My second attempt at pot pies went a little better! I will post the recipe soon!
All posts by NerdMom
Wordless Wednesday: Fair Memory
These are the tickets I won for tonight’s concert. We didn’t get to use them. We also had matching tickets to the fair, which we used. It was raining so hard they called off the concert. But they didn’t call it off until NerdDad and I had been at the fair for a few hours, in the flooding rain;). That is the $3 ring I picked up in the gem and mineral display. After the concert was called off we went to dinner and saw Surrogates in the theater (which we rarely ever do).
I will keep both of these forever but not really for all the fun (though I had fun;). But to remind how wonderful my husband is. My husband doesn’t really care for either fairs nor concerts. And that is in the best of weather;). But he went with me because he loves me. He also got soaked because he loves me;). And walked around for a couple of hours because he loves me.
I love him too!
Carnival of Homeschooling: Welcome to the NerdFamily House!
Hi everyone! Welcome to the NerdFamily House! We are having our first rain of the season out here so I hope you didn’t get to wet. Come on in, let me take your jackets and bags. Make yourself at home!
Before we get into anything just a quick a reminder for all those in California. It is once again time for affidavits!! If you file a PSA you only have until October 15th to get over and fill that out online!!
You can grab a cup of coffee or a soda and go join in on the education conversations around the kitchen table. Beverly at Beverly’s Homeschooling Blog (About.com) is talking about Why we love the Charlotte Mason Method. Successful Homeschooling talks about The Hidden Joy of Rote Memorization that is found in classical homeschooling. Special Needs Homeschooling talks about Sexual Education for the Mentally Disabled. They look at both how to educate and how to protect the mentally disabled in the arena of sex. Bur Bur & Friends:Community Park has Resources for Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. Minds in Bloom offers questions that parents can ask children to encourage them to think creatively and critically about their work in 8 Questions to Ask Children about their Art Work. The Curriculum Choice looks at Latin for Children vs Latina Christina.
There are some great people over by the piano talking music education. Diamonds in the Rough shares with us a source for Free Sheet Music. Texas Homeschooler asks us about thePurpose for Music.
At the white board there is a little math talk going on. The Homeschooling Physicist has given us Math Interlude: Homeschool Math by Rotating Wheat Thins Boxes. You gotta check it out!Lesson Pathways Blog talks to us about Using On-Line Math Resources.
Over at the writing desk we have some interesting lessons. SmallWorld gives us a creative writing lesson with SmallWorld’s WordSmithery Week 7: Writing About the Weather. Then Across the Page gives us Curriculum spotlight: Writing with Ease. Under the Golden Apple Tree offers Spelling Helps for the Spelling Challenged Student.
The kids can go over to the kitchen island where the kids can go their hands dirty for education! Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers goes through step-by-step: Making a Paper Mache Map. The Informed Parent has some great ideas for Costumes for all the upcoming festivities. Quiverfull Family is sharing their Creative Cooking that got them their Jello cell. It is an awfully cool idea!
Check out over by the bookshelves. The Mommy Earth has a book review: The Walrus Warning and the Smithsonian Oceanic Collection. Over at NerdFamily Things I have a litst of books that seemed to help Reading and Learning While Little.
Over on the couches we are having some interesting conversations on the politic of schooling and other profundities. Barbara Frank Online has One Dirty Little Secret about College, I am sure there are more but this one really causes you to think. Home Education Today asks us, “Is my child missing out on the high school experience?” The Thinking Mother tell us about how She Worked Outside the Home for 1 Week and what spoke to her about it. Corn and Oil gives us “Taking Away the Youth”- Perspective of an Illini Graduate Student (homeschooler). It is a poignant piece that talks about the political pushing towards more institutional school time. They wonder what we’re doing to our children and how this will affect homeschoolers. Save Money Homeschooling wants to know if (Is) the Recession Increasing Or Decreasing the Number of Homeschoolers? No Fighting No Biting wants to know is More School Better? Mommy’s Life reminds us that You CAN Teach Your Kids! She shares her response to 3 common things that are said to her about homeschooling.
Make sure you stop by the tv for a little entertainment. It is hooked up to the laptop (yes, this is the NerdFamily House) for a little entertainment. Why Homeschool asks, “Are you a homeschooler or homeschooled?” It is a hilarious video that Janine found. You have to see it! Speaking of entertainment, Notes From a Homeschooling Mom shares with us a Homeschool must see: Little House on the Prarie, the Musical. Unfortunately it isn’t coming to California but I would love to see it!
Looking out the back window and out into the world are some great field trip posts. Percival Blakeney Academy talks about Rice Harvesting they got to go participate in. Practical Homeschooling gives us 40 Free Field Trip Ideas.
Just for fun….Chocolate Kids claims Healthy Chocolate Turns My Son Into 10 Year Old Maths Genius!
I love having you all over and look forward to doing it again. Make sure you get all your coats and bags and try to stay dry out there!
So this was fun, right?!?! So show your love by tweet, digging, blogging and anything else you can do to promote out carnival! Go check out all the awesome articles and comment so the authors know that they are valued! Make sure that you send in your articles for next week’s carnival at BlogCarnival. Next week it will be held at No Fighting No Biting.
Reading and Learning While Little
Recently I have been part of a few discussions about how hard it is to find non-fiction books for young readers. I can say here in the NerdFamily house it has always been a challenge. With our oldest we struggle with a child who can read quite well for his age but at the same time the non-fiction books at that level contain such advanced data that it is hard for him to really comprehend the information. With NerdPie she wants to learn real information but is still really developing her reading ability. Then we have our 4 year old. He can’t read but he loves to be read to. I want to encourage him to understand what I am reading so I don’t want books that are to hard. With all of these kids it would be a shame to lose this sponge like time.
At my local library I have found a few different series that we have used. Typically what happens is that I find 1 in a series, like it, and then request every other book they put out. So in order to help others, in a way I wish someone would have helped me, here are a few series that I have found. I am not going to really talk about math because I have already posted a bit about some good options here and here.
History:
Time for Kids Series
(they have great history and science)
(they have great history and science)Science:
Let’s Read and Find Out! Series
So there are just a few. What do you use with your early elementary school kids?
My Yoga 2 Go Review and Giveaway!
Life is crazy, exercise much less relaxation is near impossible to schedule. That is why My Yoga 2 Go was created. In the My Yoga 2 Go Practice System you get posture cards, sequence cards, and a plastic holder. With these, you can layout an entire yoga workout.
This is cool for so many reasons! First off, finding the time and money to go to a yoga studio is always a challenge. And frankly I like yoga but not the mediation side. So this allows me to do yoga on my terms! It has sequence cards that enable you to so a set sequence based on your level and purpose (Energize, core strength, hip opening and more). I also really like the fact that is has a full color picture of each pose with detailed instructions. It has all the benefits of having a teacher right there!
It is also very nice that it folds up and can travel with you. Traveling stresses me out greatly so it is convenient that it is light and can hang on just about anything! With the holidays coming up I think this would also be a great gift.
So does this sound as great for you as it does to me? Well, then you can go pick it up at My Yoga 2 Go. I even have a 15% off coupon for you to use! Just use the code “BLOGYOGA” between now and October 31st. Or you could win it here!
Win it!
How would you like to win some of your own My Yoga 2 Go Practice System?
How would you like to win some of your own My Yoga 2 Go Practice System?
To enter:
* Leave me a comment here telling me a great relaxation tip!
* A random winner will be selected and notified on October 23rd.
* The winner will then have 3 days to claim their prize.
To earn extra entries, you may do one or all of the following. Each one counts as an extra ticket but you must leave a separate comment for each one.
* Subscribe to my feed (if you already do, that counts).
* Mention this giveaway on your blog with a link back here.
* Subscribe to my Twitter
* Tweet about this!
If you want to see more giveaways pop over to Making Money Keeping Money to see more giveaways on Contesting Monday
(This is a FRN review)
Magic Marker Monday: Day 2
Day 2: God made sky and water.
Meal Plan Monday
This is my last full week before I go back to Stanford so things are a little nutty over here! So hopefully I will at least have peace in the food department;).
Monday: Pork Loin Pot Pies (with corn and asparagus)
Tuesday: Kids-Sandwiches, Mom&Dad-Fair Food!
Wednesday: Pasta, Chicken and Asparagus in a Butter Garlic Sauce (Asparagus @Vons 99 cents a lb)
Thursday: Beef Roast, Potatoes, Broccoli
Friday: Chicken Kiev, Broccoli, Crescent Rolls
Muvee Review and Giveaway!
I have had to come to terms with something. I don’t scrapbook and probably never will. I have shoe boxes of pictures and tons of supplies but I have neither time nor talent. I have a phobia about messing with the actual pictures and hurting them. I am way to type A and at the same time cannot draw a straight line. That makes for painful and slow scrapbooking. But my dads are both out of the area and I would love to keep them up to date with pictures of the kids. So enters muvee Reveal software.
You can use muvee Reveal to make shows with pictures, videos and music. It is so very easy. You just click on everything hit play. It is also set up to help those of us who are, shall we say, photographically inhibited. It offers a variety of photo editing options. You can turn up the colors, offset red eye issues, zoom and more! So once you are done building your show you can a few easy options. You can just view it from your computer, burn it onto a disk, post it on a blog or share it!
This is so great! I think this is a great way to create mini photo “album” shows for different events (like Christmas morning) or seasons (like summer vacation). I also really like this because you can have as many copies as you would like, unlike traditional paper scrapbooks. So go check out muvee Reveal!
Win it!
How would you like to win some of your own copy of muvee Reveal?
To enter:
* Go over to the muvee site and then come back here to tell me about the feature you like the best!
* A random winner will be selected and notified on October 20th.
* The winner will then have 3 days to claim their prize.
To earn extra entries, you may do one or all of the following. Each one counts as an extra ticket but you must leave a separate comment for each one.
* Subscribe to my feed (if you already do, that counts).
* Mention this giveaway on your blog with a link back here.
* Subscribe to my Twitter
* Tweet about this!
If you want to see more giveaways pop over to Making Money Keeping Money to see more giveaways on Contesting Monday
This post was written for Family Review Network as part of a program from muvee Reveal, who provided the program for review and giveaway.
Magic Marker Monday: Awana Art
Aren’t these cute? The NerdPud decorated the leaf for her Puggles group. Nerdling decorated the butterfly for Cubbies.
Meal Plan Monday
So here we meet to talk once more about food. How is your meal planning going? Any new great recipes? Here is my plan for the week…
Monday: Shredded Beef Enchiladas, Broccoli
Tuesday: Pizza for the Kids with the babysitter
Wednesday: Pork Loin, Beer Bread, Broccoli
Thursday: Pasta Carbonara Florentine
Friday: Leftovers for the kids