Friday, May 31, 2013

Adventure in Philadelphia: Downtown History



A couple of summers ago we spent some time in Pennsylvania for my sister's wedding, and while there took a few day trips to the local attractions. One of the days was spent in downtown historic Philadelphia. It was an absolutely fun time, and the only expenses were the parking and the cheesesteaks we just HAD to have. :)


There were two fun and free things we enjoyed there. The first was a visit to the Liberty Bell. The Liberty Bell Center is located in the National Historic Park, and it has free admission. Because it is in a National Park, there is a fun free program families can take advantage of: the Junior Ranger Program. (This is offered at nearly all National Parks!) We love to pick up a Junior Ranger book and use the things we are learning at that particular park to fill it out. Then the kids can be "sworn in" as junior rangers!


The other free attraction(s) we loved were the Once Upon a Nation Storytelling Benches!

From the website, the schedule for 2013 is:

  • Storytelling Benches will operate on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., starting Memorial Day Weekend, May 25-27.
  • From June 18 through August 10, Storytelling Benches will operate Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  • From August 16 through August 31, Storytelling Benches will operate Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  • Storytelling Benches will operate for Labor Day Weekend, Sunday, September 1, and Monday, September 2, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.


Bench Locations


  • Independence Visitor Center, 6th & Market Streets
  • Historic Philadelphia Center, 6th & Chestnut Streets
  • Independence Square, behind Independence Hall
  • Signers' Garden presented by the Avery Foundation, 5th & Chestnut Streets
  • The ACE INA Foundation Storytelling Bench at Carpenters' Hall, Carpenters' Hall, on Chestnut between 3rd & 4th Streets
  • Franklin Court, on Market between 3rd & 4th Streets
  • Christ Church, 2nd & Market Streets
  • Betsy Ross House, 3rd & Arch Streets
  • The Lincoln Storytelling Bench at the National Constitution Center, 6th & Arch Streets
  • Franklin Square, 6th & Race Streets


They had local theater students performing/telling the stories of each historic location. We had a great time traveling from bench to bench to catch each performance. It brought the city's history to life! I hope you too can enjoy them. :)



________________

This post is part of our Adventure Fridays series. If you'd like to join us, we'd love to have you return every Friday for something new!

As always, I would welcome a guest post here on my blog about some place fun you've been. If you have something yet-unpublished to submit, please use the contact tab above to let me know. 


Also linked at:
Chestnut Grove Academy Field Trip Friday Blog Hop

©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Review: Simplified Pantry

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Over the past several weeks I've had a fun time reviewing three products from Simplified Pantry:

Be sure to read this whole review, as I've got a great coupon code to share. :)

I encourage you to read all of the other reviews (see the banner link below) to get a better picture of the Paperless Home Organization. I have not had the opportunity to try it out yet, but I have been hearing great things from the rest of the crew. If you have a tablet or a smartphone, you can begin organizing your life without another scratch paper list to lose!

 photo sp_gfdf_sidebar_lg_zpsbf28c2f7.gifI loved the opportunity to get a free copy of the two cookbooks, Simplified Pantry and Simplified Dinners: GF/DF. While no one in my house is gluten free, my hubby is dairy intolerant. We try and limit or avoid the dairy. My hubby usually has to suffer through, because cooking without dairy is so foreign to me. You can then see that having a list of simple and basic dairy free recipes was a wonderful resource.  Also my niece and nephew are gluten free, and we eat together as families regularly. I knew it would be wonderful to be able to plan meals that are "normal" but allergy friendly for the whole crowd. The gluten free and dairy free version of the Simplified Dinners was very similar to the regular version, but with more gluten free and dairy free options on the same menu items. Also some of the desserts were completely different, like the Coconut Milk Chocolate Mousse. YUM! Of course, the shopping list of GF/DF ingredients was a big help, as well as the tips about hidden allergens.

The premise of the book is that the meals are gluten free by their basic design rather than by specialty flours and attempts to replicate gluten-full meals. Keeping the menu simple, focusing on good proteins and lots of great veggies and fruits, made gluten free grocery shopping easy to stay on budget. The regular simplified dinners cookbook was very similar to the gluten free and dairy free version, as these were very easy and basic meals with lots of flavor variation.

 photo sp_sidebar_lg_zps684e1145.gifI used the cookbooks for two weeks each. As you know, I like to meal plan, and to shop only once every two weeks. To really try these out, I took the basic pantry list from the front of the book, and shopped my way through it. We then knew we would have all the ingredients to make whatever was in the book. Having used it now, I can put better quantities on the ingredients on the shopping list. For example, I didn't buy soy sauce because I knew I still had some. I didn't realize that it was in SO many of the recipes! Aside from that, I really liked the shopping list for both books, and I had an easy time getting everything.

I then wrote out a basic list of the meals that interested me best, so I could have a bit of a meal plan to stick to, as I wanted to think ahead and defrost meat. Many of the meals were good slow-cooker recipes, so they required a little fore-thought. I also liked the variety offered. There were things on the list that I don't usually buy and cook, and my family loved  the change up. Some of the recipes we loved were:

  • Slow Cooker Roasts
  • Stovetop Pasta
  • Foil-Packet Fish
  • Taquitos

The recipe sections of both books are done a bit differently. First is a set of basic instructions, and then several recipes for ingredient variable combinations, to be applied to the instructions. For example, there was a recipe for slow cooker chicken, with every step of the process given. Then there were about 7 different recipes for the marinade or glaze for the slow cooker chicken.

The author notes in the front of the book that: "The primary purpose of these recipes is not so much to provide recipes as to give reminders of the general method of certain standard family dinners. . . . Making dinner is play. Play with what you have on hand and play with your audience." I think she accomplishes this very well with Simplified Dinners!

What I liked:
  • New menu options, even in allergy free cooking. I am always stumped for "what to make for dinner."
  • Easy recipes.
  • Shopping Lists, so you know you will have all the ingredients.
  • Yummy flavor combinations I'd never tried before.
  • Allergy free cooking was not as hard as I had imagined. 
What I didn't like:
  • No quantities. While I like to make it up as I go when I'm cooking, I like measurements when I'm following a recipe. It was hard to know how much of each ingredient to buy, not knowing how many of the recipes use each ingredient. 
  • The format of the recipes. See the samples.
  • No lunch or breakfast menu ideas, so you will need to plan that on your own and add it to the shopping list. (As you see in the photo above, we tried some GF waffles on our own!)
Bottom Line:
Overall we had a great time trying it out, and I know we will be revisiting these recipes and methods again. I would probably copy my favorite recipes off onto regular recipe cards in the "ingredients-then-instructions" format that I'm accustomed to, with quantities/measurements that I know will work for my family. To see the recipe format and the master pantry list, be sure to use the links above to download a free sample.

And for a special treat, the author, Mystie Winckler, is offering a 30% discount on all of her e-books with the code: TOS2013 from now until June 3rd, 2013. Thank you Mystie!

While I did not get a chance to review Paperless Home Organization, many others of the Crew did, as well as both cookbooks. Be sure you read about it all on the Crew Blog!

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©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com
 photo DisclaimerGraphic1_zpsf612f371.gif
*Prices and links are accurate at the time this is published, and are subject to change.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Adventure Fridays Link Up!


Here's your last week to link up your fun field trip blog post before we start a new list. The next linky will be text only. :)

I hope you've enjoyed our adventures so far!

Starting next Friday we will be looking at field trip ideas for: Philadelphia and Washington DC. I hope you can join us!



©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Hot Deal: Schoolhouse Library

As a Member of the TOS Crew I got the inside scoop (and a free download) on a fun digital package! I hope this will be as much of a blessing to you as it is to me. SchoolhouseTeachers.com is offering, the Schoolhouse Library, an awesome bundle of over 175 e-Books or audio books for a one time price of $25.

I feel this is a real value considering it includes:


  • 2 Study Guides from YWAM
  • Draw Write Now Sampler E-Book by Barker Creek
  • Heroines of the Past-Victorian unit study from Amy Puetz
  • Map Trek: Atlas and Outline Maps of World History from Knowledge Quest
  • Teaching Writing E-Book from WriteShop
  • 15 audio E-Books from My Audio School in history and literature
  • A Glimpse at Carnivorous Plants Lapbook from In the Hands of a Child
  • Video from Jessica Hulcy on  “Learning as a Family”
  • From Frazzled to Focused: 7 Planning Tools for Busy Moms from Mary Jo Tate




©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com 
Affiliate links may be included in this post, see my disclosure page on the tab above.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Wordless Wednesday: New chicks!

I'm a sucker when we go to the feed-store... Mayda knows this and capitalized on it. Meet our Sicilian Buttercup chick and our Black Bantam Frizzle. :)





Linked:
Pea of SweetnessGrab Our Button! 

@ 5 minutes for mom



©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Spooked




Psalm 27

A Psalm of David.
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.
One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;
Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.
Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.
When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the Lord will take care of me.
Teach me Your way, O Lord,
And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!

Linked:
Scripture and Snapshot
©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Friday, May 17, 2013

Adventure in Kansas City: Johnson County Museum - KidScape!

We recently had the joy of visiting Kansas City, MO, for three days. While Ben was in work meetings, the kids and I explored the city. My only requirement for our outings were that they would be free and educational. This is the fourth installment of our adventures there. 

One of the stops we made in Kansas City that surprised me the most: the Johnson County Museum. I expected a local historical society and a gathering of local artifacts to be housed in the historical looking old building, but I had no idea what fun we were in for! I really could not believe it was free, and by the end of my tour, I was all too happy to drop some cash in the donation box.

We entered into their lobby/gift store, and were quickly drawn into the first exhibit by colorful signs and the sounds of children laughing and playing. The very first hall, called KidScape, was a "hands on suburban street-scape, where kids can explore community." I couldn't really describe it any better than that!

There was a hall lined with playhouse sized buildings that looked like any small downtown. Each one had hands on things to do that made the kids feel like they were part of the city. It was complete with a city park that had golf (via a Wii) and fishing (magnetic fish on a painted pond). Tyler loved this part the best. Wyatt's favorite was the post office, where he quickly figured out that the little wooden letters all fit in the mail bag on the wall, which he donned and began delivering mail up and down the "street". Emma and Mayda worked away making beaded jewelry in the "boutique" and then wandered down to the "hospital" where Emma performed surgery while Mayda attended to some sick baby-dolls.

We enjoyed the KidScape exhibit hall for over an hour. Then we looked around the corner and saw that the whole museum wound around through a maze of exhibits and actually ended at KidScape. We had gotten ahead of the game. :) We backtracked to the lobby and checked out a free iPod audio tour "board" and began the tour at the beginning.

Through period artifacts and photos, the story of the local area unfolded in a way that is repeatable in any now-suburban, once-frontier county. The kids learned of the local American-Indian tribes and the ways in which the local settlers negotiated and re-negotiated the land use. There were hands on exhibits like a puzzle with pieces that didn't all fit, showing how they couldn't cut up the county in any way that made farmers, developers, and natives all happy. The path followed the history of development from wild prairie to Kansas City suburb in a colorful and interesting way that my kids were able to follow. Every juncture there was a clearly posted number for the audio tour track.

The coolest part were the "KidScape" type exhibits scattered throughout the museum. At every turn was a hands on corner or small playhouse where the kids could step into that moment in history and play the part.

  • A farmhouse complete with gingham aprons and chicken hutch by the door. 
  • A railway station platform where you could experience sitting on the bench waiting for the commuter train to the city. 
  • A play store where kids can shop for goods from the farms.

After following the story to the present day, where the exhibit asks lots of good questions about our consumeristic lifestyles today, then the whole thing wraps up by ending at KidScape, where the kids can play at suburban life for a while.

I visited with the curator for a while, and he told me that the Funville exhibit downtown (see last week's post about Hallmark and the Crown Center) was a copy of the idea, and was built by the same man who designed their one-of-a-kind exhibit. He is evidently a Broadway set designer and created these wonderful scenes for children to interact within.

We picked up some postcards and were on our way, and were SO very glad we didn't write this stop off as "too locally oriented". So, check out the local museums, even if you aren't a local person. You may just be surprised what you find!






________________

This post is part of our Adventure Fridays series. If you'd like to join us, we'd love to have you return every Friday for something new! If you have a field trip to share, add the button on the right to your post and feel free to link up HERE. 

As always, I would welcome a guest post here on my blog about some place fun you've been. If you have something yet-unpublished to submit, please use the contact tab above to let me know. 


©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

"Senior" Prom 2013



The nursing home where my grandma lives held another beautiful Senior Prom this week. The decor is always donated from the local high school prom, and this year it was "Vegas". The food was great, and the entire bunch was all decked out. Grandma has been planning her dress and hair for weeks!

Grandma Bettie wanted to honor the local Methodist minister and his wife by asking them to be her guests. His wife was busy that night, but he was gracious to escort grandma to the prom. Tyler was asked to escort grandma's good friend, also named Betty, along with her daughter, Janet. He was a bit nervous, but had a wonderful time. I nearly cried when I saw him all dressed up and wearing a tie! I couldn't be more proud of my boy.



©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Called Blessed



Prov. 31:28-31
Her children rise up and call her blessed;
Her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many daughters have done well,
But you excel them all.”
Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing,
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands,
And let her own works praise her in the gates.


Linked:
Scripture and Snapshot
©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Review: Spanish For You! Fiestas!

Spanish for You Logo photo spanishforyoulog_zpsa3fadef7.jpgOver the past month we have really been thankful for the opportunity to review a free copy of the curriculum Fiestas from Spanish For You!

This curriculum has what you need to teach Spanish to grades 3-8, and we received the whole package which retails for $64.95. You can also buy just the grades you need (3rd-4th grade, 5th-6th grade, or 7th-8th grade packages) for $39.95. You can get a FREE sample today too!

What we received for review:

  • Soft cover book (or e-book if desired)
  • Lesson guides for the grades in three different groupings: 24 weeks for G5-6 & 7-8, 30 weeks for G3-4 (PDF download)
  • Self-checking worksheets, for all three age groups (PDF download)
  • Audio files of entire book + bonus audio of native speaker of entire book (MP3 download)
  • Flashcard/activity pictures (PDF download)

Preparation:

When I originally downloaded the worksheets, all three age groups were in one folder, and I was having a hard time sorting out the different worksheets. With a little feedback, the author, Debbie Annett, re-grouped the worksheets into separate file folders for each age grouping in the original zipped download file.

I was very excited about how quickly she responded to my emails and questions. This is an author who is accessible and stands behind her  product. I can't say enough about what that means to me. We exchanged emails about several aspects of the product, and I was impressed with her prompt and pleasant replies. 

I placed the lesson plans into a 3-ring binder, and printed each set of worksheets and inserted them into the lesson plans for the weeks to which they were assigned. The worksheets are named in Spanish by the activity they contain, so you have to do a little bit of looking. I found it easiest to lay them all out on the table and as I went through the lesson plan I glanced over them and found the worksheet I needed. By having everything printed and collated, I was able to just pick up my binder and book each day and jump right in. I did this with both the 3-4th grade set (for Emma) and the 5th-6th grade set (for Tyler). The physical textbook works for all grades.

We also cut out and laminated all of the flash cards. I used my "red-neck laminating system" (packing tape). It worked perfectly with this size of flashcard. I also made a set of laminated flash cards with the vocabulary words for each lesson. I made them from paper cut into business card size squares with Spanish on one side and English on the back side. These were a wonderful tool for reviewing the words daily.

How we used it:

Even though the kids were approaching this on different levels, we started out together. We read the page assigned each day in the Lesson Plan, and then we listened to the same vocabulary words on the audio files. Eventually, Tyler was on a different page than Emma, so we did this separately.  We used the initial flashcards to play several games, to familiarize the kids with them, and even Mayda (1st grade) and Wyatt (K) got in on that fun.

Each day of a 4 day school week is given a set number of tasks, like:

    Spanish for You - Fiestas photo spanishforyou-fiestas_zpsa80f3c2a.jpg
  • reading, 
  • playing a game with flashcards, 
  • listening to the lesson audio, 
  • or completing a worksheet. 

There are 2-3 worksheets per week of lesson plans. Lesson 1 was set up to be covered in 4 weeks, so we were easily able to complete lesson 1 during the review period.

The first week we cut out and laminated the picture flashcards for the nouns in Lesson 1. The kids played "Memory" with them after listening to the audio track for the lesson. By the end of the first week the kids had learned to say all the nouns involved with the Fiesta. We even began memorizing the Happy Birthday song in Spanish. My brother had a birthday the next week, and just happened to be back from a recent trip to Columbia. So we sang him Happy Birthday in Spanish and he was much impressed. :) Tyler and Emma each completed worksheets in their grade level, which were pretty similar at that point.

The second week we introduced verb forms, starting with "I" and "we" verbs (for 3-4th grade) and with all the verb forms and common phrases (for 5th - 6th). We made our own flashcards of all of the verbs and reviewed them daily. Again, we listened to the page read in Spanish on the audio track, and completed the worksheets on the assigned days. Because both kids were working from the same book, the grade specific lesson plans and worksheets were awesome for showing me how and where to step it up for my older child.

The third week Emma went on to study the rest of the verb forms (you and you all), and Tyler jumped right into demonstrative adjectives. At first he thought it would be too hard. With a little extra effort, though, he was soon able to know which words were: This, That, These, and Those, and what form to use them in with other nouns and articles. I was impressed when the light-bulb came on!

The fourth week we reviewed the same adjectives for Tyler and his worksheet grades came up from an 88% to a 97%. The fourth week was a cumulative review of verb forms for Emma. Each week we moved forward, while reviewing the words we had already learned daily. It was amazing to see how these small steps added up to learning the language! My kids had mastered 64 Spanish words and their correct uses already!


What I liked:

  • Easy to reach the author, and her quick and pleasant replies
  • Being able to buy one book and use it for many ages
  • The incremental approach, yet still moving at a good pace in the upper grades
  • The audio tracks to help with pronunciation of words spelled differently than we usually see
  • The fun topic of Fiestas kept their attention, and even my little ones joined in
  • This was written with homeschoolers in mind, LOVE that!
  • You do not have to speak Spanish to teach this. 

What I didn't like:

  • The titles of the worksheets are all in Spanish, and titled descriptively. Because of that they do not sort into chronological order, requiring that you search within the lesson grouping to find the right page. This made getting organized a small challenge, but doable with a little prep. The author has recently divided the grade levels into different file folders so finding the right worksheet is easier to search through. Titling them "Lesson 1, week 1, sheet 2" for example would help a lot. You could likely do this by renaming the files. 
  • In the audio files, the children are instructed to repeat each word. The pauses in the track are not long enough for them to actually do that, so we listened to it with my finger on the pause button, pausing after each word. It was not too hard to do it that way, but notable.

Bottom Line:

I would wholeheartedly recommend this one for beginner Spanish! I absolutely love that you can buy one book and, with the whole package, be able to teach every grade in your homeschool from 3rd -8th! I'm not good at prep work, but this was not as bad as I had feared. Other than collating pages and laminating flash cards, there wasn't too much prep, since the lesson plans were all written out.

Be sure you read all the other reviews of this book, and another book, Estaciones,  from Spanish For You!

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©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com
 photo DisclaimerGraphic1_zpsf612f371.gif
*Prices and links are accurate at the time this is published, and are subject to change.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Adventure in Kansas City: Kaleidoscope at Hallmark


We recently had the joy of visiting Kansas City, MO, for three days. While Ben was in work meetings, the kids and I explored the city. My only requirement for our outings were that they would be free and educational. This is the third installment of our adventures there. 

One of our favorite stops in Kansas City is the Kaleidoscope Family Art Sessions at the Hallmark Gold Crown Center. This fun activity is for 40 minutes of creativity in a space that only Hallmark could dream up. We made a day of it by going in early and shopping at the Crown Center Shops and eating at one of the fun restaurants there.  Some of the eateries there include:

  • The American Restaurant
  • Big Momma's Bakery-Café
  • Chip's Candy Factory
  • Chip's Chocolate Factory
  • Crayola Café
  • d'Bronx
  • Einstein Bros. Bagels
  • Fritz's Railroad Restaurant
  • Greek Food, Ltd.
  • K.C. Bar B.Q.
  • Milano Italian Dining
  • Pak Ling Express
  • Potatoes and More
  • Sheridan's Lattés & Frozen Custard
  • A Streetcar Named Desire
  • Taste of Philly
  • Three Little Pigs BBQ
  • Topsy's Shoppes

You can get free parking for a few hours in the Gold Crown Center parking garage, if you have your parking ticket validated. So we shopped, played at Funville, and then had it validated when we ate. We then drove around the block and parked again to reset the "free time" on a new parking ticket. We had that validated at the Family Art Session and didn't pay one cent to be parked downtown most of the day. :) If you've ever been city sight-seeing before you know what a deal that is. (When in Denver, Philly, or DC I've had to shell out as much as $20 to park!)

You will want to call ahead if you have a group of 15 or more. Also you will want to get there to line up early. The sessions fill up fast, and it's first come / first serve. The mornings are all school sessions, so you will want to get in on the two afternoon ones, unless you come on a Saturday. Here's the link to their calender

Arriving early to get our tickets, we watched as the parents and kids all lined up to go in. Having been there before, the kids were SO excited. When the doors opened the kids spread out into a large room with work stations and color everywhere. It's like all the card making supplies at Hallmark - and a Crayola factory - collided with a cartoon landscape!

The kids were given a bag to write their name on and began creating cards and pictures, and even pressed out their own puzzles. There were disco balls and black light rooms and all kinds of fun things to see and touch. It was an absolute blast. I'll let the pictures say the rest.

Our time was up quickly. This was too soon for the kids, but just right for me who had a hard time keeping track of all four in the large crowd and room. After we were finished we took a much quieter stroll through the Hallmark Visitor's Center, and made it just in time to "meet the artists". This was a fun intimate opportunity to visit with a couple of the people who paint, craft, and design the Hallmark Cards. The kids got to ask good questions like: "what did you study in college to do this?" and "How do you like doing this for a job?"

During the visitor center tour we got to watch a machine assemble a gift bow at the push of a button, and to get our picture taken and emailed to us. All of the staff were friendly and helpful, and we really enjoyed our visit to Hallmark. In our previous visit we also went to Union Station (right across the street) but this time we ran out of time. :)

Adventure Fridays
This post is part of our Adventure Fridays series. If you'd like to join us, we'd love to have you return every Friday for something new! If you have a field trip to share, add the button on the right to your post and feel free to link up HERE. 

As always, I would welcome a guest post here on my blog about some place fun you've been. If you have something yet-unpublished to submit, please use the contact tab above to let me know. 


©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

H is for Homeschooling Cheap

Homeschooling is something we feel that God has called us to do, but it does mean that we have to make it go on one income while I teach the children. As a result, our educational dollars have to stretch! Here are a few of the ways we have done that. I pray this would be encouragement to anyone who is planning to homeschool: that this is not about the money, but the effort!

1. A heritage of learning.

One of the reasons we knew homeschooling would be a good fit for us, was that both of us were home-schooled  When we announced we planned to homeschool our children, you can imagine just how much our moms were pleased. We had the full support of our extended families, and the full boxes of their leftover books!

While this wasn't always a perfect fit, it was a huge blessing. I discovered quickly books that were outdated and used up. Emma's history book referred to the Berlin wall and the USSR, but many books, such as language arts and spelling, are really timeless. We especially love some of the old readers!

While you may not have parents who are curriculum hoarders, you may know a "retiring" homeschool mom who was one. It easy to find her; she is likely the chairwoman of the "Homeschool Graduation Committee" in your homeschool support group. ;) Find a homeschool mom to mentor you, and ask if she will loan (and likely she will give) you some of her old curriculum.

2. Find a lending library.

Our homeschool group has a lending library for curriculum. Every year I donate a box of books that didn't work for us, and check out a box of books that I hope will! It's wonderful to be able to spend an afternoon there flipping through curriculum without having to buy it first. (And then I remember I'd signed up to help "organize" and clean the library that day, not read it all!)

We actually have two homeschool groups in town, and thus, two lending libraries. You will find pretty much every group has them. They are filled with items donated by those who switched curriculum, or those moms who retired without anyone begging for their books! (see #1)

If your homeschool group doesn't have one, start one! It will be full in no time when hoarders like myself start unloading baggage. The hardest part is finding a place that can host the library. Maybe a church with an extra classroom with a lock? Maybe a local Christian hang out with a storage room? Maybe a homeschool mom with a garage she doesn't mind opening for others from time to time? Your homeschool group may even want to rent a nice storage unit and build some bookshelves!

3. Be an opportunist.

In our area, there have been several schools closed due to district consolidations. Every few months a school shuts it's doors and an auction is held. It's a sad day, for the school anyway.

Watch for those school auctions. You can get desks, blackboards, reference books, and even unused workbooks for next to nothing. Once our homeschool group was invited to a closing educational services unit to pick up any curriculum we wanted "before it goes in the dumpster."  We filled our car trunks and pickup beds, and whatever we couldn't use went in the lending library. I managed to get an entire set of Saxon Math (1st through 7/6) that day. *score!*

Ok, I'm going out on a limb here and baring my soul. I confess I have even dumpster dived for curriculum. I had missed the auction for another school-closing, and whatever hadn't sold was being dumped out the front doors into a large construction dumpster. There were three of us homeschool moms in there, and I had brought my pickup. I scored 6 school desks and a box of geography workbooks still in the shrink wrap, among other things. I would have found more, but that was all I could see by the light of my cell phone. For the record, dumpster diving is perfectly legal in most states as long as you don't trespass on private property.

When a local college upgraded their entire computer lab, they sold all the computers there (not that old, but they had their operating systems wiped) for next to nothing. You could get a nice computer for $25 plus the cost of installing Windows.

4. Shop, swap, and sales!

Shopping on ebay or even at yard sales, you can often find books for bargain prices. Most curriculum fairs or homeschool conventions include a used curriculum swap and sale. It's a great place to sell what you have, but won't use, and to find what you need. Show up at the end and offer to buy whole boxes of books for bottom dollars. I guarantee that most of the people there would rather give the books away then haul them home.

A good friend put me onto this swapping tip(thanks B!). I have mentioned before about swapping for free books on Paperback Swap .com. She took it the next level on her smart phone. There are apps (for both Android and iPhones) you can download to link to your PaperbackSwap account. They are able to use your phone camera to scan bar-codes of books and see if they are on wishlists of other swappers. She suggested that I use this feature to pick up cheap books for swapping. Recently, I was at the library, and they had a "stuff a bag for a buck" fundraiser. I flipped through the shelf, scanning books and checking their "wishing" status. I filled a bag with books I already knew I could "swap" on the site. I have found several good books on my curriculum list, and have requested them with my credits. My only cost? The postage for mailing off the books (usually about $2) and about 10 cents to buy them.

5. Sign up to sell or review.

If there is a curriculum or company your heart is just set on, call them up! Tell them how you love their stuff, and offer to staff a table at your next curriculum fair or trade show. Ask if they have an affiliate program where you can earn credit by selling their books to others. You would be surprised at the opportunities out there.

If you are a blogger like myself, be sure to follow the Review Crew blog (see the button in my side bar?) in the fall when they are looking for new reviewers. I've enjoyed the fellowship with other homeschool moms, and the opportunity to try out new curriculum for my honest review here on my blog. I feel I've become a better blogger from hanging out with these ladies too!

6. Keep an open mind. 

By now I'm sure you're thinking that I will use any book without discrimination. That's only partly true. When I began my homeschool journey I thought I knew what I liked. I'd been homeschooled myself and I'd formed plenty of opinions throughout the years. Without my giving away my age, I will say that a lot has changed on the curriculum front since then! Being on the Crew this year has exposed me to lots of books I would have never considered buying. I've tried out lots of things I never knew I would love so much! Yes, also a few things I didn't. But it made me realize that you really have to open a book and give it a test drive before you know if it is for you. I am completely willing to try out a book, and not keep it if it's not working, especially if I got it for free. I also love that I can swap the books I don't love (see #4) for books I do! I can also sell them and use the cash to buy what I really want. Bring on the school auctions and library sales!

7. Don't forget the best things in life are free.

One last thing: remember that the most priceless stuff your children will learn won't come from a curriculum. You are training these kids by the actions and behaviors you model. Whether it is your ethics, your Faith, or just how to find the right books at the library, your kids are learning from you. All. The. Time. No pressure. :)

"As homeschooling moms, we don’t just undertake teaching a set list of educational goals, but also of life. We have a special opportunity for modeling behaviors before our children all day long. They are our disciples.
This may come as a surprise, but we aren't raising children; we are raising adults. They are children now, but isn't adulthood the end goal? When we hit an impasse with a school concept, we aren't just teaching our kids math anymore. We are teaching so much more: how to deal with frustration, how to look at a problem in a new way, or even how to ask God for help." -Practical Grace for the Homeschool Mom
 


There is SO much more I could say here, but there's a whole blog cruise on the topic, and you'll have plenty to read. So, get going already!


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