This is a MamaBuzz review. The product was provided by: No Work Spanish for this review.

CONTEST CLOSED!

Congratulations to April B.!  You have won the No Work Spanish giveaway!  I just sent you an email – please let me know your mailing address within 72 hours so I can have this sent out to you!  Enjoy!

No Work Spanish is a very unique product.  These audio books were written by Anne Emerick, translated from English into Spanish, and put together on CD with both versions being read by bilingual actors.  Each chapter is first read sentence by sentence.  First, a sentence is read in English; then it is read in Spanish.  When the entire chapter has been read sentence by sentence, it is then read all the way through in Spanish.

Designed to help people learn Spanish without the ‘work’ of a traditional language program, No Work Spanish takes a very different approach to language education.  This approach is very modern, and incredibly inductive.  I don’t feel that this approach is all one would need to become fluent in a language, or even to learn to read the language, but I do feel that these audio books have their place.

In order to become fluent every student needs to have a good input of audio from the target language.  In order to really understand the cadences and syntax of a language, one needs to hear it spoken, and No Work Spanish does a great job of this.  Still, I feel it is better suited as a supplement.  Adults who have had former instruction in Spanish will be able to pick up a great deal of their vocabulary again as they brush off those rusty Spanish skills.  However, children will learn much faster with a more traditional, direct-input approach.  I believe it would take quite a while to build a workable vocabulary from such an inductive approach.  I recommend trying out No Work Spanish as an adjunct to such a program, not as a replacement.

In that supplementary role, I think No Work Spanish is great!  It is really a unique product, and my daughter (who hasn’t had any formal Spanish at this point) told me that she could pick out similarities between Spanish and English words just from overhearing me listening to the audio CDs.  I think that is pretty neat!  These are great to listen to when your hands are busy with some other work – when you are driving, washing dishes, cleaning house etc.

I received two audio books to review.  The first is Yaks March on Washington; told from the perspective of a ranch dog, it follows the true story of an Idaho rancher who travels across the US with six yaks on his way to a Tibetan festival.  This is a fun, short story, read by a male voice actor.  The pronunciation of both English and Spanish is clear and authentic (to my ears at least), and the story is told on one CD.  This practical, outdoorsy story will be very appealing to male students.

Poster Girl was my favorite.  Read over two CDs by a female voice actor, this audio book has the added advantage of some of the vocabulary words being presented BEFORE the chapter is read.  This direct presentation of vocabulary helps listeners pick up the words presented more quickly than the strictly inductive approach of the first story.  This is the No Work Spanish version of a chapter book written for primary grade students (under the same title) and it follows a girl named Paula through her challenges in trying to make a better science poster than the girl who always manages to out-do her.  My eight-year-old was interested in sitting and listening to this one for a while, so I think it’s a great fit for young, female students.

You can listen to free samples of these audio books online, and buy both of the first titles for $21.95 – a very good price.  The audios are also available as MP3 downloads and as separate CD audio books.  Additional titles are also available in the No Work Spanish product line.

You can find No Work Spanish on facebook and at their website.

You can also buy Yaks March on Washington and Poster Girl at Amazon.com!

CONTEST DETAILS:

I have one set of both of these audio books –  Yaks March on Washington AND Poster Girl – to give away to one blessed winner in the US or Canada!   To enter, please visit No Work Spanish and let me know which title in their audio series looks the best to you!

For additional entries:

1. Subscribe to this blog for updates – see the left hand sidebar. Leave an additional comment letting me know you’ve subscribed (or if you already subscribe).

2. Write a post on your blog promoting and linking to this contest. Leave an additional comment with a link to your post.

3. Add the Quiverfull Family button (see the code box in the right hand sidebar under BUTTON UP!) to your blog’s sidebar, or let me know if you already have the button displayed. Leave an additional comment with a link to your post.

4. Digg, Stumble, Tweet, Facebook or otherwise share this post on a social networking site. Leave an additional comment indicating how you shared this post.

5. Follow me on Twitter or let me know if you are an existing follower.

Each additional step taken counts for 1 additional entry. A total of 6 entries are available if you complete all of these steps. Please leave a separate comment for each entry!

The contest will close at 12 a.m. MST on Saturday, May 21st, 2011. One (1) winner will be randomly drawn for this set of two audiobooks on CD on Sunday, May 22nd, 2011 and notified by email. Please fill your email address in the comment form when you are completing your comment so that I can contact you. The winners must respond with a mailing address within 72 hours of my email, or a new winner will be chosen. This contest is open to those living in the US and Canada!

I’m happy to announce that our family business – Bogart Family Resources – is taking part in Notebookingpages.com’s 5th Birthday Sale-a-Bration! We participated last year, and we’re so happy to be taking part in the festivities again!

From today until May 27^th, when you order a NotebookingPages.com Treasury membership (or renew) you receive a package of free items ($70 value), including our recently released Copying the Poems: The Voice of Spring – HWT 3-A ($4.95) AND get a chance to win exciting prizes!

Basically, their entire collection plus updates for a year and three months (well over $400 if the pages were bought separately) is on sale for $52.46 – this is a truly amazing value – better even than last year!  All of their bundled products are also 25% off!

We own a membership and it is great.  My daughter really likes to look at all the sheets and pick out which one she’d like to use – for history, science, geography, composer study, you name it!  I plan to plumb this collection more deeply this year now that my oldest has really discovered notebooking !

This is an even better sale than last year, and I love the additions to their product line that they have made – 3D notebooking – notebooks with mini-books built in – very neat!

This is a great addition to ANY homeschool, it works across all subject areas and we’ve personally found that notebooking GREATLY increases retention!

You can BUY IT HERE!

Enjoy!

CONTEST CLOSED - Congratulations to Erica G. who entered her name to win a Cupcake Decorating Studio!  Thanks for your prompt response to my email Erica, enjoy your Cupcake Decorating Studio!

This is a MamaBuzz review. The product was provided by: SmartLab Toys for this review.

There are few things that my daughters love more than a craft kit.  Everything is included, you just pop it open, and you go.  Honestly, I like craft kits too – they REALLY cut down on the amount of time it takes to get a craft going for my little ones.

When we received the Snap Fashion Jewelry Studio kit in the mail to review, my oldest daughter in particular couldn’t wait to dig in.  She was packing the box around, pouring over the Snap It Up! Idea book that comes with the kit and continually (CONTINUALLY) asking when we could open it.

So, before I get into details about what my children eventually created, here is what you receive in the box:

• Snap Maker
• 16 Fabric Circles
• 12 Jewels
• Ribbon
• 5 Bases
• 2 Rings
• 25 Snap Domes Plus Backs
• Transfer Sheet
• Connector
• Tracing Ring
• Bottle of Glue
• The Snap It Up! Look Book

So, this art kit is recommended for children seven-and-up, but that didn’t stop the entire family from getting in on the action!  My husband ended up supervising my three oldest girls (8, 5, 2.5 – I know, this kit isn’t recommended for 3 and under, naughty us!) while they made me Mother’s Day gifts from this kit!  (So sweet!)

The darlings went wild!  They used all the bases, both of the rings, the connector (which puts two snaps together), the glue (not all of it), pretty near all of the jewels, and most of the fabric circles!  They made me two rings, and a necklace that used up most of their supplies (they put a LOT of snaps on it!)  and some loose snaps as well from the younger children. Their creations were fairly simple – my children are young.  You can purchase additional supplies to make the more complex projects presented in the idea book, but they were happy to keep things simple.

My smaller girls did have a bit of a tricky time getting their fabric just right.  Some of the edges were a bit loose, and one came undone at the side.  My oldest daughter – who is actually in the recommended age range – did a great job; all of her snaps are tight and sturdy!

With my children going through the supplies so quickly, I automatically wondered if refill kits are available to keep using the snap maker.  Unfortunately there aren’t any refills available at the moment, you need to call SmartLab Toys to order refills on an individual basis.  There MAY be refills available this fall.

You can purchase this kit for $24.99; this is a really fun sleepover, girly night, or sister-bonding project.   Definitely add this to your birthday-party-wishlist that you give to your relatives – any young recipient will be absolutely thrilled!

My olest daughter has been haunting the SmartLab website for days now to learn about all of the other neat kits to make accessories for kids that they have available for budding crafters.  Fellow homeschoolers, take note – you CAN count this as an educational toy, as it fits in well with the arts and crafts/home economics subject areas!

SmartLab Toys is offering Quiverfull Family readers a discount of 25% by using the code: BLOGBUZZ at checkout; from the SmartLab Toys store.  This offer expires June 30, 2011. Be sure to check out The Free Zone! while you are there for great kids’ activities from SmartLab Toys.

You can also buy this kit at AMAZON.COM!

Follow SmartLab Toys for deals and discounts, playtime ideas and free stuff on Facebook, Twitter, and through their newsletter.

CONTEST DETAILS:

I have 1 SmartLabs toy to give away to one blessed winner in the US or Canada!   To enter, please visit SmartLab and let me know which toy you would like to win!

For additional entries:

1. Subscribe to this blog for updates – see the left hand sidebar. Leave an additional comment letting me know you’ve subscribed (or if you already subscribe).

2. Write a post on your blog promoting and linking to this contest. Leave an additional comment with a link to your post.

3. Add the Quiverfull Family button (see the code box in the right hand sidebar under BUTTON UP!) to your blog’s sidebar, or let me know if you already have the button displayed. Leave an additional comment with a link to your post.

4. Digg, Stumble, Tweet, Facebook or otherwise share this post on a social networking site. Leave an additional comment indicating how you shared this post.

5. Follow me on Twitter or let me know if you are an existing follower.

Each additional step taken counts for 1 additional entry. A total of 6 entries are available if you complete all of these steps. Please leave a separate comment for each entry!

The contest will close at 12 a.m. MST on Friday, May 20th, 2011. One (1) winner will be randomly drawn for this craft kit on Sunday, May 22nd, 2011 and notified by email. Please fill your email address in the comment form when you are completing your comment so that I can contact you. The winners must respond with a mailing address within 72 hours of my email, or a new winner will be chosen. This contest is open to those living in the US and Canada!

CONTEST CLOSED!

Congratulations to Elaine O., the winner of our giveaway! I know you and your church will love this DVD! I’ve sent you an email – please get in touch within 72 hours with your mailing address so I can get this voucher in the mail for you and you can start enjoying this DVD Bible survey for children!

Our family was recently exposed to the fairly new DVD series for children called What’s in the Bible.  Keeping in mind that we are jumping in here with DVD #5, from what I’ve seen of this DVD What’s in the Bible is a zany, but comprehensive overview of the Bible for children.  The fifth DVD in the series – Israel Gets a King! gives children an overview of I Samuel, II Samuel, and part of I Kings – the life of King Saul, King David, and King Solomon.

Created by Phil Vischer (one of the creators of the ever-popular Veggie Tales) the series exudes the same wildsense of humor that Vischer brings to his projects.  We even get to see Phil in the flesh as he handles parts of the speaking in the series.  Basically, the cast is a crew of puppets (no veggies – all humanoid), Phil, and a few other voices and people.  They have come together to form a television show (think The Muppets – there is even a pair of elderly ladies who watch the show on their TV.) that educates children about the Bible.  There is quite an assortment of puppets, personalities, voices etc. that make my children laugh out loud and keeps them entertained while they learn.  The puppets and Phil switch off speaking parts very often to keep children engaged.

The DVD is divided into two parts – each complete with theme song and ending segments, so you can watch the parts independently (around 30 minutes each), or in a single sitting.  There is also standard chapter navigation built in.  Part one revolves around Saul and David up until the point when Saul dies.  Part two covers David’s reign and Solomon’s life.

This is a great, grammar-stage overview of the main people, places, and events of the books covered.  This would be an excellent way to get a big-picture view of certain parts of the Bible before reading those books together as a family.  Unlike Veggie Tales episodes that fictionalize and simplify biblical events for young children, What’s in the Bible is very up-front about even the aspects of these men’s lives that are typically omitted from children’s Bible stories.  I love that.  I can’t tell you how much.

Not only does this DVD not shy away from David’s adultery and Solomon’s 700 wives but it interprets these events correctly through God’s word, displays the consequences of disobedience, and shows God’s mercy when repentance is present.  It is beautifully done and challenges children to decide which king THEY want to be like in their response to their inevitable sins and shortcomings.  Brilliant.  The series is also careful to weave God’s plan of salvation throughout the entire Bible, even back in I Samuel.

There is also a “Big Idea” segment where important theological truths are shared.  In episode #5 the trinity is tackled.  That’s a big idea for sure!  It is very well done and my husband has referenced it a few times already when speaking of God with our children (he really digs this DVD too).

There are fun songs, colorful puppets, popsicle stick theater segments, flannelgraphs – all very upbeat and attention grabbing.  I asked my children what they thought, “Hilarious!”  They are 8, 5, and 2 – they will all sit through the entire DVD AND bonus features (bloopers, deleted scenes, and a popsicle stick theater skit about a melon monkey – think the boy who cried wolf).  We have watched this DVD together as a family twice and my children are always glued to the screen.  Better yet, they are retaining what they learn and sharing it with us at meal times.

We received this DVD to review.

You can learn more about this series at Whatsinthebible.com or Tyndale.com.

Also – so FUN – here are some free coloring pages for you to download of the puppets from What’s in the Bible?

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AT CHRISTIANBOOK.COM OR AMAZON.COM!

CONTEST DETAILS:

I have 1 DVD voucher that the winner can redeem at their local Christian retailer for a copy What’s in the Bible? #5: Israel Gets a King! to give away to one blessed winner in the US!   To enter, let me know how you would like to use this DVD with your children!

For additional entries:

1. Subscribe to this blog for updates – see the left hand sidebar. Leave an additional comment letting me know you’ve subscribed (or if you already subscribe).

2. Write a post on your blog promoting and linking to this contest. Leave an additional comment with a link to your post.

3. Add the Quiverfull Family button (see the code box in the right hand sidebar under BUTTON UP!) to your blog’s sidebar, or let me know if you already have the button displayed. Leave an additional comment with a link to your post.

4. Digg, Stumble, Tweet, Facebook or otherwise share this post on a social networking site. Leave an additional comment indicating how you shared this post.

5. Follow me on Twitter or let me know if you are an existing follower.

Each additional step taken counts for 1 additional entry. A total of 6 entries are available if you complete all of these steps. Please leave a separate comment for each entry!

The contest will close at 12 a.m. MST on Wednesday, May 18th, 2011. One (1) winner will be randomly drawn for this DVD voucher on Thursday, May 19th, 2011 and notified by email. Please fill your email address in the comment form when you are completing your comment so that I can contact you. The winners must respond with a mailing address within 72 hours of my email, or a new winner will be chosen. This contest is open to those living in the US!

Just before our fourth baby was born someone at our midwife’s office asked if we felt like experienced parents since we already had three children on the ground.  My answer was, “No!  I still don’t feel like we know what we are doing!”  My husband agreed.  Of course, we have the basics figured out, but our oldest continues to move into new age brackets and forge new trails.  I continually re-evaluate and tweak in order to make things work for our family.  In no way do I feel like an expert.

We can all benefit some from online resources for parents, but what I find works the best is learning in the crucible – hands-on education for mom. Trial and error. The tough knowledge that is gained only through experience. The same goes for our homeschooling experience. Pray, think, get parenting tips and advice from fellow moms, think, try it out, adjust, think, learn, adjust, think, advice, try, try, adjust, try. It is a hard way to learn, but I don’t honestly know if this whole parenting and homeschooling thing can be done another way.

I think I should actually try thinking less and praying more.  All of this thinking and re-calibrating is almost enough to wear out my brain so more praying is definitely in order.

One of my blog readers left a comment asking me to elaborate more on our new schedule.  I wanted to add more last night, but it was simply too late at night for me to form a post that made sense!

Our schedule is very different (as I mentioned before), because my husband and I both work from home, and we homeschool, we live without running water off-grid, but here goes.

In the morning we wake up, I dress the girls, feed the baby (this happens throughout the day of course), brush hair etc. while Larry makes breakfast.  Then we eat together as a family.  Then we do devotional Bible reading out of the NIrV and memory work out of the KJV while the girls listen, color, answer questions etc.  Then we have chore time.  Everyone in the family works on chores.  The girls have some simple chores – mostly picking up.  Our oldest also helps with the dishes.  This is when we focus on domestics.  We do baths, intensive cleaning, dishes (once a day in the morning), cooking ahead, vacuuming, washing floors etc.  Not all on the same day of course, but we always do dishes and cooking.  The girls are excused when they are done, Larry and I keep doing domestics until lunch time – putting away laundry, filing, clearing hot spots, you name it.  We have a chalkboard we both write the tasks on that need to be tackled, but we don’t have a formal chore rotation in place.

After lunch we clear up the table, then we go into our work blocks.   We do two days of school, a day of work, two days of school, a day of work, then take Shabbat off (Saturday).  That is what *I* do in the afternoon block.  On school days we do skills first, then content.  We are currently doing Latin, math, spelling, English, copywork for skills, then we rotate science and history for content subjects for my oldest daughter.  My second daughter is doing All About Reading, and sits in on read alouds, my third daughter likes read alouds too.  We don’t get to do those if our skill work isn’t completed in a timely fashion – and of course, our content subjects are the most fun .

In our work time Larry works on the house, builds furniture, tends to the cattle, chops wood, works on the business, or on my work days he takes the children for walks, does crafts with them, reads them stories etc.  We have a tea break at around 3:45 then keep working until around 6 p.m. now that it is summer.

Then we eat supper, clear the table, and Larry milks the cow (he also does this in the morning before most of us wake up) and take scare of the milk.  Sometime in the afternoon or evening the girls also get to watch a DVD or VHS of their choosing – they have a rotational choosing schedule.  In the evening we sometimes watch a family movie, or just relax, get ready for bed, read our slate of bedtime stories, and it is off to bed!

We have never been so productive!  We’ve done away with multi-tasking and are focusing more on working as a team, I’m so pleased with the results.  Of course, this won’t work for everyone.  The most important thing with scheduling is to understand your family dynamics, eventually you will find something that works for you (Lord willing)!

Our family moves like hillbillies (I think we ARE hillbillies but that’s another matter).  We load up our pickup truck, we strap all sorts of things to it – chickens, furniture, tubs full of stuff.  Sometimes we bring along our trailer, DH rigs up some do-it-yourself sides for it, then we stuff THAT full of furniture, tubs, chickens, you name it!  Other times we haul our cows in that trailer (but we do clean it between times!)

I’m sure our moves don’t look much like those that this moving company Austin TX performs, but they work for us! I hope we don’t need to move again for a very, very long time.

The premise of Fallen is a simple one.  Jim, a long time church member and chairman of the church board sees his Dave, his young, married pastor in a vehicle with another woman.  He asks his pastor what is going on, and what he finds leads him to dig deeper into the matter.  What he uncovers however is not so simple.  It leads not only to the exposure of beliefs that subtly undermine the orthodoxy of Christianity but also to an investigation of areas of personal weakness in Jim’s own life.

Author Matthew Raley has written this book from inside of Jim’s head, which is an unusual point of view for an author to take.  As a result, much of this book is cerebral – readers spend a lot of time walking through Jim’s thought processes, through his voyage of discovery, through the logic he uses to determine if the actions of his pastor were justified.

There is a lot of dialogue as Jim and Dave dance around each other.  Dave attempts to stand his ground and keep his standing while Jim jabs at Dave and attempts to uncover areas of weakness.  This was a bit harder to follow than your average novel because so much of what is happening is verbal and mental.

The action in this novel also takes place over a very short period of time and it all revolves around the process of discovery, the process of dealing with the aftermath, negotiating the church politics (Raley is a senior pastor himself, so this is realistic writing).

All that said, Fallen isn’t written in the style of a typical novel.  It is more of a voyage of discovery and exploration within the realm of Christian norms and orthodoxy with a splash of personal revelation thrown in.  It won’t be for everyone – I’m not even sure it was entirely for me – but it was an interesting read, and a bit of an unexpected one at that.

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW AT CHRISTIANBOOK.COM OR AMAZON.COM!

I remember the days (ah, I sound like an old folk don’t I?) where you had to go to a flower shop to order flowers to send to someone.  Or you could call them I suppose, but I normally visited in person to pick out what I liked.  It’s hard to make a decision when you can’t see what you are buying.

With the proliferation of internet shopping, you can see what you’re buying and never leave your comfy armchair or have to talk to anyone on the phone.  Even today it isn’t too late to order up some Mother’s Day Flower Delivery using ProFlowers coupon codes.

On FlowerDeliveryDeals.com you can find ProFlowers coupons deals on flower delivery packages that include – yummy chocolates, roses, and a vase to put the flowers in.  Personally, I don’t really own any vases, so I always like to get a vase with flowers – saves me the stress of trying to find a place for the flowers to go!

Actually – this might sound a bit odd for a woman, but I will almost always opt for a book over flowers.  I know – totally unromantic, but that’s who I am – I am certifiably addicted to books, my family will certify it if no one else will .

If you are anything like our family, you’ve tried – ahem – a few different schedules in the past.  For the past couple of weeks we’ve been playing with and perfecting a new type of schedule and so far it is working better for us than any we’ve previously used.  We both work from home, and homeschool, so our schedule has been almost TOO flexible in the past.  Now that we are setting aside larger chunks of time for specific topical tasks things have really been getting done around here!  It’s exciting to see, and it hasn’t felt like a huge burden.  It is actually a relief to have time set aside to really tackle tasks with family members supporting us in them.

So, if you haven’t found a schedule that works for you yet – keep trying!  It is possible to find a good fit, you just need to keep finessing!