Thrift Schooling

If you or someone you know has a desire to draw but doesn't have the know-how to get started, then The Drawing Lesson: A Graphic Novel That Teaches You How To Draw by Mark Crilley is the book to invest in. My son's bookshelf is filled with different how-to books. One teaching him how to draw cats, one robots, and another cartoon characters. Although he does enjoy following the step by step instructions, but he usually veers off and ends up making his own creations. This book possesses several unique qualities that makes it stand out. For one, it is written as a story in comic book style. That alone was enough to keep me enticed. I simply could not put this book down. The story follows a young boy and his mentor who teaches him a new drawing technique in each chapter.  Secondly, the author is an amazing artist. I guess it helps for the one teaching you to draw to be good at drawing but this author is more than good, his drawings are captivating and impressive. Lastly, this b...

The I Can Read! Adventure Bible: Great Stories of the Bible has been a big hit in our home. As soon as we received this book in the mail, my kids were excited to read it. That is one of the things I like about the I Can Read! series, the kids are able to read it on their own.  When I get one of these books, at the right reading level for my kids, I can be confident that as soon as they open to the first page that they will be able to read with ease. Sometimes, with other books, they can get frustrated. They begin the book excited, but by the time they reach page two they give up because there are too many hard words. That is not the case with this series. With these books, the stories are written in a way that has challenging subject matter but uses simple words for children.  The fact that my eight year old son could pick this book up and read the story of Esther to his sister, with ease, was a real confidence booster for him. This book contains the following stories...

  Do you have an angry child? It can become extremely frustrating to know how to deal with them since it usually stirs up so many emotions in the parent, when a child’s anger surfaces.  Read more at Our Homeschool Forum.

Enter to win Sheepdogs: Meet Our Nation's Warriors by Stephanie Rogish and  Lt. Col. Dave Grossman in the Rafflecopter below.  Read My Review Last week I shared with you a review of the book SHEEPDOGS: MEET OUR NATION'S WARRIORS introducing to you an important book for you to read to your children. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, most famous for his military resource book, On Killing , has graciously sent me three more copies of the children's book,  SHEEPDOGS to give away to my readers!  This is an excellent resource teaching children the difference between sheep, wolves and sheepdogs in our society. Parents don't need to fear raising their children in this dark hour. We don't need to fear the dark but as Col. Grossman shares in a poem in the beginning of this book, those who lurk in the dark need to fear the sheepdogs!     a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Looking to bring an electronics course to your homeschool? EEME Electronics is an easy to navigate, online course that sends the materials right to your front door. No prior experience needed! Science is a big deal in our house. Give my kids Legos and they'll come back with a hand-powered lemonade mixer. Send them outside and they will come back with some unidentified bug or plant that they want to search for on the internet. Their minds are inquisitive and they love working with their hands, which is why they love EEME! EMME is an online curriculum for children ages 7-12 that teaches them the basics of electronics. We have been going through their six project set and have now completed the third one called tentacles. In this lesson, the children learned about NPN transistors and PNP transistors and buzzers, all while building an alarm system. This project took about an hour and a half to complete.   This project includes 33, short, online videos. ...

The Logic of English program has become an integral part of my son's education. He is presently working through Foundations Level C and loving it! It is no secret that I am a fan of the Logic of English Foundations Program. I'm realizing that the reason I like it so much is because it does just that, lays a foundation. When learning to read, there are two main methods you can use. Either sight or phonics. I learned to read by sight so when I first started teaching my oldest son to read I was confused when different phonetic rules were brought into the picture. He learned to read quickly and sped ahead two grade levels immediately so we didn't spend much time on the rules.  My second son didn't catch on quite as quick. Don't get me wrong, he's a great reader and reads right on par for his age, but he learns differently. Teaching him to read using phonics has increased his reading ability dramatically. He is the type to rush through things and th...

The Berenstain Bears Caring and Sharing Treasury is a wonderful collection of five beloved Berenstain Bears stories all in one, large, hardcover book. It includes the following stories:   -        Jobs Around Town -        Get Involved -        Love Their Neighbors -        The Biggest Brag   -        Gossip Gang Each book in this treasury begins by sharing a Bible verse that is relevant to the story. What I like about this collection is that there are stories that would be a draw to young boys such as Jobs Around Town and Get Involved . The ones that my daughter was excited about were T he Biggest Brag and the Gossip Gang, because it featured mostly girl bears in the stories. The other story, Love Their Neighbors , was my favorite and is sure to be a hit with any child. It is basically a modern day ve...