Thrift Schooling

If you're looking for a way to beat the heat this summer AND keep your kids occupied, then you need to be sure to head over to Splash Valley ! The heat has been quite a challenge this summer. Even though we have central air, I do NOT want to be cooped up inside having the kids playing video games all day and driving each other bananas! We do have a creek on our property but the ticks have been crazy this year so we haven't been able to enjoy it as much as I had hoped! So this week, our family of five packed up our car and met up with some Roanoke friends at Splash Valley! That day in particular was calling for a chance of thunderstorms, which made me nervous! But, they do offer rain checks or let you swim in their indoor pool if it isn't too crowded! Earlier in the day, I was sure to call their Automated Phone Line (540) 387-6455 ext. 5.   This way, I was able to find out if they were open that day before beginning our hour long drive out there! My F...

I am pleased to introduce to you  Veritas Press , a Classical Christian curriculum! We have been having so much fun with this course and look forward to continue to use it throughout the summer and next school year! Recently, we have been using one of their online courses that you can receive access to for $199.00 for an entire year. I chose to use  Veritas Press Self-Paced History: Old Testament and Ancient Egypt  with my second grader, it is recommended for students in grades second through sixth. To go along with this course, I also received their  Old Testament and Ancient Egypt Flashcards  ($19.95). Why I Chose This Program Teaching about Ancient Egypt makes me nervous. Primarily because when I find resources from the library or online the focus is secular rather than Christian. Basically the child learns how to make a mummy out of toilet paper and hieroglyphics are introduced. The focus is usually placed on the gods and th...

Library and Educational Services  provides quality materials at discounted prices for teachers, home educators, missionaries, licensed day cares, church leaders and wholesalers. From Bibles to Educational DVD's, this company provides great deals to those who qualify as one of the above, (as most of you reading this do.) For our homeschool, we recently received two, (yes, TWO,) DVD's from the Go Science DVD Series 2. This series contains seven volumes and I chose,  Volume 2: Life Science, Weather and   Volume 7: Engineering, Design, Flight .                                      Volume 1: Sound, Gravity, Space                                                                      ...

It's not every day that we serve up salad for breakfast in our house. But when I went to check out my garden in the cool of the morning, I couldn't resist! After several days of weather in the 90's, I just had to get outside before the sun began to reveal it's torturous beams of fire. When I headed to the garden, I was pleased to find some lettuce and cucumber ripe for the picking! When everyone woke up, I was determined to keep them cool and hydrated. It seemed that the day before had caught us of guard and even though meager attempts were made to quench our thirst, the weather still had it's toll on everyone. When I told my seven year old we were having salad that morning, he ran outside and found some dandelion greens to throw in last minute! If your looking for a refreshing breakfast to stay cool on those scorching days, try some tasty green leaves topped with whatever is on hand! On this particular morning we simply had leaf lettuce, dandeli...

 No, you are not in the wrong place! This is still Heather and this is still Thrift Schooling! I just have a new and improved look thanks to  Traci Michele Designs . (Hope you like it as much as I do.) If you want to know how you can receive an affordable (or FREE) custom design for your blog, keep reading! When I first started blogging, I had no idea what I was doing. Full of enthusiasm, I signed up for my free blogger blog, picked a pre-made blogger template and was on my way. Or so I thought.  Aside from my lack of creativity with the design of my blog, I had no clue what I was doing in terms of what to post. " Reviews are popular among mom blogs ," I think to myself. I had recently purchased a new pair of glasses from an online site so I said, " hey, I'll do a review of them and post it on my blog !" True story. Here's the sad, unedited photo I used on one of my first posts.  Embarrassing! What was I thinking?!! I'm not ev...

101 Bible Stories From Creation To Revelation provides short one page summaries of classic Bible stories from both the Old and New Testament. Each passage is written in story form with quotations taken from the NIV translation. This 217 page hardback is perfect for your independent reader! Each story is one page long (except for Esther which is a bit longer), and includes a full page color image accompanying the passage. The passages are written both in a way that is easy to read and easy to understand. It is certainly perfect for my second grader because the passages aren't too long. The wording is captivating and engaging for his age. Jesus looked up and saw a rich man proudly place money into the temple treasury. Then a poor widow quietly dropped two small coins into the box. "The truth is that poor widow gave more than all the others. The others gave out of many riches, but she gave all the money she has in the world. Obviously these stor...