Book Sale!!!

Home School Textbook and Guided Reading Sale

When: Friday August 7th from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Where: 439 S. Liberty St. Elgin, IL 60120
What: Great bargains on individual and whole book sets including —

  • Houghton Mifflin,
  • Saxon
  • Purposeful Design
  • A Reason for…
  • Open Court
  • and more.

Plus guided reading sets to build your school library.

From K-12, new and used.

Cash only.

Curriculum plans

Looking for some curriculum ideas for the upcoming school year?

Need some inspiration to get started (or finished) on your planning?

Kris over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers hosted a great weekly wrap up that included a number of people sharing their curriculum plans for the year ahead. Many of the posts include links to helpful websites and lots of fleshed out plans for a variety of ages and homeschooling styles.

Feel free to check it out, and be prepared to spend some serious time following the links, so much great stuff there!

And, if you are interested, here are some of our plans for the upcoming school year, over at my blog Delighting in His Richness.

Downloadable E-book on Creation

Came across this at Five J’s blog.

If you are looking for some information to supplement your science lessons, or to stimulate your own thinking on the topic of Creation vs. Evolution here is what you can expect to find in these pages:

This book describes Dr. Martin’s personal journey from an evolution-trained scientist to a Bible-believing creationist. Dr. Martin examines many of the claims and theories of prominent evolutionists, comparing their often incredible, inconsistent, pseudo-scientific explanations of origins to the clear and simple description of the Creation as depicted in the Bible.

This book is available for a free ebook download, or for purchase of a paperback book.

Curriculum giveaway

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Got some curriculum you would like to bless another homeschool family with?

Would you like to win some gently used, new-to-you homeschool books?

Then, I have found the bl0g event for you . . .

Jolanthe, over at Homeschool Creations (a fellow CREW member), is hosting a Curriculum Cleanout Giveaway the beginning of August.

Read her site for all the details, but basically she is asking homeschoolers to look through their shelves and come up with a new or gently used item to give away the first couple weeks of August (the second through fifteenth). You can post about it on your blog or just leave a comment with an email address for people to enter to win your giveaway.

You are responsible for shipping costs on any books you give away.

Any one can enter to win, so be sure to check out her site in a couple weeks and see if someone might be giving away something you have been wanting to own. You just might get it for free!

Head on over and check it out. Get your goodies together to giveaway, and get ready for entering some drawings for homeschool books and curriculum.

Sonlight upcoming 20th anniversary

The following came in an email from Sonlight:

Sonlight’s 20th Anniversary Celebration …

Sonlight Curriculum is turning 20 in 2010! We plan to make our 20th anniversary a special year for our company staff, vendors, friends and our beloved customers. Twenty years of offering the best of the best curriculum while getting to know and serve you–that’s worth a lot! You are invited to celebrate with us.

You’re Invited …
I’d be honored if you would join us for a 20th Anniversary Virtual Meetup Celebration in June of 2010, with John and Sarita Holzmann, Sonlight’s founders, hosting you. Expect lots of fun surprises with this webinar event to commemorate Sonlight’s beginnings, celebrate its customers and look forward to the future.

Stay Up-to-Date
Look for special events throughout the year–from money-saving special offers and charitable opportunities to customer contests and featured alumni. If you haven’t already, sign up for updates regarding the 20th anniversary celebration and events at www.sonlight.com/meetup2010. That’s how I plan to communicate further news about this celebration.

We originally planned a 20th Anniversary Meetup on site here in Colorado and shared that expectation in last year’s catalog and on our website. As we actually began to plan for that, we realized too many Sonlighters could be left out of a celebration like this. So, we began looking at ways to engage as many friends of Sonlight in more electronic ways.

Tour of Sonlight
Still, if you plan on being in Colorado in 2010, we would be delighted to open Sonlight for tours each Thursday in June from 1-3pm. I’ll let you know how to RSVP so we can ensure our tours will accommodate you.

No matter where you are, I hope you’ll take advantage of our main event: Sonlight’s 20th Anniversary Virtual Meetup Celebration. Hey, it’s one of the few Sonlight Meetups where you can actually wear your pajamas the whole time! (New haircut not required–but if you need a good excuse for one, you have my permission.)

Don’t forget to sign up for updates so you stay in the know about what’s happening regarding Sonlight’s big anniversary year!

Sincerely,
Tim Heil
Chairman, 2010 Anniversary Celebration
Sonlight Curriculum
www.sonlight.com
Empowering parents to raise life-long learners who
fervently pursue whatever God calls them to do.

P.S. As you look forward to the year ahead, have you already chosen your Core curriculum for the school year? If you’d like help with your choices or want to talk through your homeschool goals, please contact a Sonlight Advisor–potentially even chat live while you’re browsing Sonlight’s website!


Become a fan of Sonlight on Facebook.

© 2009 Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd. 8042 S. Grant Way, Littleton, CO 80122 – (303) 730-6292

TOS Crew

I never made an official announcement, but you have probably noticed and will continue to notice something new around here . . .

For the coming year I have been selected to join a group of homeschoolers to review products for various companies. Many vendors have great products about which they want help getting the word out. I am excited to be a part of this group and pass along information on some great products to you.

At the TOS Crew’s blog you can find links to all the companies we will do reviews for this year as well as other Crew member reviews of the products. Whenever I do a review for the Crew I will link back to their blog so you can see other’s reviews as well.

Up and coming is a review of the Grapevine Bible study curriculum. They have so many great options, and can be tailored for families or group studies. We plan to start using it this coming week and I look forward to jumping into our Old Testament Overview.

Welcome aboard!

Product Review: SpellQuizzer

I have to admit that spelling settles into the category of subjects that draws less than an enthusiastic response from pretty much all of my kids. We do it, check it off,  sometimes groan in the process, and move on with life, or school.

Recently, Dan Hite of SpellQuizzer.com asked me to review his product and I fostered a little glimmer of hope that this would brighten this otherwise dull subject. I am so glad we gave it a go.

Day one

I input the spelling words, having fun making up my own original sentences like, “poetry — Blake just LOVES {insert extreme sarcasm} poetry poetry.” The kids get to hear these all week long and smile for each one. I always have fun with spelling sentences, so it added to my fun, to use this recording feature for my own tailor made sentences.

The program is quite easy to use and the process for setting up all three lists (for three different children) took me approximately 10 minutes. Of course, once I get them all in I can reuse them for younger children in subsequent years. The time required of the parent is very manageable.

The first run through I sit with my kids to answer any questions, check their initial progress, and make sure they understand expectations.My seven year old asks me to write out her words because she wants to study and make sure she earns the cheering for a perfect score next time.

Day two —

My daughters come in to my office at 7:00 a.m. to see if my computer is on so they can do their spelling. I guess I can probably take it off the school schedule if they finish it two hours before school even starts.

Days three and four —

Same story. Spelling is done before the day begins. They want more words to study.

Day five —

No doubt, all three have their spelling words down without hesitation. Talk about a painless process. We’re all hooked.

Take a few minutes to check out their website and you can . . .

– Download a free trial of this spelling program

– View some video demonstrations of SpellQuizzer

– Check out their many spelling lists

– Enjoy their special section geared just for homeschoolers

– And, of course, for just $29.95 you can own your own copy of this spelling software

With SpellQuizzer you can import and export spelling lists, compact your lists for long term storage, and use a written hint if you don’t use the audio feature (although, in my opinion, that is the most entertaining part of the process). My second child has routinely struggled with spelling and has little to no desire to study her words each week, but her enthusiasm surpassed all the others. By Wednesday she already could spell all her words correctly. SpellQuizzer had a guaranteed perfect paper waiting for her on Friday.

Now, for the best part . . . One reader will be able to win a copy of this software! Yes, Dan was gracious enough to offer a free copy to one of my readers. If you would like a chance to win, simply leave a comment on this post and you will be entered in the drawing. The contest will close on Friday, June 12. The winner will be posted that afternoon and will have until Monday evening to contact me, otherwise a new winner will be chosen.

You can even earn extra entries — blog about this contest and you can be entered yet again (make sure to leave another comment saying you did so);  Subscribe to this website (and comment again) and not only will you receive all these posts delivered right to you, but you will be entered one more time.

Happy Spelling!

I’m sure it’s obvious, but this has definitely worked for us!

Used Curriculum Sale

Title: Used Curriculum Sale
Location: Johnsburg Library
Link out: Click here
Description: 10:00 – 12:00 Used Curriculum Flea Market
Sell some stuff, buy some stuff, ask lots of questions!
A limited number of tables, half tables and parking spaces are available by advanced reservation only. To sell at the used curriculum flea market please contact:
Kathy Wentz or leave a message at 847-497-4407. Please specify a table, half table or parking space when you leave a message.

12:00 – 1:00 Eat, Meet and Greet

1:00 – 4:00 Open Forum Q&A
Ask questions and hear real answers about the different homeschooling styles, curriculum choices, what has worked (and what hasn\’t!), legal information, where to find resources, and much more!
Start Time: 10:00
Date: 2009-07-18
End Time: 16:00

Book sales

If you missed out on the various book sales around the area the last couple months, here is your opportunity to connect with buyers and sellers of homeschool curriculum around the Chicagoland area:

SPECIAL EDITION:
NORTHERN ILLINOIS HOMESCHOOL MONTHLY
USED BOOK SALE
Are you looking for materials for your homeschool?
Or
Are you cleaning out old materials to make room for new materials?
Saturday, 6/13/09, there will be a special edition of Northern Illinois Homeschool Monthly devoted to helping homeschoolers in Northern Illinois buy and sell their used homeschool books, curriculum and items of interested to fellow homeschooling families.
If you have something to sell, please send a list of your items with prices, your first name, your e-mail address and your phone number toN.Il.HomeschoolMonthly@gmail.com by midnight on Friday, 6/12/09.

If you are looking to buy a certain book, curriculum or something your family needs that another homeschooling family might be ready to pass along, send your request with your first name, your e-mail address and your phone number to N.Il.HomeschoolMonthly@gmail.com by midnight on Friday, 06/12/09.

Please note: The editor (Julie Schnepper) is not responsible for typos in your e-mail, money disputes between buyers and sellers or any other problems that might occur as you conduct business with other buyers and sellers.

Remember: The deadline is Friday, 6/12/09 at midnight!

Chicago Homeschool Expo

Title: Chicago Homeschool Expo
Location: Schaumburg Convention Center
Link out: Click here
Description: The Homeschool Expo is a “don’t miss” whole family two day event with hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of products where parents can review and purchase the latest curriculum, hear great speakers who give practical encouragement, and receive personalized help and answers to any question. Their workshops especially emphasize the practical aspects of working with children in ways that will promote their educational, social and emotional growth.
Start Date: 2009-08-07
End Date: 2009-08-08