Thrift Schooling

Located in Concord, NC, The Carolina Renaissance Festival is an entertaining destination for the whole family. From a free toddler play area to fire eating demonstrations, there are exciting shows and activities for family members of all ages. When you first arrive, you are greeted by characters dressed in Renaissance style clothing, speaking in 16th Century European accents. My children (and husband!) had never been to a festival like this before and for me, it has been a good 25 years since I've been to one. I had some faint memories but my experience here was much better than I seem to remember! My husband was impressed and my kids had a memorable experience.  I think they were a bit overwhelmed at first because I didn't really prepare them. I told them a little bit about it but when they heard the word "festival" they were thinking of something completely different than what this was- they had NO IDEA that it was basically set up like ...

AvoSeedo avocado tree germinator bowl that makes it easy for everyone to grow their own plant at home from a simple avocado pit. Easy to use for all ages of amateur avocado arborists! The clever AvoSeedo bowl design keeps the avocado pit immersed in just the right amount of water to grow effectively.  Made for durability, from recyclable, non-toxic materials and is reusable for other vegetables like lettuce, celery, carrot tops! Germinate and grow an avocado tree in your own home, whatever the climate. Fun family project to make a tree sprout and watch it grow from the pit of a common avocado. It will increase kids' understanding of ecology, interconnections in nature, responsibility and care for the environment in a participatory and concrete way! Watch how to grow an Avocado tree with AvoSeedo AvoSeedo from Daniel Kalliontzis on Vimeo . 1. Get an avocado, cut it open and remove the pit. 2. Peel away the thin skin from the avocado pit. 3. Put t...

Time travel to the Carolina Renaissance Festival where history comes alive with non-stop day-long entertainments, arts and crafts, games and rides, jousting knights on horseback, feasting and so much more!  Each day inside the 25 acre Village of Fairhaven is filled with an abundance of attractions and entertainments for all ages.  Enjoy your best day out in history 8 consecutive weekends, September 30th - November 19th.  My readers get to save with your visit! FREE Child Admission! - Receive one FREE Child Admission for children age 5 - 12 with purchase of one full price adult ticket at Festival gate. Children under 5 are always free . Coupon is valid at the Festival ticket booth!  Details online at Carolina.RenFestInfo.com                                                             ...

Living in the Blue Ridge Mountains has certainly changed me. My lifestyle, goals, daily habits and forms of entertainment are dramatically different. Growing up in the suburbs led me to visiting a mall weekly, coffee shop bi-weekly and a hike in the woods once every, lets say, five years! Now, all I have to do is step outside and the woods await. I go half a mile and a mountainous view is begging to be enjoyed. Life is different. Good, different and I am so thankful that I am able to raise my kids here, like this. One hobby that my older ones have really taken to is metal detecting. Homeschool nerds to the max, right? We first started out with a White's and then had an opportunity to review a Tesoro, you can read my Tesoro Review Here . My boys have found piles of goodies with this detector and love it. One of my son now has a Garrett, but my oldest still uses his trusty Tesoro with great success.  Every find, has a story. My kids love trying to figure out what that story ...

Little Pup’s wolf family is on their way to a special reunion—with lots of cousins, games, roasting marshmallows, and fun! As the young wolf thinks about different kinds of families, it’s the perfect opportunity for Mama and Papa to teach their inquisitive child about the families that God brings together. Some families are big and others are small, some are led by grandparents or just one parent, and some families include adopted little ones– yet each family is truly special.    Even the members of Little Pup’s pack make up an important role in his family, although they sometimes pester him. Papa gently reminds his son…   “We need to love the family God gave us.”   Honestly, this book was not what I was expecting. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, and not in a good way. I kept wondering when a bombshell would be dropped and the author would begin promoting same-sex marriage or something of the sort. She never did, thank God but I wasn't quite sure...

What do you do when you find out something you have always believed, is in fact, not true? A tidbit learned from your history teacher in high school or a doctrine you were taught in church.  Most of us have experienced this in one way or another.  Were you raised believing in Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy? How about the Easter Bunny? I was. I still remember reading a book up in my bedroom in third grade. The main character stated that there was no such thing as Santa Claus. I was devastated. (I still can't believe that in third grade I STILL believed in Santa!) Nevertheless, when I found out, I ran downstairs in hopes that my mom would tell me that in fact Santa was real. That the book was lying and that my trusted mother would set the record straight. Nope. The truth came out. I kind of had a feeling that it was the case but secretly hoped that Santa was real.  Of course I was told not to tell my little sister who wasn't even school aged yet, so...

Part of the best-selling Draw 50 series this step-by-step guide to sketching and rendering astronauts, planets, asteroids, comets, spaceships, space stations, and other elements related to outer space exploration is for artists of all levels. In this new installment of Lee J. Ames’s beloved Draw 50 series , readers will find easy-to-follow, step-by-step lessons for outer space drawing. In each lesson, six wordless steps provide everything needed to master drawing all kinds of planets, moons, comets, and meteors, as well as astronauts, rockets, spaceships, and other aspects–both natural and man made–related to charting the cosmos. We will be starting an astronomy series soon in our homeschool so I thought this book would be perfect for my older boys. Both love to draw. Some kids thrive on creating their own creations while others, such as my eldest son, thrives off of "how to draw" books such as this one. He loves to learn how to draw new objects and surprisingly takes...