20 Best Tips

Giveaway #2 ~ Jotham’s Journey

1500 Subscriber Banner

This Giveaway is now CLOSED!

Arnold Ytreeide, author of the Jotham’s Journey trilogy, has donated a copy of Jotham’s Journey and also Bartholomew’s Passage for two of my readers! Please read through for the complete details on this great giveaway!

BartCover-125-Square

Last year our family was introduced to a wonderful advent book for families, called Jotham’s Journey. The book had originally been published years ago and gone out of print ~ until last year when the series began to be republished. There are three books in the Advent trilogy and each book is written in a devotional style for families to sit down together and read a bit of the suspenseful story each day and then finish with a short devotional story. The books can be read in a 3 year cycle, each one telling a story from a different child’s perspective, but resulting in the same thing ~ an exciting retelling of the Christmas story.

I will admit that I get pulled into the story {and even read ahead!!}. The stories are targeted for children ages 9-12, but we started reading them last year with our girls {ages 6 and 7} and they LOVED them. This year as we’ve been reading the second book in the series, Bartholomew’s Passage, they are remembering the characters from the book last year and beginning to see how they all fit together.

Jotham’s Journey

The first book in the series follows Jotham, a ten year old boy, as he searches for his family after he had run away in anger. During his trip to find his family, Jotham is helped by many different people and makes many new friends, ultimately bringing him to Bethlehem during the height of the census time.

Bartholomew’s Passage

The second book in the series follows the story of Bartholomew after his town is raided by Roman soldiers and he is sold as a slave. He is rescued by a Fool and begins an exciting travel that leads him to Bethlehem…I’d tell you more, but we’re in the midst of reading this one!!

Tabitha’s Travels

This last book in the trilogy focuses on Tabitha and is scheduled to be re-released in the Summer/Fall of 2010. Jotham meets Tabitha in his travels and this book tells the story from her perspective. {We can’t wait for this one either!}.

Note: While older children may be okay with some of the content, there are some situations in the stories that are a little more intense for younger listeners. When reading to our kids, I would either pre-read or scan the stories, editing out anything that was too much for them at the time.

The Giveaway!!

Arnold Ytreeide has donated two different books ~ Jotham’s Journey and Bartholomew’s Passage and I will draw a winner for each of the titles. There are several ways for you to enter this giveaway, but there is one mandatory first entry: leave a comment here letting me know if your family celebrates Advent together or if you have any traditions for Advent {it’s okay if you don’t!!}.

Note: US Residents only, please!

If you would like to earn extra entries {you can earn 2 extra entries}, leave a comment for each of the following:

  • If you are a subscriber to my blog, give yourself an extra entry! Thanks so much! If you don’t subscribe, hop on board and leave a comment. :)
  • Head over to the JerichoQuill site and find out what the special family Easter adventure is ~ come back here and leave a comment letting me know what it is! {it’s one that I am keeping an eye out for since it hasn’t been released yet!}

This giveaway will be open until Monday, December 14th until 8pm and I will announce the winner by Wednesday, December 16th. Please be sure there is a way for me to contact you ~ otherwise I will draw another winner.

Photobucket
I own this product and was not paid for this post.
All opinions expressed in this post are mine.

Giveaway #1 ~ Itty-Bitty Bookworm

1500 Subscriber Banner

This Giveaway is now CLOSED!

Itty-Bitty Bookworm has generously donated a FULL YEAR of curriculum {worth $300} to one of my readers! Please read through this post for the complete details on this great giveaway!

I think you all know how much time it takes to plan activities for your little ones ~ having something on hand to help save you time and energy can be a HUGE blessing. Maybe you need a little inspiration in your planning and a ‘fresh-start’ for the new year? Tara at Itty~Bitty Bookworm has an incredible literature-based preschool curriculum that can be used in both a homeschool setting as well as an in-home daycare or school setting. Itty-Bitty Bookworm provides curriculum for children ages 18 months to 5 years of age with a wide range of activities including cooking, math, crafts, manipulative ideas, imaginative play, rhymes, language/phonics, and much more.

Bailey’s curriculum (ages 18 to 36 months) focuses on two different books each month and Bo’s curriculum (ages 3 to 5) focuses on four books each month. The activities and projects for the lessons revolve around the stories that are being read with the children.

Lesson plans are broken down into an easy-to-follow daily format {you can see a pdf sample here} and they are completely flexible!

Curriculum calendars for both levels:

Tara, the founder of Itty-Bitty Bookworm, also has a blog, Raising Itty-Bitty Bookworms along with free resources for parents. If you are interested in ordering Itty-Bitty Curriculum, you can choose to download a month of lesson plans ($20 each month) at a time or order a CD-rom ($30/month) of plans. Itty-Bitty has also started offering a geography~based curriculum, called Bo’s World Units, which are being released over this next year ~ and I know for a fact that a unit on Tanzania should be releasing soon, since I helped write it! :)

The Itty-Bitty Giveaway!!
The Itty-Bitty Bookworm has kindly offered to give one reader a full year of curriculum on CD. This giveaway is worth $300, so enter and spread the word! There are several ways for you to enter this giveaway, but there is one mandatory first entry: leave a comment here letting me know what you like most about this curriculum.
If you would like to earn extra entries {you can earn a total of 5 extra entries}, leave a comment for each of the following:
This giveaway will be open until Saturday, December 12th until 8pm and I will announce the winner by Monday, December 14th. Please be sure that there is a way for me to contact you ~ otherwise I will draw another winner.

Photobucket
This product was given to me for review purposes over a year ago and I did not have to return the product to the vendor. I have loved using it since that time! I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.

1,500 Subscribers Celebration…

1500 Subscriber Banner

See that lovely little Feedburner stat box over in the sidebar?? Little by little it’s been creeping up closer to the number 1,500.

Truthfully, I am overwhelming shocked and humbled that this blog has grown so quickly over the last year and since it’s all happening because of YOU, it’s time to CELEBRATE!!!

Behind the scenes I’ve been pulling together some great surprises for you all ~ a little something for everyone! So stay tuned, because as that number reaches 1,500 the giveaways will begin! And if you aren’t already a subscriber to my blog…you can help us hit that number a little sooner by either entering your email address in the box or clicking on the RSS feed button.

I can’t wait to share all the fun stuff with you!

Photobucket

Curriculum Clean-Out!

Photobucket

It’s here!!

Note: This post will remain at the top of my blog until the Clean-Out! is completed on the 15th – so be sure to scroll down and read the other posts going up in the meantime! MckLinky is set to close on the 15th also.

If you would like to join in on the Curriculum Clean-Out! and have fun giving away the excess on your shelves, now is the time! Once your post is ready, leave your link below using the MckLinky. Please be sure that your post follows the ‘rules’ of the Clean-Out! ~ please be sure to link your post back to this giveaway page and that you are using the permalink for your post. If you have any questions, I would be happy to help you out.

Giveaways will be added daily, so be sure to check back so that you don’t miss any of the great giveaways! Spread the word, make some new friends and have fun!!

The big thing to remember – grab the code below, put it somewhere in your post, link back here, and start giving!!

Here is the direct link for this post:

https://www.homeschoolcreations.net/2009/08/curriculum-clean-out/

And the code for the Curriculum Clean-Out button:

<center><a href=”https://www.homeschoolcreations.net/category/Curriculum%20Clean-Out” target=”_blank”><img border=”0″ alt=”Photobucket” src=”http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv146/homeschoolcreations/curriculumcleanout175.jpg”/></a></center>

Photobucket

Geography Resources Giveaway

***This giveaway is now closed***

The geography resources pack includes Australia {Evan Moor} for grades 3-6, How to Make Books with Children: Volume 1 {Evan Moor}, and Our Father’s World {Christian Liberty Press}.

~ Australia has reproducible maps, activity pages, and a poster-sized map of Australia.

~ How to Make Books with Children is a book showing how to make various shape books, wheel books and more {the little books are fun to make and store geography facts}.

~ Our Father’s World is a science text that covers plants, insects, animals, and creation science {great go-along as you study various animals, etc… in a country}.

Note: These items are not new, but are part of the Curriculum Clean-Out giveaway. I have quite a few extra books and homeschool things on my shelves that we won’t be using, and it’s a shame to have them sit and collect dust. I’m cleaning off my shelves in order to pass along some great products to other families.

If you would like to enter to win, you can earn a total of two entries:

  1. Leave a comment on this post.
  2. Twitter or blog about this contest and then come back to let me know by leaving an additional comment.

The giveaway is open until Saturday, August 15th at 5pm and is only open to residents in the continental US. A winner will be chosen at random and I will announce the winner on Saturday, August 16th. Please be sure to leave a way for me to contact you via your comment {i.e. blog address or email}. The winner will have 3 days to responds after I contact them. If I haven’t heard back within 3 days, I will draw another winner.

Photobucket

Don’t forget that there will be lots of other giveaways for the Curriculum Clean-Out! Be sure to check the main post for those that are linking up!

Photobucket

Toddler Pack Giveaway

***This giveaway is now closed***

This giveaway has resources for infants/todders {and their Mommies}. It includes two Baby Einstein dvds: World Animals and Neighborhood Animals as well as a great book called Baby Games by Elaine Martin. The book has activities for little ones from birth to three years of age including rhymes, songs, finger plays, and games.

Note: These items are not new, but are part of the Curriculum Clean-Out giveaway
. I have quite a few extra books and homeschool things on my shelves that we won’t be using, and it’s a shame to have them sit and collect dust. I’m cleaning off my shelves in order to pass along some great products to other families.

If you would like to enter to win, you can earn a total of two entries:

  1. Leave a comment on this post.
  2. Twitter or blog about this contest and then come back to let me know by leaving an additional comment.

The giveaway is open until Saturday, August 15th at 5pm and is only open to residents in the continental US. A winner will be chosen at random and I will announce the winner on Saturday, August 16th. Please be sure to leave a way for me to contact you via your comment {i.e. blog address or email}. The winner will have 3 days to responds after I contact them. If I haven’t heard back within 3 days, I will draw another winner.

Photobucket

Don’t forget that there will be lots of other giveaways for the Curriculum Clean-Out! Be sure to check the main post for those that are linking up!

Photobucket