Roarrrrrrrrrrrrr......

or was that a chuff?  Well, my girls can certainly answer that.  We've spent the last couple weeks with Download N Go's Terrific Tigers!  The Download N Go format is so easy to use.  If you're not a planner and so assume you could never do Unit Studies, DNG has taken all the work out of it for you!  In fact, you can buy and download at 3AM if you must (I have)! 

It's broken up into a five day format with notebook style and lapbook pages included.  You can choose to print all the pages or just print the lapbook pages.  DNG's are interactive .pdf documents.  As you go thru the pages, you can click the internet links to watch videos, read facts or find answers to specific questions.  My girls LOVE this format.  Quite frankly, I do too.  DNG's have allowed me to cover information that was otherwise getting lost in crazy, busy days.  Knowing it's all organized for me takes the pressure off me and allows me to enjoy (and learn) with my girls! 

We don't follow the DNG format exactly as it's laid out.  We tend to take 2 weeks to complete a study rather than the one it's designed for.  This just seems to work better for us and allows more time to craft and read as well.  Each DNG has a book list at the beginning.  All I have to do is jump on the library's website and order up my books.  For this study, we used allot of books...here are just a few:

My girls adored Mother to Tigers and I think Lucca has memorized The Tiger Who Came to Tea by now (I know I have)!  We even used Tiger Math to work on some graphing for Willow and counting for Lucca!
When Lucca found paper, paints and instructions on how many tiger stripes to paint in her workbox, you'd have thought she hit the lotto!

There is a Tiger Puzzle cut out page on Day One that I would flee from if ever faced with again.  Unless your children have Edward Scissorhand's skills...flee quickly!  Trust me, you'll understand! 

My very favourite part of Terrific Tigers was how well the concepts of extinction and endangered animals were addressed.  My children audibly gasped when they learned there are only 20-30 Amoy Tigers in the wild today and listened intently as they learned ways in which these amazing creatures are being bred and re-introduced into the wild.  They really grasped that these creatures are important and worth saving.  A lesson I think (and pray) they will always remember when confronted with any animal being endangered. 

Finally, our lapbooks:

Whether you are looking for in depth unit studies that can be shared around the table with children of varied ages or simple curriculum enrichment that is safe for a child to do on their own (even on the Internet), you can't go wrong with the Download N Go unit studies.  Priced at only $7.95 each, they are easily affordable whether you buy them one at a time or in a bundle!  Make sure you are a fan on Facebook and you will get the most current specials! 

I am so excited that I get to give a copy of Terrific Tigers away!  I know you will love this study as much as we did.  All you have to do is become a follower of my blog to enter.  Once you Follow Me, then leave me a comment with your email address.  You may also share this on Facebook for another entry to win.  Again, make sure you leave a comment telling me you shared!

Blessings

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Disclaimer: As a member of the DNG Review Team, I received this product, at no cost to me, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are those of myself and/or my family.




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From the moment she was born...

everyone noticed her eyebrows. It hadn't hit me, until then, that most babies have very light or no eyebrows. Not my Willow. She came into the world brows a furled!

Beautiful.  The most perfect gift from God.  Given at the perfect time, the perfect place and the perfect way.  God named Willow before she was even a twinkle in anyone's eye. He told me she would come to me in Africa...I never dreamt she would be my own biological child. She is named after a verse in Isaiah that says, " I will bless your descendants, like willows by the watercourse.  For they are a generation of great hope."  Willow Hope, almost 10, still facing the world with brow a furled!  Thank you, Lord, for this precious child.

All things bright and beautiful...

I'm trying hard to focus on the things that I find pleasing and beautiful.  Since my brother died, life has seemed so very sad.  There are so many happy, beautiful people and things in my life and those are the images I want to concentrate on.  So this week...photos:

My husband's hands.  So kind and gentle, yet so strong.  With all the scars of his hard life, they have always sought peaceful, loving-kindness.  He taught me comfort and gentleness all through a simple touch.  A touch that has remained constant, steady, loving, reliable and kind...even when I didn't deserve it.  I've seen him hold the hands of dying people and watched him be the first to touch our sweet daughters as they came into the world...all with those hands.  Sure, he provides with them...but, more importantly, he prays with them.  Thank you, Lord, for these precious hands.

Applesauce Season...

One of the books my daughters loved most from our Autumn Treasures Unit Study was Applesauce Season.  Just a cute, fun story that my youngest asked me to read again and again.  Willow remembers having made applesauce but Lucca did not and so off to Joe Huber's Family Farm for some apple pickin'.  We met up with some dear friends of ours whom we hadn't seen in forever...we all had a great time.

Lucca, who had also very much enjoyed the stories about Johnny Appleseed, carried her sweater around on a stick and sat under the trees eating apples.  "This must be what Johnny Appleseed felt like!"  She's such a goof!

Mmmmmm Mmmmmm Mmmm,  the applesauce is cooking!  Wow does the house smell great! Thank God for the Kitchen Aid Strainer attachment!  Looks like there will be plenty for the larder!

Blessings

Workboxes and Blessing...

I am very blessed to be able to stay home with my little people.  I count it among the greatest of gifts my husband has given me. 

It is necessary for me to work part-time and, so, I simply do so from home.  I am a travel agent (between 12-3AM I like to say) with a lovely clientele and an even more amazing boss!  My clients love that I am available at crazy hours and I love that I don't have to show up (for the most part) at specific times to hold down a desk.  I have been trying to morph my schedule into one which is more humane.  You know, one that allows for more than 4 hours of sleep a night. 

One goal was to find a way to actually accomplish some work WHILE my girls school.  My eldest daughter is NOT a self-starter and has, in the past, taken any and every opportunity to disappear outside with the dogs when I take a call.  There was always something she didn't understand approximately 2 nanoseconds after I answered the phone.  We tried workboxes last year to help motivate her by making the end a tangible goal.  This worked okay...better than anything else we have tried.  Until the Laptop...

Ohhhh the Laptop.  You see using a computer in our house, especially the Laptop, is quite a privilege.  Not a privilege any 9 year old in their right mind would want to lose.  Ohhhh the laptop.  I'm thinking of naming it.  I am truly that fond of it at this point.  Blessing is a good name!?!  You see Willow will get on Blessing of her own accord and DO HER OWN WORK!  Yeppers...on her own!  The workboxes are on the curb...Blessing has taken up residence on Willow's desk and I DON'T EVEN CARE that she has hijacked my laptop!  My brilliant friend, Marcy Crabtree, over at Ben & Me gave me the idea of doing an assignment blog.  So, now, Willow signs into her own private blog and has a list of what she is to accomplish on any given day!  It's really that easy (at least right now!)

And Lucca...oh sweet Lucca...how she LOVES her workboxes.  She BEGS for her boxes...gets so excited every morning to see what there is to do.  Very much an independent, Lucca will happily work on her boxes until she needs help or she reaches a "Work with Mommy" box!  Here's Lucca showing off her counting to 100 skills...

100 Monkey Erasures lined up by 10's...love the Dollar Tree!

And so, I actually booked several clients last week DURING daylight hours which is indeed a miracle from God! 

Blessings

Fall is in the air...

Well, Fall is officially here. 

The kids love it, I'm just cold.

They keep tossing out little tidbits about Fall that they picked up when we did our Download N Go Autumn Treasures unit study.  While I shiver, I get to hear why the leaves fall, why animals are collecting nuts, how the "harvest moon" doesn't have to be orange and other juicy treasures. 

I've been awakened 4 times in the early morning hours since Fall fell so that we might go check for a harvest moon...come on already!

I did promise pictures of our Mod Podge Leaf candle holders...so here you have it!

The kids had a great time making these...a little Mod Podge, leaves and a couple Dollar Tree candle holders...it doesn't get any better than that!

While Fall is okay...I miss this:

The Last of the Roma's:  The Final Bowl of Tomato Basil Bruschetta Sauce

Did I mention I was cold? 

While I tend to function better when the days are warm and longer...I've determined to go out and enjoy both Fall and Winter this year!  (I keep thinking beach vacations would help with this...)  Off to Huber's this week to pick apples and pumpkins!  We'll be making applesauce and apple butter... (has anyone noticed my life revolves around food?  Just sayin...)  Mostly I am going to try and remember it's not always about the details...and I'm going to try and let a few of those go!

Blessings