Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Homestead here to wherever you find yourselves.

May your days be full of joy, full of the HOPE of the manger and full of Christmas love.

  For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.  Isaiah 9:6-7

Homeschool Mother's Journal

This post is linked to

In my life this week...
I have been battling with not much to show for it.  Sunday and Monday I prepped for my December Botany Class to homeschoolers.   It was a great class.  We collected our donations to purchase Breadfruit Trees for the hungry in the tropics/subtropics, we voted for the area we wanted to send our treelings, the kids read their "What I learned this semester" paragraphs before their classmates and then we played some review games.   It was action packed and fun.  ***Skip to the bottom to see the links where you can learn a lot more about this amazing fruit for the hungry: Breadfruit***

5-10 minutes before the end of class a serious headache hit me.  At the end of class I had a severe sore throat.  Within an hour I was miserably weak and PAINFULLY achy.   Ugg.  We managed to purchase supper at a grocery store and we survived the evening.

The time between then (Tuesday) and now is a total blur of me feeling miserably weak, achy and all out exhausted.  The children are obviously having lots of fun by the messes EVERYWHERE in our home.   I am thankful that with prompting they do an okay job at picking up their messes, PRAISE THE LORD!

It dawned on me earlier today that I have had a tree in the corner of my living room that needs attending and that nothing Christmas related is out.  I DID get my Christmas cards in the mail today!  That is about it.  Ugg.

In our homeschool this week....
Other than co-op and haphazard reading (both Otto reading to me and me reading aloud) we have not done much.  We did have a full day of school on Monday and I plan on doing Saturday school so we can do 2 lessons in math and some language arts comprehension.   We have also been reading Vikings books at bedtime but we have not actually started to STUDY Vikings as I had planned.  *sigh*

My favorite thing from this week ....
is watching my children make the largest messes AS THEY NICELY PLAY WITH EACH OTHER IN THEIR WORLDS OF MAKE BELIEVE.  Honestly, I take joy in knowing that my children can entertain themselves without electronic devices feeding their little brains.  :)

Things I am working on...
I must get Christmas decorated and meal plans sketched out for next weekend when my Mother-in-law AND Father-in-law (divorced) will both be here for the magical days.   So between now and this time next week I need to muster the energy and work through the aches and pains in order to get decorations up and to get this house (including some piles I've been meaning to go through) clean.  OY!

Books that I am reading...
I am nearly done with my Galileo Book.   I also am trying really hard to read through Susan M. Lark's "PMS: Self Help Book."   Since Gracie's birth I have had the hardest time with my emotional/hormonal roller coasters.  I am finally starting to see some patterns but I am also realizing that I am only emotionally SOUND for about one week out of the month.  I am already doing some of the suggestions from this book and can't wait to dive into it to find out if I can make any life or dietary changes to help my issues.  So far I have read a whopping 5 pages!  *sigh*

A Quote from this week to share....
"If you can not do what you like, then do your best to learn how to like what you do."

With those emotional roller coasters above I have felt like a gray cloud has been hovering around me.  I've battled energy and motivation.  This quote helps me get off my tail end and helps me find my rosy glasses to muster through the horrible emotions/hormones that I have been battling.  One day at a time.....  I am conquering life one day at a time.


More About Breadfruit:
There are two videos that taught us a bit about Breadfruit.  Video one features Diane Ragone who started this project and Video two features a PhD candidate who speaks about why Breadfruit can be such a vital crop for these people in need.  Click on the underlined words to go to those videos.

To learn even more about this tree and it's amazing fruit please visit the following two sites.  They are packed full of information. I have learned much as I have prepped for this project:  Global Breadfruit and Breadfruit.org.

One more resource I will give to you is a long but very fascinating story about Diane Ragone and her passion for breadfruit.  If you want to know how this project was started and why, this article is a must read.   Click here to read HANA HOU! TREE OF PLENTY.

Pick & Draw Stocking Stuffer WINNER!!!

The Pick and Draw Giveaway Contest has come to a close and the winner is posted below.

But, before you scroll to the bottom and then go away I want to remind you that for the rest of December Pick and Draw Card games are on sale. The first pack is $10 but all additional packs are reduced to $8.   

If you are interested, would you consider clicking on this button to make your purchase.  For each purchase made using this link, I will receive a small cut and as we all know pennies add up.  :)

And now on to the winner ...........................

I have emailed the winner.

If you did not win, please consider purchasing one of these very affordable little decks of cards anyway.

Disclaimer:  I received a free deck of cards to review and the company is providing a free deck of cards to give away.  For each purchase made when you click on the links above I will earn a small percentage.

Pick & Draw Stocking Stuffer GIVEAWAY!!!

Contest ended 11:59 PM Sunday, December 11, 2011.

All comments after #54 are late entries and were not calculated in the drawing using Random.org.

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Awhile back in the mail we received a small little package filled with oodles of fun.

Inside a small bubble envelope was a plastic box holding Rich Davis' game....

 Pick and Draw.

Pick and Draw is a non-competitive, fun way of learning how to draw cartoon faces.  It can be played alone or with friends.  Your finished faces can then be the spark for creative thinking or even story development. 

At first it looks like a deck of cards held in a sturdy, clear plastic box.  When you open the box you find thick, glossy, colorful cards.  There are step by step instruction cards, a couple of notes from Rich and 45 colorful playing cards.

Click HERE to play the game on the Pick and Draw Website.

First you sort the deck by color.  There is a smaller stack for each face part: Face, Nose, Eyes, Mouth and Hair.  Those cards are laid out, color by color, in a line in front of the person who will be drawing.

It will look like this:

The next step is to flip over one card from each colored pile and place it below the mini-deck it came from.

Now it's time to draw.  Grab your pencil and a piece of paper.  First, draw the shape found on the red Face card.  Then draw the shape on the nose card some place on your face. Next you draw the eyes, the mouth, ears (using instructions that Rich gives in the game box) and finally hair.

Here is Otto drawing one of his creations:

I love so many things about this game.  Otto my 7 year old has been drawing stick figures for at least a year now.  I think we have gone through a couple of trees so far in paper with him drawing.  I have always wanted to help him develop those drawings but never thought I could draw much more than stick figures myself.  Introduce Pick and Draw...... and he has some of the most amazing, funny faces!

(Hey, Rich?  If you're reading....... Otto and his brother Abram (5) keep requesting a STAR WARS Jedi Pick and Draw Game.  I must say that their stick bodied Jedi are now starting to make very interesting facial expressions!)

I love how kids can play Pick and Draw together or alone.  I love how it is a quiet, yet a VERY mentally ENGAGING game.  I love how there are so many combination possibilities (60,000!!).  I love how it uses simple shapes that anyone can draw.  I love how it's quick to learn and you can play for 3 minutes or 3 hours.

Not only are there 60,000 combination possibilities but there are numerous ways to use the same set of cards.  Included in the box is this card:

 WOW!   It took me some time to look at these faces and realize that INDEED they ARE all drawn from the same shapes!

This game has so many possibilities.  One is to pull language arts into the mix.  Once your child has drawn a new character, ask him to name their new face.  Once they have a name have them go farther and use their imagination to envision what they like to wear?  Where they like to go? Where they live? Who do they live with? What they do when they play? What music they like to listen to? What are their strengths and weaknesses?  Etc.

You now have a character profile and some jumping points to do some amazing creative writing!

Here's my favorite quote from the box from Rich Davis:

“I have made this Pick and Draw game so that you and I can draw together. I want it to be fun for you and I think you will be surprised how well you can draw. Your ability to create is a gift from God. So grab your paper and pencil and let’s draw!”



You can watch videos to learn how to draw even more fun characters at his Draw With Rich site.   I had fun watching videos and picture tutorials about drawing a pilgrim turkey, drawing funny little boxes and, my favorite, drawing super cute kitties.  :)

Pick and Draw sells for $10.

When I agreed to do this review I was also offered to become an affiliate, so if you have fallen in love with this game (as I did when I read other reviews of it) could you please click on this button or the button on my blog's side bar when you go to make your purchase?   Each game sold kicks back a few pennies to my Homeschooling PayPal account and pennies do add up, you know?
 
 Also, Pick and Draw is currently ON SALE.  The first game is still $10 but all additional decks purchased in the month of December are discounted to $8 per deck.  :)  (Remember, every penny that you save adds up!!)

NOW HOW ABOUT A GIVEAWAY???

Contest will end 11:59 P.M. Sunday December 11th, 2011.

You must have an email address in at least one of your comments to win.  If I draw your name and I can not find your email address I will not be able to contact you to get your mailing information.  Please don't forget the email address.  :)

I will use random.org to select a winner.

Please leave me one comment for each option you choose below.  :)

MANDATORY ENTRY: Leave me a comment telling me you want to win. 
If you would like you could be chatty and tell me why or who you would use the game with but it is only mandatory to tell me you want to win.  :)

Additional Entry Options:
Choose any or all of these additional entries.
12 potential entries per person!

1. Visit Pick and Draw, Play the game and draw a character, name your character and come back here leaving me a message of what you named your character.  (Feel free to tell me more if you'd like.)  :)
2. Visit Draw with Rich and come back to comment on what tutorial you watched.
3. Like Pick and Draw on Facebook and come back to tell me you did.
4.  Request to Clothesline Musings to be your friend on Facebook.  Leave me a comment here to tell me you already are my friend or that you requested my friendship (LOL, that sounds so funny to me)
5. Join my Google Friends Connect, located over there on the left side of the page, and leave me a comment telling me that you have.
   
6. Hook up with me on Networked Bloggers, over there on the left side of the page, and leave me a message telling me that you do.
7. Sign up for my email updates and tell me so, sign up box is on the right side.
8. Follow Clotheslinemuse on Twitter.
9. Tweet about this entry, Feel free to copy this text: 

Enter to win a free Pick and Draw Game from @Clotheslinemuse! Enter through 12/11/11: http://clotheslinemusings.blogspot.com/2011/12/pick-draw-stocking-stuffer-giveaway.html #Giveaway

10.  Blog about this giveaway on your blog and leave me the link for THREE entries.  :)




Disclaimer: Thank you to Rich @ Pick and Draw for providing the review and giveaway products. This review is based on my own experiences and gives my honest opinion.

Advent Lesson E-Book - Recommendation

I just stumbled upon a highly recommended ebook that covers Advent lessons for young children. 

Truth in the Tinsel

I have been looking for something simple and easy to use.  Something that was hands on but did not require three ink cartridges to utilize.

Unfortunately the website does not have sample pages.   :(    That is super sad.  I think she would sell more copies if it did.  I went ahead and made the purchase blindly.   The ebook is 49 pages, is wonderfully organized and costs only $4.99.

The book?

http://truthinthetinsel.com/

Organization:

• Dedication page
•  Forward
•  Introduction: Where Amanda White shares how she developed this book and why.
•  How to Use this Book Page: Is very helpful at sharing what each day is about.
•  Full Supply List
•  Daily Supply List
•  The Daily Pages:  Each page is organized in the exact same way. 

1. READ IT TOGETHER: the passage for the day.  
2. MAKE IT TOGETHER: step by step instructions for the ornament of the day and pretty pictures of the crafts. 
3. TALK ABOUT IT TOGETHER: Offers thoughts and questions to gently talk about while you are crafting. 
4. DO MORE TOGETHER: offers extra activities to take the lesson one step further.

• Alternative Schedule Suggestions that help you slim it down to just characters, just basics, chronologically and prophecy.
• An About the Author Page.
• Extra printables needed for a few of the crafts
• EASY Advent Paper Chains (print, cut a rectangle, fold and staple!)
• And Square Advent Clues that you can use if you are lucky enough to have Advent boxes or a refillable Advent Candle.

Some of the ornaments include:
Light: a see through stained glass effect candle
Kingdom: a crown
Mary/Elizabeth: paper dolls
Joseph's Dream: a pillow   ISN'T THAT CUTE!!
a stable, a manger, a cute sheep, an eye-spy craft, and crafts for all the main characters of the story!

These crafts are super easy.  There is nothing in the supply list that most homes with children don't already have.  The guidance through the scriptures and the discussion ideas are super helpful.

What I like most, you know--other than the above, is that this study is not preachy.

Yep, I am a pastor's wife but I find more often than I like that biblical lessons are often speckled with harsher, preaching that I often find inappropriate for children.  Sometimes I even find that the theological point of view is upsetting to me because it portrays a different opinion than what we follow and often it comes with a "you must believe XYZ or you are a substandard, incorrect person" attitude.

THIS STUDY IS GENTLE, IT STICKS TO THE STORY AND IS NOT ANY MORE PREACHY THAN THE BIBLICAL STORY ITSELF AS READ WORD FOR WORD.

I LOVE THAT!!! 

If you are one who wants to teach your children the Word but want to leave all the subtexts, interpretation arguments and debates for Adult group discussions, this is a great Advent Lesson!

Check it out today.

Disclaimer:  I reviewed this ebook because it made me excited!  I paid for it and received nothing free for this write up.  (Cause I'm sweet like that!)