod is a fascinating race and we have enjoyed following along the past few years.

Currclick deals through midnight tonight

JUST 9 HOURS LEFT to take advantage of Cyber Monday!

You’ll find 20 TOTALLY FREE homeschool resources. PLUS, Visit us on Facebook and find 2, 100% OFF coupon codes for a Christmas-themed, 21st freebie, and a Holiday Crafts, 22nd freebie.

Click here to get started

AND…

DON’T MISS OUR BIGGEST SALE OF THE YEAR: YOUR LAST CHANCE TO STOCK UP BEFORE THE SPRING SEMESTER!

With our Season of Giving Benefit Sale, you’ll get up to 70% off AND 5% of your purchases will be donated to World Vision.

Click here to get started!

Free TOS download

From The Old Schoolhouse Magazine . . .

It is here! Our new Digital Holiday Supplement is finished and ready to enjoy–just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We hope you will find it to be a heartwarming, fun, and festive addition to your seasonal celebrations.

This FREE 176-page digital magazine is packed with all new content for 2010 and takes you around the world to explore Christmas in other lands. Inside you’ll discover festive ideas, fun crafts, special recipes, and activity pages for your children.

Plus, as a special bonus, we’ve included articles full of homeschooling advice and encouragement from our 2010 Fall Schoolhouse Expo speakers.

Feel free to forward this email to your friends, use the Facebook and Twitter links at the top of this email, or the Facebook link on the download page to bless your family and friends with this FREE gift.

If you have an email list, a support group, or want to place the link on your blog, just have fun passing this FREE gift to everyone you know. There is a graphic and html on the download page to help you quickly place the banner on your site or blog.
Download your gift here: The Old Schoolhouse® Digital Holiday Supplement. Then spread the cheer, and tell your friends about this exciting holiday guide.

HSLDA sale

from HSLDA:

HSLDA: JOGO—Join for One Year, Get One Free!

Wondering if you can afford HSLDA membership? Here’s an offer you can’t afford to miss!

For two weeks only, new members can join for one year and receive a second year free. That’s two years of expert legal protection for your homeschool—along with all the other excellent benefits HSLDA offers—for less than you would pay for a just one hour of an attorney’s time anywhere else!

Click here to take advantage of this exceptional offer. But hurry—offer expires November 22!

LEGOs in the classroom

Check out these free resources for teaching your young ones. They do request that you order for your whole school rather than just one classroom at a time if possible. So, check with your co-op or support group and see who else might be interested, and order for the whole group!

Here’s all the details:

Shop at LEGOeducation.us

LEGO^® Education and LEGO Club are proud to offer exclusive LEGO Club Jr. School Edition Magazines and LEGO Education Teacher’s Guides to first-grade educators this fall!

These special publications continue the LEGO philosophy of providing children with products that promote imagination, pique curiosity, and enhance learning. Both focus on fire safety and provide important information on what these young learners should know in case of an emergency.

The LEGO Club Jr. School Edition Magazine is designed specifically for first graders. The edition includes exciting puzzles, comics, and games with a fire safety theme. These activities focus on basic reading, math, and critical-reasoning skills.

The LEGO Club Jr. School Edition Magazine combines the thrill of LEGO building with content that will help your students learn important safety tips – and best of all, it’s FREE!

In addition, a custom LEGO Education Teacher’s Guide will be sent with each magazine order. The guides are filled with hands-on activities, classroom tidbits, and articles about how you can create a LEGO Smart^TM classroom for your students!

To recieve complimentary copies of the LEGO Club Jr. School Edition Magazine and Teacher’s Guide, simply complete our online request form located at www.LEGOeducation.us/ClubJrRequest.

For additional information or to inquire about other LEGO Education promotions, contact Debra at dsmith@LEGOeducation.us.

Orders will be processed weekly. Shipment of items will begin in October 2010. Magazines are packaged in groups of 50, 100, and 200 for easier distribution. Please consider ordering for your school’s entire first grade and not just your first grade class. Any specific ordering or delivery directions should be noted in the Comment section of the order form.

Six Flags Homeschool Day

2010 HOME SCHOOL DAY
Friday, August 27

Six Flags hosts the 15th annual Home School Day event on August 27. Enjoy a fun filled day at the park with your family and friends. A special all-you-can-eat Home School Day picnic is also available in our private picnic grove. Contact SFGAMspecialevents@sixflags.com for additional information.

Home School Day Flyer

HOME SCHOOL DAY PICNIC—ONLY $10.25

All-you-can-eat picnic buffet in our private picnic grove includes fried
chicken, hot dogs, meatless mostaccioli, potato salad, pasta salad,
potato chips, pickles, rolls and unlimited soft drinks. You may enter the
picnic grove any time from 11:30a.m.-1:00p.m.

EXCLUSIVE RIDE TIME

Purchase a Home School Day ticket and receive one hour of exclusive ride time on Superman Ultimate Flight,
Rue le Dodge and Condor. This exclusive ride time is available before the park opens from 9:00 a.m.-10:00a.m.
and is only available to people who have purchased Home School Day tickets.

Answers in Genesis

Thank you to Melissa for sending this in. A free video download from Answers in Genesis:

Already Gone – Video Download

Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it

by Ken Ham

Format: MP4

Ages: 15 & up

Publisher: Answers in Genesis–US

Download file size: 275 MB
High-speed connection highly recommended

The trends are frightening, but this DVD shows how to win back our families, our churches, and our world!

The next generation is already calling it quits on traditional church. Next Sunday, look around, two thirds of the young people in your church are already disengaged from the message they are hearing. And it’s not just happening on the nominal fringe; it’s happening in the most solid “Bible-believing” churches.

In this important DVD, Ken Ham discusses the profound cultural changes taking place in our Western world, as God’s Word is rejected and man’s fallible ideas are welcomed. Ken relates some of the shocking statistics presented in the book Already Gone that reveal the reasons why young people are leaving church and abandoning the faith of their parents.

The church is failing to give children real answers to their questions. We are losing our kids long before college. But this is far from a hopeless situation. Ken explains how we can fight back for our children, and what we can do to ground our children in the faith and prepare them for the challenges of the secular world.

Raging Waves

Special Events

Making Waves with Backpacks

July 11th – 18th Blessings in a Backpack Week

You can make a difference in a child’s life simply by bringing in new or slightly used backpacks and receive a discount on your daily admission price all week long. This unique program is designed to feed elementary school children whose families qualify for the federal free and reduced meal program, and may not have any or enough food on the weekends. The program is administered through schools and a local grocer partners with the program to provide food in the backpacks. Every Friday, students receive their backpacks with food staples and they return their backpacks on Monday.

For every new or gently used backpack that is donated, you will receive $5 off the regular price of a full-day pass.

Helping others and enjoying big family fun at Raging Waves makes it a perfect day!

Fourth of July special

Special free download in celebration of the Fourth of July. Also, a special sale on Marilyn Boyer’s new book.

Great reminders to focus on more than barbecues and fireworks this weekend.

Happy Fourth of July!

FREE Download to Celebrate Independence Day
Uncle Rick’s Tribute to America
no purchase necessary

Use Promo Code: TRIBUTE
Paul Revere`s Ride, The Declaration of Independence, Concord Hymn,
The Mayflower Compact, The Star Spangled Banner. (All 4 verses!)

For You They Signed: $35

Special Offer- All July

Revisionist history is exploded as Marilyn chronicles the lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence.

By reading about one of the 56 Signers per week, you can give your family more than a year`s worth of exciting “family times.”

Learn together about the sacrifices made by these great men for our freedom.

Inspire your children to become citizens who will reclaim the Christian heritage of America

A code inside the book gives you free access to a companion ebook containing coloring pages for little hands to complete and hang on the refrigerator to learn to identify the Signers, character quality definitions and Scripture verses to learn (one per week,) and Family Fun Quizzes to use every other week to review the information and make it stick.

All Month

Regular Price: $49.95
Sale Price: $35
Buy Now

“More than 2.000 years ago, Nehemiah undertook the rebuilding of his nation. As part of the process, he constructed a “House of Heroes” (Neh. 3:16) by which those in his generation could learn of the courage and sacrifices made by previous ones. Through For You They Signed , Marilyn has created a much-needed inspirational “House of Heroes” for this generation. “

David Barton

Wallbuilders