The Creating Post

Free Printable Doll Sets

2012-01-25T21:27:00.004-05:00

I found these cute little free printable paperdolls and just had to share it here.

Lindsay Ann Paper Doll Set {Free Printable}

from the Dollhouse Bake Shoppe blog. It is so cute. I will be printing one out for my daughter... I might print one out for me too ha ha.

Thanksgiving Paper Doll Printable {free printables}

This doll set is from tipjunkie.com

Winter Holiday Paper Doll Printable {free printable} from Tip Junkie

Free Printable Disney's Repunzel Paper Doll

Free Printable Royal Wedding Paper Dolls from Activity Village

Also available in black and white so your little ones can color them. Click here for them.

Cute Dark Haired Free Printable Paper Doll from Issa Sarza

Public Schools in America... just one reason I home school my Children.

2011-12-30T12:08:00.002-05:00

CNBC Republican Presidential Debate at Oakland University ( Nov. 9, 2011)

2011-11-10T01:33:00.001-05:00

Part 1 of 8

Part 2 of 8

Part 3 of 8

Part 4 of 8

Part 5 of 8

Part 6 of 8

Part 7 of 8

Part 8 of 8

Prevent Alzheimers

2011-10-28T15:53:00.001-04:00

um... wow!
Please click on this link to learn how to protect yourself better from developing Alzheimers... I have quite a few habits I need to change. This really opened my eyes.

What causes Alzheimers.

GOP Republican Candidate Ron Paul 2012

2011-10-20T01:53:00.000-04:00

GOP (Republican) 2012 Presidential Debate Hosted by Fox News and Google

2011-10-19T21:04:00.003-04:00

Quote of the night! Gary Johnson:

"My next door neighbors two dogs have created more shovel ready jobs than this current president."

2012 Republican Presidential Debate Nevada (Nov. 2011)

2011-10-19T15:25:00.009-04:00

Link to videos Parts 1-8 below of the debate:

Part 1

Part 1 summary (paraphrased):

Introductions:
Rick Santorum: Loves his family
Ron Paul: Champion of Liberty
Herman Cain: Solve Problems for a living
Mitt Romney: Also Solve problems
Rick Perry: Authentic Conservative
Newt Gingrich: Will replace Class Warfare with Cooperation
Michelle Bachmann: Hopes what happens in Vegas won't stay in Vegas

Absent:
Tim Pawlenty
Gary Johnson
Jon Huntsman

Question: What is your position on replacing the Federal Income Tax with a Federal Sales Tax?
Translation: Is Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan a good one or not?

Michelle Bachmann: When you give the government a new tax, it doesn't ever go away... it only grows. There are hidden taxes in Herman Cain's plan. She has better plans.

Herman Cain accused by those who analyzed his plan, that it would actually raise the tax of lower and middle class.

Herman Cain: Look at the plan on my site. Its attacked because others want taxes to stay confusing to trick Americans.

Rick Santorum: Analysis show it will raise taxes: Major increases. A singal person pays as much as a husband, wife, and each child = NOT FAMILY FRIENDLY!

Herman Cain: Invites everyone to do their own math.

Michelle Bachmann: Every level of profit gets taxed... a hidden tax and the government can raise the tax and customers think the vendor is just raising the price.

Example: Farmer farms popcorn. Sells it to company (taxed by fed and state). Company puts it in bags and sells it to Grocery store (taxed by fed and state again). People buy it from the grocery store... taxed again by the Federal government and taxed by the state!
When the tax goes up a little, the price goes up alot.

Rick Perry: Go to New Hampshire where they don't have a sales tax and you're are going to give them one. Nevada has an 8% state sales tax already, do they want to another 9% to what they already pay on everything? I will have a better plan by the end of the week.

Cain: State tax is apples and Federal tax is oranges. Don't mix them.

Ron Paul: It is regressive and dangerous. We should replace the income tax with NOTHING... no income tax! Less government spending is how you cut taxes. Ron Paul offers a program to cut 1 trillion dollars out in the first year budget!

Cain: Says none of his colleagues understand his plan. Invites families to do their own calculations.

Romney accused on having 59 point plan too complicated by Cain

Romney asks Cain: Will the state tax also go away with your 9-9-9 plan?

Cain: No! That's an apple. We are talking about oranges.

Romney: Then Perry was right.

Cain: No! Perry was mixing apples and oranges.

Romney: So people will have to pay their state sales tax and a federal sales tax.

Cain: You are doing the same thing... mixing apples and oranges.No matter what we do on the federal level, people will still have to pay their state's taxes. They are apples and oranges, two separate things.

Romney: We are all going to get a big bushel of apples and oranges, because we have to pay both. I want to reduce taxes on business, so we grow... and reduce taxes on the middle class and reduce the burden.

Newt was quoted as insinuating that Cain's plan would be hard to pitch.

Basically, all the candidates believe the 9-9-9 plan will hurt the country, except Cain. In most states, everyone would be paying two taxes on everything they purchase.

Part 2

Part two summary (paraphrased):

Gingrich: There are much more complexities and details than Cain lets on. Change on this scale takes years.

Michelle: Every American benefits from living in the U.S.A. and should pay something... even if its only a dollar. I want to flatten the tax code. The Regulations cost us the most (1.8 trillion/year) and cause job loss. We need to repeal Obama's plans that have caused destruction of our economy. Plugs: MichelleBachmann.com

Perry is asked to speak on Romney's 59 point plan:
Instead Perry states: We need to focus on the 9% unemployment in the country. I laid out a plan. We have 300 feet of resources under our feet and the government is keeping up from using it to create jobs and energy...Lets have American Energy Independence!

(love how they avoid questions so masterfully)

Romney: Perry is right about becoming energy independent. We are a resource rich nation acting like a resource poor nation. We need to create more jobs in technology too. We need to repeal Obamacare.

Santorum: I agree. Santorum created the term "Income Mobility" which means people at the bottom of the income scale should be able to rise to the top. Western Europe has better income mobility. We have lost our manufacturing base. We need more "made in America." The country needs to make this a manufacturing friendly country by taking away extra taxes on those companies.
By the way, Romney mentioned repealing Obamacare, yet Romney's plan was the bases of Obamacare.

Romney: Every debate I've made it clear that I want to repeal Obamacare. I was asked if this would be good for the entire nation in my book I said no. It was crafted for a state not the nation.
Santorum: You had it removed from your book. It's one thing to change your mind, its another thing to change history.
Romney: It was crafted for a state not the nation. I will repeal Obamacare.
Santorum: Romneycare

Romney: There is alot that has to be done... but it needs to be done at the national level. Obamacare is wrong. I will provide a system that works for America.

Gingrich: There is fundamental difference between trying to fix a problem from the top of the government down to the people and trying to fix a problem from the bottom and allowing the people to fix it to the top. Romney is all about big government. His state had the biggest welfare and most money coming in from big government. Romney is not as bad as Obamacare, but alot closer to it than he is admitting.

Romney: Actually we got the idea for an individual mandate from you.
Gingrich: No, not me.
Romney: from the heritage foundation and you
Gingrich: The Heritage Foundation, not me. I support them, but you didn't get the idea from me.
Romney: did you ever support an individual mandate?
Gingrich: yes, one against Hillarycare.
Romney: so you did support an individual mandate. That's what I'm saying. We got the idea from you and the Heritage Foundation.
Gingrich: ok... a little broader.

Romney: We didn't have government insurance plan. People had private insurance. Nothing changed for 93% of the people. For the others, they got private insurance, not government insurance.

Bachmann: Obamacare is so unpopular that the democrats have turned on themselves. The republicans are going to win no matter what.

Basically, they are all against Obamacare, however, Romney's plan was the bases for it and he appears to be supportive of big government.

Part 3

Part three paraphrased:

Twitter Question: Obamacare is bad for US. What is the alternative?

Narrator: Is there any part of Obamacare that you would keep?

Ron Paul: NO. He's just adding on more government. We have too much government management involved. If you want better healthcare and medical competition, then let the people choose to opt out of government health care and get back to the doctor-patient relationship. There is so much inflation because the government has gotten involved. Whenever the the government gets involved prices go up. We have tort laws to deal with. We need more competition. Let the people have more control of their money and take out the third party (government).

Cain: No. Obamacare must be repealed. I'd start with HR3400 introduced in 2009. Allow loser-pay and insurance product sells across state lines etc.

Narrator: Texas is one of the most uninsured state.

Perry: We have a lot of illegal immigrants in Texas. By the way, Romney hired and illegal and didn't fire them until after a year of finding out.
Romney: I have never hired an illegal.
Perry interrupts Romney as he talks.
Romney: You put a magnet to your state by offering free tuition to illegal immigrants. If anyone has a problem here, its you.
Perry: You hired an illegal and found out and let them still work for you for another year.
Romney: Explains
Perry interrupts again
Romney: You have a problem with letting a person speak. If you want to be president, then you need to learn to let people speak!
(crowd cheers)
I hired a lawn service and then found out that they had hired an illegal. I told them they could not work for me if they are going to have illegals working for them. They fired the illegals. I hired them again the next year and it turns out they had hired more illegals who had falsified their information to get hired. So I fired the company and haven't used them again.

Narrator: Addressed Cain about his comments on an electric fence. Later Cain said he was just joking. Then even later he said, we might have an electric fence, I'm not walking away from that. I just don't want to offend anyone.
(crowd laughs/claps)

(Ironic how every time Cain says something that doesn't go over well, he says it was a joke. Only so many times that we will fall for that Cain.)

Cain: Here is the serious answer. Yes we would build a fence, and use technology, and put boots on the ground. Close the backdoor so people use the front door. Empower the states to do what the government is not.

Perry (Texas): Sure we can build a wall/fence, but the way to really stop it, is put boots on the ground... alot of boots and technology. That will make America safer.

Bachmann: Obama's uncle and aunt are illegal aliens who get to stay in America. I will build a double wall fence. This is an economics issue. It cost 13 billion/year by letting the illegals in. I will enforce English as the official language. Anyone who comes into this country will have to agree not to get tax payer subsidized benefits.

Perry: You can build a fence, but that's not enough. We need boots on the ground and in the air.

Romney: We all love legal immigration. Its not hard to secure our boarder. Build a fence and get the boots on the ground and turn off the magnets (benefits to illegals) like employers who will hire illegals... we need the e-verify system...and magnets like tuition breaks. California and Texas (Perry) have the highest rate of illegals. Perry is like a college coach whose team has lost 40 games in a row saying he's ready to coach at the NFL.
Perry: He hit the nail on the head. Romney is a magnet, because he hired illegals. You are part of the problem Romney.
Romney: We talked about this already and the crowd agrees (crowd boos Perry).

Question from audience: There are alot of Latinos and many are illegal. What message do you have for Latinos?

Short Summary:

No one wants any part of Obamacare. Ron Paul would take the government out of health care so that prices and services would become competitive. Cain would put different government regulations found in HR3400.

Perry and Romney accuse each other of being/creating illegal immigration magnets. Perry, Romney, Bachmann, and Cain want to build a fence, use technology, and put boots on the ground to secure our boarder.

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Civilized Comments Welcome :) Any comments with profanity will be deleted (whether I agree with you or not).

Best Math Teacher

2011-10-18T23:44:00.000-04:00

You can help your students learn math online for free. Visit http://www.khanacademy.org/#arithmetic for all ages! This has rave reviews. I can't wait to look over it and use it with our homeschooling. Tell me what you think in "comments" below.

In light of the Presidential Primaries...

2011-10-12T16:11:00.001-04:00

I think the answer is obvious.

Please click on "comments" and tell me what you think.

Latin for K-3rd grade

2011-09-14T21:45:00.002-04:00

My kids are loving Song School Latin so far! We are really learning this... together... since I've never taken Latin. I love learning with the children. :) This curriculum makes it easy and fun with songs. The work book is good to read through, but for younger kids, you don't have to make them do the paper work, just read or explain what the new words and rules are. I would never know how to pronounce the words even with the guide in the front. The music CD is a lifesaver and the most important part of this curriculum. We have just started this course, but so far, I give it a big thumbs up! Five stars. (ps... it was much cheaper on Amazon)

Fake it Yourself and Frugal girls

2011-08-04T16:15:00.001-04:00

I just had to share this blog that I just discovered. It has great recipes for homemade Febreze and Windex as well as a few other jewels. Please visit http://fakeitfrugal.blogspot.com/p/why-pay.html I'm sure that if you like to do it yourself or save money, you will enjoy it as much as I did.

Another money saving savvy blog is Frugal Girls. Besides keeping up with amazing deals, they also have a do it yourself section with things such as making your own laundry detergent. I love it. You can look at their helpful ideas here: http://thefrugalgirls.com/homemade-cleaners. Enjoy!

Dragons or Dinosaurs?

2011-06-15T01:19:00.001-04:00

Just thought I'd share a really amazing video you can watch on netflix or even on youtube for free.

Very interesting and the whole family can watch it. I think all those involved with this movie did an excellent job and recommend it to everyone.

Here is the youtube link so you can watch it for free: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeHDCfRzrXk
You will probably have to watch the first part and then click the option for part 2 and so on. But its worth it, especially since its free!

Here is the link to the official website: http://www.dragonsfilm.com/ where you can buy the movie and download a study guide and coloring book. I know that sounds boring if it has a study guide, but it is not boring at all. Enjoy!

End of Kindergarten Update.

2011-05-28T20:26:00.000-04:00

I know its been a long time since I wrote anything on this blog, but it feels like a good time for an update.

Phonics:
We ended up buying the Veritas Press Phonics Museum Combo for Kindergarten and First grade. It didn't work so well for us. Chloe destroyed the little paper dolls within the first day (she is quick and sneaky!). We tried it for a few days before it made me crazy, because Caleb already knew all of this stuff. So we skipped around, and that made us even more confused. Finally, I just purchased some BOB books and just used those. Caleb learned much better without all the extra repetitive paper work. Sometimes we learn better just by doing. The Bob books have been great and we also used the readers from the Veritas Press Phonics kit. These readers are so long that we had to take turns reading each page... they were designed for a classroom to take turns. Caleb is doing an excellent job reading now. We've just been going at his own pace and its working great for us. We may try to use the first grade part of the phonics kit for 1st grade, but I'm not sure yet.

Math:
As for math, we gave Saxon 1 a try. It was only a few weeks before I stopped using that as well. I guess I'm too much of a free spirit to use cookie cutter shaped curriculum. We've just been doing math in our daily life and he loves it. Manipulatives are a fun idea, but I'm so afraid I'm going to loose the pieces and then won't be able to sell it (see note about Veritas Press Product being destroyed in the first day!). We have more fun adding and subtracting m&ms and gold fish crackers, measuring flour and cocoa, dividing fruits and pizza, measuring worms and cars, and counting money the kids earn by doing chores. I actually bought a colorful math practice book from Walmart and he does the math problems in those very well. They are more attractive than the boring Saxon workbooks. I'm thinking about actually giving Horizons a try this coming year because their books are filled with color pictures that will make solving problems more fun.

Bible:
We do enjoy the Children's Story Bible from Veritas Press, but also enjoy the A Beka Flash-a-Cards Bible set. We use these before bed time (and sometimes nap time too).

Science:
Science was not part of my planned curriculum, however, my son is a pure scientist at heart. I have strong suspicions that he will be some sort of biologist when he grows up. He has forced me to learn more life science in the last year or so than I remember learning in my school life. We have researched all kinds of bugs, birds, snakes, butterflies, moths, worms, caterpillars, fish, and ocean life. When he gets interested in any of these he becomes kind of obsessed. I never had the passion he has for science, but I get really excited because he is excited about it. We would love to schedule a trip to the zoo or an aquarium this summer or fall. I know he would love it so much. He's made me buy several books on these subjects and insisted on our family watching documentaries on ocean life. Some great videos I found were through our instant queue on Netflix.com . These include the Incredible Creatures That Defy Evolution series and a few IMAX movies.

That's an update on how our core curriculum went this year. We did end up reading most the books on our book list and what we didn't, will be on our summer reading list. We of course read books that were not on our list as well. I think we've had a pretty good year for Kindergarten. On to first grade!

Giveaway!

2011-04-19T02:21:00.000-04:00

Check out Crave Photography's Giveaway. Click here for details!

In Loving Memory

2011-03-30T01:48:00.003-04:00

Modest in when it's Hot!

2011-03-17T00:30:00.000-04:00

I just got a message from Julie of Modesty is Beautiful and I just had to share it.

Here is a link to another blog where you can learn to make faux camis so you wont have to wear layers to stay modest...it only looks like you are. I love this! I'm going to have to buy one of the snaps things.

Click Here to Check it out!

QR Code To The Creating Post Photography Website

2011-02-19T10:18:00.000-05:00

www.thecreatingpost.com

www.thecreatingpostphotography.blogspot.com

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving!

2010-11-18T14:21:00.000-05:00

1st half:

2nd half:

Sychronized Raindrops

2010-10-08T14:01:00.000-04:00

I encourage you to visit http://syncrain.wordpress.com/ and do some thinking.

Something I just need to share.

2010-09-02T21:22:00.002-04:00

A few months ago, my husband and I were having a hardship... we have these sometimes. We needed a newer car because ours was at the point where we thought it would literally fall apart as we were driving down the road. We had two cars, but the other one needed a few hundred dollars worth of work on it before we can put it back on the road.

My husband works at Lowes and we found out that the Lowes he works for got 2nd place in Costumer Service in the Region. This was great news, but better yet is that that means someone in the store will receive a new car. They would put everyone's name into a drawing and whoever got picked would win. I sat down and I prayed. I ask God to give us that car and God gave me peace. I told my husband that we were going to win.

When the drawing came, my husband won the car! He was so excited. He called and called and finally he contacted me. He told me that he won the car. "Aren't you surprised?" he asked. I told him that I was happy, but I was not surprised. I knew that God was going to give us that car. Isn't God good? We received our new 2010 Equinox in July of this year (2010).

Yesterday, my sister called me up about our old falling apart car that we hopefully wont need much longer. She wanted to buy it because her car has met its end. Her twenty year old working son and she have been sharing this car for a long time, taking turns and picking each other up. I really don't know how they've been doing it. I told her that I don't know if I could get my husband to let her have it because he had already promised to give it to his sister. I told her that I was going to pray about it and that I wanted her to pray about it and then I would call her back later. Right then I sat down and took the time to pray. I asked God to give her a car better than what I could give her.

About an hour or so later, she called me back and said to me, "Kathy, God heard your prayer and gave me a car!" I was excited. God hears and He knows our needs. She had been trying to win a car from a program for over a year and had such a small chance, but God took care of her and she won. We are not lucky. We are being taken care of by our Heavenly Father.

A while later, another sister called me excitedly telling me about how she had prayed for this sister the day before because she knew she could not help her and she prayed that God would give her a car. God had laid that on multiple hearts. He wanted us to ask Him before He gave her that car. He wanted to strengthen us and to leave no doubt that it was a gift from Him.

Today, I just want to thank God for all He does for us and for who He is. He is so great and powerful, so loving and kind. He is a shoulder to lean on and a help in times of need. We need to remember to still pray to Him and thank Him when things are going well. Because if things are going well, its because of Him and not because of myself. Thank you, God, for loving me and my family.

"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" ~ Matthew 7:11

Just so you know... now I'm praying for a house big enough for the kids to have their own rooms. I'll keep you updated.

Frugal Girls

2010-08-24T16:01:00.000-04:00

I have recently come across an amazing site called Frugal Girls and I am in love. This site is constantly updating with new free offers and discounts and money saving tips. I highly recommend this site to everyone who wants to save money. There aren't any catches and the deals are easy to grab. Everything from free samples to free photo books and big upcoming back to school sales can be found here. Take a look for yourself. You don't have to be a female to get the savings although most of the site is covered in pink and labeled Frugal Girls. Click on the link below!

A Friend Just Suggested the Funniest Blog to Me.

2010-08-23T16:00:00.000-04:00

Check out: http://sandraleggottcomedy.wordpress.com/

This blog, although not from a homeschooler's perspective, is so funny and perfect for moms and promises to be good clean fun. :)

How Homeschoolers do Art Class

2010-08-15T14:12:00.001-04:00

We decided we needed a change in the kids' room. So we decided to completely redo the colors by painting the walls and rearranging furniture and while doing this, it's a great time to go through their clothes and get rid of all the stuff that's too small. Here are some pictures of our Art Day.

The children really enjoyed being part of it all.

For the walls, we used Vaspar paint from Lowes and painted two walls Bayside (a blue/teal color), one wall Spring Meadow (light green) and one wall Lemon Curd (yellow).

Unfinished of course.

Then I painted a tree in the corner of the Bayside and Spring Meadow. I used Tender Twig (brown) for the trunk and then mostly Lovely Green (dark green) with little bits of the leftover Lemon Curd for the leaves and grass.

We still have to paint the trim, which will be Ultra White and we have plans for some flowers and/or butterflies with left over colors and Autumn Blaze (bright orange), Sonic Plum (dark purple), and Autumn Fire (red). I'll post pictures when we get more done :) Hope this inspires you to get your own creative juices flowing.

Dinosaur Lunch your kids will love, and you will too!

2010-07-27T15:18:00.000-04:00

Today I was trying to think of an easy lunch that wasn't too unhealthy and this great idea just kind of feel into place. I had purchase these dino shaped chicken nuggets and thought that will be easy. For a side I opened a large can of green beans and potatoes. This is not the healthiest meal but alot better for them than many other choices. So what I did was, I told them that we are having a dinosaur lunch today. We have dinosaurs, and dinosaur eggs in dinosaur nests. My kids who would never eat a whole plain potato like that, actually asked for more dino eggs (pototoes)! My pickiest eater cleaned his plate and then some. If you want to add ketchup, you can say its dino lava. My kids love their chicken nuggets with honey... but I couldn't think of anything clever to call it. Lucky for me, they didn't care.

Sample of The Creating Post Photography

2010-07-08T21:25:00.001-04:00

Visit The Creating Post Photography on Facebook or The Creating Post Photography Blog

Looks like the wheels are turning. I am now holding a contest for the cutest couple on The Creating Post Photography Facebook page! The winners will receive a mini photo session and wall portrait! I going to be adding newborn and mommy to be photos to my gallery soon :) I'll keep updating about my photography experiences.

Now on to a homeschooling experience. Today I met another mom in the park for a playdate. Our kids are the same age and this will be both or our first years homeschooling for our little Kindergarteners-to-be. It was so great to spend time with another mom with children the same age and who has the sames goals and expectations, as well as religious beliefs. I urge anyone who is planning to homeschool for the first time this fall to find other families with these same things in common as you and just make an effort to spend time with them. We are never too old to make new friends and a friend who has those things in common is someone you will be so grateful to have :) Build each other up and just take the time out of your schedule... for the kids... for you... and for the other mom/dad you are befriending. They need someone as much as you do... even if neither of you realize it yet.

New Blog

2010-07-07T22:18:00.002-04:00

Check out my Photography blog at http://thecreatingpostphotography.blogspot.com.

The Creating Post Photography is GROWING

2010-07-05T16:55:00.000-04:00

I have recently shared my photography page on Facebook and already have 77 people who "like" my page! This is exciting. I already have friends and family calling me because a friend of theirs saw the page and loved my work. It feels so good to know that there are those who appreciate my work. It gives me courage and hope.

I've already received calls requesting my photographic services for Senior and Prom photos this coming school year. Currently I am looking for a model for "Mother-to-Be" portraits. I have some cute ideas.

It's nice to have so many beautiful family members to model for me so far. I am so thankful for their willingness and dare I say... eagerness of some to dress up and model for me and help me get started. This is the perfect time to get started since the kids aren't too involved in school and weather is so nice outside. I am a freestyle photographer, which means I don't use a studio. Most of my photos take place outside.

I will try to keep updating my blog so I can document my growth. Right now I am looking at other local photographers and their work and prices. I am trying to compare quality and styles and come up with a reasonable price chart for my services. It would be awesome if I can do what I love and create an income from it as well as homeschool my children. We'll just have to see what happens. Once I start to actually make some money from this, I will invest in my own photography website. I won't put the money into until I know I can make money.

Isaiah 32:8 (NIV)
But the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands.

Check out The Creating Post Photography on Facebook

The Creating Post Photography

2010-06-22T05:27:00.003-04:00

I finally have got the courage to have others see the photography page that I created on Facebook. I am a work in progress with no idea what I am doing. I really enjoy the arts, but I am terrible at figuring out how to make money from it. I am open to advice. Check out my facebook page. I have taken on the title of The Creating Post because my last name is Post and I am Creative... get it? Or at least I think I'm creative. I think it has a nice ring to it. I picked this name long ago and will put it on any work of art I create (photography, handmade soap, painting, my blog, etc).

I have a little box to the right on this blog with a little sample of the page. Spread the word.

Here are just a few portraits I've done:

The Creating Post and all photos in this post are Copyrighted by Katherine Post.

Father's Day Ideas

2010-06-20T02:38:00.000-04:00

Check out some Father's Day Craft Ideas for the kids here @ frugalfamilyfunblog.com

and here @ marthastewart.com

and here @ daniellesplace.com

and here @ kaboose.com

and here @ familyfun.go.com

You Can Do It!

2010-06-13T14:09:00.007-04:00

Sorry, It's been a while since my last post.

I teach at a kind of preschool. I call it preschool, but it's more like a Bible School for preschoolers during the school year. It is only 2.5 hrs a week and my class consists of 2 year olds. As everyone who might read anything I write, you know that I am a homeschooling mother. My oldest just turned five last month and it has set in that this is real. I am excited about the education of my children. Anyway, to get to the point, I happened to ask another mom who's child goes to this preschool and will be starting Kindergarten next year, what school her child would be attending. I never expected her to say she was going to homeschool! I was so excited! This other mom has two children the exact same age as my two children.

She expressed to me that she was a little nervous though, because, as all of us newbies, she lacked confidence. So I gave her a little pep talk. If you are considering homeschooling your child who will start Kindergarten soon, and are afraid that you are not qualified or are just a tad bit nervous that you aren't smart enough, I urge you to read these words of encouragement.

Kindergarten is the easiest thing to teach. Anyone can do it! All kindergarteners need to learn is phonics/reading, writing, and some math concepts. Formal history, science, latin etc are not important at this grade level. You can incorporate them in easily, by the stories you read to them or buy a curriculum that provides those subjects, but they are not so important when you child is in Kindergarten. So if you can buy or make fashcards with alphabet letters and numbers and you know how to read and do addition and subtraction, you are qualified to teach Kindergarten to your own child(ren). There are so many curriculums out there that do most of the work for you. You can even go to Wal-mart or the Dollar store and get Kindergarten work books for really cheap and that's all you need. Start with learning the letters and numbers. As the year goes on, you will build your confidence and by the time 1st grade comes around, you will feel confident in your homeschooling skills enough to add all the extras you want.

Kindergarten is all the basic stuff: letters, numbers, phonics, tracing, value of numbers, reading, writing, counting, adding, subtracting. Take is easy and start slow and move at the pace of the child until (s)he has learned what is being taught before you move on. The other stuff can be learned from

stories you read together (whales live in the ocean, China is on the other side of the earth, it's mean to tease, God wants us to help others),

outside exploration (bees collect pollen from flowers, caterpillars turn into butterflies, dark clouds mean rain, ice melts into water, water and dirt equal mud, plants need water, sun, and soil),

play time (its nice to share, exercise makes us healthy, open wounds need bandages, how be a team player),

routines (brush teeth, set table, pick up toys, hold hands when crossing street, manners), or from

daily life at home and out (red light means stop, fireman, value of $, tie shoes, dress for weather, inside/outside voices, it is 2 o'clock when the little hand is pointing at the 2 and the big hand is pointing up).

You will find plenty of teachable moments.

The more you do it, the more it will become natural to you. You can do it! Children want to learn, they don't want to sit at a desk 5 hours a day, but they do want to learn. They will respect you and enjoy your wisdom. You will enjoy learning things you have forgotten or seeing things from a different perspective while you help your child learn about the world around them and mode them into good citizens.

To help you know that you are on track, you can print out the Standards of Learning, which are the public school's standards or go to private school and ask for their Scope and Sequence. If you purchase a curriculum, this will come with it. You can use these as a guide. There is also a book, I have yet to purchase, that has been recommended to me several times by friends and family titled, What Your Child Needs to Know When. I'm sure it is very useful and am considering purchasing it myself.

Here is the link to the Virginia Standards of Learning for English and Math. Look under the column labeled STANDARDS for the grade level you want to see and choose either the Word document or the PDF document to view and print/save for your records. On the right side of the page is a list of other subjects for which you might want to look at the standards.

VA English SOLs

VA Math SOLs

Hope this helps give you that confidence you might be lacking.

As far as social activities, you can check out your local YMCA, Library, museums, Park & Recreations Dept., Theme Parks (Kings Dominion and Colonial Williamsburg have homeschool days), or do an online search for homeschool Co-ops/ org.s/ groups in your area which schedule play dates, classes, field trips, and activities. There are also many activities during and after school hours such as karate, ballet, swimming, soccer, tennis, drama/theater, art shows/clubs, skating, FFA, 4H, boy/girl scouts, etc that your children can participate in.

How do you spell that?

2010-05-02T12:21:00.000-04:00

I just found this really awesome website... well actually a fellow online college student in my Education 302 class recommended it to me. It is really neat! It is SpellingCity.com This site is so cool because you can enter whatever your child's spelling words are and the site will create games with those words as well as quizzes and activities to help students become familiar with the words and learn how to spell them. I love this site and can't wait to give my son his first spelling words.

Easter Prep... Eggcellent Ideas

2010-03-29T22:43:00.002-04:00

Want some neat ideas for Easter Eggs? Check out The Inspired Room. You will find some really interesting ideas there. Just click on this link. There is also a cute idea at Southern Living if you just click here. Here are some pics from these sites, so you can see a little of what to expect. Don't they look so adorable?

I found some more really cute easter crafts and egg decorations for the family (toddlers included) at familyfun.go.com. Just click here to see. Here are some pictures of crafts provided by familyfun.go.com.

Making a Bird Picture Book

2010-03-29T21:38:00.006-04:00

My son's fascination with birds has given me an idea. We have been taking his bird book outside and trying to spot birds and figure out what they are. I decided to take the camera along and take pictures of birds we see. My plan is develop these photographs and then together we can make my son his own homemade bird guide. He is very excited about it. We could use any photo album or we just might make a scrapbook, which I think would be more fun because we can write, color and use stickers on the pages to make it more interesting.

These are a few of the pictures we have gathered so far.

I took all of the photos myself and use picnik.com to edit them. I am quite happy with them. I have a membership with Picnik, but the website provides many editing tools to nonpaying users as well. I encourage you to find your inner hidden photographer and create a bird book with your child(ren). If it is too much work to try to capture birds with your camera, look for some pictures of birds in your area online and print them out or search through some old magazines with your child(ren) and cut an paste. Spring is a good time to talk about birds, eggs and nest. A few days ago I bought my son a book titled, Birds, Nests, and Eggs by Mel Boring from Amazon. This is a very nice book for youth and aged alike.

We also went to our local Tractor Supply Co. (you can check with any farm supply store) and got to see all of the cute little chicks and ducklings. Both my 3 year old and my nearly 5 year old loved this.

Note: All images for this post were provided by The Creating Post by Katherine Post.

Sunny Days! Birds are singing and so are my Children!

2010-03-19T15:07:00.002-04:00

Wow I can hardly believe the weather outside. Here in Virginia it was so cold and all of a sudden it is in the 70's outside ... and it's not even spring yet! Our family has been enjoying it though. We wont let the opportunity of a nice sunny day pass us by without going outside to play. The birds are all coming back for spring and sound so cheerful.

Eastern Bluebird

My 4 year old son is a bird enthusiast! His grandmother had this bird book from the National Audubon Society when he was 1 or 2 years old. He would look through that book everyday and even wanted to sleep with it. He pretty much destroyed it. So, a few weeks ago when I was at Barnes & Noble picking up some of the books on my book list, I decided to look for Caleb a new "bird book". I was amazed at how expensive these books are, but bought him a similar book... a newer edition only slightly different. I bought the one titled, National Audubon Society Pocket Guide: Familiar Birds of North America, East since it would have mostly birds that live around us.It was so worth the money ($10)!

He has been carrying this book around with him everyday since and taking it to bed with him. He has learned the names of so many birds and we have been finding them outside. He can just see birds and tell you their names or where to find them in the book. He has learned so much... I have learned so much... and I never would of if he wasn't interested in it. I didn't volunteer this info... He just keeps asking me to help. I'm starting to wonder if those who unschool are really on to something.

I just went to the NAS website and found out they have a page just for kids. I think I will let Caleb see and play on it later this evening.

Note: All photos on this post were provided by NAS

Zoodles

2010-03-05T16:40:00.002-05:00

I recently found this amazing site called Zoodles! We have a free membership but they also offer paid memberships with more features and options. This site is so wonderful because it is free and it sets up accounts for each of your children designed just for them. This site sets up a screen for your child based on their age so they can browse the web... but only browse educational material that is designed for their age. My 2 year old can watch cute ABC videos from youtube that have been approved, without ever going to youtube. They can play PBS games and see PBS kids videos and many other Learning games and movies from places like StarFall and Nick Jr without leaving this account. If a game is designed for a child of an older age, the game is not available. Children can not go anywhere that zoodles has not approved for their age. Children can not click on anything that will mess up your pc.

Zoodles will also send you emails showing you which games, activities and videos your children played most that week and what subjects they spent the most time learning about such as Math, English, Reading, Story time, Social Studies, Science, Music, and Art to name some. You can also set zoodles to take off a game or activity you really don't want your child playing or have zoodles only allow certain subjects if you only want your child to work on Reading and Math for example.

Check it out by going to Zoodles.com

http://aesopfables.com/

2010-03-05T04:27:00.000-05:00

A great site for reading Aesop's Fables. It is free and some have a voice option. This is wonderful.

Click here to read Aesop's Fables

My Kindergarten Curriculum!

2010-02-22T02:33:00.007-05:00

I have been doing so much research for Kindergarten. This will be my first year officially homeschooling. My son will be 5 in May and I have been getting ready. There are so many curriculum available and so many different views on what is best at this age. Some sources suggests waiting until they are at least 6 or even 7 or 8 to start schooling and others provide for 4 or even 3 years to start school. Which is the best answer? I don't know. I think those who suggest waiting have a great theory, however every mom wants her child to get a good head start and feels so much pride in knowing that her child is "above level." I don't want to push my child, but I also don't want my children to be behind because I wait a year or two. So what's the solution? I came up with what I think is a good one.

This year for Kindergarten, we will do pretty informal training. We will pull things from the Classical Style as well as a few other styles such as Charlotte Mason. What I propose is my own curriculum that I designed especially for my children. The confidence to do this was no where to be found a few months ago. I was determined to find the best already set up curriculum I could find and use that. However, it seemed to me that none were exactly what I wanted 100%. I couldn't make myself pay for the parts I didn't want or some required me to buy some of the books I already own in order to get the discount. I just couldn't make myself do it. After much research this is the self made curriculum I will use for my son.

This will not require a teachers manual. We will do much reading of high quality books that I have found repeatedly in many curriculums in no certain order. These are books that I plan to read to my children in our own time in our own order (aka I might let them pick which one to read today).

20th Century Children's Book Treasury (Schulman)

Winnie the Pooh series (AA Milne and Earnest H. Shepard)

Beatrix Potter series aka Peter Rabbit etc.

A First Book of Fairy Tales (Hoffman)

Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales (Andersen)

Harper Collins Treasury of Picture Book Classics

The Story About Ping (Marjorie Flack)

Blueberries for Sal (McCloskey)

Noah's Ark (Spier)

Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm (Provensen)

Horton Hatches the Egg and other Dr Seuss Books

Ian and the Gigantic Leafy Obstacle (Miller)

The Tall Book of Nursery Tales

Milly Molly Mandy (Brisley)

American Tall Tales

The Little Engine That Could (Piper)

Ox-Cart Man (Cooney)

Children's Book of Virtues (Bennett)

Classic Tales of Brer Rabbit (Daily)

The Hundred Dresses (Estes)

The Real Mother Goose

The Llama Who Had No Pajama (Hoberman)

A Child's Garden of Verses (Stevenson)

Amelia Bedelia (Parish)

The Egg (Robertson)

Floss (Lewis)

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series (Numeroff)

The Rooster Crows: A Book of American Rhymes and Jingles (Petersham)

Stone Soup (Brown)

The Aesop for Children

You are Special series (Lucado)

The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle)

What Happens When I Talk to God: The Power of Prayer for Boys and Girls (Stormi Omartian)

The Princess and the Three Knights (Karen Kingsbury)

Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly

D is for Dinosaur

A is for Adam

Timothy Whale’s Rainbow

What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?

Good Night Moon (Margaret Wise Brown)

Nonsense Verses (Edward Lear)

Jesse Bear What Will You Wear? (Nancy White Caristrom)

Little Pear series (Lattimore)

I'm sure we will read many more books, but these are my "list" of good books that we will try to read. The nice thing about this is we already own a few and can check out some at the library. The rest I can buy through out the year or buy all at once (or twice) like I would a curriculum. It would cost me less too. Most of these can be found at Barnes and Noble which I already have a membership to, so they are cheaper for me to buy there than through a homeschool service. Many of these books also could be counted towards subjects such as science, social studies, language arts, art, critical thinking and bible.

Phonics
One of the main focuses of Kindergarten or Early Learning is learning to read. I believe that Phonics is the best method. I have searched high and low (without spending money) to find what (hopefully) is the best product for teaching this. I had great success with Letter Factory by Leap Frog. However, that is the only DVD that has helped my children. They learned every letter and its sound within a week using that DVD. But that is where our journey has ended. So what next. I have decided that the curriculum with the best reviews and least complaints (I actually haven't found anyone unsatisfied with it) is Explode the Code. I had my doubts because it doesn't look very cute or appealing to me, but it has the best reviews and is so highly recommended. It apparently is very appealing to young children and very reliable. So for Phonics we will use:

Explode the Code series

and I recommend

Letter Factory DVD

These both can also be found at Barnes and Noble

Music

I would also like to include music into this year. I have found something that I hope is wonderful. Sadly, I will not know until I use it, but I plan on using Discoveries in Music from Calvert School and also available in Veritas Press, Rainbow Resource and a few other places at the same price ($155).

We also have WeeSing Bible Songs CD and song book.

Bible

As far as Bible goes, we have a few cute little Children's Bibles. Some are designed for just about every age. There are many cute ones to chose from. Just make sure that it does not have anything contrary to your beliefs or the Bible in it. Make sure that it is at your child's level of understanding as well. I also happen to have purchase the Preschool Bible Flash-A-Card set made by Abeka on e-bay and this is perfect for 4-7 year olds. They recommend it for 2 years to 4 years, but my daughter could not sit for it when she was two and now that she is three it is iffy. Abeka also has these really cute big card visuals for music too.

The children will also be working on memorizing Bible verses that I pick for them. My goal is the have them memorize the simplest verses that have a meaning. In other words "Jesus wept" would not be one of them. "Children obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord" is one and my son knows this one already. They will also have the pledge of allegiance memorized before the end of the year.

Physical Education and Science

This will not be formal. The children will be learning good manners, habits, and cleanliness. They will play... a lot and we are getting a membership at the local YMCA. This will open opportunities for maybe joining a sports team, dance class, karate class, swim lessons and/or just plain ol' family fun swimming together time as well.

Math and Art
I have mixed feeling about math. Math at this age is so simple and I think I can teach them this without any purchases really. I really thought about Saxon because it is so recommended. Saxon is not christian and that concerns me alittle, but not too badly because math is numbers. I found another math source (it is also secular) that I think will work just fine and seems to be really good. I don't know how popular Kumon is, but I found some little work books at Barnes and Noble and at Target. My sister bought a coloring one and a cutting one for my two year old. They are so wonderful and she enjoys them so much. I can see a big difference in her abilities every time she uses them. I researched it a little and found out that this method was designed for learning math and that they have a ton of math books and even phonics and crafts books. I bought my son Number Games 1-150 only to realize that it was too advanced for him. So I went back and bought him My Book of Numbers 1-30 and it is just right. I have no doubt that he will learn quickly with them.

We will be using Kumon for math this year as well as crafts.

So there you have it. My plan. Not scripted. It's open. Some days we will focus on some sit down work book stuff, but most days we'll be reading stories and playing together (and learning). Kindergarten is an important age for learning. The question is for learning What? and How? I think it is a time for natural and guided learning. Learning about God, character, basic knowledge, being healthy and having fun.

Note: Images for this post were gathered from BarnesandNoble.com Amazon.com ABeka.com YMCA.com and VeritasPress.com

The Impact We have on the Future Health of Our Family

2010-02-15T15:08:00.006-05:00

I just finished reading the Healthy Homeschooling article from The Homeschool Classroom blog. I have been thinking alot lately about becoming healthier, for me... but also for my family. Here is a quote that I really enjoyed and can be an eye opener from this article:

"... we often don’t realize the impact we have, both positive and negative, on our kids and their health-related (and other) choices. It can seem so hard to make positive changes. We often make excuses – often very valid ones, but still, ultimately, excuses – about why we can’t exercise or why we can’t make better food choices. However, it often just takes a few little changes at a time, rather than a whole life overhaul, to start seeing the benefits of positive changes."

Children will often pick up their habits from their parents. So our unhealthy habits that we think are selfless are actually hurtful to our children. I often want to put the children first and myself last. But I would be a better mother to take better care of myself. Going to bed a decent hour, exercising, and eating healthy will give me more energy, put me in a better mood, and help me to think more clearly. These will benefit my children better than me researching homeschool ideas until 2 in the morning. Take care of yourself and your children will learn to value and take care of themselves as well. Your whole family will be better for it. Now go join the YMCA.

I found Healthy Family Home website through the YMCA. Thought its worth a look. Take with a grain of salt. This have a few unchristian ideas.

Discovered Awesome Candy: Lightning Bugs Gummi

2010-02-15T11:34:00.001-05:00

While we were shopping a few days ago, my husband spotted these Lightning Bugs Gummies. My husband loves getting the kids anything that glows and this was amazing to him. "How do they glow?" he asked as he put them in the cart. I just opened them today and they are cute little gummi bugs. There are tweezers inside and inside the tweezers is a light that shines through the gummies when you squeeze them to pick a gummi up. It was so cute. My kids gobbled them up. I even felt the need to eat one (although I didn't). I thought, what a wonderful little gift to give to someone in a goody bag. We found them at Target, but I'm sure there are many other places that have them. They really glow. I think we will keep the tweezers and buy plain gummi worms and try it out on them (the bugs are much shorter and oh so cute).

What do I do with my toddler while I'm doing school?

2010-02-14T19:47:00.001-05:00

I found the following article interesting, seeing as I have a toddler (above picture) and my oldest is going to be "school age" this coming school year.

The following was found at Ambleside Online.

What do I do with my toddler while I'm doing school?

Generally, if toddlers are disrupting time, it's because the other children in the household are young enough to still need most of their work done with a parent's help - older children are usually working some on their own and can go to another room if necessary. If your children are all young, it may help to remember that this time will be short. And young school-aged children have less demands on what is expected or truly necessary for their formal schoolwork - it's okay to spend more time on family dynamics and let them "catch up" in a year or two when they're able to do more on their own. It's normal with demanding little ones to have days where very little gets done, and it may help to set realistic expectations. If undisrupted time is short, plan to focus on the basics (some reading, copywork and math) and use the year to instill good habits and family togetherness.
Many parents schedule school to coincide with naptime, even if this means that some of school is being done in the afternoon (or even in the evenings after the little one is in bed!).Depending on the ages/responsibility level of your other children, you might have one child entertain the toddler while you work with another student. There are school-related activities that can be done with a toddler, such as taking nature walks with a stroller, listening to classical music, or baking. Try doing some school reading outside while the toddler plays in the sandbox. Plan a schedule of daily activities for toddlers to do while the older children do school - you might find ideas in books such as "102 I-Can-Do-It-Myself Activities for Preschoolers." Some members suggested having a specific amount of time where your toddler is confined (maybe using a baby gate?) by himself with toys that can only be used at that time - perhaps Duplo blocks. Some parents have trained their toddler starting with a few minutes at a time and stretching the time to as long as an hour. During that time, some school can be done.
Many members highly recommended the book Managers of Their Homes, A Practical Guide to Daily Scheduling for Christian Home-School Families, by Steve and Teri Maxwell, which has scheduling helps, forms and tips for setting priorities and organizing time. Other books by Teri Maxwell were also found helpful.

The above information was found at AmblesideOnline.org.

Disappointment in Starfall (not too surprising)

2010-02-13T17:08:00.001-05:00

I have recently been looking into starfall.com. It is a really cute website and they have a new K curriculum. Even though they are not a religious group, I thought I'd check it out. It really is cute and they gave me a free 5 day trial for online use. My kids really like it. So I looked through the catalog and the curriculum is so so so cute and there are stuffed animals as part of it that are in the little readers and games etc. Then I was looking at the science materials. I really don't think I "have" to have science for level K, but decided to give it a look. Right there in the middle of the page was a the photo of Charles Darwin on a book titled Charles Darwin: How He Discovered Evolution. I was so disappointed. I can't believe they are teaching this to Kindergarten children. Yes, it is optional, but this company is suggesting, providing and funding this book and this concept. I will not give my money to this company. It's a shame too, because it was soooo cute and fun.

1 John 3:6-8 (NIV)

Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.

Jeremiah 10:2 Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

Matthew 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

If you would like to use the free services they provide, I'd recommend that the parent supervise.

Good Books List

2010-02-10T17:48:00.001-05:00

Good Books List from Great Books Academy for Nursery through Kindergarden

My kids and I have some catching up to do =) Let the fun begin.

Nursery (7 Books)
The Complete Tales of Peter Rabbit (all 23 little books) by Beatrix Potter
A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Language of Flowers by Kate Greenaway
Kate Greenaway’s Mother Goose Coloring Book by Kate Greenaway
The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
The Yellow Fairy Book by Andrew Lang

Preschool (9 Books)
The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
The Complete Poems of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
The Lilac Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
Nonsense Poems by Edward Lear
The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
Anderson’s Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Anderson
The Olive Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
The Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
Ride a Cock-Horse and other Rhymes and Stories by Randolph Caldecott

Kindergarten (10 Books)
A Treasury of Mother Goose
Perrault’s Complete Fairy Tales by Charles Perrault
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Dr. Dolittle: A Treasury by Hugh Lofting
The Orange Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
The Green Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
Favorite Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris
The Brown Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm

Cricket Set

2010-02-10T15:19:00.002-05:00

Click below for your listening pleasure

The Cricket Dancing, The Crooked Leg, and Return of the Cricket

And may we, like the clock... and Winter

2010-02-10T15:06:00.004-05:00

THE CLOCK

There's a neat little clock,--
  In the schoolroom it stands,--
And it points to the time
  With its two little hands.

And may we, like the clock,
  Keep a face clean and bright,
With hands ever ready
  To do what is right.

WINTER

Cold and raw the north wind doth blow,
Bleak in the morning early;
All the hills are covered with snow,
And winter's now come fairly.

I thought these were so cute. You can

find this and tons

more mother goose nursery rhymes

by clicking Here

Rhyme about Rhymes

2010-02-10T14:53:00.001-05:00

Sung to the Tune of
If You’re Happy and You Know It

Rhyming words must sound the same at the end.
Rhyming words must sound the same at the end.
You can make a rhyme my friend.
Keep the same sound at the end.
Rhyming words must sound the same at the end.

I found this jewel at Core Knowledge under Mother Goose on the Loose: Teaching Reading and Writing in a Way That's Exciting (2003)

Veggie Tales New Movie

2010-02-10T11:11:00.003-05:00

Free VeggieTales Movie Viewing

Family Christian Store on Saturday, February 27th wants you and your children to watch the new Veggie Tales movie Pistachio: The Little Boy That Woodn't absolutely Free!

Show times are at 10am, 12pm and again at 2pm.

If you live near me, the closest one is:

Family Christian Stores #105
Old Country Plaza 4365 Starkey Rd #5&6 Roanoke, VA 24014-2810 Phone: (540) 772-3959	Store Hours: 10:00 AM - 9:00 PM Sunday: 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM Store Map

Here are a few extras freebies you can get too:

-first 40 children get a free poster and balloon

-free stickers and coloring pages for all

-special in-store savings coupons

Here's a printable coupon to get 25% off your entire purchase - including sale items!!!

For a sneak peak visit : Beauty 4 Moms

To buy this movie visit Big Idea

To print out some cute Veggie Tales coloring pages visit: Coloring Book Fun

Fun Craft: Also great gift for a baby shower!

2010-02-07T17:03:00.001-05:00

Check out this craft that I found. I never thought it could be something that children could help with but follow this link to Live to Learn and see how a family used it for a homescool craft with help of mom of course. Even better if you have a child who is old enough and what's to learn how to sew.

The kids (and you) will be so excited to play with or give to a new baby!

2010-02-07T16:45:00.002-05:00

Trying to Have It All : What's for Dinner?

2010-02-06T19:19:00.001-05:00

I am always struggling to help my family and myself eat better healthier meals. The thing is that it has gotten to be expensive. So I try to have healthy meals and not spend a ton. One way I try to do this is to buy organic sometimes. I buy the best quality that I have available for the most important items. We try to work healthy things in, but also have many unhealthy or almost healthy meals too.

Tonight I tried something that didn't cost a whole lot.

My Tasty, Super Easy, Sorta Healthy Reinvention of Meatloaf and salad.

What I used (for a family of 4. If this isn't enough you can add garlic toast, rice or pasta for another side):

1 pound lean hamburger meat (there is never any orgainic around here)

1 handful of ripped up fresh organic basil (my fav herb!!!! love it and use it in everything I can when I can)
~~~~~ I grow this in the warm seasons because it is so cheap to grow but exspensive to buy

1/2 Onion (which I also use so often)

about a Tablespoon of crushed or chopped garlic (love real garlic, not powder)

about 1 tsp of salt (sea salt is best and not much more in price)

a sprinkle of pepper

two eggs (I just got them fresh out of the backyard)
~ Brown eggs and White eggs are the same inside... What matters is what they chicken ate and it's stress level

about half cup of cooked rice or bread crumbs (I used left over brown and wild rice from the night before)

I mixed these all together and mounded it. Cook for about 30-40 minutes on 350 (I never really time anything... I just check on it when it smells good. I cut into it and make sure it's not pink.)

For a side we had

A Medium sized bowl full of Organic lettuce mix (I grow my own in the spring and fall, but buy it in winter) with

a sprinkle of bacon pieces, crutons, parmesan cheese and choice of salad dressing. yum! We have this often with meals... super good and good for you

(minus the bacon and dressing depending on how much and your choice).

(That's my daughter's hand reaching for the salad... she can hardly wait!)

Try it out. Tell me what you think.

After my husband made the joke "There's mouse poop in my meatloaf" referring to the wild rice, he really liked it and the kids even wanted seconds (almost unheard of for Caleb).

Big Heart Valentine's Day Card

2010-02-06T14:14:00.001-05:00

This is something for older children or adults.

Here's how it's done:

1) Get a poster board (not very thick) and fold it in half.

2) Draw a heart as big as you can. Make sure the top parts of the heart touch... or even go over the folded edge. See picture below.

3) Cut out the heart... Make sure to not cut off where the heart touches the folded edge or it wont be a card anymore.

4) Then glue pink (or your choice) of tissue paper over the entire outside of the card.

I gluestick is easiest for this. I love the scotch wrinkle free kind. I also like the emer's glue stick that is purple and dries clear. It helps you to see where the glue is (especially helpful for when you are letting children glue).

5) Then cut off the edges of the tissue paper. It doesn't have to be perfect. Make sure you don't cut the poster board.

6) Next, take some red (or your choice) tissue paper and rip it into about inch pieces. Just eyeball it. Perfection is not needed in the least.

7) You will need to crinkle the pieces up.

8) Glue the pieces around the front edges of your card like so:

9) Decorate:

10) Then do the inside. I used some pretty card stock or just printed paper to create layers and then wrote my message.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you enjoyed this.

Use your imagination. You can decorate your car anyway you like. Use stickers, paint, beads, etc.

Valentines for the whole Class!

2010-02-05T17:56:00.000-05:00

I love this! Perfect for my kids to give to their friends at Tuesday School!

Simple, easy, sweet, adorable.... what's not to like?!

Click here for Instructions

Giant Valentine's Cards!!!

2010-02-05T14:11:00.005-05:00

Here is something we did today:

We created Giant Valentine's Cards.

Here is how we went about it.

1) you need some flimsy poster board... any size you want

This is what we used:

2) fold the poster board in half to make shape of card.

3) Paint on the front. I painted a shape of a heart and then let the kids do the rest.

You can use water paint:

or any other kind of paint (washable is best).

We earned enough points at the Huggies Enjoy the Ride Rewards site to earn two packs of
with the paint and brush, all in one.

They don't make as big of a mess and there's really not much clean up. There are only four colors though. They are Orange, Teal, Yellowgreen, and Brown. The kids love them though.

3) Let them dry... or put paper towels under them.

4) Open them up and put a message inside and let the kids paint again.

5) Let them dry, sign your child's name (or let them) and

Ta Da!!! Your child's Giant Valentine's Card is complete.

You can find more cute card ideas (some for children who are a little older... or not) at this link to this Martha Steward Video. These ones have secret messages. I like the second one best because it looks easiest and less messy.

Or you can click here to try something much more grown up.
Here are some sample pictures below retrieved from the Martha Steward website.

Hope you enjoy. I might try one of these myself.
Happy Valentine's Month!

2010-02-04T23:29:00.003-05:00

We did it!

2010-02-04T15:51:00.002-05:00

Today the kids and I made some of the paper flowers we learned how to create from Frugal Family Fun Blog and they turned out perfect. If it doesn't snow to the point of them not being able to see their friends next week they will get to hand them out for a valentine's gift. I have some more ideas.... they are coming.

Here is a photo of some of the paper flowers we made.

What do you think? We used red and pink for Valentine's day

(plus the color's came in a pack of tissue paper together).

We found everything we needed for this at Wal-mart.

I also folded the pieces smaller and cut the tips deeper, so they do look alittle different.
I like them. The kids love them.
We have another craft we are working on now...
I hope to post it soon.... once I figure out exactly what we are doing lol.

Super Cute Easy Valentine Gift

2010-02-04T02:44:00.004-05:00

Here is a really cute and easy gift for kids to give out to your friends.... even us grown ups would enjoy giving and receiving a dozen of these. Check it out at this link to Skip to My Lou for complete instructions (although, I'm sure most can figure it out just from the picture they provide.... here is a copy. They made it kind of technical... but I think I will try it by hand. Enjoy... I know I will.

I also found a similar craft at MS. Click on this link to see details. Here is a picture on left.

I think these ideas are great for Valentine's Day, but also for Spring or Easter.

Valentine Idea

2010-02-04T01:29:00.003-05:00

Found a cute valentine idea at Skip to My Lou. See picture of hanging glitter heart below. So cute!

Welcome!

2010-02-02T09:27:00.004-05:00

As far as valentine's crafts, I found some cute one's at another blog called Frugal Family Fun Blog and a blog called Joyful Holidays. These crafts included cute little paper hearts, tissue paper flowers and some painting with kool-aid. I have added these blogs to my blog list on the left. Hope you enjoy. Here are just a few pictures of crafts from these sites.

Paper flowers and scented hearts bag from Frugal Family Fun Blog

Cute little paper hearts from Joyful Holidays

Valentine's Day on the Brain

2010-02-01T14:25:00.001-05:00

My Little Sweet Tarts.

These are my children.

I've got Valentine's Day on the Brain.

I think I'll look up some cute crafts and post them on this blog.

If you have any good ideas, especially for little ones, please feel free

and welcome to post them here in a comment.

Second Post.... Getting to know you, Mr. Blog

2010-02-01T00:32:00.002-05:00

This is my second post. I feel kinda silly even having a blog. I guess it's a good thing no one is reading this... so I have some practice working out the kinks. I think everything looks good so far. I will be thinking of ways to make this blog more interesting and fun.... but also serve a purpose other than that. Today I added some links and the blogs I'm following.

Need help for making right decision on homeschool curriculum.

2010-01-31T00:10:00.001-05:00

My oldest Child will be 5 in May and I plan on homeschooling him. I really would like to use the Classical method. Does anyone have a good suggestion. Or if you have used one you like or had trouble with, please let me know. So far I have looked into

Veritas Press at http://www.veritaspress.com/ and

Classical Conversations at http://www.classicalconversations.com/ and

Covenant Home at http://www.covenanthome.com/

Does anyone know of any other Classical education sources or have something they want to share about their experiences with these ones?

I am also somewhat interested in Sonlight at http://www.sonlight.com/ and ACE at http://www.pennywiselearning.com/ACE-School-of-Tomorrow.html even though they are not 100% Classical.

The Creating Post

Free Printable Doll Sets

Lindsay Ann Paper Doll Set {Free Printable}

Thanksgiving Paper Doll Printable {free printables}

This doll set is from tipjunkie.com

Winter Holiday Paper Doll Printable {free printable} from Tip Junkie

Free Printable Disney's Repunzel Paper Doll

Free Printable Royal Wedding Paper Dolls from Activity Village

Also available in black and white so your little ones can color them. Click here for them.

Cute Dark Haired Free Printable Paper Doll from Issa Sarza

Public Schools in America... just one reason I home school my Children.

CNBC Republican Presidential Debate at Oakland University ( Nov. 9, 2011)

Prevent Alzheimers

GOP Republican Candidate Ron Paul 2012

GOP (Republican) 2012 Presidential Debate Hosted by Fox News and Google

2012 Republican Presidential Debate Nevada (Nov. 2011)

Best Math Teacher

In light of the Presidential Primaries...

Latin for K-3rd grade

Fake it Yourself and Frugal girls

Dragons or Dinosaurs?

End of Kindergarten Update.

Giveaway!

In Loving Memory

Modest in when it's Hot!

QR Code To The Creating Post Photography Website

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving!

Sychronized Raindrops

Something I just need to share.

Frugal Girls

A Friend Just Suggested the Funniest Blog to Me.

How Homeschoolers do Art Class

Dinosaur Lunch your kids will love, and you will too!

Sample of The Creating Post Photography

New Blog

The Creating Post Photography is GROWING

The Creating Post Photography

Father's Day Ideas

You Can Do It!

How do you spell that?

Easter Prep... Eggcellent Ideas

Making a Bird Picture Book

Sunny Days! Birds are singing and so are my Children!

Zoodles

http://aesopfables.com/

My Kindergarten Curriculum!

The Impact We have on the Future Health of Our Family

Discovered Awesome Candy: Lightning Bugs Gummi

What do I do with my toddler while I'm doing school?

The following was found at Ambleside Online.

What do I do with my toddler while I'm doing school?

Disappointment in Starfall (not too surprising)

1 John 3:6-8 (NIV)

Good Books List

Cricket Set

And may we, like the clock... and Winter

Rhyme about Rhymes

Veggie Tales New Movie

Free VeggieTales Movie Viewing

Family Christian Store on Saturday, February 27th wants you and your children to watch the new Veggie Tales movie Pistachio: The Little Boy That Woodn't absolutely Free!

Show times are at 10am, 12pm and again at 2pm.

Family Christian Stores #105

Fun Craft: Also great gift for a baby shower!

Trying to Have It All : What's for Dinner?

Big Heart Valentine's Day Card

Valentines for the whole Class!

Giant Valentine's Cards!!!

We did it!

Super Cute Easy Valentine Gift

Valentine Idea

Welcome!

Valentine's Day on the Brain

Second Post.... Getting to know you, Mr. Blog

Need help for making right decision on homeschool curriculum.